Ten Days: Ten Topics

Being gone from the tennis world - from the entire world, for that matter - for 10 days feels like a lifetime. Four delayed flights, five days at the cabin and one late-delivered bag later, I'm back in the TENNIS Magazine offices this morning. But, to my utmost shock and surprise, the tennis world continued while I was away. Here's what I missed the most.

1. Jennifer Capriati was on court at the Acura Classic after the women's final to help bid farewell to one of the WTA's most beloved tournaments. I hope it wasn't a pseudo farewell for J-Cap too...

2. Lindsay Davenport officially took the Hingis Train for her comeback transportation. From WTT to doubles to singles. Let's see if the new mama can make some waves on her return to the tour.

3. Sam Querrey and John Isner announced their arrivals on the tour. Is anyone else seeing a taller-than-6'3-trend here?

4. Troy blogged on the Road Trip commercial and the fans loved it! How could they not though, really?

5. The ATP is the next NBA? Yikes.

6. Luke Jensen came to Montana and I totally missed it. Damn, and he could have yelled loudly into my face instead of the TV screen, I'm so sorry I didn't get that real-life experience.

7. Venus supposedly hits the hardest ball in women's tennis - well, at least at last week's Acura. But what I don't understand is that if you're taking the hardest hit shot from a category of six or so, how does that warrant the hardest average? I smell system flaw.

8. Kim Clijsters hasn't updated her web site in two weeks! Someone call the authorities! Well, she could be trying to get pregnant...or saving puppies from the streets of Belgium. No worries, Kim fans, her book is still slated for publishing.

9. The ATP is getting so awkward that they hosted a fashion show to kick off Canada this week.

10. Madison Brengle won her first match in LA as a wild card. Up next? Dementieva or Makarova. Hmmm...

New York Return

After a glorious week in Montana, I'll board a plane this afternoon to head back to NYC. I can't believe I've missed so much in just a week!

Sam Querrey. John Isner. Who are these guys?

Can't wait to let the blogging begin this week.

The Querrey Query

A question was posed to 19-year-old Sam Querrey today at the RCA Championships in Indianapolis: are you ready for the big time?

His answer came in the form of 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6) victory over fifth-seeded Ivo Karlovic in the second round, saving two match points during the two-hour, twenty minute match.

It's been an up-and-down year for Querrey, the next big hope for American tennis. After starting the year 12-7 and launching himself to a career-high ranking of #66 in April, Querrey had been 1-8 since, entering Indianapolis with a 13-15 year-to-date mark and a #91 rank.

So after a first-round triumph over Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the first round, Querrey used his solid serve to defeat Karlovic, a fellow big-server in a match of the tournament's two tallest players.

Up next for Querrey is James Blake, a match-up that Blake has won both times at 6-3 in the third.

Whether or not Querrey will have the answer to the Blake quiz is a matter on its own, though Blake has had his troubles this year, as well. But for now, Sam Querrey seems to have studied well enough recently to get passing grades in the school of big-time tennis.

Now it's time to work for some extra credit.

New (Players) Please

AA few years ago the ATP did all it could in the advertising department with the "New Balls, Please" ad campaign. It was a creative sort of run. There were superhero pictures with players like Hewitt, Safin, Roddick and Coria all gracing the blue/gray ATP posters and billboards with a sort of attitude that said, 'Yeah, we know we're big stuff.'

But the thing is, the NBP generation certainly hasn't produced what the tour thought and hoped it would. Coria is still slam-less (see: '04 final meltdown for that explanation), while Roddick remains a one-slam wonder (see: Federer, Roger) while Safin and Hewitt are known more for being head cases than for their games.

While Federer may have saved that generation on his own, it seemed as though the late 90s guys passed on the torch to the wave of players we are just beginning to see emerge now. With the new issue of TENNIS Magazine out, the abundance of new stars is pared down for those of us who gets all the new -ovics mixed up with the -ovas and criss-crossed with the, well...you get the point.

This "Hot Shot" section is one I really enjoyed. Though Nadal is the only Slam-winner of them all (he owns two French crowns), I don't think the hot shots of this generation will suffer the same fate as the lack-luster crew of the NBP campaign.

There is something about the Ivanovic/Vaidasova/Jankovic future of the WTA that I really like. There is personality, flair, drive and drama. There is also maturity, something we rarely see in women's tennis players prior to their 21st birthdays (see: Hingis, Martina). Is Vania King in the same league as these other girls? Well obviously not yet, but she certainly has the potential, and hey, TENNIS is giving its U.S. fans the optimism we all want.

Same goes for the men: look at that list! Nadal/Djokovic/Monfils/Bagdhatis and Gasquet sure make for a fun top five. What about Andy Murray? He's certainly up there, maybe just not as unknown as the latter four of that group. And while Nadal has been around a good while now, the guy is still young and still willing to do the publicity the ATP wants for a new sort of campaign. Sam Querrey falls in the King category: he can get there, he still has a way to go.

The fact is, the starts will just keep coming. For tennis today, however, I think it is necessary for fans to begin to establish relationships with players early. Look at the way those men listed above have already riled up crowds in many matches; that's something the women must learn to do as well, get some of that on-court spunk and get the crowd behind you. The last thing we need is an unpopular core of top five tennis players...something I doubt the Hot Shot Generation will be anything about.