NORCROSS, Georgia - Who says it’s just the players feeling the heat? Not the brave tennis fans in Atlanta.

4,000 fans, scores of volunteers, tournament officials and ball kids are sometimes spending triple the time that the players are spending in the oven-like conditions this week in Atlanta.

While the hot and humid conditions snuck up on the event last year when it was played at the Atlanta Athletic Club, this year more precautions were put in place to make sure fans and tournament workers had a place to go to escape the heat.

Racquet Club of the South, this year's venue for the tournament, provides an air conditioned indoor space for a food court and a mini shopping mall, giving fans a temporary oasis in what feels like a desert.  Not only is it cooler, the oasis has places to eat, shop and relax for fans when they aren’t watching tennis.

Other shaded areas that included "misting stations" were set up around the grounds. One family camped out at one of the misting areas and decided to watch the action on one of the big screen televisions outside the stadium court.

Medical staff is on hand to assist any spectators who might be struggling with the heat. "We have golf carts and first aid kits in every corner of the stadium to help fans," said one Gwinnett County Medical official. As of Saturday night no heat related illnesses were reported.

Most fans agree that the tennis in Atlanta has been hot this week, but the scorching temperatures won’t keep them away. Hand-held fans are being given away at the entrance each day and fans appear to be keeping hydrated and finding shade when necessary.

NORCROSS, Georgia - If an hour of practice, followed by a two-hour match, and then smiling for 45 minutes while you glad-hand tournament sponsors and their families isn’t for you, then you don’t belong on the ATP Tour.

While most of what gets reported on is what happens on the court, players often have off the court duties to attend to once their practice session or match is over.

Take for instance an early week afternoon at the Atlanta Tennis Championships, an ATP 250 event being held this week at Racquet Club of the South outside of Atlanta.  American pro Donald Young was helping kids at a junior clinic, upstart Ryan Harrison was signing autographs and posing for pictures at the USTA tent, while former top-five player James Blake was due to make an appearance at a Fidelity cocktail party.

The players know it’s the sponsors and fans that make it possible to earn a living playing tennis all over the world.  Most players are to take a few minutes out of their busy schedules to show appreciation. 

American, Alex Bolgomolov Jr. was the featured attraction at the USTA luncheon on Wednesday, and the gaggle of USTA members was happy to have him.  “It’s the least I can do,” stated Bolgmolov when asked about making appearances for sponsors.  "They do a lot for us."

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NORCROSS, Georgia - Just about everything Gilles Muller does on the tennis court is quiet.

From his long, looping groundstrokes that hit the sweet spot of his Wilson frame, to the way he moves his 6'4" body around the court with barely a screech coming off his sneakers.  Add to that Muller's quiet demeanor, rarely muttering a peep to anyone, and it's an even starker contrast to the grunts and groans one usually hears in the ranks of professional tennis.

Muller did show some quiet emotion, though, in the form of a fist pump as he defeated No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson 7-6(3), 7-6(3) Friday, surviving the hot, sticky conditions at the Atlanta Tennis Championships.  Muller seemed to handle the conditions better than Anderson and served the best he has all week.

The lefty from Leudelange, Luxembourg has quietly hovered in the top 100 of the ATP men's rankings for about six years now, largely unnoticed by the masses. After this showing in Atlanta, his current world ranking will approach its career high of No. 59.

How is Muller doing it? With good old fashioned hard work. "I've been injured on and off for years, so I spent 2010 getting my ranking back and working hard physically," expressed Muller. "Now it is paying off."

This will be Muller's best result of 2011 no matter what happens beyond this point. He reached the third round at Wimbledon and the quarters in Johannesburg, but he felt he has played better than his results. "I've been playing well all year, actually," Muller chuckled.

"I'm getting used to the Atlanta heat now, because I struggled in my first match," Muller added.  

Muller will be playing in hot conditions again on Saturday, with his semifinal slated for 1 p.m.

It's not uncommon to see professional tennis players, or USTA 4.0 hacks bounce overheads over fence or onto adjacent court. It is rare to see a player bounce a serve over the fence, but that is exactly what ATP player Kevin Anderson was doing in the warm up before his match with Michael Russell. I tend to think Anderson was working on this by design as he stands about a foot taller than Russell. Along with the heat and recently layed surface covering the courts, the courts they are using at the Racquet Club of the South for the Atlanta Tennis Championships are giving off extremely high bounces.  Advantage taller players.

