2017 FRENCH OPEN: 3rd Round Almost Complete!

At the 2017 Roland Garros tennis tournament, the third round is almost complete on both the women's and men's sides of the draw, which would mean that there are only 16 remaining contenders  for this year's French Open title. Play has continued in the same vein as the early rounds, with few surprises or upsets.

On the women's side, people to watch who are safely through to the second week of the clay court major include: Simona Halep, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Garbine Muguruza, Venus Williams, Kiki Mladenovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Samantha Stosur. Because of rain delays, dark horse favorites Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina have been unable to even begin their 3rd round matches.

On the men's side of the draw, many of the favorites to win the tournament who are still around are: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic and Dominc Thiem. There is still a stable of Spanish-speaking dark horses remaining in the draw: Fernando Verdasco, Alexander Ramos-Vinolas, Horacio Zeballos, Pablo Carreno Busta and Roberto Bautista Agut. The third round match between Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet is frozen on serve late in the first set (the winner plays Wawrinka).  Kei Nishikori is stuck in a 4th set with Korean wunderkind Hyeon Chung.

2016 Fed Cup: Czech Wins 3rd Year In A Row; 5 of last 6

For the third year in a row the Czech Republic won the Federation Cup, the annual country-based tennis competition on the women's tour. Just like last year, the title came down to the fifth tie, the doubles match, and again Barbora Strycova was the Most Valuable Player, in providing the third point for her team and country.

This year, Czech faced France, and although Caroline Garcia was able to upset 2-time major champion Petra Kvitova and 2016 US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova she was unable to win the doubles tie with her partner Kiki Mladenovic when Pliskova teamed with Strycova.

Czech Republic has now won the Fed Cup title every year except 2013 since 2011.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Djokovic Skips Madrid; Kerber On Clay Hot Streak; Isner Turns 30; Mauresmo On Maternity Leave

Kerber On 11-Match Winning Streak On Clay; Keys, Sharapova, Wozniacki In Her Wake
Building on her win on the green clay of Charleston a few weeks by coming back from 1-4 down in the final set to defeat Madison Keys, German Angelique Kerber has been absolutely on fire during the clay season so far. She defeated the reigning French Open champion on Thursday and then continued her winning ways by coming back from 3-5 down in the final against Caroline Wozniacki to ride the hometown crowd support to snatch the Stuttgart title. This is her 5th career title and she had to defeat two Top 5 players to do it, which she did in two 3-set thrillers.

John Isner Turns 30
John Isner had a big birthday on Sunday, turning thirty years old. The Top American has not made as much an impact in the majors as Andy Roddick but in this era of men's tennis it is very possible for 30-somethings to have success on the tour and hoping that continues with Isner in the next few years.

Djokovic Says Enough Is Enough; Gives Someone Else A Chance To Win Something!
After winning the first three Masters series titles of 2015, World #1 Novak Djokovic has decided to withdraw from next week's Madrid Masters. Since he also didn't play last year he is not losing any ranking points. I'm sure the rest of men's field thanks Nole and wishes him a peaceful week!

Mauresmo Is Pregnant And Taking Time Off From Coaching Andy Murray 
Andy Murray has made an important statement for women's equality in sports by naming former WTA #1 Amelie Mauresmo as his coach. Mauresmo, 35,  announced recently that she is expecting her first child in August, and while she is on maternity leave (an issue which has never come up before for the coach of an elite men's player) she will be replaced (temporarily) by Jonas Bjorkman.

Wawrinka Getting Divorced And Nobody's Happy
Stan Wawrinka had previously separated from his wife (ostensibly in order to focus on his tennis) but later reconciled well before he won his first Grand Slam title in Australia last year. Recently he announced that the two are definitely getting divorced and his wife issued a statement of her own clarifying her side of the story. His results have been spotty in 2015, with the former World #3 now down to #9 in the latest rankings.

Serena Officially 3rd Longest Stay At #1 (Behind Steffi and Martina)
Serena Williams has now been World #1 for 114 weeks in a row, which is third all-time, behind Martina Navratilova's 156 weeks (3 solid years!!) and Steffi Graf's 186 weeks and just 1 week ahead of Chris Evert's 113 weeks. Her current streak is exactly twice as long as her longest previous hold on the #1 ranking at 57 weeks. She has been #1 on 6 different occasions in her career. In her current #1 streak only 8 players have beaten her, but bizarrely Alize Cornet has done so three times!

SHOCK! Serena Retires In 1st Set With Cornet For 3rd Loss Against Frenchwoman in 2014

Serena Williams retired from her 2nd round match against Alize Cornet up a service break 6-5 when she complained of dizziness and nausea on the changeover and was helped off the court by a trainer after she told the umpire she could not continue to play.

Her retirement from the match means that for the first time since 2007 Serena has lost to the same player three times in a calendar year. Earlier this year, Serena lost to Cornet in the semifinals of Dubai and then she lost to her again in the 3rd round of Wimbledon in 3 sets.

Some players just do not match-up well together and perhaps Cornet is Serena's kryptonite. Hopefully, Serena will recover from whatever ails her in time for her birthday on Friday and the China Open which begins in Beijing on Monday.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Serena Shows Up On Court Disoriented, Unable To Hit Serves In Play, Retires

Uh-oh! A few days after a surprising loss in the fourth round to Alize Cornet of France, Serena Williams showed up on court for her 2nd round doubles match with her sister Venus Williams looking disoriented and discombobulated, unable to catch balls thrown to her in the warm-up. After a 14-minute medical timeout before the match started, she played 3 games (in which she never hit a tennis ball into play) and then retired. That included four consecutive double faults (8 serves in a row that either hit the net or were multiple feet out of the service box).

