manurefork It's odd to hear a baseball fan like yourself talk about how tennis is uninteresting.

Really? I think anybody can say anything is uninteresting without it being odd. I know baseball fans who only think one of the two leagues is interesting. Tennis is a lot more removed than that.

MLB has been asking for front ups in the line for America's favorite non-favorite sport for over a decade.

What? You mean the decade during which baseball has set attendance and revenue records just about every year? Baseball has never in its history been more popular than it is today, July 14, 2008. It's not a niche sport. It's behind the NFL, but so is everything else.

Don't discount the Federer-Nadal rivalry. Tennis has integrity

Ahem. Betting scandals. Ahem. Not that I think that has anything to do with tennis' popularity or lack thereof.

and records are being broken that can be considered legitimate.

Cool! Good for tennis. Good niche sport, tennis. Not my cup of tea. The matches are too samey and the personalities too bland. Get a McEnroe and a Nastase or two in there and things might be looking up, but those academies don't seem to turn out that model.

When Court TV starts airing baseball games, you will need to embrace the nichetude.

I suppose that's true. I'll take the over on that one.

Muze01 I don't really care if you embrace it or not.

Nor should you.

We tennis fans aren't like soccer geeks, we aren't begging you to put it on par with baseball.

That's not using our nice voice, but I'd say it's a fair statement.

The future will be bright for Djokovic, who i like (the US media ought to love him, aren't they waiting for a cocksure a-hole?)

I kind of am. I admit it. It would help if he were American, but I'll take anything.

Beyond that, there are two super players from French who happen to be black. Wait - does that count as a Tiger? Is it the blackness that everybody wants for the men's game? Or is it American & black?

Again, I'd say being American would go a long way.

bucks4mccain I feel for Farve because it appears he is falling prey to the same "I can still do it" bug that compelled so many other stars out of retirement only to realize they just cannot perform at that level anymore.

He was pretty good last year.

Perry Don't know if you've noticed, but we're in the middle of an EXTREMELY entertaining and compelling Tour de France.

How could I not have noticed? As promised, America has embraced bicycle racing in the wake of Lance Armstrong, and you can't go 10 minutes without hearing about the Tour de France.

Actually, I haven't heard a word about it, though I've known it was going on because it's July. Glad to hear it's going well. Bicycle racing: It's cool!

Robert H Nichetude, thy name is Kaufman: I'm sorry. Were you gone for a while? I hadn't noticed.

Zing! I salute you. But listen, I'd have to date Madonna for a year to get within radio range of nichetude. And I don't think the wife would go for that, nor would I. Nor would Madonna, for that matter.

Geoman Not too long ago, maybe less than a epoch, King's Kolumn professed it's infatuation with 'mano a mano' sporting encounters ... Now, here's tennis, a true 'mano a mano' game, and King takes a flier! What's with this guy.

I'll answer this one in an item because a few people have also asked about it in e-mails to me.

who wants to know If you've never seen world class tennis up close, you simply can't get what incredible athletes even mediocre ATP tour players are--how hard and fast they hit the ball; their stamina and mental toughness.

I never have, but I can. This is one of my favorite topics of late, how amazing even "mediocre" pro athletes are, in almost any sport. And tennis is obviously on the more athletic side of the spectrum in the first place.

The top ten players in the world are all but immortals. What they are able to do simply requires more diverse gifts than any other sport ever invented, period.

I don't agree with that. I think quite a few sports, including basketball and hockey, are right up there with tennis in terms of diversity of athletic skills required.

Trust me, King, we're not losing the next Sampras or Agassi to soccer or football.

I think it's impossible to know how many Samprases and Agassis have been lost to soccer, football or other sports, but given the economics and socio-economics involved, given the talent pool from which tennis players are drawn, it's safe to say the answer is something like: A whole lot. Massive numbers.

Those of us who love the game revel in the 'nichetude' and the uniqueness of its avatars.

Then we're not arguing with each other. Great.

So, try to refrain from using them as a draw to get NHL fans to read your article, when it contains next-to-nil about the NHL.

OK, I'll try, but I think if I can get you to reply one more time, you will have spent a solid five times as much time complaining about how much time you wasted reading the piece than you spent reading the piece. My goal is 10 times, so we'll be halfway there!

Was that "next-to-nil" thing like a little soccer joke? Don't change the subject, please.