TENNIS TUESDAY: Kerber Soars To #2; Venus Returns To Indian Wells; Federer Has Knee Surgery

KERBER SOARS TO #2 FOLLOWING 2016 AUSSIE OPEN TITLE
After winning her first major title by surprisingly defeating Serena Williams in 3 tight sets in the 2016 Australian Open women's final on Saturday January 27th, the #7 seed jumped to World #2 in the rankings. The German player became the first woman from her country since Steffi Graf to win a major title, and the first to reach so high in the rankings. Her win also denied Serna her chance to match Graf's career major title haul of 22.

VENUS WILLIAMS ANNOUNCES RETURN TO INDIAN WELLS!
One year after her sister Serena returned to the second largest tennis tournament in America, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA, Venus Williams has announced that she will also be ending her unofficial boycott of the tournament. The two had last played the tournament in 2003 when they were scheduled to play each other in a semifinal and Venus withdrew a mere 30-minutes before the scheduled start time and the crowd got ugly (and racist). Anyway, Serena went on to win the tournament but the two vowed to never play their again. Since the William Sisters are from Southern California it has always been troubling for many that they have been a no-show at the tournament that is closest to their hometown. Anyway, that is over, because both Williams Sisters will be in the draw for the 2016 edition of the tournament. I expect I will be attending!

FEDERER INJURES KNEE HANGING OUT WITH HIS KIDS, WILL MISS 2 TOURNEYS
Roger Federer has undergone knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus he suffered the day after his devastating loss to Novak Djokovic in the 2016 Australian Open men's semifinals. He will miss the indoor hard court tournament in Rotterdam and the Dubai Duty Free Open (where he beat Djokovic to win his 84th major ATP title) but he will play Indian Wells.

CZECH FED CUP HERO IS KAROLINA PLISKOVA!? SEMIFINALS SET
The Fed Cup quarterfinals were played this weekend and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic kept the defending champs hopes alive with a gutsy doubles win with Barbara Strycova after also winning both of her singles matches against Romanians Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu. The semifinals are now set, with Czech Republic playing Switzerland and France playing the Netherlands. Switzerland took out Germany in a tough 3-2 match where Belinda Bencic was responsible for all 3 points, including defeating Kerber in straight sets. France took out Italy 4-1 and the Netherlands surprisingly dismissed Russia 3-1.