Yes, we know. 

In case you’ve haven’t heard or read, there are no American men in the top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time since computer rankings were started back in 1973. Now while for dedicated tennis fans, this news doesn’t come as a complete surprise, apparently the rest of American sports media view this as something of a national crisis. Just today, noted basketball coach Dick Vitale was on the ESPN radio show “Mike & Mike” where he said the lack of a U.S. male in the top 10 was due to “a lack of hunger” as compared to other international players.

Excuse me?

I know Vitale is known for his hyperbole but I wonder if he has ever seen Andy Roddick, currently ranked at No. 11, play tennis. Roddick has admitted that he’s the “world’s best bad player ever” but it has been Roddick’s desire and hustle to win that has won him many matches and lost him a few too as he’s admitted he has sometimes made errors simply due to trying almost too hard. That was the case in Roddick’s second round loss to Janko Tipsarevic at Wimbledon in 2008 where Roddick overhit balls for no reason and later described his desire to win as, “It's like you want something so bad you almost squeeze it too tight."

Also I wonder if Vitale saw John Isner’s epic five set, three day first round match against Nicolas Mahut at this year’s Wimbledon? I’m sure he might have heard about it since it was all anybody who followed sports talked about that week. Gee, I guess Isner’s “hunger” to win that match didn’t impress Vitale enough. Maybe if Isner had gone to Duke University instead of the University of Georgia he would have earned a few more points in Vitale’s book. (Sorry but as a proud “Tarheel” I had to get that in since if you ever heard Vitale call a Duke game you’ll know what I mean.)

Vitale’s comments aside, the outpouring of U.S. media hand wringing about the state of American tennis speaks to more how Americans view themselves in relation to the rest of the world more so than the individual results of any U.S. player, male or female. A lot of discussion continues as to why U.S. Tennis doesn’t dominate the way it did back in the glory days of the 70’s, 80’s and even mid 1990’s. The fact that American men aren’t dominating the sport doesn’t necessarily speak to America declining as a tennis superpower but more to the fact the sport is becoming more equal in terms of talent appearing from all nations. But tennis, being an international sport, unlike the sealed off bubbles of professional football, basketball and baseball, brings American talent face to face with the rest of the world. Lately Americans (aside from the Williams sisters) have been coming up short. And Americans don’t like that.

Plenty of American tennis fans root for players from other countries. But American sports media is handcuffed to a certain extent in not only reporting but also promoting U.S. tennis players. And when you’ve only got two or three players who, despite their best efforts, keep losing to that “Swiss guy” or “that southpaw from Spain”, it’s easier to blame Roddick and the other American men for not trying hard enough instead of appreciating and highlighting the tremendous talent that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal possess.

But probably the best quote regarding this perception that American players lack drive comes not from Roddick but from rising American star Melanie Oudin, herself now facing a bit of a media backlash since she hasn’t yet backed up her quarterfinal run last year at the U.S. Open with any substantial wins in 2010. Speaking about hearing comments from fans while playing at the Bank of The West Classic a few weeks ago in Stanford, the feisty Oudin said, “It’s kind of annoying sometimes when people are like ‘Pull it together Melanie,’ and they yell at me kind of.  Really? You get down here and play. I know they mean it in a good way, like to say ‘C’mon’ Melanie,’ but you don’t have to say ‘Pull it together,’ like ‘Get your energy up’ That’s what some lady was telling me.” (Source: <"http://cowbell.typepad.com/forty_deuce/2010/07/believe-it-or-not-1.html">Forty Deuce)

To Vitale and the rest of the American media that continue to complain about American players and their lack of “hunger”, I concur with Oudin.

You get down here and play.

In case you haven’t seen or heard, looks like Andy Roddick’s early round loss at this year’s Wimbledon caused the American tennis star to not only seek some R&R in Las Vegas, but also try out a new look. Literally.

Roddick and his wife Brooklyn Decker spent the Fourth of July weekend at the Palms Casino Resort in the ultra-exclusive “Kingpin” suite which features two regulation size bowling lanes. According to VegasNews.com, “They (Roddick and Decker) dined at Simon at Palms Place for brunch on Sunday and N9NE Steakhouse for dinner where Andy enjoyed a 8oz Filet and Mac & Cheese.”

