Anyone in Manhattan this week could have attended Wimbledon – from Rockefeller Center’s big screen. Food, Wii, talking…and oh yeah, tennis. If you went to watch that. It was a great event for families to see.

The crowd thinned out from an earlier match when I went a few days ago, with people interested in eating the free snacks, getting up every few minutes. And eating. Eating. I felt like saying, “There’s a game on!

Sit down!” If they wanted to do this a week, it might have made a better idea to run it during the quarter and semi-finals to peak more interest. The place would have been packed for a grand Nadal-Federer showoff!

People were talking among themselves, some about tennis, some about visiting Rockefeller Center.

Wii

Recently, I’ve been fascinated by playing surfaces. I took back everything I said about court preferences against grass that day. You could walk around the grass court set up for an exhibition match, and seeing how the grass ripped up, smelled, looked, etc. I understood why the surface is unplayable for some on a wet day. I asked someone about playing on clay the past weekend. It’s supposed to create lots of dust that makes you cough as you play, make a horrible mess for a few wash machine cycles, and is generally “gross. Grass is better.” I’m curious now about the benefits of a grass court experience.

I, of course, grabbed a complimentary strawberries and cream the HSBC Bank employees insisted was “the same they eat at Wimbledon.” It was really frozen Cool Whip, not anything I would ask for a load of like the others, but good fresh strawberries all the same. I guess free food does that to people.

Over in a corner, the bank had set up about six televisions hooked up to Wiis. The Wii tennis matches were really interesting for me, having never played anything on Wii. The last time I remember playing a sports Nintendo game was on an already old back then Nintendo Entertainment System in eighth grade. I must have been the single person over 18 trying the Wiis.

The row of TVs had kids with full Lacoste sets I am sure will be tomorrow’s commentators and tennis fanatics. Not our other row. My ”opponents” were an elementary girl and a high school guy who didn’t follow tennis much but had probably won Wimbledon in the Wiis they had at home. The guy was winning at the beginning from having set mine on right-handed! I made sure to correct that to left – I’m right-handed and forgot I am left-handed in tennis. I played as Roger Federer. I felt like being someone who has hair left. The high school guy wanted to be Ana Ivanovic, and we joked about the reasons for that.

The sport? Oh, right. The person I wanted to win lost that day. Everything is elevated watching it on a bigger screen. The ties, set losses, the wanting to egg on your player, is more intense than watching it in your living room. I really wish people would continue this for another week to watch the bigger matches.

Sam Querrey

You readers know I’m an avid supporter of Mr. Sam Querrey and the  American guys, and I feel saddened to see Sam go in an American-American match against James Blake.  It’s almost like right when we are getting good American tennis exposure, we have the bad luck of the lineup  singling out our talent to the same old American man with an “R.”

At the same time, I’ve been hoping to see some new faces from other countries to replace our top 10 men.  For every Nadal win, Federer versus Novak, that’s another yawn.  I want to see the new guys shooting out of nowhere…

Rafael Nadal is featured in slick glamour, hair pulled back.  Roger Federer’s wedding is covered on a full glossy page, part of the social
scene usually devoted to Hollywood.  Huh?  Tennis in a women’s fashion magazine?

When American Vogue is putting two of tennis’ top players in a single issue, that’s proof tennis is losing the “popular to everywhere but the
USA” reputation.  It has genuinely arrived.  Nadal has the potential to become the male Maria in endorsement appeal – his playboy charm wrapped in down to earth goodness and talent on court (ignoring a little French Open slip) make him a super estrella for sure.

Thoughts on this, anyone?  When did you realize tennis “made it” in a country obsessed with football and baseball?

Novak Djokovic

The fun for viewers is seeing who makes the French Open as wild cards, who often become tomorrow’s top players.  Look at Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who a while ago nearly won the Australian Open as an unseeded player!  Look at him today advancing at Roland Garros with a great win over Juan Monaco.

I hate how experts judge the wild cards on TV, “He doesn’t stand a chance against (fill in the blank).”  How do you know if the person doesn’t, having never played someone?  Give people the benefit of the doubt.  Unless someone’s playing a No. 1 or No. 2 players, why not?  And a No. 1 could possibly lose to an unseeded player.

Last year, I met a young gentleman normally playing doubles with the unfortunate experience of playing his first time as a singles player at the U.S. Open – against Roger Federer.  Talk about bad luck of the draw.  He did his best putting up a fight when he could’ve given up at the beginning.

On a positive, I’ve noticed a return of good commercials a la The Super Bowl in the Novak Djokovic in the stands gimmicks.  He’s very funny and natural in them, making me wonder how we could miss out on him as a sponsor.  It’s a very nice change from the boring silent commercials
with court clips.

