TENNIS TUESDAY: ATP Top 5 Is 30+; Zverev,Svitolina Win Rome; Nadal Clay Win Streak Over; Agassi Rumored To Be Next Supercoach

ROME TITLES WON BY UNDERDOGS: SVITOLINA BEATS HALEP, ZVEREV WINS DJOKOVIC
Sascha Zverev of Germany became the first player born in the 1990s to win a ATP Masters Series title by defeating Novak Djokovic in straight sets 6-4 6-3. On the women's side, Simona Halep lost a tough 3-set match to Elena Svitolina in the Rome final after rolling her ankle in the second set.

THE ENTIRE ATP TOP 5 IS NOW OVER 30: MURRAY, DJOKOVIC, WAWRINKA, NADAL and FEDERER.
The entire ATP Top 5 is now over 30 years old for the first time, with #2 Novak Djokovic turning 30 on May 22. World #1 Andy Murray turned 30 on May 15th, Stan Wawrinka is 32, Rafael Nadal will turn 31 on June 3 and Roger Federer is 35.

NADAL LOSES ON CLAY FOR FIRST TIME IN 2017 (TO DOMINC THIEM)
The third time was the charm! For the 3rd time in 2017, Dominc Thiem faced King of Clay Rafael Nadal on his best surface and this time he came out the winner, blasting winners from both wings and dismissing Nadal in straight sets, 6-4 6-3 in the quarterfinals of Rome. Ominously, Thiem followed up this career-best performance with a merciless drubbing 6-1 6-0 at the hands of Djokovic in the semifinals. Nadal's win streak on clay in 2017 was stopped at 17.

ANDRE AGASSI RUMORED TO BECOME DJOKOVIC'S NEW "SUPERCOACH"
The tennis world was stunned by Djokovic's decision to fire his entire coaching staff a few weeks ago. Now the current World #2 is close to announcing his new coach will be 8-time major champion Andre Agassi as his coach. Agassi will join Djokovic for the 21017 French Open at least and perhaps longer. Previously Djokovic was coached by another all-time great, in Boris Becker for over 2 years.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Murray & Serena Win 1st Titles of 2016 In Rome; Berdych Fires Coach After Double Bagel

ANDY MURRAY DEFEATS NOVAK DJOKOVIC IN ROME FINAL ON HIS 29TH BIRTHDAY
For the second week in a row, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray faced off in the final of a clay court Masters final. However, this time the result was different, primarily because Djokovic had a harder draw this week, having to go through the King of Clay Rafael Nadal and outlasting a spirited fight from Kei Nishikori and Murray may have been inspired by the fact  that the match was being played on his 29th birthday! Whatever it was, Murray played a very smart match, and became the first person other than Roger Federer to beat Djokovic in straight sets in nearly two years, winning 6-3 6-3. It was Murray's 12th ATP Masters shield (#5 on the all-time list) and his 36th ATP tour title (now 36-19). He improves to a career head-to-head of  10 wins and 23 losses against Djokovic.

SERENA WILLIAMS WINS 1st TITLE OF 2016 BY BEATING MADISON KEYS IN ROME
Ending a drought of more than  nine months without winning a tournament, Serena Williams won her 4th Rome title (2002, 2013, 2014, 2016) by defeating fellow American Madison Keys 7-6(5) 6-3 (as expected). Although nine months sounds like a long time for the World #1 not to win a title, she had only played in 5 tournaments in that period (2015 US Open, 2016 Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome). It was Serena's 14th clay court title and 70th WTA tour title overall.

TOMAS BERDYCH LOSES 0-6 0-6 TO DAVID GOFFIN, FIRES COACH DAYS LATER
There's no question that 30-year-old Tomas Berdych is in something of a slump in 2016, which is somewhat surprising after he started 2015 so well (dispatching Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open). However no one really expected that the former Top 10 player would be having results like failing to win a single game in a match. Clearly, neither did he, so he has decided to fire his coach of 19 months, Dani Vallerdu (who used to be part of Murray's team). Hmmm, Murray just ended his coaching relationship last week so maybe the two could reunite?

TENNIS THURSDAY: Halep,Nole Win Madrid; Murray-Mauresmo Split; Williams Sisters Play Doubles In Rome

HALEP AND DJOKOVIC WIN MADRID MUTUA OPEN
Simona Halep and Novak Djokovic won the latest  warm-up tournament for Roland Garros, the Mutua Madrid Open in Spain. World #2 Halep defeated Dominika Cibulkova and World #1 beat World #2 (and defending champion) Andy Murray in three sets 6-2 3-6 6-3. Murray was coming off an impressive win over Rafael Nadal, becoming the first person to beat the King of Clay in the same clay tournament in consecutive years. Djokovic now has 29 ATP Masters Shields and is tied for 6th on the all-time list with Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg with 64 career ATP titles.

