Oy, Aussie

Some good news: Last month's Roland Garros men's final between Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Argentina's Mariano Puerta delivered the highest-ever ratings for a tennis program on ESPN in Latin America. ESPN's coverage of the match averaged a 7.9 pan-regional rating, while ratings soared in Argentina, averaging an astounding 19.2, both record highs for tennis programming on ESPN

? More good news: Attendance levels at ATP and Grand Slam tournaments look set to top six million for the second consecutive year after recording impressive gains during the first half of the 2005 season. Crowds had topped three million by the start of Wimbledon on June 20, up more than 65,000 on the same period last year.

ATP Masters Series tournaments led the way, with four of the five events played in the first half of the season showing attendance increases. The Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif., enjoyed a healthy increase for the fifth time in six years with a record 280,653 fans, up from 267,834 the previous year. The Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami welcomed 263,118 fans, up from 254,022 in 2004.

? Michael J. Fox joined John McEnroe to announce the inaugural LTU Champions Trophy tournament, which will feature eight legends of tennis, and will take place August 18-21 in Amagansett, N.Y. The Retreat for Domestic Violence Services in East Hampton and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research each will receive a portion of ticket sales from the first senior-level tennis event in the U.S. since 2001. In addition to McEnroe, the participating players include Pat Cash, Goran Ivanesevic, Guillermo Vilas, Anders Jarryd, Mansour Bahrami, Aaron Krickstein and Peter McNamara. For more information, contact Beth Rasin at 917-992-2281.

On to the questions:

Why aren't there greater complaints from both the media and fellow players about Lleyton Hewitt's embarrassing behavior? As an Australian I was ashamed of Hewitt's behavior against Guillermo Coria [in the Davis Cup quarterfinals]. I also was ashamed of the commentators' defense of Hewitt's antics (epitomized by his diverse, four-letter vocabulary directed at the Argentine camp!) as simply part of his fierce competitive nature. People defend Hewitt by alluding to the antics of Marat Safin or Ivanisevic. There is a big difference. Aside from Safin's and Ivanisevic's behavior being more similar to entertainment, it always is directed either at themselves, or at worst, the umpire. It seemed apparent during the Davis Cup that Hewitt's behavior is not designed merely to "pump himself up," but also to antagonize his opponent. He brought Coria down to his level and was able to win the match resultantly. I am interested in your personal opinion of Hewitt's behavior and its place in tennis. -- Chris Honnery, Sydney, Australia

Quite a few questions about Hewitt's controversy this week. I start out by saying that I obviously wasn't at the match, so I'm relying on the same accounts as many of you.

I also think that once you've failed a drug test -- as Coria has -- it's hard to claim the moral high ground on matters of sportsmanship and fair play.

That said, I feel like Hewitt's behavior is pretty well-trodden terrain around here and I've made my views pretty clear. ("Terminally classless," I seem to recall, was the term I once used.) Three quick observations:

1) To me, Hewitt's on-court antics are only half of it. Plenty of other players swear on the court or berate the chair umpire. The difference is that they simmer down once the match ends and then show some earmarks of common decency. Hewitt's combativeness and nastiness and me-against-the-world shtick hardly end after match point. (On the other hand, he's been a godsend for the Australian plaintiff's bar.)