Enjoy the French Open, wild card fans!  If you hurry to the right side of the stands, you may find a nice puppy dog balloon, gifted from Novak for your girlfriend…

Maria Sharapova: Model or tennis player?

At this point, she has earned more money than many people will see in  their lifetimes.  She won grand slams, performed what she needed to do to become a memorable female athlete, and if she wants to forget her number one ranking, I don’t know if I would do anything else in her place.  She is a young girl.  Tennis schedules get hectic, her other modeling/spokeswoman career is more lucrative and fascinating.  Why not play halfheartedly and enjoy life?  She could become an actress, movie producer, fund her own sports ventures, anything she dreams of!

The flip side of the coin is sports are about passion.  You don’t care about money once you have it but winning, being the best to save your dignity.  I believe that’s what other top players have and top athletes in every field: drive.  Miss Sharapova could demand to be the best, extending her presence beyond today’s tennis to ages from now, the way we talk about Babe Ruth, thei height of Wayne Gretzsky, etc.

It’s her choice.  What would you do?

Cut Richard Gasquet some slack

How many athletes use drugs or alcohol off season when they aren’t being tested, when they are away from the public eye?  That’s right.  You can claim they probably don’t.  Honestly, you don’t know what people, these role models, are doing around the end of tournament season.  All we know of these players is how they conduct themselves at press conferences.

Worse, why is there a double standard in sports that partying with alcohol is given a “cool” pass while drugs are “bad?”  For anyone wanting to make the argument about being a good role model for kids, I want to hear your side on why overdoing alcohol is acceptable for NBA and MLB stars at the same time when Michael Phelps gets grilled in the media over one pot incident, possibly losing huge sponsors.

Hollywood actors can make comebacks after a few stints in rehab and if Britney can return with a concert tour, come on, give Richard Gasquet a chance.  I personally would have banned the guy from a few tournaments until he cleans up his act.  Keep in mind, this is a young man who probably spends most of his life not acting his age to become a top player.  Cut him a break and see if he can keep his promises.  If by then, he is still doing drugs, that is when you need to think about long term bans.

Krystle Clear: Videoblog for TennisGrandstand

Krystle Nicole Russin is a freelance writer and model living in New York City. She covers business and politics for online and print publications and tennis for TennisGrandstand.com and has previously hosted Illinois Stories on PBS.

What TV matches don’t tell you is what each guy out there goes through.

Are tennis players all work and no play?

These guys have to miss a lot of school and times they could’ve spent  hanging out with friends as teens.  They train 9 to 5 days, sort of a  day at the office without paperwork.  Imagine if you had to run on a  treadmill over an hour, huh?  OK.  We all realize nobody likes to go to  the gym, and much less doing that for a living.

You don’t go out partying on weekends.  Nope.  You can’t drink too  heavily if you want to stay in shape.  Beer translates into more sugar
into your body, aka. fat.  Late nights out throw out your body’s schedule, so you might find the balance harder returning to regular  practice.  Movies?  Sure.  But be home early enough.  When traveling,  sight see, but you can’t taste the city like regular tourists do.  You have a day job to put on the next day at a match.

Forget about time off.  Travel is essentially part of your job.  Back  home, you can’t leave.  You must train.  You need to study your  opponents, learn new techniques to improve your serve.  It’s like taking a college course on tennis, graded F or A+ according to how you play at  your next tournament.

By the time you get done driving home from practice, you hang out, maybe talk with friends, listen to music, eat and call it a night.  You go on  the computer and watch as everyone else believes you’re blessed, which though you are as a pro player, you don’t get the spare time everyone  else does to be goofy, take time to discover what it is you want to do in life.  Because for now, your life is tennis, and if you want to succeed, it has to be.

Sam Querrey

The Davis Cup California boy cut his hair into…a mohawk!  Look out for his new trendsetting style to debut sometime soon in Europe as he
begins the long overseas tournament schedule.  Until recently, he was working grown out, Owen Wilson highlights and before that, going au
naturel.

In the past, I commented on Mr. Querrey on how he’s the closest match to David Beckham this side of tennis, and he changes his hairstyles as
often as the original to prove it.  He’s blond, super sweet, down to earth and handsome in that surfer dude next door way.  Keep the Bend It Like Querrey comparisons going as you wish.

I’m wondering, Why doesn’t this guy have more attention from fans, media, etc.?  Ladies, get up off your couch, ignore my recent posting on
any Federer weddings and Google pictures of Sam, if you’re interested in becoming his Posh Spice…

As for me, I may be inspired by Sam’s look and try blonde on for a change.  I famously go between dark brunette and blonde, putting extensions in and out more than some people change their underwear.  You never know.