Douglas Robson, Journalist

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August 30, 2011	USA Today
Sliding into shots, like on clay, now trend on hardcourts
NEW YORK – Once upon a time, sliding was for clay only. Gliding on grass signaled a loss of balance. On hardcourts it was nuts and risked serious injury.

August 29, 2011	USA Today
U.S. Open: Novak Djokovic's dream season
With his lifetime goals of the No. 1 ranking, a Wimbledon title and Davis Cup championship bagged in the last nine months, Novak Djokovic has realized the implausible ambitions he and his family laid out for him as a child growing up in the mountains of war-torn Serbia.

August 15, 2011	USA Today
Tennis stretches to every corner of the globe
Earlier this year, women's tennis hit a geographic milestone: For the first time since computerized rankings in 1975, the WTA's entire top 10 hailed from different countries.

June 28, 2011	USA Today
Success in tiebreakers proves to be a tricky barometer
WIMBLEDON, England — A maxim of sport is that champions perform best in the clutch. So why doesn't this rule apply when it comes tiebreakers, tennis' version of sudden death?

June 10, 2011	USA Today
Isner-Mahut Wimbledon marathon never really ends
It was the tennis match heard round the world.

May 22, 2011	USA Today
Power off ground: Women's game closes gap on men's
According to a pilot study from instructor and sports researcher Vic Braden, women have closed the gap on men when it comes to the amount of time between groundstrokes.

May 19, 2011	USA Today
Once the third wheel, Novak Djokovic now the big wheel
With a 37-0 start to the 2011 season — the best in 27 years — the surging Serb has shaken up the hierarchy of the men's tour and set the stage for his own ascension in Paris, where the French Open begins Sunday.

April 13, 2011	USA Today
Humbled Wayne Odesnik tries to get his career back on track
A year ago this month, Wayne Odesnik was battling for a second consecutive final berth at the ATP Tour event in Houston.

March 15, 2011	USA Today
Serena Williams depressed but determined to return to top
Serena Williams has not driven a car since July. Just the other day, she hopped on an exercise bike for the first time in weeks. ''Now I'm going out for lunch today, so I'm excited,'' Williams said Tuesday.

january 16, 2011	NPR Radio
Flooding Doesn't Dampen Australia Open
The Australian Open begins Monday — in a part of the country which is not inundated by floods. This first, grand-slam event of the year also serves as the launch of the 2011 tennis season. NPR's Liane Hansen previews the Australian Open with USA Today's Doug Robson.

January 1, 2011	USA Today
American men's tennis in 'a crucial period of transition'
With names such as Sampras, Agassi, McEnroe and Connors, the USA has been the most successful tennis nation in the post-1968 professional era by almost any measure.

June 2010

Tennis Magazine

Death Match. The curse of the 2004 Frenchopen lives on.

Part comedy, part tragedy, part psychological thriller, the 2004 French Open final between Guillermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio bordered on the Shakespearean, played out on a dirt stage.

November 29, 2010	USA Today
Lana Lawless' suit puts gender in sports in spotlight again
A basic tenet of modern athletics involves separation of the sexes. Yet that principle is increasingly being challenged on the court and in the courtroom.

September 8, 2010	USA Today
Nadal brings bigger, better serve to New York, and it's paying off
NEW YORK — The knock on Rafael Nadal when he first emerged was his serve. If it wasn't exactly a liability, it wasn't something opponents feared. It lacked pop. Some saw a slight hitch. It was attackable.

September 6, 2010	USA Today
Climbing ATP rankings turns tougher for teen players
In decades past it was not unusual to find some peach fuzz intermingling with tennis ball fuzz on the men's professional tour. Boris Becker blasted his way to the 1985 Wimbledon title behind his booming serve at 17, the same age Michael Chang scampered to the French Open crown in 1989. Nineteen-year-old Pete Sampras won the first of his 14 majors at the 1990 U.S. Open.

August 29, 2010	USA Today
Let's get physical: Long, taxing season arrives at toughest test
Jamea Jackson didn't expect to be the one in her athletic family forced out of professional sports before her 22nd birthday. After all, her father, Ernie, played for three NFL teams during the 1970s.

August 28, 2010	USA Today
Life in doubles lane: It's like a business, and a marriage
Some tennis doubles partnerships make perfect sense. Identical twins Mike and Bob Bryan have spent a lifetime sharing toothbrushes, completing each other's sentences and polishing a sixth sense on the court.

July 4, 2010	USA Today
Serena Williams continues climb up Grand Slam ladder
WIMBLEDON, England — Serena Williams loses count of her major titles. Her trophies are tarnished and scattered around her two homes. Even the championship moments are starting to blur.

June 29, 2010	USA Today
New-look WTA Tour: Teen phenoms rare, veterans thrive
In women's tennis, gray is the new blonde.

June 24, 2010	USA Today
Nadal takes advantage of new technology in strings
WIMBLEDON, England — The evolution from wood to metal to various kinds of space-age materials has long cornered the debate on equipment technology in tennis.

June 19, 2010	USA Today
Still-hungry Roddick carries hopes for USA at Wimbledon
A tentative backhand volley might have separated Andy Roddick from the thing he covets most: a Wimbledon championship.

May 27, 2010	USA Today
Indian, Pakistani thrive as a team, but they aim higher
PARIS — India and Pakistan are uncomfortable nuclear neighbors at best, warring enemies at worst and fierce cricket rivals whatever the situation.

May 20, 2010	USA Today
Rafael Nadal back on track, but punishing game takes a toll
If anything has defined Rafael Nadal's career from his days as a promising youth in the relaxed climes of Mallorca to the top of the tennis heap it has been the controlled fury with which he attacks the game.

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doug@douglasrobson.com