Yes, the tennis season is still marching on. As the Northern hemisphere marches indoors, so do the tennis tournaments. This week the "The Line Judge" revisits the "Race" rankings. Also, even with the Sydney Olympics still in our mind, the ATP is already thinking about Athens. With four years to go, this must serious!

"Lines":

"It's a daunting task to play in Athens two weeks before one of the most important tournaments on the ATP Tour."
-- Larry Scott, head of the ATP Tour, on the 2004 Summer Games

Just when you thought that the Sydney Olympics had a hard enough time getting players to show up comes word this week that Athens will probably not have any of a time four years from now. Despite making the Olympics an official ATP tournament, the men's field lacked star power just coming off the US Open. While exhaustion was an easy excuse for skipping Sydney, players will be forced to confess to the more truthful (and yes selfish) reasons for skipping the 2004 Games. How many players will really want to interrupt their North American hard-court US Open preparation in favor of the Olympics in Greece? I am guessing not many and probably such an embarrassingly low number that there will be increased debate on why tennis was reinstated as an Olympic event. Another lethal blow -- the tennis competition is to be played on clay courts.

The ATP is already trying to fix the situation. Larry Scott, who supports the inclusion of tennis in the Olympics, is requesting that the International Olympic Committee to reschedule the timing of the event. In its short modern history, tennis has been part of the later stages of the Games. Scott is proposing to move the competition to earlier slot, thus giving players more time to hustle back to North America and Flushing Meadows. Even is this move does occur (the IOC has not commented to date), it may very well take all the help from the deities and gods of Mount Olympus to get a worthy tennis field for their "hometown" Games.

"At this time of the year, the ATP's new rankings system takes on some real meaning."
-- A highlight from the ATP's Media Monitor quoting a Sportsline.com column

Every week the ATP Tour releases its "International Tennis Weekly" publication. It is filled with a vast amount of information about the past week's tennis tournaments and star players. A column dubbed "Media Monitor" is a collection of some of the wonderful things that newspapers, magazines, and web sites across the globe are saying about the ATP Tour. I do not have a problem with this. The publication is also a promotional piece. When I open it I do not expect to read about low television ratings or the popularity of women's tennis. But one thing I was expecting to read at this point of the year was some congratulatory back patting regarding the "Race" rankings. I was not disappointed.

The above quote actually does have quite a bit a truth behind it. What the ATP and/or Sportsline is not explicitly saying is that the "Race" is taking on "some real meaning" because it is finally starting to mirror the old ranking system (the now tightly closeted "Entry System" rankings). The "Race" is now just one month shy of completion and thus pretty darn close to a 52-week "rolling" ranking. If you are a regular reader of the Mr. Ed columns, you know I have not been a big fan of the "Race." The Race is an overly simplistic approach to rankings. It eliminates quality points and has, in my opinion, unsuccessfully tried to blackmail the players to compete in Master Series, formerly Super 9, events. ATP players have given the "Race" limited lip service over the past year. The talk has increased as we draw close to crowning the first "Race" winner. When the season is over, if you possibly can find both sets of rankings and do a little comparison. The lists will likely be nearly identical. I do not expect the "Race" to go away. The ATP has invested too much into it to admit that it still has not been widely endorsed by players, the media, or serious tennis followers. So come January the slate will be wiped clean and we will see who will be the first Fabrice Santoro (2000's first Race #1) next year.

On A Personal Note...

This past Monday night Steve Schoenfeld, a local sportswriter here in Phoenix, was killed in a hit-and-run accident. Though primarily covering the NFL, Steve was a familiar face at the Scottsdale tennis tournaments over the past several years. I do not have any personal stories about Steve to tell you. We did not have any extended conversations or fight over a bagel in the media tent. But one thing that I do remember is that Steve, in my early years of covering tennis, acknowledged my presence. As a rookie reporter entering a tightly knit (and often intimidating) group of reporters, even the small gesture like a nod of the head meant a lot to me. Steve had recently left "The Arizona Republic" and was currently working for Sportsline. A colleague, Len Pasquarelli, wrote a very nice tribute to Steve. I encourage you to read it even though you may have never even known or heard of this man. Unfortunately, it takes this kind of news to put things in perspective and makes us appreciate all that we do have today. Steve was 45 and leaves behind a wife. As of this writing, the driver of the vehicle has not been apprehended.