TENNIS TUESDAY: Federer Returns To #1; Kvitova Win Streak Reaches 13 and WTA Top 10; Young-Harrison Racial Controversy

FEDERER RETURNS TO ATP #1; BREAKING EVEN MORE RECORDS
By reaching the semifinals of the Amsterdam indoor tournament (after defending his 2017 Australian Open title last month) Roger Federer is now the #1 player for the first time in 5 years and at age 36 he eclipses Andre Agassi as the oldest player to ever reach the top of the ATP rankings. He sets and breaks multiple records by reaching the pinnacle of men's tennis again, replacing long-time rival Rafael Nadal at #1. He extends his record of most weeks at #1 to at least 303 and 5 years is the largest gap anyone has ever had between losing and regaining the #1 ranking.

FEDERER DEMOLISHES DIMITROV TO WIN 97TH CAREER TITLE
Not satisfied to simply reach the semifinals and return to World #1 at the ABN AMRO Indoors, Federer ended up winning the tournament by defeating Andreas Seppi followed by Grigor Dimitrov to win his 97th career title. His win over World #5 Dimitrov in the final was one of his most one-sided victories in  tour final (6-2 6-2) and is a good measure of his excellent form at the moment. Federer is now looking forward to reaching triple-digits in tour titles and may even be contemplating trying to surpass the all-time record of Jimmy Connnors at 109 before he retires.

KVITOVA WINS 13 MATCHES IN A ROW; INCLUDES BACK-TO-BACK TITLES
Despite having a tough first round loss to Andrea Petkovic (10-8 in the 3rd set!), Petra Kvitova has turned her year into high gear by winning 13 matches in a row (against top competition). The streak has earned her titles at the St. Petersburg and Doha tournaments. In Doha, she beat World #3 Elina Svitolina, World #1 Caroline Wozniacki and World #4 Garbine Muguruza! The win returns the 2-time major champion to the Top 10 on the WTA tour.

DONALD YOUNG ALLEGES RACIST REMARKS PART OF VERBAL DISPUTE DURING MATCH WITH RYAN HARRISON
After losing in straight sets to fellow American Ryan Harrison in a match that clearly features verbal fireworks between the players Donald Young tweeted "I’m shocked and disappointed, Ryan Harrison, to hear you tell me how you really feel about me as a black tennis player." Harrison strongly denied the accusation and an investigation by the ATP has resulted in no corroboration of Young's version of events. However, many people have noted that Harrison has been in several verbal clashes with his opponents in the last year, including  with Dudi Sela a few weeks ago at this year's Australian Open.

2017 FRENCH OPEN: Round 1 Complete; Kerber, Konta, Tsonga, Zverev Out

The first round of the 2017 French Open is now complete. It took three days, and there were a relatively small number of upsets. The biggest upset (but not a surprise) was World #1 Angelique Kerber losing to Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 6-2 on the first day. There was some thought that World #1 Andy Murray would follow suit, but he came back from losing a 6-4 second set against Aelex Kuznetsov to win a 6-0 final set.

Other notable defeats were Jo Konta, 2017 Rome champion Sascha Zverev (to Fernando Verdasco), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The usual suspects are still around: Rafael Nadal, defending champion Novak Djokovic, tournament favorite Simona Halep and remaining top seed Karolina Pliskova all won relatively easily. Other players I am interested also won: Venus Williams, Sveta Kuznetsova, Garbine Muguruza and Madison Keys on the women's side and Dominic Thiem, Gael Monfils (who won a fun match with Dustin Brown) and Stan Wawrinka.

2015 US OPEN: Order of Play For Labor Day Visit (Halep, Murray, Berdych, Kvitova, Federer)

Well, I have a ticket for Louis Armstrong and a grounds pass so these are matches I will be able to see today. I'll try and do more updates today but I doubt I'll have as good seats today as I did yesterday, when I was courtside on Grandstand!