Although staying in a bowling-themed suite might indicate a potential career change for the former world No. 1, it’s the new look Roddick sports that strikes me even more. Was his loss to Yen-Hsun Lu and the subsequent fact that Roddick wouldn’t have had to face Roger Federer in the semifinals the cause of this? Or was this Roddick’s own homage to our men and women in uniform for this national holiday? Whatever the case, let’s hope it at least inspires Roddick to have a “take no prisoners” attitude for the upcoming U.S. Open.

Erik Gudris is moderator of Adjustingthenet.com, a tennis news and commentary website.

It struck me as funny that a rumor started swirling on several tennis sites that NBC was planning to cancel its weekend coverage of the French Open and hand it over to either ESPN or the Tennis Channel based on the fact that two "unknowns" familiar only to hardcore tennis fans were to meet in the Women's Finals. Contracts and advertising dollars aside, the fact that NBC's coverage of the event, often berated for being taped delayed and/or edited for length, became a bigger story than the event itself, speaks to how media savvy audiences have grown over the years.

In any event, the final between Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur turned out to be not a ratings disaster but actually a firm hold on the status quo. According to SportsMediaWatch.com, Saturday's final earned a 1.7 rating up 21% from last year's nervy finals between Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova. And the women were actually ahead of the Men's Finals which, let's face it, was a foregone conclusion before Rafael Nadal stepped on court.

But let's not jump up and down. The rating is still low compared to the Federer/Nadal final a few years ago which got a 2.2 rating and nowhere near the 1999 final where Andre Agassi won the event to a tune of a 4.0 rating. Of course that was over ten years ago before the web took over a large part of media consumption.

So what does the Schiavone/Stosur final have to say about American audiences which NBC caters to? Do Serena Williams, Venus Williams or even Maria Sharapova still have to be there to get casual tennis fans or even casual sports fans to watch? Probably. But Stosur, based on her own tremendous run to the final and Schiavone, with her personailty alone, created a unique moment of curiosity and excitement as both went for their first Grand Slam title that compelled viewers to at least check out the pairing to see what would happen.

But never count out sports fans and their innate need to root for underdogs who have a chance to grab one shot at glory. Ted Robinson said it best when he compared Schiavone's title run as her Olympic moment complete with national anthem. You got the sense this was the Italian's "one moment in time" and sports is always built around those stories of an athlete working in obscurity for years before finally seizing the day when everyone expects just the opposite.

Any sports fan will tune in for that.

Erik Gudris writes and moderates the tennis news and commentary site Adjustingthenet.com

Although the story a few days ago should have been about Ana Ivanovic losing 3-6, 0-6 to Alisa Kleybanova and how the former French Open champion continues to struggle with her form, it seems like all anyone really wants to talk about is the ongoing feud between her and fellow Serbian tennis star Jelena Jankovic, especially over how Jankovic, after defeating Ivanovic in Madrid, appeared to mock Ivanovic's now trademark fist pump.

I use the word trademark because the gesture appears as part of the logo for Ivanovic's website. It's not clear yet if this graphic will become a brand logo at some point, but Ivanovic may want to rethink that as her fist pump seems to be bringing her more attention, but of the unwanted kind.

In her post-match press conference when a reporter asked Ivanovic about Jankovic's actions in Madrid, Ivanovic tried to deflect the question but then responded by saying, “You know how they say: Sport doesn't build character. It shows it.”

Later in her own press conference, when asked about the fist pump, Jankovic added her own two cents by saying, "But for me, as a player, it's ‑‑ every player has their way of, you know, motivating themselves and pumping themselves up, you know, if you win a point or you didn't win a point. But I don't think it's nice to put it, you know, the fist in their face. That's what can be a little irritating." She went on to add, "We're both professionals. We want to do our best on the court, and I think we should play fair. That's just my opinion. I have nothing, you know, against her or fist pumps or whatever. I play my game. I have my personality. I'm myself, and it's none of my business what Ana does or all these other girls on the court. But for me, I prefer to this kind of way (playing fair) like I already explained."

