A GRIP ON SPORTS • The Wimbledon women's final is on the television. Sorry, but I long for the day when tennis stars were all the rage. Read on.

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• If you are under 30, you may not even think about tennis. Especially if you are a typical American. Tennis' worldwide recognition hasn't changed much in the past three or four decades. It's still popular though a secondary sport. People like Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Andy Murray, Novak Djokavic and Garbine Murguruza are still as popular in Spain and Australia and India and any of the greats of the past were. But the United States? That's a different story. The U.S. once was a hotbed of the sport and there was a time, not too long ago, when tennis threatened to overtake golf and auto racing and hockey in the public consciousness. But those days passed. Men's tennis is the country has been relegated behind all those sports as well as soccer and maybe even bocce ball for all I know. Can you name the top-ranked U.S. men's player? Even if you can – it is John Isner, ranked 17th in the world – it really doesn't matter. Isner's profile in his home country is lower than low. And, when compared to past stars like Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras, Isner is basically invisible. Heck, even Andy Roddick was a media star if not the player of Sampras or Connors' stature. The women have always carried their load in the U.S., what with Billie Jean King being a national treasure and Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova (an immigrant, yes, but as American as anyone) and the Williams sisters as popular as any American athletes. But only Serena really is still around in any meaningful way and as American men have disappeared from Grand Slam contention, so has American interest. In 1980, the Wimbledon men's final attracted 8.42 million viewers. Last year, the number was 2.7 million. Even when Serena won her fourth consecutive consecutive major title at Wimbledon last year, only 2.4 million in the U.S. watched. Sure, all viewing numbers are down in our fragmented media world, but it's hard to argue tennis is as popular a sport as it was 30 to 40 years ago. Which is too bad. The game is exciting. It is easy to watch, with enough action to keep interest and enough breaks to ensure even those of us with problems staying in one place can move around and still not miss a point. You didn't want to when McEnroe was playing (or, even further back, Arthur Ashe or Stan Smith). Even if Connors' opponent was serving, you wanted to watch to see what he would do. Sampras was so darn efficient it was like watching IBM in sneakers. But those type of players no longer have U.S. next to their name. They are from Switzerland or Scotland or Spain. And even Wimbledon isn't appointment TV on this side of the pond.

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• WSU: Jacob Thorpe is headed to Los Angeles next week – me too, but for different reasons – and he has his Pac-12 football picks all ready. He shares them with all of us on the blog. I'll share mine one of these days. I can tell you this: I have no idea who is really going to win the North. ... Ted Miller of ESPN.com's Pac-12 blog thinks it's quite possible WSU could be undefeated at home this season.

• Indians: The five-game winning streak is over. Spokane fell 3-1 to Boise at Avista last night. Josh Horton has the story. ... Eugene swept a rain-caused doubleheader from Everett. ... Hillsboro got past Tri-City in extra innings. 

• Golf: The expected leaders are leading the Lilac City Invitational at the halfway point. Jim Meehan was at the Fairways and has this story.

• Preps: Yes, the Bellevue story has taken another turn. It probably will all summer.

• Mariners: "A wild pitch shall lead them." It's not in the Bible, but it turned out to be true last night as the M's scored two runs on one wild pitch and held on to defeat Kansas City 3-2. ... Mike Montgomery will make a start Sunday vs. his old team. He's looking forward to it. ... The M's do have some prospects.

• Seahawks: Russell Wilson's wedding guests included some interesting names.

• Sounders: Seattle will meet the L.A. Galaxy three times in the next 22 days. Great scheduling. At least Clint Dempsey is back. ... Real Salt Lake faces Montreal in a key match.

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• Serena finished off Angela Kerber of Germany in straight sets and fell to the Wimbledon turf. It was her Open-era record-tying 22nd Grand Slam singles title. She may be the best player of all time. Until later ...

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