Frenchman Gael “Force” Monfils kicked off his summer hardcourt season with his first title in Washington. And he did it the hard way.

The No. 2-seeded Monfils came from a set down in the final to defeat No. 13-seeded “Dr.” Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-4 saving a match point.

“It’s a real pleasure for me,” said Monfils, who won his first title in two years. “When I first came, I saw big …

German Laura Siegemund’s amazing rise at the age of 28 continued on the WTA tour Sunday as the No. 6 seed won her first career title at the Ericsson Open in Bastad, Sweden, beating Czech Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 6-1.

“I was in good shape, and was playing well last week as well,” Siegemund said. “I knew I could do well here, but winning the whole thing is something you might not …

Italian Paolo Lorenzi became the oldest player ever to win a first-time title on the ATP tour on Saturday when the No. 4 seed beat Nikoloz Basilashvili, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel.

“I don’t look at the age, so I don’t mind if it’s happening at 34,” Lorenzi said.

Lorenzi is 1-1 in career finals after losing last year at Sao Paulo.

At 34 years, 7 …

Ten years after first finishing runner-up, Feliciano “F-Lo” lopez won the ATP Gstaad title on Sunday, defeating unseeded Robin Haase 6-4, 7-5 in the championship match of the J. Safara Sarasin Swiss Open.

“I’ve been waiting 10 years to win this title,” said Lopez, who a decade ago lost to Richard Gasquet in the final. “It’s been a long wait since 2006, but it’s been worth it. This is a very …

Nine of the Top 10 are in Montreal next week for the Canadian Open, where world No. 1 Serena Williams will make her first appearance since Wimbledon.

Local “favorite,” Canadian Genie Bouchard, enters the event amidst a tough 2016 campaign, and has been getting ripped by the local media entering the event. The outlet Le Devoir led with the headline, “Eugenie Bouchard: it’s so difficult to like her,” and noted that …

Thanks to the Olympics, the summer schedule this year is as claustrophobic as you will ever see. And it especially hurts the first Masters event of this hardcourt swing, the Canadian Open Masters in Toronto. With the start of Rio exactly two weeks away, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal said no thanks to Canada. So too did former champion JW Tsonga.

Novak Djokovic, however, is in. And …

On his website, Novak Djokovic confirmed his summer schedule earlier this week.

The Serb will seek a fourth title at the Toronto Masters starting on Monday (the draw will be released later tonight).

He will then travel to Brazil for the Olympic games which begin on Saturday, August 6 before returning to the U.S. to bid for a first title in Cincinnati on August 15.

Djokovic was stunned on July 2 …

As part of a new Nike campaign, the sneaker maker is releasing pictures of their most famous stars when they were just a baby.

And here’s Roger Federer.

“My story began by climbing Switzerland’s junior tennis rankings. Now, I play on the biggest stages around the world. @nike #JustDoIt”

Federer celebrates his 35th birthday on August 8.

With severe weather rolling into Washington D.C., local park police had to stop a practice session between Bernard Tomic and Viktor Troicki earlier this week on Tuesday. And the altercation in Rock Creek Park was captured on video:

The warning proved correct as severe weather did move in later disrupting the event. However, should the tournament officials be responsible for handling weather situations and not a …

Marin Cilic announced via Facebook that he and his coach of nearly three years, Goran Ivanisevic, have split.

Dear friends,
I wanted to share these news with you.
Unfortunately, I am no longer working with my coach Goran Ivanisevic.
We have started to work together in September 2013 and we had a lot of success during that period, especially winning the US Open in 2014.
It was huge privilege to work with Goran, I enjoyed …

In a clash of generations, 36-year-old Venus Williams will meet 17-year-old phenom CiCi Bellis tonight in Stanford. Bellis advanced to the quarterfinals after posting a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over countrywoman Sachia Vickery yesterday.

“It’s not going to be easy,” said Bellis. “But I don’t think anything is impossible. Obviously, it’ll be such an honor playing one of the best players of all time, and she’s done so much in her …

Seven of the Top 8 seeds reached the quarterfinals at the Washington D.C. event led by Americans John Isner, Steve Johnson, Jack Sock and Sam Querrey.

Isner took the first set from Marcos Baghdatis in a tiebreaker, then rolled in the second for a 7-6(3), 6-2 win.

Isner will now meet fellow American Johnson who stopped the mini-run of Ryan Harrison 6-4, 6-4.

Second seed Gael Monfils cruised past Croatian Davis Cup hero …

Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki had to retire with an arm injury in her match with Sam Stosur in Washington on Wednesday. Wozniacki led 7-5, 3-4 before stopping due to the injury she first felt at 5-5.

“I just hit a backhand and felt this sharp pain,” Wozniacki said. “It just got worse after that. Every time I’d hit a backhand I’d feel the pain.”

Wozniacki has been dinged by injuries for …

In a match-up of possible future Top 10ers, 19-year-old Alexander Zverev took down 18-year-old Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-2 Wednesday afternoon in Washington.

“Taylor has great potential for the future. That’s obvious,” Zverev said. “We’re all very young and there’s room for improvement for both of us.

“The goal for this year is just to get better and become the best player you can to compete in the best tournaments you can,” Zverev …

Rafael Nadal admitted earlier today that he won’t be 100% 100% in Rio next month.

Nadal, who hasn’t played since injuring his left wrist at the French Open, says he’s making progress and still hopes to play in all three events.

“I hope each day to go (progress) a little bit more and arrive in Rio well prepared, although as I always say there is nothing certain in this life,” …