Many have suggested that Ivanovic's fist pumping on almost every point has become something of a nervous tick that she developed during her recent bout of low confidence. If she's even aware that she does on almost every point is a big question, but only time and perhaps the guidance of her new coach Heinz Gunthardt will help her tone it down. But back to the logo. The standard rules for any good brand logo is that it should immediately convey the best attributes and/or emotions of the product or company, even to those who are not aware of the company/product first hand. Ivanovic's logo, definitely suggests a confident women playing tennis, but what if Ivanovic never gets back to the top tier again? Does she really want her "symbol" to be a fist pump that has earned her more derision than support?

It's probably overkill itself to continue the discussion of Ivanovic as a brand until her tennis career ends. She could still turn her game around and live up to the potential she fulfilled two years ago when she won Paris, but lately her modeling and other outside interests threaten to overshadow the biggest moment in her professional sports career. But let's hope she will be remembered more for her victories on the tennis court than all the outside interests, though lucrative, she continues to pursue. After all, no one can trademark a fist pump, because it belongs to all of us who hit a great shot whether it be or Court Suzanne Lenglen or playing against a friend down at the local rec park.

Click here to visit Ana Ivanovic's official website.

Erik Gudris is a writer and moderator of Adjustingthenet.com.

Normally I don't comment on specific matches but I wanted to give a special shout out of R-E-S-P-E-C-T to four women who battled it out on the red clay of Paris today: Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Kirilenko, Aravane Rezai, and Nadia Petrova. Although Kirilenko defeated the defending champion Kuznetsova in three sets while Petrova and Rezai battled to 7-all in the final set before darkness halted play, all four women played almost flawless tennis in the late hours of the Paris evening.

But more than that, they did themselves and the WTA tour proud by showing that women's tennis, despite recent media focus on see-through dresses and hyped-up "catfights" over hand gestures, can provide fans with compelling, high quality matches on any given day. Sure this was during a Grand Slam where everything gets heightened to another level, but great WTA tour matches take place throughout the year, and probably at a local tournament near you.

There's been a lot of recent articles commenting on how today's women's game isn't as exciting as it was "back in the day" and that some of the top players could stand to lose a few pounds. Although I will concede that plenty of women's matches sometimes don't live up to hype either due to nerves or lack of great play, I counter that argument by saying not every ATP match is a scintillating tour de force either. Sometimes I feel like the WTA tour, especially at combined Masters events or even Grand Slams, gets second billing status by the very sports media sent to cover them.

Sure there's been some really lopsided women's finals at Grand Slams recently, but the men have had their fair share too. My point is that many reporters covering tennis at the French Open should stop reducing the women players to just what they wear on court or focusing on who said what to who two months ago during a match that nobody barely remembers and instead focus on the actual matches at hand. I know catfights and hemlines sell papers (of the digital kind now) but this isn't junior high or a teenage sitcom on Fox or the CW. Let's give the women of the WTA tour a little more respect both on the court and in the press room. Those who played their hearts out today certainly deserve it.

For those tennis fans who are just now tuning into the clay court season as it reaches it’s climax at the French Open starting this week, some may be missing an old friend that they come to expect and love during a close match. Hawk-Eye, the on-court technology that allows players the opportunity to challenge a close line call during a match, is not in use in Paris and has not been active at all during the entire clay court season.

 

French Open officials, despite numerous calls for the installation of Hawk-Eye, refuse to use it, saying that clay still allows players and the chair umpire the chance to see a close mark themselves making Hawk-Eye redundant. But it’s not just the French who see no use in the system. No other clay court events this year, including those in the U.S., used Hawk-Eye either and there’s been no indication that any of them will soon.  Despite this, ESPN and the other networks covering the French Open and other clay events in Europe, use an unofficial version of the technology to replay close calls, but only for the benefit of viewers watching online or on TV.

 

With Hawk-Eye becoming such a fan favorite at many other tennis tournaments, including all of other the Grand Slams, is it time for France, to step into the 21^st century and install the system?  I would say yes, but only because the other Slams use the technology. It may happen next year, but for now, we will have to sit back and enjoy some of the mini-dramas created when a player points at one mark while the umpire looks at another, dramas that only happens on the ‘terre battue’.