ANDY AND AMELIE ANNOUNCE END OF COACHING RELATIONSHIP
Andy Murray and Amelie Mauresmo announced a mutual agreement to end their coaching relationship after 2 years together. They are both relatively new parents (Mauresmo gave birth to a son in August, and Andy's wife gave birth to a daughter in February) and apparently the travel demands became too great for her. It was noted by several observers that Jamie Delgado was in Andy's coaching box in Madrid and this announcement was not too much of a surprise. Murray rose to #2 in the world under Mauresmo and was 7-5 in tour finals but was unable to win another major while being coached by the 2-time major champion. It will be interesting to see who Murray selects next. He was hailed for being the rare elite male athlete who had a female coach, and he should get a lot of kudos for that.

VENUS AND SERENA PLAYING DOUBLES IN ROME, PREPARING FOR RIO?
World #1 Serena Williams finally returned to the WTA tour in Rome, winning her first match over Anna-Lena Friedsam. Venus Williams won her first match in Rome as well, defeating Coco Vandeweghe in straight sets but the when the two sisters played doubles (for the first time in nearly two years!) they lost pretty easily, 1-6 5-7 against the team of Katarin Srebotnik and Andreja Klepac. The two do intend to play doubles at the Rio Olympics, where the tennis program runs from August 6-14. The Williams Sisters are the winningest tennis team in Olympics history, with each winning a singles Gold medal (Serena in London in 2012 and Venus in Sydney in 2000) and together they have three golds (Sydney, Beijing and London).

TENNIS TUESDAY: Djokovic and Sharapova Win Rome Titles, French Open Starts Sunday

Federer-Djokovic XXXIX Goes To Djokovic 6-4 6-3 In Rome Final
The 39th meeting between the 17-time major champion Roger Federer and the 8-time major champion Novak Djokovic was another example of the stellar play the Serbian 27-year-old has displayed all year. He faced only one breakpoint in the match and made 10 unforced errors to Federer's 23. With his win, Djokovic narrowed his head-to-head deficit  with Federer to 19-20.

Djokovic On 37-Match Winning Streak Against Best Opponents In Biggest Tournaments
Djokovic's 2015 record is 35-2 (14-1 against other Top 10 opponents) and he has now won 5 of the 6 biggest titles of the year (and he skipped the Madrid Masters to rest). He has now won 24 Masters series shields in his career, tying Federer's and he is 6 years younger than the Swiss Great. He will almost certainly surpass Rafael Nadal's current record total of 28. Against the best opposition at the majors and masters shields tournaments Djokovic has won 37 matches in a row, with his last loss coming to Federer in Shanghai. Pundits are now starting to talk about the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era instead of just the Federer-Nadal era.

Sharapova Outlasts CSN In Rome Final
Maria Sharapova wrapped up her clay court preparation with an important 4-6 7-5 6-1 win against a tough clay court opponent in Carla Suarez Navarro to win her 3rd Rome title. She also reclaimed her #2 World ranking when Simona Halep fell to Suarez Navarro in a 3-hour slugfest the day before. Last year, Sharapova and Halep played the one of the best matches of the year in the 2014 French Open final.

French Open Begins On Sunday With 9-Time Champion Unlikely To Be Seeded Highly
Rafael Nadal is currently ranked World #7 and will almost certainly be seeded out of the Top 4 which means that he could meet one of his higher ranked rivals in the quarterfinals as he tries to win his 10th title at Roland Garros. On the women's side, Maria Sharapova  and Serena Williams will be on the opposite sides of the draw, and could meet in the final again. The two best players in the world also met in the finals of the first grand slam tournament of the year but their match-up can't really be called a rivalry until Sharapova wins one of these matches, something she has not done since late 2004 (despite playing 16 times). However, I think Sharapova will eventually win another match against Serena and Roland Garros is probably one of the best places she could do it.

