The Empire State Open, a WTA 125K Series event scheduled for May 9-15 on the red clay courts of Hempstead Lake State Park has been canceled. This attempt to bring professional tennis back to Long Island was courageous and ambitious, and is a loss to the local tennis community. Long Island has a history of…
While much of the attention in Indian Wells, Calif. on Sunday circled around the comments made by Tournament Director and CEO Raymond Moore, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Victoria Azarenka defeated Serena Williams 6-4, 6-4 in the tournament’s final, a monumental victory for the Belarusian. Three years ago, Azarenka was on the verge of being…
Maria Sharapova is so meticulous, that according to her agent, former Eastern player Max Eisenbud, she would "peel off the label on the water bottle that she was drinking so photographers couldn't snap a picture that might look like a product endorsement." In a press conference to reveal her positive drug test for Meldonium, she…
Tennis icon and Hall of Fame journalist Arthur "Bud" Collins Jr., the voice of the sport for generations, has died at the age of 86. While Bud Collins was a self-described "hacker" as a tennis player, he was actually very good, winning the U.S. Indoor Mixed-Doubles Championships in 1961. There is no debate that he…
The weather in March may "Come in like a lion," but things in the tennis world are tranquil after a stormy winter of discontent as the headlines of match fixing in the sport have faded. I Googled the term "Tennis" today, and the top two stories that came up were "Roger Federer Drinks Tequila on…
1. Novak Djokovic is the best hard court player in tennis history Forget the statistics and the titles, while Djokovic is closing in, Federer's numbers still have the edge. After watching Novak play Down Under, however, I suggest that no one has played better hard court tennis, not Roger, not Pete, not Andre, not Ivan….
While these next two weeks should be a celebratory time for the sport of tennis and its fans, a BBC and BuzzFeed report about match-fixing at the highest level have cast an ominous shadow over the game during the year’s first major, the Australian Open. The two news agencies were able to obtain documents from…
The sweltering courts of the Australian Open seem inviting right about now, as the local area is starting to freeze. Some hot weather might be helpful to warming the bones of the best women's tennis players in the world because they are hurting. World number one Serena Williams has an injured left knee. Second-ranked Simona Halep has achilles tendon issues. Garbine Mururuza,…
Fresh on the heels of its first Davis Cup victory since 1936, the LTA, the governing body of Great Britain tennis, is giving away 10,000 free rackets and tennis lessons to children across the country. It's a wonderful idea to grow participation and create excitement for the sport. The great American player, Vitas Gerulaitius, championed…
The ITF and newly anointed President David Haggerty have just announced a sponsorship deal for both Davis and Federation Cups with Betway, one of the world's leading betting and gaming companies. While Haggerty acknowledges the potential conflict of interest, he assures us that that this partnership will maintain the cleanliness of the sport. Now maybe it's…