It doesn't hurt that Anderson is 6'8" and is built like an NBA power forward. Anderson is part of the new breed of tennis players that look like they belong on a basketball court or playing tight end in the NFL. With John Isner being 6'9", Marinko Matesevic checking in at about 6'6", and Rajeev Ram and Gilles Muller both 6'4", there should be a slam dunk contest held to entertain the fans in between matches. All that is missing is 6'10" Ivo Karlovic who isn't playing this week.

Former world #1 Lleyton Hewitt noticed the high bounces off the court in his first round match and as he commented in his press conference, he made adjustments because of his smaller frame.

Matesevic commented to a reporter following his upset win over Igor Kunitsyn, "the balls are flying off the court." The high kicking serves are noticable to most fans and they are marveling at the play.

John Inser, a former basketball player in his youth chose tennis over hoops at the age of 15. With his soft hands and spot on hand-eye coordination, Isner could've emulated his basketball idol, Tom Gugliotta into a  college basketball scholarship if he wished. In fact Isner played some hoops in a press conference earlier in the week with the former NBA player Gugliotta and he held his own.

Isner mentioned in his win over James Balke that he was glad he had 30 aces and many service winners.  Blake, like many other players saw serves jumping up over his head. 

The players and athletes in most sports have gotten bigger and stronger over the years, but many tennis fans never expected tennis players to become giants. Gone are the days of scappy under 6' players like McEnroe and Connors dominating the sport. It seem bigger is better now in professional tennis.

Seen on the grounds: Donald Young sticking around to watch Isner and Blake Wednesday night after he was eliminated from the tournament. Alex Bogomolov Jr. enjoying his time doing a meet and greet with USTA members at a lunchtime reception, and ATP chair umpire Mohammed Leyani posing for pictures and signing autographs for fans. Geez, I thought the fans came out to see the players.

NORCROSS, Georgia - Take a little path, walk around some Georgia pines, and about 50 yards from the beautiful stadium court at the Racquet Club of the South stands picturesque court 1.  On Tuesday of the Atlanta Tennis Championships, two of the most promising players on the ATP Tour were showing their wares on these two courts at the same time, but on this day, with different results.

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and American Ryan Harrison have arrived on the professional tennis scene and the sky is the limit for these two right-handed tennis machines that seem ready to make a move, possibly as early as this summer.

Harrison took to the stadium court in the late afternoon with a huge crowd wanting to see why many are calling him the “Future of American Tennis.”  He didn’t disappoint as he dispatched Japanese upstart, Yuichi Sugita 6-1, 7-6.  

Harrison admits his ranking isn't where it needs to be, but don’t expect it to remain there for long.  He was more than happy to entertain the predominately female crowd with big forehands and hustling from sideline to sideline before hitting a winner.  Next up for Harrison, a date with a tricky Belgian, Xavier Malisse.  

Dimitrov, the higher ranked of the two was up next against qualifier Rajeev Ram on court 1.  The 20-year old from Haskovo, Bulgaria showed flashes of why he has shot up the rankings so fast, but he needs to learn how to win matches against veteran players who "think" on the court.  Such was the case with Ram.  Dimitrov has talent flowing out of his sweat glands, but Ram played the big points better and won 6-4, 6-4.  

Dimitrov doesn’t appear to be the kind of athlete bothered by the occasional bad loss, and he will win a lot of matches this summer and the rest of 2011.  

Dimitrov is currently ranked in the 60’s and Harrison is sitting in the 120’s.  Don’t be surprised if both of these gifted players are knocking on the top-30 by next year’s Australian Open.

NORCROSS, Georgia - In the match that opened the 2011 Atlanta Tennis Championships and kicked off the Olympus U.S. Open Series, Houston resident Michael Russell did a 73-minute Texas Two-Step around fellow American Donald Young.

Russell never veered from his game plan, peppering the Young backhand and keeping enough balls in play to frustrate his younger opponent.  The 33-year-old Russell appeared fresh and ready to rally all day if necessary.  Young, a wild card recipient playing in his hometown, seemed sluggish and bothered the entire match.