2015 ROME: Finals Are Federer-Djokovic XXXIX and Sharapova-Suarez Navarro

As I predicted yesterday, the men's final of the 2015 Rome Masters, also known as the Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Italian Open) will be contested between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Federer defeated his countryman Stan Wawrinka 6-4 6-2 while Djokovic squeaked by David Ferrer 6-4 6-4. The final is the 39th meeting between these two great champions and Federer has a slight 20-18 head-to-head lead, but Djokovic leads 8-5 in finals while the Swiss has a slight 4-3 edge on clay. Djokovic is not playing his best tennis but has been fighting and scrambling to win 3 consecutive 3-set matches in the tournament. Federer started off scratchy but has looked strong in later rounds; he has never won this particular Masters tournament (or Monte Carlo) and would love to strike it off his bucket list.
MadProfessah's pick: Federer.

On the women's side Carla Suarez Navarro (or CSN) outlasted Simona Halep to reach her second big final of 2015 and has clearly cemented her status as a Top 10 player on the women's tour. CSN has had some very good results in the last few weeks (beating Venus Williams, Agnieska Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, Genie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic). However, she will face Maria Sharapova who made mincemeat out of Victoria Azarenka earlier in the week and at this point must be considered a clay court powerhouse. However, despite losing four of her last meetings to Halep CSN was able to outlast her. Could Sharapova be next? CSN is down 1-3 in theie head-to-head but none of those matches have been on clay. Still, it's hard to root against the reigning French Open champion. MadProfessah's pick: Sharapova.

2015 ROME: Men's Semifinals Set Federer-Wawrinka, Djokovic-Ferrer

The semifinals of the 2015 ATP Madrid Masters are set, and surprisingly, they do not include 7-time champion Rafael Nadal. Due to today's surprising 7-6(7) 6-2 loss to Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals Nadal is now in uncharted territory during a clay court season. For the first time in his illustrious career, Nadal will be defending his Roland Garros title without having won a single European clay court warm-up tournament, and in fact he has lost on clay 5 times in 2015 (to Fabio Fognini in Brazil and Barcelona, to Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo, to Andy Murray in Madrid and now to Wawrinka in Rome). And most of these losses were in straight sets. Hi

However, the tour goes on. The semifinals are set and instead of the expected Federer-Nadal XXXIV match-up there will be an all-Swiss match between Roger Federer and Wawrinka where Federer leads their head-to-head 15-2. Then again, Wawrinka had a 1-12 record against Nadal (with the one win coming in the finals of the Australian Open last year). That being said, I expect Federer to come through that match to reach his 4th Italian Open final--a tournament he has never won.

He will almost certainly face World #1 Novak Djokovic, who will play a semifinal against David Ferrer (whom he has a 14-5 advantage against).

MadProfessah's pick: Federer-Djokovic final.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Raonic Now #4, Murray Stuns Nadal in Madrid, Nole Returns, Kvitova Ends Serena's Streak

New ATP World Rankings Are Very New Indeed
This week's ATP World rankings have two important features: Canadian Milos Raonic reaches a career high at #4 while Rafael Nadal slides to World #7 which is his lowest ranking since May 2, 2005. Showing the impact of a major win, somehow Marin Cilic still remains in the Top 10. It's not all good news for the big Canadian, as Raonic announced that he will be having foot surgery and will likely miss tournaments in Rome and Paris.

Murray Gets First Win On Clay Against Nadal In A Final. In Madrid!
Amazingly, Andy Murray had never won a clay tournament despite nearly a decade playing on tour. In the last two weeks he has won two. He won a rain-delayed final played on a Monday to win the BMW Open in Hamburg and then 6 days later he dominated the greatest clay court player of all-time by defeating Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-2 in the Madrid Masters final.

Clay Court Season Continues In Rome
World #1 Novak Djokovic returns to the tour in Rome, while Murray may decide to take a break to save energy for Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Nole has won the first three Masters series tournaments he played this year (as well as the first major) and is the defending champion here. Nadal is the finalist so is defending 600 points but there is little likelihood of him falling out of the Top 8 before the French Open starts in two weeks.

Kvitova Returns And Hands Serena First Defeat Of 2015
Petra Kvitova demonstrated again that when she is on, she can beat anyone, even 19-time major champion Serena Williams. It is true that Serena was not on, but the World #1 was undefeated on the year despite playing 24 matches, a streak which ended in a 6-3 6-2 defeat in the Madrid semifinals. Kvitova went on to win the title, her 16th and pundits again wondered if this marks the beginning of when the Czech player will go on to dominate the WTA tour.

