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Sunday May 25
12:30pm

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Thursday 6 :30p
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TOP SEEDS AT THE OPEN: DUH!



The USTA announced that three-time defending US Open champion and world No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland and reigning French Open champion and world No. 1 Justine Henin of Belgium will be seeded No. 1 at the 2007 US Open in men’s and women’s singles, respectively. The 2007 US Open will be played at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., August 27 – September 9.

Federer, the reigning US Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, is the No. 1 seed at the US Open for the fourth consecutive year. He will be followed by No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain, the reigning French Open champion; No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia; No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia; No. 5 Andy Roddick of Austin, Texas; and No. 6 James Blake of Fairfield, Conn.

Henin, the 2003 US Open champion, is followed by No. 2 seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova of Russia; No. 3 seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia; No. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, the 2004 US Open champion; and No. 5 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

Defending US Open champions Federer and Sharapova clinched the 2007 US Open Series Lever 2000 Challenge men’s and women’s titles, and will both play for a potential $1 million in bonus prize money at the US Open.

(read more)

While groaning at the prospect of coughing up another $150 for my 6-year-old’s seven-game soccer season, one of the other dads commiserated, saying: “How on Earth can ALTA get away with charging only $20 for an entire year of tennis?”

Good question.

These days, $20 will get you 7k through the Peachtree Road Race and up through the fifth tee at a public golf course. Yet, incredibly, the cost to play as many as 50 competitive ALTA tennis matches is actually falling. The annual adult fee is still $20 (only $10 for kids), and there are no immediate plans to reverse course. Since many in ALTA’s 80,000-person membership play on swim & tennis neighborhood teams, there is often no other recurring expense, save a can of balls and the occasional racquet purchase. No cart fees or range tokens here; ALTA tennis is far and away the best recreational bargain in Atlanta.

So, why are dues so low? ALTA is run cheaply and efficiently, staffed by a skeletal office crew and led by volunteer officers. Its Dunwoody building is essentially paid for and, in the same tradition of the upper-crust medical and legal practices, ALTA doesn’t believe in promotion, marketing or advertising. For those of us in the tennis business, its lack of leadership in local tennis matters can be frustrating. For the other 99.5% of its membership, it’s akin to watching the cost of home computers and HDTV sets plummet; naturally, Jane and Joe ALTA aren’t complaining.

No question, ALTA is a product of the developer-friendly Atlanta sprawl. Every new residential parcel of land broken north of Sandy Springs will inevitably include at least two tennis courts. Which, in turn, will inevitably lead to the formation of ATLA teams as a social bridge among neighbors. The cynics will say that the SUV trips from match to match are getting longer and costlier, but, at the end of the day, that three-set win is what gets a lot of us through the weekend and back at practice on Tuesday night. Add in the natural health benefits, the camaraderie and the opportunity to win at something competitive, most of us don’t care where we play – as long as we play. Though known well by 80,000, ALTA is still the best-kept secret in Atlanta. And for $20, gas prices don’t look quite so bad.

Jeff Batten is the owner of Matchpoint Atlanta on 11alive, Matchpoint America on The Tennis Channel and Matchpoint Radio on 790theZONE, heard Saturdays at 2pm.