Like soccer, tennis is a global game. This wasn’t always so. Fifty years ago, the U.S. and Australia dominated the sport, in men’s and women’s play. Today, all sorts of lands across the world—Andorra to Zimbabwe—compete in tennis.At the ColemanVision Tennis Championships, Albuquerque’s longtime women’s professional event, lots of foreign languages could be heard this weekend. I wrote about the fabled hill outside Tanoan courts in this week’s Alibi, which Coleman winners and losers alike must hike.Indeed, the four semifinalists in singles last weekend hailed from: Canada (by way of Poland), the Republic of Georgia, Romania and Russia.In Sunday’s final, Regina Kulikova of Russia upset No. 1-seed Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, 7-5, 6-3. For winning, Kulikova, ranked 179 th in the world and unseeded in the tournament, took home $11,400 in prize money. The doubles final, happily for most of the 300 fans who turned out to watch, was an all-American affair. Alexa Glatch of Newport Beach, Calif., and Asia Muhammad of Las Vegas, Nev., stopped Melanie Oudin and Grace Min, both from Georgia—the state, not the country—4-6, 6-3 (10-2).For the title, Glatch and Muhammad each pocketed $2,090.
Tennis, Everyone?
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