TENNIS TUESDAY: Coric Wins 1st Title; Federer Iffy On Paris; Sharapova Returns; Schiavone!

ROGER FEDERER IS STILL UNSURE HE WILL PLAY 2017 FRENCH OPEN
After completing his 3rd sunshine double as part of a 19-1 blistering start to 2017 which has included his 18th major title in Australia and 91st tour title overall. Federer is now ranked World #4 but, conscious that he needs to nurture his body at age 35, he is skipping all the clay court warmups and may even skip the clay court major in Paris as well. He told CNN Sport that "I don't think I will skip it, but I will have to see in, say, four or five weeks how I feel when I get on the clay, how my mood is." Since he also missed the 2016 French Open, he has no points to lose, but doing well there would be a golden opportunity to pick up ranking points if he really wants to challenge for the year end #1.

MARIA SHARAPOVA RETURNS TO WTA TOUR NEXT WEEK AS 18-MONTH DOPING BAN ENDS
5-time major champion Maria Sharapova will return to the WTA Tour for the first time in nearly two years when her 18-month ban for using the banned substance meldonium for over a decade runs out on April 26th. Somewhat oddly, Sharapova was given a wild card into the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, which will be underway at that time, so she will be able to resume playing on the tour immediately, despite having literally no ranking points. She has since received wild card entries into Madrid

CORIC, 20, WINS FIRST ATP TITLE IN STYLE, SAVING 5 MP AGAINST KOHLSCHREIBER
20-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia, one of the photogenic up-and-coming #NextGen stars of the ATP won his first tour title this week in dramatic fashion, saving 5 match points  in the second set against veteran Phillipp Kohlschreiber in Marrakech. Coric was also down a break 2-4 in the deciding set, but won the match 5-7 7-6(5) 7-5.

2011 FRENCH OPEN CHAMPION FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE WINS 600TH MATCH AND FIRST TITLE IN NEARLY 2 YEARS
"Nothing is Impossible" said the t-shirts when Francesca Schiavone won her French Open title (d. Sam Stosur) in 2010 at the age of 29. The veteran is playing her last year in the tour and has been in danger of not qualifying to play her favourite tournament. However, thanks to an amazing performance in Colombia, the 36-year-old is now almost in the Top 100 (ranked #104)and should be able to get into the Roland Garros main draw. I wonder what Francesca will say if Sharapova gets a wild card into the French??

2014 FRENCH OPEN: Aggie, Petra and Ana Upset, Murray 7-7 in 5th Set

Day 7 of the 2014 French Open is complete but the third round is not! On the women's side the final 16 is set, with some surprising omissions, such as Agnieska Radwanska[3], Petra Kvitova[5] and Ana Ivanovic[11]. That leaves the top seed in the tournament is Simona Halep[4] and only half of the top 10 seeds left standing. The match of the day was 2009 Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova's win over Kvitova 6-7(3) 6-1 9-7 despite being down a break three times in the deciding set. 2012 Champion Maria Sharapova[7] is now the highest seed in her draw and she faces the bitch she owns 13-2  Samantha Stosur for a place in the quarterfinals. The Russian seems destined for a 3rd consecutive final in Paris.

On the men's side Andy Murray is stuck at 7-all in the 5th against Philipp Kohlschreiber after blowing a 3-0 4th set lead and failing to close out the match. The winner of that match will face the winner of Richard Gasquet-Fernando Verdasco, which was suspended with the Spaniard up 2 sets and even at 2-all in the 3rd. The men's draw looks on course for a men's final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic although the two both have tough tests in David Ferrer for Rafa and Jo-Wilfried Tsona and Milos Raonic for Nole.

Federer-Djokovic XXXII: Dubai 2014 Semifinals

For the 32nd time in their careers, the 17-time major champion Roger Federer will face 6-time major champion Novak Djokovic. Federer sports a slight 16-15 head-to-head lead overall and a 12-11 lead in hard court matches. However, Djokovic has won both times they played in 2013, which it must be remarked was one of Federer's worst years on tour. If he is able to acquit himself well against Djokovic at a tournament he has won 5 times before, the G.O.A.T's 2014 will definitely start looking promising.

The winner of the blockbuster semifinal between Djokovic and Federer will likely face Tomas Berdych, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his quarterfinal and will probably beat Philipp Kohlschreiber in his semifinal. Last year Djokovic beat Berdych in straight sets to win the title.