SMASH Column, Pre-Wimbledon edition

My SMASH online column, which I wrote on Monday, was posted today. I don't know if they are trying a "name-that-player" game, but lately, they haven't identified who's in the main photo. Last week it was Martin Klizan, the French Open boys' champ, and this week it's Alexandre Sidorenko, the boys' winner at the Australian Open.

Yesterday's post elicited two great comments, and in that vein I wanted to make sure that everyone interested in the development issue had an opportunity to read Doug Robson's lengthy and comprehensive look at the topic in USA Today. He doesn't really address the excellent points about cost and parents that Jim and Andrew D made in their comments, but it does bring up the relatively recent phenomenon of constant travel in junior tennis, and my favorite subject--the lack of clay court training in the U.S. Robson is no "drive-by" shooter on this. It's a topic he's written about before and one that obviously matters to him. Good for him for convincing USA Today to give him the space for it.