Tennis Week's Major Makeover

It's fascinating to see how IMG, that many-tentacled giant squid of a company, is retooling Tennis Week, which it bought at the end of 2006. The magazine used to be a charming, informative but ultimately very sleepy little thing. Now it looks like IMG is going to morph it into something akin to US Weekly. See, IMG's burgeoning magazine division is run by a funny lady named Brandusa Niro, who semi-famously knocked off former US Weekly editrix Bonnie Fuller when the celebrity rag put out a one-off edition all about New York Fashion Week. IMG, which owns Fashion Week, hired Niro to keep putting out the giddy little papers all about who air-kissed whom on the way into the Yigal Azruel show or whatever. Now they're hoping the same sugar-coated formula can entrance tennis insiders. Racqonteur sees too many probable pitfalls to inumerate, starting with the seismic conflict of interest found in the same company that represents the players and own the tournaments publishing a piece of "journalism" about that world. But who's counting?

Tennis' Most Glamorous Fan?

The ever-intriguing world of tennis may get short shrift from most sports pages and the media at large, but the game has one dedicated—and seriously chic—supporter in Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. In the September editions of her women's and men's magazines, tennis makes more than a few appearances. In "Talking Fashion," the chic people of the moment are Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and...Roger Federer. Then in "People are Talking About," the Serbian marvels Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic (looking their very best) each get a page. In Men's Vogue, Ana scores another page. This comes after last spring's Federer cover, as well as previous feature articles about him as well as James Blake. Racqonteur has spotted Wintour's silver Town Car idling outside Manhattan's Midtown Tennis Club on numerous occasions, and it's fabulous to see that she's channeling her personal passion into some much-needed publicity for the sport.

Selena's Back on the Beat

As much as Racqonteur bemoans the New York Times' consistent lack of tennis coverage, favoring instead to dissect the trivial details of team sports, its most potent saving grace comes with the writing of Selena Roberts. This Grey Lady scribe brings the most intelligence, insight, context and perspective to the subject of tennis of any mainstream writer on the scene. And while she's been away from the courts for the last while—writing, presumably, about football nonsense or ice skating—she's back today with a fantastic discussion of Federer and his uniquely low-key but sophisticated approach to super-stardom. Cheers to Selena. Let's hope she stays on topic through the Open.

Network Nonsense

One often has to wonder if the programming wizards at ESPN's Connecticut lair are:

a. Moronic
b. Narcoleptic
c. Sadistic
d. Schizophrenic
e. All of the above

It is with astounding regularity that the supposed "Worldwide Leader in Sports" drop-kicks its devoted tennis viewers with erratic scheduling that even the most advanced Tivo can't get a grip on. Just today, anyone tuning in to enjoy its advertised window of coverage of the ATP event in D.C. found instead the end of the first set of a Quarterfinal at the WTA event in Carlsbad. Huh? And after the quick conclusion of that match, the channel jumped into one of its mind-numbing talk-jock news hours. No acknowledgment from the network, no apology. No indication of when they might decided to show the men's tennis. Just the same old "you're lucky we're even airing this fourth-tier excuse for a sport, you silly tennis fans" attitude ESPN commonly delivers. Bravo!

The Grey Lady's Blindspot

The paper of record. All the news that's fit to print. About every imaginable topic under the sun... Except tennis. Like any curious citizen of Info-nation, the Racqonteur relies on The New York Times for its exhaustive reporting and occasional insight. Too bad the paper treats the great sport of tennis with about as much interest as chili-eating contests and curling. Outside of the slams, tennis coverage is whittled down to microscopic score boxes, while endless column inches are lavished on the meat and potato sports. One precious exception has been the Times' intermittent glossy sports magazine, Play, which has printed such fabulous tennis writing as David Foster Wallace's ode to Federer. Too bad the paper leaves tennis out in the cold the rest of the time.