The Truman Channel Open: a tournament within a TV show

Mal Taam/MALTphotoSam Querrey moved in the Tennis Channel Open semis by
eliminating Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-2.

On Thursday, the tournament held "Las Vegas night," where tunes were soulfully sung in between matches and the LV glitterati got to strut their stuff.

Unlike in "The Truman Show," real people do attend the TCO. The USTA Nevada, which is now being run by the highly enthusiastic Ryan Wolfington, went all out to encourage its members to buy tickets. They love their outdoor tennis in a city where indoor life and nightlife dominate. Some day, maybe next year, Andre Agassi will take it upon himself to become an integral part of the tournament. He's now the godfather of Vegas tennis and could probably out-draw anyone on the current field just by consenting to put on a one-hour exo with his wife, Steffi Graf.

In "The Truman Show," Carey is stunned when he discovers that what he thought was the open horizon really is a wall. Las Vegas has an attractive, panoramic horizon, but the TCO will realize soon that if they can't find a way to expand the event and bring in more star players, that they will be moved to the old part of the strip. Las Vegas accommodates all sorts of performers in all sorts of venues, but the high rollers only want to see the Celine Dions and Elton Johns of the world. Entertainers and athletes who hover outside of the Top 10 don't play the Wynn Las Vegas, the most exclusive of the city's casinos. (This year at least.)

No, the Tennis Channel will have to upgrade, maybe by adding a WTA tournament or throwing some more cash at the players. They are competing with Dubai after all and this week lost out in bidding for the US's red-hot top player Andy Roddick. There's a real wall in front of them and, if they want to be like Truman was when he finally faced his fears and escaped, then they will have to take some more risks. Just tell me, mighty Las Vegas, how on earth your tournament is being made to look small by Dubai, no doubt a rich city, but not one with resources that is found in private sector of Nevada's most powerful city.

Now to the current draw, which as of Friday mid-afternoon had the always-watchable Guillermo Cañas and the obscure South African, Kevin Anderson, move into the semis. Robby Ginepri is still alive, as is Sam Querrey. In the Hilton Cup, Coco Vandeweghe, 16, who had upset No. 53 Aravane Rezai, finally went down to Meng Yuan in the quarters. But, as of this writing, Vegas' Asia Muhammed was still alive and Madison Brengle, 17, had reached the semis, beating French veteran Cohen Alero. It's been a nice tournament for USTA products all around. Andre Agassi and his manager, Perry Rogers, are also behind Muhammed.

NOTES: SHARAPOVA, FEDERER, WILDCARDS, TIA NUMBERS
US veterans Mardy Fish, Robby Ginepri, Bethanie Mattek and Angela Haynes, as well as youngsters Donald Young, John Isner, Vania King, Asha Rolle, Madison Brengle and Melanie Oudin have been granted wildcards for the Pacific Life Open, to be held March 10-23 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Foreign players that have been granted wildcards include Mario Ancic, Urszula Radwanska from Poland and Anastasia Pivovarova from Russia.

Wildcards for the men's qualifying draw were awarded to Michael McClune, Ryan Thacher and Jesse Levine. Wildcards for the women's qualifying were awarded to Riza Zalameda, Anne Yelsey, Coco Vandeweghe, Gail Brodsky and Amber Liu. Two other wildcards will be given to the winners of the pre-qualifying. Sesil Karantantcheva will play the pre-qualies.

Roger Federer told the NY Times he's had mono since December. That's a tough illness to play through and he's done a very decent job of it

In a statement referencing his split with Andy Roddick, Jimmy Connors said. "Trying to develop the next champion is a challenge I would gladly accept." Who would that be?

Cynthia Lum/WireImage.comMaria Sharapova hosts a charity
event in La Quinta, Calif.

Maria Sharapova will be hosting the Desert Smash Charity Celebrity Golf/Tennis Tournament in La Quinta, Calif. on March 11-12. Expected celebrity attendees include Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani, and other players like Marat Safin and Novak Djokovic are expected to show. ... Sharapova's close friend, actress Camilla Belle, just helped open the biggest film of her career, "10,000 BC." Sharapova went with Belle to the premiere in LA.

The USTA announced that it will provide free live streaming video of the NetJets Showdown between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras on USTA.com. The sold-out event will take place at New York's Madison Square Garden on Monday, March 10 and the live streaming will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Some very good news ahead of the US recession: the USTA and TIA report that the number of players in the United States grew to 25.1 million in 2007, the first time since 1999. Research from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association again put tennis at the No. 1 spot when it comes to traditional sports that have gained in participation from 2000 to 2006. According to the SGMA, tennis participation has grown 12.2% in six years, 10% more than its nearest rival – golf – and well ahead of other participation sports such as baseball, basketball, swimming and soccer. The number of frequent players (who play at least 21 times) in the US has been increasing. The latest figures put the number of frequent players at 5.3 million. Since 2003, the overall number of frequent players has increased by 15 percent. Also, in 2007, about 5.7 million people began playing tennis for the first time. Across the board, tennis equipment sales are up, too. Since 2003, racket shipments to retailers have increased by 42 percent and ball shipments (the most important indicator) are up by 15 percent. Sales of youth racquets have shown the biggest gains, up 80 percent since 2003.

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