 

Erik Gudris moderates the tennis news and commentary site adjustingthenet.com

One of the more intriguing and yet still controversial aspects of the WTA tour is the use of on-court coaching during matches. Players are allowed to see their coach, or someone acting as one, at least once during each set. And whether or not the coaching helps players who find themselves down in a match, the simple break in action can take on a drama all its own depending on the player and coach involved.

Just today during her loss to Jelena Jankovic in Madrid, Ana Ivanovic called for her coach Heinz Gunthardt for some advice. Though Ivanovic complained throughout she wasn't able to see the ball clearly, Gunthardt midly chided her for "choking" the match away after Ivanovic was up a set and a break. These tough love commentaries, especially when in English, provide their own mini soap operas or comic relief depending on the pairing involved.

During her loss to Venus Williams in Miami earlier this year, Daniela Hantuchova called for her coach, the very astute Darren Cahill to help her navigate the Williams return game. Cahill offered a gem of advice when he told his frustrated charge, that "Venus is going to attack your serve. She (Venus) always brings it. You know that." Cahill did offer some tactical advice and words of encouragement as well, but the body language between the two was enough to tell the viewer that Hantuchova, at least in her own mind, wasn't convinced she could win.

Finally, the best coach/player performance has to go to Caroline Wozniacki and her father, Piotr, who serves as her coach. Piotr often comes out during each of Wozniacki's matches and although their conversations are always in Polish, the animated way Piotr tells his charge what she's doing wrong  peppered in with a few "Carolina, Carolina" while his young daughter grumpily looks off in the distance is good enough to be its own sitcom on Polsat.

So the next time you're watching a WTA match, don't run into the kitchen to grab a drink during a changeover. You might just be treated to an extra helping of drama or comedy, depending on the scoreline.

Erik Gudris is a writer and media consultant based in Los Angeles. He moderates the tennis news site Adjustingthenet.com.

It’s no big secret that Juan Martin Del Potro continues to deal with an ongoing wrist injury that has forced him out of play since the Australian Open. But as the tennis community waits to hear on when the winner of last’s year’s U.S. Open will officially return, the actual communication of his progress is turning into its own news story as the past weeks have been filled with rumors, off the record confessions and varying stories on what is actually going on. In fact, the sloppy way Del Potro and his team are managing the media side of this injury could end up doing more damage to the star than his tender wrist.

The latest report coming from Clarins.com, an Argentinian news site, is that Del Potro will fly this week to Rochester, New York to meet noted wrist specialist Dr. Richard Berger who will assess the problem diagnosed (by some sources) as acute tendinitis. The website goes on to say that surgery could be a real possibility and, if that happens, Del Potro may miss out on the rest of the season. Also in the story was a revelation by a source in Del Potro’s camp, who wished to remain unidentified, that the star recently suffered from panic attacks as result of dealing with the injury and his new found fame and fortune. The attacks have since ceased but it’s hard to know what to believe when the information being provided is not coming from an official source. Ugo Colombini, Del Potro’s manager, did say that he hopes to know more after Del Potro meets with the doctor on Tuesday.

It’s understandable that Del Porto’s team would want to wait on a second medical opinion before announcing any major news regarding Del Potro’s wrist, but Del Potro’s team should manage the situation in proactive way rather than have rumors seep out from their camp. It surprised me that Del Potro still doesn’t have his own official website. I’m not saying it has to be fancy, but it would be better to use that as the platform for updates. They should take a clue from Dinara Safina who during her recent injury saga with her lower back kept a low profile but finally used her website to inform everyone on how she was progressing with treatment.

After his U.S. Open win, I wondered how Del Potro, who is still very young and somewhat shy, would handle the instant spotlight and stardom thrust upon him. Although it’s very unfortunate what has happened and everyone hopes for a speedy recovery, like it or not, Del Potro is in the public eye and he and his team need to find a better balance between guarding and sharing information with his fans and the press.

Click here to read the Clarins article though translation may be needed.

