Tennis Chatter: Friday Afternoon Laziness

I arrived this morning at the TENNIS office to find myself nearly completely alone on our floor. Three sales guys were there, along with Troy, the other intern, and one of the graphic editors. Needless to say, Troy and I were out of there by lunch time - TGIF! The open afternoon has allowed me to go on my run, catch up on emails and - most importantly - get the latest Tennis Chatter from around the tour:

Venus Williams has committed to the Acura Classic in San Diego, which begins July 28th. Barring the CincinnatiStanfordLastMinuteWithdrawalBug, the Acura could be one of the best fields of women minus the slams this year.

I mean really. The field at the Western & Southern looks like a Challenger event. And Stanford more like the US Open Qualies bracket. The WTA needs to figure out how to get its players to, well - play.

Every morning Troy and I enjoy perusing through a number of tennis web sites. One of our favorites has to be Corned Beef Hash Marks, a blog by my West Coast buddy Erwin. Witty writing and seriously serious tennis topics found here. Love it!

Feliciano Lopez, long an ATP underachiever, looks fierce in his win over Juan Carlos Ferrero today in Stuttgart. He's in the semis against another Spaniard. Yeah, that one named Nadal.