There’s only 5 weeks of grass tennis in the entirety of the tennis schedule.  The week after the French Open (Queen’s and Halle).  Two weeks after the French Open (Eastbourne and the UNICEF Open).  The two weeks of Wimbledon.  And the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships held in Newport, Rhode Island, that coincides with the induction of new members to the Hall of Fame.

Newport doesn’t attract the best talent.  Most of the top players opt to rest the week after Wimbledon.  However, familiar names still play the tournament.

Remember the two guys that made the most news in the first round?  Nicholas Mahut went 5 sets and a gazillion games with John Isner.  Alejandro Falla nearly eliminated Roger Federer in the first round.  The two met each other in the first round of Newport and this time, Mahut came out the victor in three sets: 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.  Mahut had asked for a wildcard into Newport.

The top seed at Newport is Sam Querrey who was a finalist last year, losing to fellow American Rajeev Ram.  Ram, the 7th seed (you can see the lack of top players when Ram is seeded), won his first match over Ivan Navarro, 6-3, 7-6(3).  Querrey won his match against left-handed American, Jesse Levine, 6-3, 6-3.  The last American in the Wimbledon juniors, Denis Kudla, was also given a wildcard, and won his opening round against Santiago Ventura, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.  Ventura barely got into Wimbledon, as Ernests Gulbis dropped out, letting Petzschner be the 33rd seed, and Ventura into the tournament.

Ilia Bozoljac, who pushed Roger Federer to four sets, lost to unheralded Raven Klaasen, 7-6(5), 7-6(0).  NCAA champ, Somdev Devvarman, won his opening round against Kevin Kim, 6-4, 6-3.  Mardy Fish beat fellow American Michael Russell (who seems to have nothing in his tennis bag), 6-1, 6-2.  It says something about Fish’s performance prior to Queen’s that his seeding is 5th behind such luminaries as Falla and Santiago Giraldo.  Fish has recently lost weight (as the urging of Andy Roddick) and is looking to get his ranking back to much higher ground.