Miami Crisis Center

Miami turned out to be a bust for the Stanford ATP Doubles Leaders, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram; the No. 3 seeds, they lost to the Brazilian squad of Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa in straight sets in the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday. But USA Today's Doug Robson, who frequently writes for Tennis and Tennis.com, broke an even more disturbing story this week - the tale of how and why Erlich and Ram pulled out of Dubai a few weeks ago.

I guess there are a lot of ways to look at this story, although the end result is the same: the top doubles team in the world were persuaded not to enter the prestigious and highly remunerative tournament in  Dubai because they are Israelis , and the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a member, has institutional as well as popular anti-Israel (and Israeli) policies.  There's no wiggle room on that issue; it's an indisputable fact. But there is a lot of wiggle room for various interpretations in this latest saga, which probably is just how the tournament and the ATP wants it.

But the fact that security agencies in Dubai and Israel advised the players to stay home, and that the ATP's own stand seems so cool and bloodless, is disturbing. As ATP CEO Etienne de Villiers rather loftily put it: "It is not our role to advise (players on) what to do. What we have to do is give them the best information to make the choice. … Ultimately, they chose not to go."

You can't lay much blame at the security agencies of either Dubai or Israel; their mission and focus is narrow, they're just the messengers. As for the ATP and its associates (the tournament promoters), I get the sense from Doug's report that they would just as soon this issue go away as quietly as possible. And that has pretty much been accomplished. Israeli players have been successfully kept from competing in Dubai, the show goes on, just chill and enjoy the room-service caviar. It's an impressive political victory, even if it is for the wrong side.

The most telling thing about the incident may be the absolute lack of evident discontent or objection by the ATP (at least in this story) with this state of affairs. Along with the WTA, the men's ruling body seems to have decided to work around the basic problem of Dubai's anti-Israel policies. As de Villiers said: "It (the situation) reflects the messy world we live in. We deal with situations that aren't necessarily black and white, and we try to do our best."

It's pretty clear that de Villiers is no Arthur Ashe, but at least he isn't pretending to be, either. And while we're on that subject, I don't imagine we'll see Roger, Mirka, Maria or any of the other players volunteering to serve as human shields for Israeli players in Dubai any time soon, either.

But hey, did you see that indoor ski mountain? How cool is that!

Enjoy the tennis - this will by your Crisis Center for today.