Ireland, NYT and Boxing, Oh My!

Just a week before Wimbledon and I find myself on the correct side of the pond for the start of the game's greatest Grand Slam. I touched down yesterday morning in Dublin, and have joined my two brothers, dad, uncle and a cousin for 10 days of site-seeing, golf playing and Guinness drinking.

So far, so good in Ireland, as we managed to drive cross country in just about three hours and find a nice little bed and breakfast to catch up on our jet-lagged inspired sleep. We golfed this morning at Adare Manor, a charming course outside of Limerick. There was some Irish-inspired danger to a few of the holes, but for the most part, Adare was tame and the weather held out beautifully for us.

A few weeks ago I got in touch with the powers-that-be with the newly-created Straight Sets blog on the New York Times' web site. I told them that I would be at Wimbledon for the first four days of main draw play, and asked if they wanted an experienced tennis writer to contribute from the grounds. They obliged, and I've been doing some posts for them in lead up to The Championships.

The first was about French-to-Wimbledon trends, specifically on the women's side of the game. The second, published yesterday, was a celebration of Steffi Graf's 40th birthday (today) and an ode to a player that for most of my childhood I loathed (I was a Seles wannabe), but have come to love and appreciate in my adult years.

Meanwhile, back in my hometown, a boxer that I interviewed in December for a feature article just won one of the nation's most prestigious amateur boxing championships in Denver. Normally with this kind of stuff I would smile to myself and maybe shoot the guy an email, but Duran Caferro isn't your average athlete - or person for that matter.

Check out my post about him from January, and watch out for this guy to become a rather well-known lightweight boxer in the professional circuit.

American Miss

The American clay court swing almost ended with the perfect scenarios, almost.

James Blake fell to Mariano Zabaleta in Houston while Venus Williams was outlasted by Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals of their respective green clay tourneys.

And while tournament organizers had originally dreamed of a Blake-Roddick final in Houston (that was spoiled by an injured Roddick withdrawal prior to the start of the week), Charleston saw its top four seeds bow out before the start of their event and then Serena, Vaidisova and Schnyder all crashed out in the opening two days.

Ouch.

Perhaps everyone in the game of tennis - Americans included - is playing their cards correctly. The French Open is a mere five weeks away, and while the WTA still has Charleston underneath the "Tier I" title, players are making decisions that are more geared to the majors these days, and for these two American tournaments, that meant less than impressive fields.

Though dreamy American finals at not-so-dreamy American tournaments would've capped off a solid North American swing, there is much to look forward to in the weeks leading up to the dirty red at Roland Garros. And at least from here, it can only get better.

Crumbling in Charleston

There is no love story this week between the top women of the WTA and the Family Circle Cup, held in Charleston, South Carolina. After the event's four top players withdrew prior to the start of the tournament, both Serena Williams and Nicole Vaidisova fell in their opening matches.

This certainly lends some support to the WTA's roadmap for the tour, which cited that players will withdraw from events less if they have an easier schedule to work with. I'm sure the Charleston folks would have loved to been in that 'required' section this year.

While some active players were missing in action this week, an inactive player played an exhibition in Houston last week. Monica Seles, the nine-time slam winner, defeated Martina Navratilova in three sets (a third-set super tie-breaker was used) and followed up the match with this interesting quote: "I'm looking forward to playing more." Another comeback in the works for Miss Seles? The Houston Chronicle thinks so.

ESPN.com has declared four players "The Ones to Watch" this spring. Will these stories really develop? I think I have the same response for this one as I do for Monica: let's wait it out.