Mornin'. Wanted to drop in with a little book talk before I start packing for my trip to the Great Plains and Glacier National Park - remember, I'm away until the 14th.
Most of you are well aware of the eternal battle waged by doubles players to keep their branch of the two-pronged game from withering away. This struggle has been fought with mixed results, but doubles continues to hang in there - not quite able to stand alone, more than able to please and satisfy legions of spectators at every tennis event.
Marcia Frost, a tireless tennis advocate and commentator on college and junior tennis, does most of her work in the trenches of the game, far from the glitzy outposts of the ATP and WTA tour. She's written a book: American Doubles . . The Trials. . .The Triumphs. . . The Domination: What you Didn't Know about U.S. Tennis.
I haven't read the book, but I know Marcia and asked her to give me a list of 10 things tennis fans are not likely to know about the game. So here we go:
• American Elizabeth Ryan won 12 Wimbledon doubles titles (including 6 in a row between 1914-1923); one U.S. National Championship; and four French Open Women’s Doubles Titles, as well as eight Grand Slam Mixed Doubles Championships. Elizabeth never lost a doubles match at Wimbledon, making her the winner of more Wimbledon Ladies Doubles (12) and Mixed Doubles (7) than any other player.
• Becoming an American citizen bodes well for a doubles standout - Liezl Huber became No. 1 in the world after attaining her American citizenship, Martina Navratilova achieved her doubles Slam traveling on a U.S. passport.
• Vic Seixas and Tony Trabert (who would continue as a popular tennis commentator for many years), were the winners of 15 doubles titles in the 1950s.
• Arthur Ashe was an NCAA singles champ, but he also won the NCAA doubles title - as well 18 professional doubles tournaments.
• The only person to ever win a junior Doubles Grand Slam was an American -- Beth Herr. Brendan Evans and Scott Oudsema came within one game of becoming the only team to win the junior Doubles Grand Slam. In 2003, they won the Australian, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and had served for the title at Roland Garros.
• Boys representing the United States have won three out of the last four U.S. Open Junior Doubles Championships. They have also made the finals of half of all the Grand Slam junior doubles events since 1997.
• IN 32 years of NCAA men's doubles finals, only three contending teams that did not at least on US partner. In the women’s NCAA doubles finals (27 in total), at least one American was involved in every match.
• On the USTA Pro Circuit in 2007, American Women were in 29 of 41 doubles finals, winning 22 of them. American Men made the finals of an astounding 51 out of 53 of the events, winning 41.
• Americans are leading the Wheelchair Doubles circuit, with David Wagner and Nick Taylor on a three and a half year winning streak through the 2007 Masters. Beth Arnoult-Ritthaler and Kaitlyn Verfuerth won Gold in women’s doubles at the 2007 Parapan American Games.
• John McEnroe and Peter Fleming hold the Davis Cup doubles record for most wins (14-1).
Hmmm. . . Is the US becoming "doubles nation"?
PS - And here's another book note: Paul Fein has published a new book: Tennis Confidential II: More of Today's Greatest Players, Matches, and Controversies. It features a foreword by Mary Carillo, and can also be examined at www.tennisconfidential.com.
We now return you to our regular scheduled programming - the Cincinnati Masters. This is your Crisis Center post for today; please keep posts on-topic until play winds down, and then chat away to your heart's content!