Erik Gudris is a writer and media consultant based in Los Angeles and is the moderator for Adjustingthenet.com.

With social media and all its various platforms and apps taking over how many people stay in touch with one another, it’s no surprise that many WTA pros quickly took advantage of these new tools to communicate with their fans and comment on their lives in general. In an effort to aggregate all of the various players and their social networking platforms into one spot, the WTA tour recently launched its new WTA Superfans website.

 

Although the site is still young and the effort, for the most part, is sincere, it all comes across as one big “hot mess” for visitors. For those who still don’t know what that phrase means, according to UrbanDictionary.com, a “hot mess” is defined as “when one’s thoughts or appearance are in a state of disarray but they maintain an undeniable attractiveness or beauty.

 

WTA Superfans definitely gives off a hip and funny vibe but it all comes across to me like a flashy but weird multinational 9^th grade yearbook. After enduring a very long uploading process, visitors are treated to a barrage of obviously staged photo opps, recent posts by pros either on their personal Facebook or Twitter accounts and just a lot of odd photos period like the one of Ana Ivanovic above.

 

And then there’s the moderator of this site, only known as “Center Court Yoda” who’s some dude in London sporting a blonde mullet commenting once in a while on what the ladies tweet or post about.  I’m not sure if he’s for real or just some guy brought in for laughs but his presence just adds to the whole feeling of disarray.

 

Right now, only ten WTA players are listed on the site and it runs the gamut from the queen of tweets, Serena Williams, who really only uses her official Twitter posts to promote her latest spots on the Home Shopping Network or her fanatical love of the band Green Day, to Justine Henin who barely tweets at all. In the middle, you have Kim Clijsters, rising star Melanie Oudin, and Victoria Azarenka, who recently unleashed an expletive fueled tweet to those questioning her commitment during a recent loss.

 

But where are the other players who use social media on a regular basis? What about Svetlana Kuznetsova, winner of the French Open last year, who sends off amusing, tweets though most of them are in her native Russian? Or young British player Anne Keothavong who writes some of the funniest and candid tweets around, like this gem, “Lost today, opponent played well and served big. I played like a muppet and there were a few cross eyed people who didn't help matters.”  Or even German player Andrea Petkovic who bills herself as “the first ever tennis-playing Rock 'n' Roller”. Are they not cool enough to hang out with the “in-crowd” of Serena and the gang? Or does Anne and Andrea’s lack of star status preclude them? Wouldn’t WTA Superfans be the ideal place to promote these rising stars to a wider audience in a time when the WTA desperately needs new blood to keep the tour exciting?

 

If WTA Superfans is billing itself as the one-stop place for all WTA social media, then it’s giving off false advertising. Plus, all the super-cool graphics are really too distracting for those who just want to get the latest news from their favorite players. The site has time to figure it out, but right now, if you want to keep up with your favorite WTA star, I suggest going directly to the source.

 

Erik Gudris is a writer and media consultant based in Los Angeles. He writes and moderates his own tennis site, Adjustingthenet.com

 

The whereabouts and health of former world No. 1 Dinara Safina have finally been answered by the Russian star herself in a new blog post on her recently updated official website. According to Safina, she is recovering and rehabing in Croatia and slowly on her way back to the practice courts.

Safina goes into specific detail about her injury which has prevented her from playing  since her retirement in her fourth round match to Maria Kirilenko at this year's Australian Open. She writes, "My injury from Australia was pretty bad and takes so long to heal. The problem is that I had it since Cincinnati last year, and since then had been playing all the time while on pain killers. My back was really bad there but I didn’t feel anything the rest of the season until my last match at the Australian Open. After that match, I had an MRI and I had two stress fractures on L5S1 and a rupture on the muscle. That was the worst news I could ever hear from a doctor, but now finally I’m recovering, though not as fast as I would prefer."

Although there's been talk Safina might return to action at this year's event in Rome, she gave no such indication on her site. In any event, it's welcome news that she is at least on the mend healthwise even though her ranking might not fare as well in the coming months.

Click here to visit Dinara Safina's website.

(This post originally appeared on Adjustingthenet.com)