The women’s and men’s tennis tours come through Dubai in consecutive weeks this time of year, tournaments that each go under the name of “Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships,” though they run consecutively and not concurrently … and it’s a pretty big deal. Odd thing about the events this year? Two months ago, the women’s […]

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I was looking at the website of the Gulf Times, the main English-language newspaper in Qatar, the UAE’s neighbor to the north and west. And while searching out some information on the women’s tennis tournament going on there, I happened upon a “lede” I just have to share. Not because it’s good. But because it […]

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I’m not sure I know of anyone who wants to see Maria Sharapova lose. Any time. Anywhere. She’s just so personable and so cute. And she had that shoulder surgery a few years ago, and she’s battled her way back to relevance after being No. 1 while still a teenager. And when she was playing […]

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For most of a decade, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal have been the best tennis players in the world. From Wimbledon 2003 through the French Open this year, they won 26 of 33 grand-slam championships. It seemed as if the only times they lost … were to each other. Even here at the end of […]

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Spent a whole day today covering tennis (and not just writing about it; see yesterday’s entry), and this is what I took from it: I am jealous of tennis writers. It’s very easy to explain, too.

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By the end of the day, I had written something like 2,300 words for The National about the Mubadala World Tennis Championship here in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE. And no one had even struck a ball in anger. But that sort of production is what comes from 1) the day before the biggest […]

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