The ITF (International Tennis Federation) and the men’s and women’s tours have always had a push-pull relationship since the organization that runs the Slams, Fed Cup and Olympics (but not the regular tours) has lost a bit of power over the years.

But now the ITF is really on the WTA shit list after demanding that WTA players participate in four ties every four years, instead of the previous two ties, …

Monte Carlo held their player party last night and the players and their wives/girlfriends dressed the part in the principality known for the rich and famous. A sample:

Tomas Berdych

Julien Benneteau

Ivan Ljubicic

Nenad Zimonjic

Rohan Bopanna

Pablo Andujar

Kevin …

The first major clay tennis tournament of the season kicks off tomorrow at the breathtaking Monte Carlo Masters with the Top 6 players all in attendance. But given the surface, one really doesn’t have to go that deep to find a winner. That’s because it’s essentially a two-horse race between the King of Clay Rafael Nadal and defending champion Novak Djokovic.

And looking at the draw, it’s hard to see these …

Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, Andy Murray outlined his plan to replace former coach Ivan Lendl.

“The plan is to think exactly what I need over the next week, two weeks,” Murray told BBC Sport.

“There’s a lot of factors you need to look at and I would hope I would have someone in place by the French Open, but I don’t want …

Defending champion John Isner got a taste of his own medicine last night at the Houston clay courts. The No. 1 American is noted for so many third set tiebreaks wins, but this time he was on the losing end falling to Dustin Brown 64, 67(7), 76(4) in the second round.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Isner was not pleased with his performance afterward.

“I wasn’t feeling it tonight,” and before …

Former World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki was again caddying for boyfriend and fiancee Rory McIlroy yesterday during the Masters par 3 Contest.

But this year the Dane showed up with her blonde hair colored a bright pink!

Set against the traditional, conservative backdrop of the Masters, the hair was quite an attention-grabber.

Then she showed her off her golf skills sinking this 30ft putt….

The “Road To Roland Garros” kicked off this week with two appetizer-sized stops in Houston and Casablanca. The main course, however, begins next week with the Big Three of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and late wildcard entrant Roger Federer battling in Monte Carlo.

The 32-year-old Federer hasn’t played the event since 2011 and with all his match play already this year and his mantra of keeping a healthy schedule, it was …

The entertaining Andrea Petkovic has a lot to celebrate. The German star who’s battled a series of unfortunately injuries had one of her best weeks of her career winning the Charleston event on Sunday.

The long comeback road and the 75, 62 win over Jana Cepelova reduced Petkovic to tears.

“I don’t know why but I just sort of broke down,” Petkovic said. “I was happy. Normally I don’t cry when I’m …

The first big clay event of the season begins next week in Monte Carlo. King of Clay Rafael Nadal will be the top seed at the tournament he has won eight times. Novak Djokovic, who broke Nadal’s run last year, is seeded second.

Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka is also entered along with David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Missing from the event right now, however, are Roger Federer and …

The Davis Cup playoffs draw was released earlier this morning. The notable ties have former champions making long, tough trips after a summer hardcourt swing.

With main draw berths on the line, Serbia goes to India, Spain makes the long trip to Brazil and Argentina will have to go to Israel.

The winning teams will have a place in the 2015 World Group. The losers will fall to zonal play.

2014 World Group …

World No. 2 Novak Djokovic appeared on Italian TV over the weekend. The recent Miami and Indian Wells champion discussed his game and his life story (in Italian!) on Rai’s “Che Tempo Che Fa” show Sunday night in Milan.

Djokovic will defend his 2013 Monte Carlo title next week when he joins rival Rafael Nadal and possibly Roger Federer in the first big clay event of the season….

Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship
Houston, Tex., USA; Surface: clay

Seeds: John Isner, Tommy Robredo, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco, Feliciano Lopez, Juan Monaco, Lleyton Hewitt, Ivo Karlovic

Floaters: Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, (WC) Marcos Baghdatis

Notes: (7) Hewitt likely to meet Querrey 2nd rd., and (8) Karlovic opens against Sock…Wildcards went to Marcos Baghdatis and Americans Steve Johnson and Rhyne Williams…Pulling from the event were Pablo Cuevas, Alejandro Falla, Bradley …

German Petkovic Rebounds from Injury to Win Charleston

No. 14-seeded Andrea Petkovic won her third title of the year on Sunday at the Family Circle Cup, defeating unseeded Jana Cepelova 7-5, 6-4. “When I was down facing set point [in the first set], I just told myself, ‘You gotta let loose and you gotta relax a little bit because otherwise you’re not going to win this match,'” Petkovic said. “And so …

A Roger Federer fan has compiled some, or 100, of Roger’s greatest shots during his career.

The fan who made the video, username “Raz Oo”, offered his explanation for his selections. So don’t moan.

“You know what they say: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So if one shot is ranked higher than another that you enjoy more; I’m sorry, but everyone has diferent perspective of things. I should …

The Swiss are in trouble in Davis Cup this weekend in Geneva. The favorites were tied 1-1 with visiting Kazakhstan after the singles, but with Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka things looked promising for a rebound in the doubles today.

However it didn’t go their way as the Kazakh team of Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Andrey Golubev stunned the gold medal winners 64, 76(5), 46, 76(6).

The match culminated with this forehand blast …