2014 ROME: Djokovic-Nadal XLI Goes to Nole For 4th Win In A Row Over Rafa

Novak Djokovic continued his recent dominance over Rafael Nadal, improving his record in finals to 12-9 and narrowing their head-to-head to 19-22, by defeating the King of Clay in the 2014 Rome Open 4-6 6-3 6-3 in a little over 2 hours. The win was Djokovic's 4th in a row (2014 Miami Masters final, 2013 ATP World Tour championships final and 2013 Beijing Open final) over the World #1. The two rivals now have the record for the most matches played against each other on the men's tour. It was Djokovic's 44th tour title and 19th ATP Masters Series shield, 2 behind Roger Federer and Nadal's record 26. In fact, Djokovic has won 5 of the last 6 ATP Masters tournaments.

More importantly it was the 4th time Djokovic has beaten Nadal on clay (in 17 meetings on the surface) and could be a harbinger of what could happen in the Roland Garros final 3 weeks from today. I hope so!!!

2014 ROME: Finals are Djokovic-Nadal XVI and Serena-Errani

As I predicted yesterday, the men's final will feature the mouthwatering showdown between World #1 Rafael Nadal versus World #2 Novak Djokovic in their record 41st meeting on the ATP world tour. Nadal is in his record 9th Rome final and is shooting for his 8th Rome title while Djokovic is in his 5th Rome final and is hoping to win his 3rd Rome title. Nadal currently leads the head-to-head 22-18,  but Djokovic won their last meeting in the final of the 2014 Key Biscayne ATP Master series in straight sets and 2 other meetings since losing to Nadal in the 2013 US Open final. Overall, Djokovic leads 12-9 in finals, but Nadal leads 13-3 in clay court meetings. Djokovic got through a tough 3-hour match against Milos Raonic while Nadal destroyed Grigor Dimitrov playing in his first Master Series semifinal.

In the women's final, defending champion Serena Williams will face hometown favorite Sara Errani. Serena had a tough time getting past a spirited Ana Ivanovic  6-1 3-6 6-1. Errani did very well to win her second consecutive match against a Top 10 player, following  her tough 3-set dismissal of Li Na with a straight sets win over Jelena Jankovic to become the first Italian woman to reach the final of her hometown championships in over a generation.

MadProfessah's predictions: Djokovic and Serena.

2014 ROME: Semifinals Set: Rafa-Dimitrov, Nole-Raonic; Serena-Ivanovic, Errani-Jankovic

The semifinals of the last big clay court warm-up tournament (in Rome) before the clay court major in Paris starts on May 25th are set.

On the men's side Rafael Nadal outlasted Andy Murray despite losing the first 5 games of the match, by winning the last three games of the match 1-6 6-3 7-5 to reach the semifinals. Nadal will face Grigor Dimitrov. On the other half of the draw Milos Raonic will try to prevent the seemingly inevitable Nadal-Novak Djokovic final. Djokovic took 3-sets to dismiss David Ferrer 7-5 4-6 6-3.
Nadal has not looked fresh and has been coming through some tough 3-set matches, including a 3-hour-18-minute slugfest against Gilles Simon a few rounds ago and another 3-setter against Mikhail Youzhny.  How will the World #1 do against a ready and rested youngster like Dimitrov, who just turned 23 this week? MadProfessah's prediction: Djokovic-Nadal final.

On the women's side, Serena Williams is showing that she is playing her way into form on her way to try to defend her 2013 French Open title. She will face Ana Ivanovic, who handed Serena her most stinging defeat of the year at the 2014 Australian Open for a much anticipated rematch. Ivanovic has already beaten the second best clay-court player on tour in Maria Sharapova in this tournament, snapping a 7-year losing streak to Masha. 2-time Rome champion Jelena Jankovic will face Sara Errani, the hometown favorite who eliminated World #2 Li Na, using the crowd support to earn a rare win over a Top 10 opponent and her very first over someone from the Top 3 (in 21 tries!) There's a chance of an all-Serbian final, but instead I suspect it will be a Jankovic-Serena final on Sunday. Madprofessah prediction: Serena-Jankovic.

2014 ROME: New Dad Federer Loses 3rd Set Tiebreaker Versus Jeremy Chardy

Roger Federer lost his very first match as a father of four, against Jeremy Chardy of France, in a tight 3-set match, 1-6 6-3 7-6(6) despite having a match point in the 3rd set tiebreaker on his own serve.
Roger does not seem to upset, because he will return home to Switzerland to spend time with his wife Mirka and his four kid Charlene and Myla (both 5) and Lenny and Leo (both 1 week old!) prior to the start of the French Open on May 26th.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Kei Leapfrogs Rival To Reach World #9

SPECIAL K

Kei Nishikori makes history this week by becoming the first male player from Japan to reach the Top 10. of the ATP World Rankings. Fresh off his impressive performance in the finals of his first Masters 1000 event in Madrid, Nishijori jumps over Milos Raonic, John Isner  and Richard Gasquet (respectively) to land at World #9.

