In tennis, idiosyncrasy has always been the norm, from the players on up to how the sport is managed. The game’s champions have come in all sizes and shapes and from all corners of the globe, some with tempers, some with wit, some with supermodel looks. Others are just ornery or stiff. They travel to and fro, each with their own trainers, gurus, and schedules, not necessarily playing in the same tournaments, even the major ones. Don’t like clay or grass? Just skip those and pile up points elsewhere.

There are a bevy of administrative bodies, too: the International Tennis Federation oversees the Grand Slam events, while the ATP, the WTA, and numerous local organizations like the Lawn Tennis Association in England and the United States Tennis Association represent and govern the players and other tournaments.

Gathering all these loose ends and presenting them neatly to a world audience is an unenviable task. But for the second straight summer, the USTA is trying to do just that with its U.S. Open Series, which links six men’s events and five women’s events in 10 cities and offers the best performers the chance to earn $1.1 million in additional prize money.

The series kicks off this week in Indianapolis, where Andy Roddick is defending his title at the RCA Championships. From there it wends its way through several California cities, Washington, D.C., Montreal, Toronto, Cincinnati, and New Haven before culminating with the U.S. Open in Flushing. The man and woman who tally the most points will double his and her winnings at the U.S. Open, maxing out at $2.2 million in total for taking the final Grand Slam of the season.

The point of all this, of course, is to improve tennis’s television ratings, increase the popularity of the players, and ensure the viability of a sport that some people still see as in decline. So far this year, ratings are up at the majors, and ESPN recently announced that its coverage of the French Open final drew nearly 25% more viewers in Argentina than the year before. That country’s victory over Australia in the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup this weekend – on grass, no less – should only boost the sport’s popularity there.

Elsewhere in the world – Spain, China, Russia, and France – tennis has managed to maintain its allure. In the United States, with the popularity of team sports so high, the USTA is trying to tap into the “season” motif and convince television networks and sponsors that tennis deserves its place on Sunday afternoons. The organization has put together a $3 million marketing campaign for the summer, including a barrage of television advertisements starring the likes of Roddick, Roger Federer, and Maria Sharapova.

This year’s series should run much smoother than last year’s since there will be no interference from the Olympics. But there are some noteworthy improvements, as well. For one, the expansive television schedule is better-organized. ESPN2, ESPN, CBS, and NBC will broadcast 115 hours of tennis during the next six weeks, not to mention another 100 hours for enthusiasts who subscribe to the Tennis Channel. Every Sunday afternoon, in a pro football time slot, there will be a tournament final for both men and women, with the exception of the Pilot Pen in New Haven, Conn., where the women play their final on a Saturday.

The new combined format of the Pilot Pen, which ends the weekend before the U.S. Open, is a vast improvement over having a women’s tournament in New Haven and a men’s tournament on Long Island, as it had been until this year. For the Pilot Pen, proximity to the U.S. Open will forever make it a struggle to attract those players who believe they will play deep into the second week of the Open and do not want to exhaust themselves the week before. Nonetheless, numerous entertaining players – including James Blake and Amelie Mauresmo – will give fans twice as much to watch as in the past.

Last but not least, all the courts have been repainted blue with a green border. It may seem a superfluous touch, and perhaps it is. But as anyone who has played at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center at Columbia University on W. 218th Street could tell you, blue (sans the green) sure does look nice, and has the added benefit of giving the components of the U.S. Open Series a distinctly unified look.

Still, as much as the USTA is doing in terms of promotion, the long-term success of the U.S. Open Series depends largely on the tour’s players, and this year a few of them are not helping like they could, especially among the men. World no. 1 Federer may appear in ads, but he won’t set foot on a blue court until August 8 in Montreal, where he will try to defend his title at the Rogers Cup. By that point, half the summer series will be history.

In all, Federer will play only the two biggest U.S. Open Series events, in Montreal and Cincinnati. Same goes for Marat Safin and French Open champion Rafael Nadal, who has decided to spend more time on clay before he switches to the hard stuff. Lleyton Hewitt has three series events on his calendar. Roddick, who earns his keep on the hard courts, will play five of the six. Roddick is great for ratings, but he would be even better if he had to contend with the other three titans of tennis week in and week out.

And so the idiosyncrasies of tennis stars and their schedules are running up against the well-intentioned – and increasingly polished – controlling force that the U.S. Open Series aims to be. To make all this more than a smart marketing effort, the stars are going to have to play along. For now, we’ll enjoy the blue every Sunday and watch Roddick try to keep everyone else from his million-dollar bonus.