Look at the video of the World #1 missing 8 consecutive serves in a row. It is quite disturbing. Have you ever seen Serena like this? What could cause such a sight?

2014 WIMBLEDON: Women's Quarterfinals Preview (Part 1)

Here are my predictions for the first half of the women's quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2014. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals. Because of rain delays, only two quarterfinals will be played along with two round of 16 matches on Tuesday. Then, hopefully all the men's quarterfinals and the two remaining  women's quarterfinals will be played on Wednesday.

FOURTH ROUND MATCHES

Angelique Kerber (GER) [9] vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [5]. Sharapova leads their head-to-head 4-1 but the two have never met on grass. On paper Sharapova should win this match but for some reason I think Kerber is going to make this one very tough. If it is played indoors under the roof I give a decided edge to the Russian but if it is played in muggy, outdoor conditions I think the German can make things interesting. With Serena Wiliams suddenly out of the tournament Sharapova must realize that she has an amazing opportunity to win another major, and that pressure could complicate things as well. If anyone can put pressure on Sharapova it is Kerber. I am still predicting Sharapova to come through and win this match, but would not be surprised (or displeased) if Kerber did instead. PREDICTION: Sharapova.

Simona Halep (ROU) [3] vs. Zarina Diyas (KAZ) . I follow both women's and men's tennis pretty closely and I have never even heard of Zarina Diyas before. Halep has had very difficulty getting through her three previous round and should be full of confidence as the highest remaining seed in the tournament for the second consecutive major. Diyas dispatched 2-time major finalists Vera Zvonareva in 3 sets in theround before so she must have some game. But still, expect Halep to continue to play to her seeding heree. PREDICTION: Halep.

QUARTERFINALS

Lucie Safarova (CZE) [23]  vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [4] Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) [22]. This should be an insanely tight match, most likely very ugly. The two are even in their head-to-head. They are both leftys and leftys hate playing other leftys. This is the farthest either has ever reached in a major tournament, although both players have delivered major upsets in major tournaments, with Makrova having beaten both Williams sisters in Australia (in different years). Safarova is well-known as a bit of a wild card, while Makarova is considered a strong, solid player who can be dangerous to higher ranked opponents if they are having abad day. Safarova is always dangerous, but if you weather the storm she usually flames out. In this contest, I think slow and steady will win the race. PREDICTION: Makarova. 

Petra Kvitova (CZE) [6] vs. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [16] Barbara Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) .  Kvitova has already played the best match of the tournament so far in her 3rd round win over 5-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams. The 2011 Wimbledon champion has  won 19 of her last 21 matches played at this tournament. Happily for her, she is facing one of her three countrywomen who are in the final eight remaining players in the tournament, a player whom she has only lost to once before in four meetings, and should not have much trouble defeating again,on her best surface. I saw Strycova play close up in person at Indian Wells and she is a very good ballstriker so her upset of Wozniacki was not a surprise to me. But there's a reason why she is in her first major quarterfinal and her opponent has reached five consecutive quarterfinals at this tournament.  PREDICTION: Kvitova. 

2014 WIMBLEDON: Serena Upset By Alize Cornet In 3rd Round; Venus Lost Thriller To Kvitova

World #1 Serena Williams  was upset by Alize Cornet of France in the 3rd round of Wimbledon, 1-6 6-3 6-4. Cornet becomes the first player since Nadia Petrova to win two consecutive meetings with Serena, having beaten her earlier this year in the semifinals of Dubai. This is Serena's earliest exist at the all-England Club where she is a 5-time champion since way back in 2005 (although she has lost in the 4th Round to 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli in 2011 and Sabine Lisicki in 2013). More importantly, after winning 17 majors, Serena has now not reached the quarterfinals in 4 of the last 5 tournaments she has played, a troubling dry spell for the current World #1. This year she lost in the 4th round to Ana Ivanovic in Melbourne and to Garbine Muguruza in the 2nd Round of the French Open.

Her sister Venus Williams lost her 3rd round match also, in one of the best matches on the women's tour all year, 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitovabeat the other 5-time Wimbledon champion named Williams  5-7 7-6(2) 7-5. The Williams sisters are still playing doubles but I doubt that will continue as neither are in the singles draw any longer.

2014 DUBAI: Venus Wins 45th WTA Title, 2nd in 4 Years

Venus Williams, 33, won her 45th WTA Tour title, in Dubai, by defeating Alize Cornet 6-3 6-0. The title was Venus' first since Luxembourg in October 2012, and only her second since winning two consecutive titles in Dubai and Acapulco in February 2010.

Venus looked very sharp against Cornet, taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity that arose when the Frenchwoman surprisingly upset her sister Serena in the semifinals.

2014 DUBAI: Cornet Beats Serena, Faces Venus In Final

Sadly, a 25th meeting between Venus Williams and Serena Williams will not happen because Serena was bounced 6-4 6-4 from the WTA tournament in Dubai by Alize Cornet. Venus, who won this title in 2009 and 2010 but has not played here in the intervening years, is on a 14-match winning streak in the Arab emirate. She dismissed former World #1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-3 6-2, following up wins over Flavia Pennetta and Ana Ivanovic.

I like Venus' chances to win her 3rd title in Dubai. Can Alize Cornet really become one of the rare players to beat Venus and Serena in the same tournament and win it? I doubt it. Go Venus!