The Big Statement

To tell you the truth, I'm having a little trouble getting up for the Haas/Davydenko match, but it's just starting anyway so I'll while away the time with some very good news on a recurring theme de jour at TennisWorld: the way Tennis Xenophobia, American network style, continues to color scheduling decisions, ensuring that you're much more likely to see a yawner featuring Andy Roddick or Serena Williams clubbing a baby seal than an awesome grandstand match pitting, say, Marat Safin against David Nalbandian.

Can I assume we're all familiar with the charges and counter-charges?

My own take, as I haven't weighed in on this subject in some time, is that the "jingoism" charge is a silly red red herring.Nations are far more similar than dissimilar on this issue. And I also believe the "national championships" of any nation, even if it's a pro-era "Open" event, as well as a Grand Slam, ought to be, within reasonable bounds, a celebration of that nation, its players, and the indigenous tennis establishment (that would be you, as well as the suits in the President's box). The main problem with the current U.S. approach is the network system, not the tennis system - and that networks system is falling apart before our eyes, so just hold onto your armrests for a little while longer. I think you'll soon be able to watch whatever the heck you want.

Anyway, all this by way of saying that Ken Solomon, Chairman and CEO of The Tennis Channel, has been working the press room this morning, proselytizing on behalf of his network among the likes of Bud Collins and one of the new kids on the blogging block, Jane McManus (no relation to Jim, the former pro and ATP official,  but she tells me she's the daughter of "Fast Eddie" McManus, and about that I don't want to know any more. . .)

Ken is an animated guy with salt-and-pepper hair, and his message is that TTC is going to target hardcore tennis fans (you again, if not all the suits) and feed the Tribe the manna it has sought for so long while wandering the desolate wastelands of NBC and CBS: Great matches and great players, and who cares if their names contain more consonants than that of Superman's Nemesis!

It's all part of TTC's aggressive plan that, Solomon promises, "Will put an entirely new and beautiful wrapper on the game."

Translation: Celebrate the things that make tennis distinctive and unlike other sports (the international cast of characters, the locations) rather than shying away from them.

"Roland Garros generates 900 hours of coverage in Europe, and what have American's seen? Like 90 hours?" Solomon said. "We're not just going to bring a lot more tennis, we've also acquired complete media rights, so we'll have all of the options - broadband, podcasts, everything. In fact, the only thing we don't have is the rights to the finals weekend (NBC has those).

That's the natural corollary to choice: volume. Why not just say to hell with it and show everything?

Contemplating the differing roles played by television and we in the print media, Solomon said: "You all have done a lot better job of promoting and trying to popularize the world game, rather than just the U.S. game. But we're going to change that. We want to be in that same mix. The way I see it, we're not really competing with newspaper, magazines or the internet, wew're partnering in a way that has benifits for all. We think we can make one-and-one add up to three."

As if to put his media savvy where his mouth is, Ken pulled out this thing called an "ipod"(all all this time I thought all those tattoo and stud-encrusted kids in the clown shoes were patients carrying around heart defibrillators!) and played us this promotional video shot as part of TTC's attempt to get the following message out to players: We can make this game grow, but we need your help - we all need to pull together in this. It's a pretty slick little "We are the (Tennis) World" vidclip, with soundtrack by the Las Vegas band, The Killers (I'm working on getting a link, so you can have an exclusive preview).

"All the (ATP) guys were feeling pretty good after we showed the clip," Solomon said. "And then we told them we had another killer from Las Vegas in the house. That's when Andre Agassi walked into the meeting. It was pretty amazing. For a moment, nobody said anything. Then, as he walked up the center aisle between the two groups of seats, Andy Roddick stood up and started to clap.

Then, someone else stood up, and then another guy. Pretty soon, everybody was on his feet, and they gave Andre this three-minute standing ovation. It was a pretty special moment."

This move by TTC is a big statement. We wish them the best of luck. Who knows, early next June, you may be watching the Roland Garros junior final, live from Paris.