Nothing passes as quickly and quietly as the future. With that said, here's a look at the best of the past week's off-court tennis news—with a nod to what lies ahead.

ISNER TAKES A DIP John Isner seized the Houston clay-court title over the weekend, downing Nicolas Almagro in straight sets. Thus he took the customary, less-than-graceful dive into the club's pool, socks and ankle braces and all. Isner then quickly flew to Monte-Carlo, only to drop a first-round encounter in three sets to the mercurial Latvian Ernests Gulbis.

SEXY AND SHE KNOWS IT The WTA's Nos. 3 and 4 players, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska, found themselves in the company of a good many snowboarders, surfers, and soccer players in Men's Fitness' rankings of the year's 10 sexiest female athletes.

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER Lisa Raymond was prominently featured at Slate in the past week, that in a delightful retelling of and Q&A with her one-time nemesis from, oh, ages 9 and 12. That breezy read here, with Raymond's thoughts on women's tennis when she started compared to today's game. [Bonus: See Chanda Rubin sharing the same in a Daily Spin exclusive.]

FRENCHMEN FOLLIES It's well known that the French are not given to going to war. With infighting like this in the nation's ATP ranks, there's no need to do so either: Benoit Paire and Michael Llodra got into a rancorous series of exchanges at the Miami event last month, in a contentious match that Paire now says he regrets. That's a far cry from the harsh words he had even a day after their first-round bout on Key Biscayne. Paire was noticeably absent from the French roster on the subsequent weekend of Davis Cup action, but that's not beyond belief in light of Llodra's doubles prowess and the higher singles rankings of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, and even Jeremy Chardy, who also didn't play in that tie.

DAILY SPIN INSTA-POLL: Do you think Paire and Llodra will ever resolve their differences? Or are they, in ways, too similar, stubborn, and—as Stanislas Wawrinka put it—"two crazies" on the same court? Sound off below.

Got a thought, a tip, or a point to make? Hit me on Twitter @jonscott9.