Milos Raonic meets Rafael Nadal tomorrow in Barcelona.

“Tennis is my priority,” Mattek-Sands says, clearly not a self-promoter nor needing to be one with her accomplishments.

“It was a long time ago, but he beat me,” Nadal said. “So that’s what happened. Gilles is a very dangerous player, especially on this surface. So it will be a very tough match for me. I don’t know what is my best form, I try my best every day. I need a few adjustments.”

John Isner on playing Nicolas Mahut again: “It’s going to be pretty nuts. I couldn’t believe it. I joked with him earlier in the week, last week, and said, ‘Watch us play each other.’ And he said, ‘No, there’s no way. That’s not even funny.’”

All 32 seeds in Miami receive 1st round byes so there is not a lot of early drama, but potential matches to look for in the coming days include (1) Wozniacki vs. American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 2nd rd., (16) Maria Sharapova vs. (18) Nadia Petrova 3rd rd., (3) Vera Zvonareva vs. (WC) Dinara Safina 2nd rd., and (19) Ana Ivanovic vs. Kimiko Date-Krumm 2nd rd.

Instead of putting money into player development maybe the U.S.T.A. could try and get some Eastern Europeans to change their nationalities aka Kazakhstan’s Davis Cup team?

Two players on the sidelines are trying to figure out how to tweak their games in time for the Australian Open — both dealing with equipment issues. Maria Sharapova switched from her long-time Prince racquet to a multi-million sponsorship with HEAD, but last week lost early in her only WTA warm-up event. This week world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki debuted her cash-grab switch to Yonex, losing her opening-round match. Wozniacki vaulted to No. 1 behind her long-time association with her Babolat racquet. Before the event, Wozniacki and her Yonex won one game off Vera Zvonareva in an exhibition match.

Russian workhorse Nikolay Davydenko was one match away from duplicating the 2010 feat when he defeated the top two players in the world, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, to repeat as Doha champion on Sunday, but this time the world No. 2 Federer was having none of it. Federer defeated Davydenko 6-3, 6-4 to claim his third career Qatar ExxonMobil Open title in Doha.

U.S. Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez will have to choose between the overwhelmed Coco Vanderweghe and Melanie Oudin, who was benched from the first day for a poor practice week, in the first match on Sunday.

“It’s overwhelming,” Paszek said. “I’m extremely happy. Anytime you win a tournament for the first time it’s very special. This is something I’ll remember the rest of my life.”