The Deuce Club, 5.11

Evening, everyone. Many of you have noticed that these Deuce Club posts, once a weekly fixture, have been missing in recent weeks. There are a number of reasons for that, one of them being that our much-loved social director, Jackie-Oh Roe, has been a little under the weather.

Jackie recently suffered a collapsed lung that required surgery; there were complications afterward, and the upshot of it all is that she'll be out of commission for a while. She may drop by to say "hi" later tonite, but she's still in resting mode and in any event wanted you to know that she misses you all. Whether or not we resume the Deuce Club remains an unanswered question, for now.

Things have certainly changed considerably from the early days of TennisWorld, as well as Tennis.com in general. We've grown enormously; Easy Ed McGrogan, once an eager-beaver contributor (remember those Monday Net Posts and McGrogan's Heroes?) is now the editor of Tennis.com. And while developing a higher metabolism has impacted the sense of family here at TennisWorld  - you know, the TWibe - I am really gratified to see so many posters who have been with me all along. As always I'm loath to name names, because I will inevitably leave someone out. But you know who you are. Right Ruth?

Ha-ha. I did single Ruth out because one thing I know is that you won't find a more reasonable comment-poster out there (although quite a few are right up there with her). That's been especially gratifying for me to see, given how like the wild west the digital world can be. But that's a cost of doing business in an open-forum format like TW.

One sure sign of how much, and how subtly, things have been changed is evident to me in how infrequently I write in what might be called a blogger's voice these days. Those posts in which I wrote about our family vacations, my boy Cowboy Luke, Buck the wonderdog - or even ruminations on the Parisian subway system, or the nature of Wimbledon village. . . they all seem like relics of a past. Having been trained as a "classical" journalist, I've more or less reverted to that identity, albeit as an opinion journalist; more op-ed columnist than reporter, but still someone who enjoys bagging those interviews and engaging the players and other members of the pro community, face-to-face. In some ways, that's at odds with the typical blogger's MO, sensibility, and even voice.

The increased daily work load, especially with the twice-weekly ESPN post now in the mix, has also made it virtually impossible for me to spend a significant amount of time engaged with readers. The trade-off - and I think it's a better one for you than for me  - is that these days you have a lot more fresh, original content to choose from on a daily basis, what with elements like The Racquet Scientist, or Racquet Reaction posts.

Anyway, maybe long-time readers among you will read this post and take the opportunity to re-connect, or just drop in to say a quick hi, raising a virtual-world glass to clink and say, "Cheers!" Leave a message for Jackie if you're so inclined. Mingle and chat. And once the party is over, use this thread to discussion Saturday's action in Madrid!

-- Pete