I am Mark Oskar: The Tennis Authority.
I've been playing and watching Tennis for all of my life.

I come from a family that lived tennis day and night. While I played at a competitive level for years, and have accumulated coaching experience, I spent more time watching...Reading the angles, analyzing the competition, and disagreeing with the strategies of others. My sister was a National prodigy...Juniors, Orange Bowls, National titles, Nick Bollettieri scholarships, University scholarships, and of course some W.T.A. experience. Injuries and a desire for education held her success back, however many of her colleagues have since become household names.

I watched Tennis for hours at a time. Weekends consumed by tournaments, and evenings consumed by training. Thousands of hours of Tennis remain locked inside me, it is in my blood.

The purpose of my writing is many. To initiate conversation and debate, for creative release, and of course to promote what I believe is the greatest sport on earth.

Tennis is a very unique sport. In singles, you are utterly alone, left to your devices to figure out your very direct competition only 80 feet away. Competitive Tennis can be a painful and downright scary experience for those who prefer team sports and a shoulder to lean on. When you lose, YOU'VE lost. Alibi's are hard to come by in Tennis. When you win, it's a release of pressure and triumphant moment hard to come by in other sports.

Roger Federer is a fantastic example of a player who can really communicate those inner feelings to the audience. I'm not talking about fist pumps, or "Come-ons", I'm talking about the emotional tears of pain (Aussie Open 2009) after wanting something so badly and letting it slip through your fingers. To a casual onlooker, his tears were probably an awkward moment. To the passionate fan, and competitive player, it may have been his only emotional option. Roger eats, sleeps and lives Tennis...It defines him as a person, and because he is out there alone...It is his writing, and his writing only that can complete this tale. Of course, with every word that Federer pencils on court, there is the opponent, often Rafa when it means the most, with eraser in hand, rubbing out Federers triumphant tale. Federer has an eraser too, and I'm sure he'll be looking to use it again before he walks into the night.

Perhaps they should invest in a pen.

I am certainly not a professional writer, however I hope to communicate my thoughts on Tennis clearly and with passion to you. Feel free to post comments, suggest topics, or tell me I'm way off base.