PORSCHE TENNIS GRAND PRIX
Stuttgart, Germany; Surface: clay

Seeds: Agnieszka Radwanska, Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Simona Halep, Petra Kvitova, Roberta Vinci, Carla Suarez Navarro, Lucie Safarova

Floaters: Andrea Petkovic, Sara Errani, Ana Ivanovic, Karolina Pliskova, Alize Cornet, Ekaterina Makarova, Sabine Lisicki, Annika Beck

Notes: Strong field featuring six of the Top 10…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Lots of floaters in the draw and tough opening-round match-ups including (1) Radwanska vs. Petkovic, (8) Safarova …

Turns out this week in Monte Carlo wasn’t about Roger Federer’s comeback, but instead about Rafael Nadal’s! Nadal came into the European clay season with just one single solitary Top 40 win on what had been a dismal season. But after today’s win over Andy Murray in the semifinals, that’s three straight Top 15 victories. Rafa is back! Or is he?

Today, Nadal was simply overwhelmed by the big-hitting, aggressive-minded Murray …

BARCELONA OPEN BANCSABADELL
Barcelona, Spain; Surface: clay

Seeds: Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori, David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet, Roberto Bautista Agut, Benoit Paire, Feliciano Lopez, Viktor Troicki, Pablo Cuevas, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Fabio Fognini, Jeremy Chardy, Joao Sousa, Thomaz Bellucci, Andrey Kuznetsov

Floaters: Ernests Gulbis, Nicolas Almagro, Alexander Zverev

Notes: Nadal leads the four Top 10 players in his homecountry event that boasts a 64 draw including opening-round byes to all 16 seeds…The tournament courted …

Enjoying his best week of what has been a tough season, Rafael Nadal seeks a third straight win over a Top 15 player Saturday when he meets rival Andy Murray for a spot in the Monte Carlo finals.

“He played a great match today,” said Nadal of Murray’s win over Milos Raonic. “We’ll see. I need to be ready to play the way I am playing the past two matches. If …

Roger Federer’s comeback this week ended at the hands to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who sent off the Swiss 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the semifinals at the Monte Carlo Open.

Federer was returning off knee surgery in February. He had won both matches this week in straight sets before letting things slip after the first set.

“Definitely had some twists and turns. I’m not sure how come. Maybe we were both a bit …

The final eight are set at the first Masters clay event of the season. With Novak Djokovic out in a shock upset, the field is wide open with two former champions Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka squaring off.

Nadal has won 14 of 17 against Wawrinka (including their first 12) but the Swiss has won three of their last five. On clay, Nadal is ahead 5-1.

“Stan, he’s always very dangerous opponent …

Rafael Nadal got revenge on youngster Dominic Thiem Thursday in Monte Carlo for a loss the youngster handed him in Buenos Aires in February. Nadal, the 8-time Monte Carlo champion, saved 15 of 16 break chances against the Austrian to pull out a tough 7-5, 6-3 win.

“I think I played a good match,” said Nadal. “In terms of level of tennis, was great I think. In terms of fighting …

Aljaz Bedene had an interesting critique of Rafael Nadal. After losing to the Spaniard yesterday in Monte Carlo, the Brit commented that he thinks Nadal’s forehand isn’t what it once was.

“A few years ago when he was ripping his forehand, that was his best shot,” Bedene said. “But now when you press his forehand, that’s his weaker side.

“You can see he’s not feeling great on the forehand side, which is …

Following an opening round 63, 63 win over Aljaz Bedene, Rafael Nadal explained why he was spotted earlier with tape on his left wrist.

Footage of Nadal after Miami with his left wrist heavily bandaged:

And the former No. 1 admitted he’s had an issue with the wrist since Australia. But good news is he doesn’t think it’s a problem.

Q. There was pictures of you with …

Would you believe after suffering a shock loss to Jiri Vesely Tuesday in Monte Carlo, Novak Djokovic rode a bicycle back home?

On his bike. Pedaling home. pic.twitter.com/QHn5nWez1F

— TroubleFault (@troublefault) April 13, 2016

No helmet for the Monte Carlo resident?

The loss was just Djokovic’s second of the season, and first at a Masters event since last summer. Djokovic credited the 22-year-old but …

What start to the clay court season! After months of domination, Novak Djokovic slipped and tumbled out of his 2016 clay court debut today losing to Jiri Vesely 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the second round at Monte Carlo.

The loss snapped Djokovic’s 21-match Masters win streak and gave him his worst loss by ranking in six years!

“He played very solid. He was serving very big. He was playing tactically good and …

Those in the sports policing community that touted the doping ban on Maria Sharapova showing that “no one is above the law” are now sputtering in disbelief.

On Wednesday the World Anti-Doping Agency said provisional suspensions can be lifted on athletes that have tested positive for meldonium if a hearing panel can find an athlete took meldonium before it was banned on Jan. 1, then later tested positive.

This comes in the …

Following a 3-set win yesterday over Pierre-Hugues Herbert in Monte Carlo, Andy Murray admitted that he’s been flat since Davis Cup. In fact, the Scot has gone 3-2 since beating Kei Nishikori in five sets during Great Britain’s win over Japan last month.

Murray was stunned by Federico Delbonis at Indian Wells then lost to Grigor Dimitrov in Miami, both after having third set leads.

“I’ve definitely been a little bit flat …

Following a win in his first match since the Australian Open, Roger Federer was asked yesterday in Monte Carlo if he missed the sport he loves so much while he was mending his knee the last 2.5 months. And he gave a surprising answer.

“Honestly, I didn’t miss it too much,” the 34-year-old said of his longest break from tennis due to injury. “I was really happy being home. I was …

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic opens his 2016 clay season Wednesday in Monte Carlo against Czech Jiri Vesely. The 28-year-old Djokovic has won the last four Masters 1000 events and this season is 28-1.

Djokovic also won Monte Carlo last year and in 2013, hasn’t played on the clay since his loss in the French Open final to Stan Wawrinka.

“Thankfully I haven’t lost too many matches in the past couple of …