The Big Four have achieved great things in recent years and brought the men’s game into what has often been called a “golden age.” But I can’t help but wonder if the era isn’t also less interesting than it might be under other circumstances. For example, is it a good

Howdy, everyone. I was happy to see so much good content when I logged onto my email yesterday, after another of those long days on the road. I went down to Miami on Monday to spend some time with Cliff Drysdale for a story that will run in Tennis magazine's

The clay ran red by Pete Bodo* Given the events of the past 12 months, I wonder how many people shrugged and thought: Oh, yeah, Roland Garros. . . that means Roger and Rafa again. It's sure starting to look as if that might be the case again, although I

• Pic by Pete Bodo* If there's any such thing as a safe bet in that cradle of gambling civilization, Monte Carlo, it's Rafael Nadal. Today, he won his eighth straight title on that red clay court perched precipitously on the lip of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean sea. He

• 104216929 by Pete Bodo* The only trouble with taking full advantage of the home-court advantage in Davis Cup play is that in screwing with your opponents' minds (or bodies) and laying a trap for them can also present your own squad with disadvantages borne of the prevalent conditions. Thus,

You ever find yourself watching a tennis match late at night and suddenly having that “Eureka!” moment when you ask yourself, “What the hail am I watching this for?” That happened to me yesterday, at about the time qualifier Marco Chiudinelli served yet another interminable game that kept going deuce-ad.

Q: What chance is there that Andy Murray will break through and win his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne, after having been a finalist last year? A: Let's start with this: In a news report a few days ago, Andy Murray addressed his coaching situation, which has been unsettled

[Word got back to me that three members of the TW Literary All-Star Squad - Stonada/Raza, Rolo/Friedman, and McGrogan/McGrogan - closed the Heineken Red Star Cafe here last night after the Djokovic-Moya match. Somehow, Raza still found the time to write this post for y'all. Great job, Asad, especially that

The calendar has been kind to those of us here in the United States who are football as well as tennis fans. I can remember sitting in my hotel room in Melbourne during Australian Opens of the past, watching a commercial-free broadcast of the Super Bowl, with a pair of

by Hannah Wilks, TennisWorld Contributing Writer Two weeks ago, I saw the Paris Meridian, also known as the Rose Line. For many years, it was considered the prime meridian; the line of 0 degrees longtitude which divides the eastern and western hemispheres. But in 1884, a conference of scientists decreed

97887204 by Pete Bodo This is no April Fool's joke, held up for 27 days in your spam filter. If you check today's scores from the Internazionali D'Italia you'll see that Roger Federer won his match, 10-8 in the third. He was helped in that effort by doubles teammate Yves

I’m not sure what Stanislas Wawrinka expected as he faced the prospect of becoming just the second man outside of the game’s Big Four to win a major title over the past 36 opportunities. Whatever it was could not have been what happened on the floor of Rod Laver Arena

Today’s opening match on Stadium 1 at Indian Wells featured two players who looked like they were heading in different directions. That’s not unusual, except when, as was the case today, the one spiraling downward is a Grand Slam title holder. That would be Andy Murray, who struggled yet again

[[ Here is Part 2 of Andrew's RSRT series, with Part 3 to come on Friday or Saturday. Enjoy - be back with some thoughts of my own later in the day -- Pete]] The first two hours of the drive from Amarillo took me through sparse semi-desert to the

by Pete Bodo So there they were again, Venus and Serena Williams, just as they were in the recent Wimbledon final, just as they have been for pretty much as many years as the two of them have known. They stood ready to play again, to pull and push and

The Book Club returns for Roland Garros. I talked with Carole Bouchard, a freelance tennis writer based in France, about her new book, “The Quest,” which covers Novak Djokovic’s career-long chase to win Roland Garros. Part 1 of our conversation, which explains the origins of the book, can be read

Today, a guest post from Spin friend John Ziza of Chicago. Enjoy, all ye regular readers, and you newbies, too.

Victoria Azarenka vs. Maria Kirilenko Azarenka leads head-to-head, 3-2

It began a few weeks ago in sunny Paris, an inspirational if not uncommon Grand Slam story featuring an unheralded contender emerging as a surprise finalist and overnight star. But this version took on a potent, credulity-straining afterlife in the ensuing weeks—one that now has 28-year old Jasmine Paolini in

Before Sam Querrey tries to follow up his dream run from Wimbledon – where he became the first American man to make a major semifinal since Andy Roddick in 2009 – at the US Open, the Southern California native will play his second season of Mylan World TeamTennis for Washington