Fourhand: BJK on Serena-McEnroe, Sharapova goes back to school and more

Fourhand is the Daily Spin's occasional roundup of various hits and misses on tour.

IVYPOVA: If Maria Sharapova actually ends up taking her two-year suspension from tennis sitting down, it may be at a desk. A scholastic sabbatical appears on tap for the current WTA No. 35, who is planning to attend Harvard Business School’s executive program. Former Harvard attendee James Blake had some advice for her,

Great news for her, even if "not sure how this happened" is probably a phrase Sharapova should discard moving forward.

BATTLE OF THE HEX? If the concept of Serena Williams staging a "Battle of the Sexes"–styled exhibition against John McEnroe should become a reality, Billie Jean King thinks her junior WTA all-time great should keep it from happening. "I don't know if it really helps women so much," King said at the third-annual Logo Trailblazer Honors. "So we beat an older guy. Whoopie."

NO "BREXIT" HERE: ATP Player Council election results are in, and not one, but two Brits are in the mix now. Andy Murray and Jamie Murray are the first two brothers to serve on the council together. Joining them are Novak Djokovic, Gilles Simon, Kevin Anderson, Rajeev Ram, Yen-Hsun Lu, Bruno Soares, Marcelo Melo and Sergiy Stakhovsky, Colin Dowdeswell and Claudio Pistolesi.

HIS-TORY LESSON: The New York Times continues to wonder about best-of-five-sets tennis. Not as to whether women should compete via that arrangement, as argued in NYT's Room for Debate that your loyal Spin keeper participated in nearly four years ago, but rather whether men should continue to do so. As Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and other stars continue to suffer banged-up seasons, some observers see cause for concern. For those who missed the brief 1970s trial period that men's tennis had with best-of-three play, here's a primer.

EPILOGUE: Amer Delic spoke to the Spin last week ahead of his Pearson Ford Open performance in Indianapolis, where he saw some success when that city had an ATP tour stop. In Sunday's Pearson final, he fell decisively to Robby Ginepri after both got their licks in for a few days against a crop of yesterday and today's top college talent. Before that, Delic talked Wimbledon picks, top TV commentators and more.

Follow Jon on Twitter @jonscott9. For more on- and off-court coverage of the game, go to baseline.tennis.com.