By Jackie, TW Social Director What an interesting week it's been, eh? Tennis surprises galore, both on and off the court. On court: If your Monte Carlo bracket isn't a shambles, surely that can only be attributed to your strategy of picking players by way of "eeny, meeny, miny, moe."

*Bondarenkos by Bobby Chintapalli, TW Contributing Editor You know the women’s singles draw is interesting when the half we’re really watching isn’t the one with the Williamses or even the Radwanskas but the one with the Bondarenkos. It’s gotten so much attention you’d think it has everyone but Venus, Serena

52855563 by Pete Bodo It was tough for Patrick McEnroe to face his brother John in a doubles match. It was hell to have to play him in singles. (Interesting trivia question: against whom did John win the last singles title of his career, in Chicago? I think you know

Elena Dementieva lost a very tight, tough 7-5, 7-6 (6) match to Justine "I'm coming back, too!" Henin at the Australian Open last night. After which Dementieva said, among other things: “I just think it's really interesting to play against someone like her. She's a great player. Playing against her,

NEW YORK—Two of the more interesting young Americans in the women’s singles draw embarked on their U.S. Opens with high hopes, having drawn high-profile but sometimes low-production seeded opponents—both Grand Slam champions, and one a former No. 1. But the hopes of Alison Riske and Lauren Davis were cruelly dashed

• Picby Pete Bodo* By and large, tennis fans are a well-educated, rational lot, befitting a sport that is essentially a bourgeoisie enterprise. That helps explain their "long view" of the game, which is demonstrated by an active interest in tennis history as well as the search for logical, quantifiable

PARIS—At what point in the personal history of a player might you be justified in throwing up your hands and exclaiming, “She just doesn’t get it!”? It’s an interesting question, and one that 19-year-old Laura Robson and her support squad need to contemplate before too much more time passes. Today,

Delpo By TennisWorld Contributing Editor Andrew Burton For a while, like many people living in the US during the last decade, I became actively interested in poker. Much of ESPN's daytime programming was taken up with the game (I don't think it can be called a sport). You'd watch as

Did we pique your interest about one—or a number—of these tennis destinations? Find more information about the cities and tournaments at the following links: Buenos Aires City: http://www.fodors.com/world/south-america/argentina/buenos-aires Tournament: http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Tournaments/Buenos-Aires.aspx Indian Wells City: http://www.indianwells.com Tournament: http://www.bnpparibasopen.org Morocco Cities: http://www.visitmorocco.ma Tournaments: http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Tournaments/Casablanca.aspx (ATP); http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/page/Tournaments/Info/0,,12781~84,00.html (WTA) Estoril City: http://www.portugalvirtual.pt/cascais-estoril/index.php Tournament: http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Tournaments/Estoril.aspx Madrid

Some of you may have seen Gustavo Kuerten's recent remarks on Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. In case you haven't, Kuerten apparently said Sampras was "much better' than The Mighty Fed. Drawing an interesting comparison to F-1 car racing, a sport I know absolutely nothing about (except that its most

For more on the WTA's Original 9, read our write-ups on each of tennis' trailblazing women. “I just think it’s so wonderful to go and see how many women’s tournaments there and how many opportunities women have to make a really good living now. Whereas, before it was a real

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Serena Williams joked — or was it a joke? — that she activated the "Out of office" message on her email account so anyone trying to reach her about her many non-tennis activities while she's at Wimbledon would know why no response arrived immediately. Great as

Editor's note: The book can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com. If you’re interested in getting an early advance copy, email publisher Randy Walker at Rwalker@NewChapterMedia.com. As a tennis historian and journalist who has covered the game for 46 years and followed it avidly for much longer than that, I have been

by Pete Bodo Well, Monte Carlo is well underway; it's officially Euroclay time. It's an interesting time of year because it makes significant demands. Clay-court tennis may be less punishing on the body in some ways (the surface is soft and forgiving) but it's more demanding in others. How would

The 21-year-old Russian’s intensity and tactics can teach you how to win consistently. 1. Discipline, discipline, disciplineSharapova has a lot of interests outside tennis, from fashion to art, but she always puts tennis first. Since her early years on the tour, she has been one of the most disciplined

With last week's Volvo Car Open taking place in Charleston, it was only right to get in touch with one of the city's most familiar faces: Shep Rose. Shep is the star of Bravo's reality television show Southern Charm, along with its spinoff, RelationShep. Southern Charm follows a very interesting

One of the more interesting aspects of tennis today is that Roger Federer and Serena Williams are rarely spoken of together, and from what I’ve experienced, neither speaks very much about the other, either. But here we are, each of them 31 years of age, with Serena trailing Roger by

Although any year is a good one to win Wimbledon, 2013 wasn’t the greatest of years to be crowned champion of the “Ladies’ Singles.” Somehow, it only figures that outlier Marion Bartoli would have her career achievement immediately buried in the avalanche of public interest and media coverage of Andy