- Kudos to James Blake, who defeated Rainer Schuettler on Sunday in straight sets to become the first American male to advance to the second round at Roland Garros since 2006.

- Special kudos to 106th ranked American Wayne Odesnik, who has the upset of the tournament thus far. Yesterday, he took down 29th seeded and clay court specialist G. Canas in three straight tiebreakers, in a match that almost lasted four hours.

- Venus Williams is going to have to play far, far better than she did when she outlasted her first round opponent, a relative unknown from Israel, in three grueling sets. Read the rest of this entry »

Before I give you my thoughts on Henin, remember that it is not my job to necessarily report the news, but simply give my opinions on it. Actually, since this is my blog, I can do pretty much whatever I want. And today, I’m going to give you my opinion on why Justine Henin retired. I think she is simply put, soft. Soft can mean so many things depending on the context. Chris Webber, for example, was a soft NBA player because even though he was usually the best player on his team, he would never take the big shot in crunch time. Tons of NFL wide receivers are soft because they are scared to catch a pass up the middle. Read the rest of this entry »

Normalcy is not a part of the tennis world this week.  Continuing on from yesterday’s astounding results, Federer lost to Stepanek, and Serena Williams saw her 17-match winning streak halted by Safina.  Anyway, without further ado, here are some of the best articles from the world of tennis this week:

ESPN considers Pete Sampras to be the greatest living tennis legend.

Amidst controversy, Madrid will be the site for the US vs. Spain Davis Cup Semifinal.

Peter Bodo weighs in on clay court tennis, from Rome.

Looks like the US Open will be moving to ESPN.

Probably in an effort to elevate Tennis’ popularity, ESPN360 is launching online coverage.

Latest mailbag from Jon Wertheim.  And his latest AD In/ AD Out Feature.

This is the first I’ve heard of this…Aussie doubles player Paul Hanley is involved in rape allegations.

In honor of Blake having a nice little run in Rome, here is possibly his best point ever.

So, Rafael Nadal has lost to someone he shouldn’t have, on clay, in the second round (his first match) at the Italian Open.  Not only did Rafael Nadal to former number 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, he lost to him badly, 7-5, 6-1.  Nadal did complain after the match of a sore foot that began affecting him in his Barcelona final, and almost caused him to pull out against Ferrero before the match started.  That being said, I watched most of this match, and Juan Carlos played like it was 2001.  Ferrero was doing to Nadal what Nadal does to most of his opponents, keeping him on the defensive with penetrating, heavy balls, playing tremendous defensive shots, and attacking when necessary.  Nadal has had some choice words regarding the strenuous ATP Calendar in the month leading up to the French Open, and the fact that he had to play Ferrero about 72 hours after winning Barcelona (which came a week after winning Monte Carlo) certainly adds to his argument.

What’s even stranger than that? Two American’s have lasted longer than Nadal at a major clay-court event.  Both James Blake and Andy Roddick have made it to the quarterfinals in Rome.  A bit unexpected, given that this is Roddick’s first clay-court event of 2008, and that Blake got destroyed by unknown German Dennis Gremelmyr last week in Barcelona in his first match.  Blake got a bit lucky, as he was scheduled to play Nadal in the quarters, now gets to face Wawrinka (who beat Ferrero today) instead.   Roddick will face the winner of Roberedo/Davydenko.

Now, for perhaps the most shocking tennis news of the week, let’s turn our attention to the WTA.  Justine Henin, in her second match since getting decimated 6-2, 6-0 by Serena Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open, lost to 17th ranked Dinara Safina today, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.  Truthfully, even though it went three sets, besides a five game stretch in the first set, Henin was thoroughly dominated.   In addition to that upset, Kuznetsova was upended by Alona Bondarenko 6-2 in the third.  With the second slam of the year looming, both of these gals will be looking to regain some confidence next week in Rome.

Latest mailbag from Jon Wertheim.

Great article on Sampras and his personal battles on clay from the SI archives. 

Winning Wimbledon just because a bit more profitable.

Peter Bodo’s thoughts on most recent Djokovic retirement.

Fifteen Years ago today the sportsworld suffered a tragic event.

Bonnie Ford writes on Monte Carlo and beyond…

Bjorn Borg has laid down some big expectations for Nadal.

Tennis Week interview with Max Miryni.

Sampras makes his Outback Tour debut this week, and in doing so will look to defend his Boston title from 2007.