Trailing 6-0, 1-0, Young called an injury timeout. Following the timeout, Young converted his only break point of the match to even the score. The momentum was short-lived, as Russell broke back in the next game and retook control of the match winning 6-0, 6-3.

Young’s first serve percentage was only 53%, with no aces and two double faults. Russell’s first serve percentage was 73%, and he converted five of seven break point opportunities.

The USTA now faces a dilemma whether to extend additional wild cards to Young as he struggles with his game heading into the U.S. Open.

Other winners on the first day of the Atlanta Tennis Championships included James Blake, Tatsuma Ito, Gilles Muller, and Somdev Devvarman.

NORCROSS, Georgia - Even a Georgia Tech student like Kevin King will tell you that sometimes statistics don't tell the whole story.

Such was the case in the first round qualifying match between former top-10 player and 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Nicolas Massu and a young college player from Peachtree City, GA. Currently a college player at Georgia Tech, Kevin King started out like the title of a famous Meat Loaf song. The venue was the stadium court at the Atlanta Tennis Championships, and ATP 250 event and the first event of the 2011 Olympus U.S. Open Series, so King felt at home.

While Massu had enough to pull the match out 6-4 in the third set, King so dominated the match in statistics that it is hard to believe he didn't take the upset victory.

King frustrated the Chilean Davis Cup vet for a set and a half until Massu destroyed a racquet frame and found his range. Following the match, Massu didn't talk to reporters, instead he stated, "muchas problemas."

King notched more aces, fewer double faults, better serve return and second serve point won stats than the 31-year old Massu.

While King has probably played more tennis in recent months than Massu, college tennis isn't life on the ATP Tour. Massu showed what experience means in the men's game and he took the big aggressive game of King down to size winning the second set in a dramatic tiebreak.

Massu appeared to thrive on the momentum and jumped out to a quick break in the third. He mixed in drop shots and found the range on several passing shots making King question his net rushing game plan.

King was impressive hitting deep approach shots and accurate volleys, but he shortened up the swing on his backhand as the match went on and eagle-eyed Massu saw an opportunity.

Massu may have grabbed the victory this time, the Yellow Jacket gained possibly more experience in one match than he might get in an entire college season. He went head to head with a player who was one of the world's best and you hate to say it, but the youngster should've won.

Should've, could've, would've; they are all terms tennis players hate. A term tennis players love is "confidence", I'm sure even in defeat, King is beaming with confidence. Hopefully he shows some of that confidence, continues to dominate the statistics, and gets a win as he is in the main draw of doubles this week in Atlanta.

JOHN'S CREEK, GA - If your name was "Lauren", and you were playing a quarter-final match at The Falls at Autrey Mill on Friday, the good news is, you won!

Just north of Atlanta, top-seeded Lauren Davis of Ohio and Lauren Embree, a player at the University of Florida both posted impressive wins at the Norman Wilkerson Memorial Pro Circuit event under an overcast sky.

Davis outfought a determined Chinese player who trains in Florida, Di Zhao and Embree made quick work of a former NCAA champ in Amanda McDowell with a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

The two "Laurens" will play the second feature match following an interesting semi between 15-year old Taylor Townsend and a veteran of the USTA Pro Circuit, second-seeded Alexis King.

Townsend has taken the more difficult path to the semi's as she outlasted Russian Angelina Gabueva 7-6 in the third set. King finished just as some light rain started to fall, defeating another promising young American in Hayley Carter. King is a former player at the University of Florida and she is looking forward to her Saturday semi. "It will be fun," she said following her win.

Davis started 2011 by playing in the Australian Open, but she is rebounding from missing time this spring with a concussion. Davis says she is gaining confidence and she's building off a win two weeks ago at a similar sized Pro Circuit event in Buffalo. "That was a tough tournament (in Buffalo), I'm fighting with all I have," Davis said following her win. On the practice courts, Davis has been putting in extra time working on her serve, an aspect of her game that Sam Stosur took advantage of during their first round match in Australia.

The doubles final will have an SEC vs. ACC feel to it. The team of Natalie Pluskota, a Tennessee Volunteer, and Alexandra Cercone, another University of Florida player will take on two former ACC stars. That would be former Wake Forest player Alexandra Hirsch and McDowell who played at Georgia Tech.

Players will get a break on Saturday with temps only in the 80's and a layer of cloud cover.