NO SWISS PATERNITY LEAVE?
Roger Federer is back on the Tour less than a week after his twin sons Lenny and Leo were born on Tuesday May 6th. He arrived in Rome on Monday (with wife Mirka's blessings) and will play his first round match against Jeremy Chardy. Last year he lost in the final of Rome to Rafael Nadal.

NOLE OF YOUR BUSINESS
Novak Djokovic refuses to disclose the precise due date of his first child's birth will be, probably since he is not married to the mother (yet)! Nole said "It will happen at the end of the year," presumably after he marries his fiancee Jelena Ristic.

WILL SHE OR WON'T SHE?
Serena Williams withdrew from her defense of her Madrid title rather than face Petra Kvitova in the semifinals with a bum leg, ceding the title to Maria Sharapova, who obliged. Serena still has the bum leg but she is also in Rome hoping to defend her title there as well. Or will she pull out to give her body some more rest instead of a tough first match against Andrea Petkovic before her Roland Garros title defense begins in less than two weeks?

VENUS BACK IN ACTION
Venus Williams won her first two matches in Rome against Annika Beck 6-3 6-1 and Mona Barthel 6-2 6-2 but should face a tougher test in Carla Suarez Navarro in the 3rd round. If she gets past that she has the winner of the Madison Keys-Simona Halep match.

Roger Federer Releases 2014 ATP Tour Schedule

Roger Federer has released his 2014 schedule. Hopefully I will be able to see Roger in person (up close!) sometime in 2014 like I was able to do in 2013. I am thinking of perhaps visiting the Cincinnati and/or Toronto tournaments. I will almost certainly be at the Indian Wells tournament again in 2014.

Brisbane	30. December 2013 - 05. January 2014
Australian Open	13. - 26. January
Dubai	24. February - 02. March
Indian Wells	03. - 16. March
Miami	17. - 30. March
Madrid	05. - 11. May
Rome	12. - 18. May
Roland Garros	26. May - 08. June
Halle	09. - 15. June
Wimbledon	23. June - 06. July
Toronto	04. - 10. August
Cincinnati	11. - 17. August
US Open	25. August - 07. September
Shanghai	06. - 12. October
Basel	18. - 26. October
Paris	27. October - 02. November

Hat/tip to Sports Illustrated 

ROME 2013: Federer-Nadal XXX Goes To Nadal 61 63

Rafael Nadal continued his startling 2013 run of good form by defeating his arch-rival Roger Federer  6-1 6-3 in the final of the 2013 ATP Rome Masters in just over an hour. (Interestingly, this was the identical score that Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka to win the WTA title right before, although that match took 93 minutes. Nadal has won a tour-leading 6 titles (in 8 finals) in 2013 and has only lost twice while playing 38 matches so far (the vast majority on clay). The 2013 BNL Internazionali d'Italia title is Nadal's 41st clay court title (of 56 ATP tour title) and his record 24th ATP Masters shield. and 7th title in Rome. (Federer is #2 on the all-time list at 21.) In fact, Nadal has already won 3 ATP Masters shields this year Indian Wells (d. Juan Martin del Potro), Madrid (d. Stanislas Wawrinka) and Rome. He lost the ATP Monte Carlo Masters title to Novak Djokovic and lost his first final of the year against the unheralded Horacio Zeballos. World #1 Djokovic failed to reach the final in Madrid (losing to Grigot Dimitrov) and Rome (losing to Tomas Berdych) but I still think if he reaches the final against Nadal in Paris he will have the mental advantage and achieve his career grand slam. He was well on his way to beating Nadal last year when the weather interrupted their match in the fourth set with Djokovic up a break of serve. The question is, will Nole reach the final? The 2013 French Open draw will be released Friday this week and may well be the most important factor in who wins, including whether Andy Murray withdraws (due to a back injury sustained in Rome), thus opening up a spot in the Top 4 for Nadal.

