Tuesday Tirade: Where's the (Asian) Tennis?

Players attend the player's party during day two of the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships on October 2, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan. From left: Venus Williams, Tomas Berdych, Richard Gasquet, David Ferrer, Sania Mirza, Lleyton Hewitt.

It's the post-US Open who's-playing-where-and-who-really-cares-about-tennis time of the year. Most casual fans in the States don't know anything about the Asian swing, as they watch the baseball season get hot, the football season start to simmer, and maybe, just maybe, look forward to the first Slam of the 2008 season halfway around the world in Australia. What are the season ending championships to these fans? The Davis Cup finals? Surely you jest.

But tennisheads know that indoor tennis (with a few outdoor events thrown in) rules the Asia and parts of Europe. Players who want to qualify for their tours' All-Star games are burning the candle at both ends to rack up points, while those who've already qualified are resting in order to peak at the right time.

We've been told that tennis is beginning to boom in Asia. The Chinese players are looking forward to hosting Olympic tennis in Beijing. The Masters Cup will be played in Shanghai for another few years. Korea has just qualified for the Davis Cup World Group for the first time in decades.

But those of us Stateside that would like to see coverage of the China Open or the Thailand Open or this week's AIG Japan Open Championships, a joint ATP-WTA event with a decent field, will have to settle for buffering Internet feeds because we won't get any television coverage of events east of Moscow this fall. Not even on The Tennis Channel.

What's up with that? If US fans are going to be exposed to more players from the Far East, why can't the networks get on the ball and send some commentators to Asia to cover the sport? Surely we'll watch matches on tape delay if you don't think we'll stay up through the night to watch them live.

The tennis season isn't over. Let's get these Asian events on the tube. And let's not wait until Shanghai to do it.