If the Williams sisters were to retire with Davenport as of this writing, the U.S. would have no women in the Top 40, and three players in the Top 100 (including the 30+ Jill Craybas, and Ashley Harkleroad who is pregnant). In other words, by the time the Williams retire, U.S. women’s tennis will virtually retire with them.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova will miss the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games and the US Open according to her official website, mariasharapova.com.

I allow myself to briefly occupy the mythical Commissioner of Tennis Chair that John McEnroe publicly campaigns for now and again. Johnny Mac campaigned long and hard to be the U.S. Davis Cup captain only to quit after one year, but when should reality ever hurt speculation and offering advice? Here are my [...]

A slew of players ranked in the 20s and 30s make up the rest of the seeded contingent, most notably Alona Bondarenko, the No.2 seed. Bondarenko has had her strongest results of the year so far on clay, making quarterfinals at Amelia Island and Berlin, and taking out the likes of Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova along the way.

“She’s a young player with great potential, and I just didn’t know how she was going to play,” Jankovic said. “And of course, she wasn’t the favorite. I was the favorite and had the pressure on me. I was defending my title and I’m glad I could cope with the pressure and win it for the second time.”

This is a sad day for our sport and for her millions of fans around the world, but I know that I speak for so many in wishing Justine the very best in her future endeavors and hope that she will stay connected to the sport to which she gave so much.

Last year the ATP and WTA tours each circulated a contest among their staff, ‘Let’s Confuse Fans Again by Renaming Our Top-Level Events.’

The top women’s tennis stars are opting for exhibition play or rest as none of the Top 10 players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour are in action as the 2008 season kicks off this week at the Mondial Australian Women’s Hardcourts in Gold Coast, and at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
ADHEREL
Former No. [...]

The Top 5 happenings in pro tennis heading into the week of Nov. 5, 2007.

There’s a method to the seeming madness in the WTA Tour announcing a second season-ending tournament to start in 2009 in Bali, Indonesia.