Nadal is now 20-10 in his career head-to-head with Federer and even though the Swiss player is considered the greatest player of all time, it is clear that both the physical and mental matchup with the lefty spin of the Spaniard is something that Federer is unable to handle at this stage of his career. It must be mentioned though that fully half of their thirty meetings have been on clay, with Nadal sporting a 13-2 lead on that surface. On the non-clay surfaces Federer still has  a slight 8-7 lead.  Two-thirds of their meetings have been in finals with Nadal leading 14-6 (but again, they have met in 13 clay court finals, with Nadal leading 11-2 there). Today's final was their first meeting in a final since the 2011 Roland Garros which was won easily by Nadal. Clearly, Federer has been the 2nd best clay-court player for the last decade, but Nadal is the best clay court player of all time.

(Yes, I'm still on my Caribbean vacation but of course I'm still following tennis! Sadly I was unable to see either match this year, although last year at this time I was in Rome.)

ROME 2013: Serena Slams Vika 61 63 For 51st Title

Serena Williams extended her winning streak to 24 matches in a row by defeating Victoria Azarenka 6-1 6-3 to win her 51st WTA title, the 2013 Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. Serena has won all 16 matches on clay played this year, claiming titles in Charleston (d. Jelena Jankovic), Madrid (d. Maria Sharapova) and Rome, with Roland Garros starting next Monday May 27th in Paris. She is now clearly the #1 player in the world and the clear favorite to win her second French Open title.

Serena hit 41 winners to 19 unforced errors and only at 6-1 3-4 on serve with Azarenka serving at 40-15 did the match seem potentially in question, but Serena broke back and served out the next game and match with two aces. She improved her dominance over World #3 Azarenka to 12-2, getting revenge for her 3-set loss to Vika in the 2013 Doha final. Ominously for the rest of the field, that was Serena's last loss, and at age 31 it is looking like she may not lose another match until she turns 32!

Isner Wins 1st Career Clay Title In Houston (Over Almagro)

AP Photo/Eric Gay

John Isner of the United States won his first title of 2013 and the 6th of his career by defeating Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3 7-5 at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas on Sunday. It was the American's first career win on clay, and he had to beat 2012 U.S. Clay Court champion Juan Monaco in the semifinal and one of the Top 5 clay court players in the world to do it. Tennis reporter Matt Cronin ranks the Top 5 clay court players in the world as (Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, David Ferrer and then Almagro. Note the glaring absence of World #2 Andy Murray from this list!) So this was quite a significant achievement for the 27-year-old American who turns 28 on Thursday. His 6 titles include 3 on outdoor hard-court, 2 on grass and 1 on clay. His record in ATP tour finals is now 6 wins and 7 losses (including last year in the final of the same tournament to Monaco). Almagro is also 27 but has won 12 ATP titles (all on clay) and now has a 12-7 record in finals.

Both Almagro and Isner have huge serves, and are currently #1 and #2 on the ATP World Tour MatchFacts for number of aces served in 2013 (266 and 258, respectively). This counts the record 60 aces that Isner served this week in Houston on his way to the title, including 7 in the final, with speeds up to 144 miles per hour. Pete Sampras had previously held the record in Houston with 52.

Isner can't rest on his laurels however; hours after winning he was on a plane to Europe because his first match at the Monaco Masters is probably on Tuesday. That's where 8-time defending champion Rafael Nadal is very likely to win his 9th title since both Federer and Ferrer are not in the draw and Djokovic is likely to withdraw due to the ankle injury he suffered last weekend dispatching Sam Querrey and the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. World #2 Murray is hoping to at least put up his resistance and reduce the size of Djokovic's sizable lead for the top spot by doing well in his half of the draw. Nadal needs to do well in the clay court season if he is to have a chance to remain in the Top 5 before Roland Garros, although it is very possible the King of Clay could win his 8th French Open title without being seeded #1, but a low seed could have him run into fellow members of Cronin's Top 5 clay court list in the quarterfinals or semifinals, which could complicate Rafa's goal to cement his status as the best clay court player of all time.

Last year, Rafa won every tournament he played in on clay except Madrid, where he lost to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco (for the first time in 14 meetings!) on blue clay. (The Madrid Masters will be played on red clay this year.) It's very possible that he could sweep all three clay court ATP Masters tournaments (in Monaco, Madrid and Rome) this year, something he has only done once before, in 2010. In 2010, Nadal was also coming back from an injury lay-off and had his best year on tour winning 3 majors (2010 French Open over Robin Soderling, 2010 Wimbledon over Tomas Berdych and 2010 US Open over Djokovic). Will 2013 be a reprise of 2010? Time will tell.