Tennis Roadtrippin'

One thing I would not recommend is spending 8 days in Las Vegas. I literally felt like I had been gone for a month and was completely removed from reality.

An unprecedented controversy occured at the Tennis Channel Open while I was there. A new round robin format was used for this tournament as opposed to the traditional single elimination format (round robin gives fans more than one opportunity to see their favorite player if they happen to lose their first match). Defending champion James Blake lost his first match. To advance, Blake had to blow out his opponent in his second match and he was on his way to doing that, up 6-1, 3-1. His opponent was experiencing mild discomfort in his knee, so instead of forcing himself to continue playing, risking injury when it was obvious he would lose, he retired (forfeited the match to Blake) assuming Blake would move on.

Little did they know, the rules state that if your opponent retires, you get the win, but not the points. Therefore, Blake did not have enough points to advance. He started flipping out, yelling at everyone at the Tennis Channel saying he would never play in this tournament again.

In a surprising decision, the tournament directors called the head of the ATP in Portugal to ask if they should make an exception considering this is a new format and the players were unaware of the rules. Woken up in the middle of the night and not entirely aware of the situation, the ATP Director in Portugal gave permission to switch the ruling allowing Blake to advance.

I was in attendance at my first sports press conference as James Blake said he thought they made a good decision in the end. Other players such as Lleyton Hewitt who were interviewed disagreed saying "they can't change the rules in the middle of the tournament."

It turns out Lleyton was right. The following morning, the ATP reversed its decision and ruled that Blake would not advance. The ATP Director said he had been unclear on what exactly was going on when he made the decision.

Lleyton Hewitt ended up winning the tournament.

Drama at the Tennis Channel Open. Exciting stuff.

Attached are pics of the player party the night before TCO, my new passion for climbing mountains anywhere I can find them (Vegas and Malibu), and the Pacific Life Open tournament in Palm Springs from the following weekend.

Tennis. Who knew it could be a fun sport?!