2015 US OPEN: Order of Play For Today's In-Person Viewing!

The order of play for Sunday September 6th at the U.S. Open shows that there are some interesting and exciting matches on tap for me to see while I'm there. Unfortunately, most of them are in the behemoth that is Arthur Ashe Stadium. I just have a grounds pass today, but I couldn't afford a seat i Ashe that would let me view the play from the vantage point that would seem reasonable. But I'll still have fun watching those matches on the big screen On Grandstand there's the intriguing mixed doubles duo of Taylor Townsend and Donald Young at 130pm that I will check out before  the Venus match (I have never even heard of Anna Kontaveit, have you??) and the Serena-Madison match and then that's basically it for singles matches. I'm hoping for no upsets!

I'll try and post some updates about how the day is going either here or on Twitter later!

LOOK: Davis Cup Teams For America and Britain In San Diego Now

The First Round Davis Cup is happening this weekend in San Diego. John Isner is injured so Donald Young will be facing off against World #6 Andy Murray.

The above photo shows the smartly dressed British team in blue suits contrasted with the casually dressed American team, in blue jeans.

2012 US OPEN: Men's Draw Released

Finally one of the most pressing questions surrounding the 2012 US Open can be answered. Roger Federer and Andy Murray will be in the same (top) half of the draw, with 2011 US Open defending champion Novak Djokovic by himself in the bottom half of the draw, thanks to Rafael Nadal's absence from the tournament.

In fact, Federer has one of his toughest draws at a major tournament in a long time. In the 3rd round he has a potential match up with Fernando Verdasco with a 4th round encounter with Ivo Karlovic, Gilles Simon or Mardy Fish. His quarterfinal opponent could be Tomas Berdych  or Sam Querrey. Then Federer would face Murray in the semifinal and Djokovic in the final. Federer's first round match is with African-American lefty Donald Young who is having an annus horribilis with a 3-21 record for the year.

Other interesting first-round matches are Juan Martin del Potro versus David Nalbandian, Ernests Gulbis versus Tommy Haas and Robin Haase versus Feliciano Lopez.

USTA Names Men's and Women's Olympics Teams

The United States Tennis Association today named the members of the men's and women's teams who will represent the United States at the London Olympics. As I predicted, Venus Williams and Serena Williams were named to the team in both singles and doubles. Interestingly, John Isner and Andy Roddick  (as well as Mike and Bob Bryan, of course) were named to the doubles team, so I wonder who will get to play with Serena in the new mixed-doubles competition?

Murray Routs Young To Win 19th ATP Title

AFP PHOTO / Pornchai KITTIWONGSAKUL

World #4 Andy Murray of Great Britain dismantled American youngster Donald Young 6-2 6-0 to win his 19th ATP Tour title of his career at the PTT Thailand Open. It was Young's first ATP Tour final of the year (and career) but his opponent's 4th of the year and 29th of his career.

Murray lost the  2011 Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic but won the Cincinnati Masters title after the Serbian retired and the Queen's Club final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on grass. The win today was Murray's 3rd title of the year.

Donald Young Beats Monfils To Reach 1st ATP Final

Donald Young celebrates during his semifinal win against Gael Monfils

(photo credit: AP)

22-year old African-American Donald Young came back from 1-4 down in the 3rd set to win his first career ATP tour semifinal match 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(5) against Gael Monfils of France at the PTT Thailand Open. Young, six years ago was the top junior tennis player in the world but had generally struggled on the ATP tour until this year's U.S. Open where he made the quarterfinals, losing to Andy Murray.

Unfortunately for Young, his opponent in his first tour final will be Andy Murray, who won his semifinal match against Gilles Simon in 3 lopsided sets. Interestingly, this will be the third time Young and Murray have played each other this year, splitting matches.

This is only the second time Murray has played the Thailand tournament, reaching the final both times. Very few players actually win their first tour final, it is doubtful Young will. However, by just reaching the final he shall probably be ranked #43 in the world on Monday, more than 80 places higher than he started the year.

US OPEN 2011: Sharapova Loses, Murray Survives

Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images for USTA

Update from Day 5 of the US Open. Maria Sharapova lost to Flavia Pennetta. Andy Murray lost the first two sets and then refused to lose another,w winning in 5 against Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Donald Young gutted out an amazing 5th set tiebreak win over 2010 US Open quarterfinalist Stanislas Wawrinka.

Donald Young Upsets Tommy Haas 6-2 6-4 at UCLA

In a surprising upset, 19-year-old African American lefty Donald Young defeated Tommy Haas 6-2 6-4 at the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles on Tuesday nite.