Indian tennis players aren’t feeling very good with the Australian decision on the Davis Cup match that the two countries are supposed to play. The Australian team has decided that they don’t want to play in the Davis Cup in Chennai. Why not? They haven’t really clarified their reasons, but it seems like they are concerned about terrorism or some other kind of problem that could come up. Needless to say, the Indian team members are not pleased at this kind of talk and have asked Australia to reconsider. They say it’s ridiculous to say that Channai is in some kind of danger during a match. Hard to know, but it does seem a little farfetched.

Rafael Nadal just keeps winning. He won the Barcelona Open in his home country against Christophe Rochus of Belgium this week. This marks his 23rd win on clay courts and he is going to continue to do well this year. His injury scare of a couple months ago seems like ancient history and he’s moving forward quite well with his work this time around. He’ll have to work hard to keep up the energy, but he seems to be right on top of things so far. Roger Federer, his one-time rival, seems to be flagging, with a lot of extraneous problems going on right now that are just stopping him from working hard at the game. He’s also probably still nursing his injury.

The women’s side of the tennis world has a new #1 ranked woman. Who is it? None other than Dinara Safina. How did that happen? She hasn’t won a Grand Slam title, she hasn’t really been able to win championships all that well. But she is the next major player in women’s tennis. She has been very consistent over the last year or so, regularly making it to the finals in Grand Slam events, and often narrowly losing to other players. But it is rarely the same other player that she competes against and she makes good showings in the Final round. She just has to make it happen at some point and to ultimately convince people that she’s the best!

     Belgium’s own, Kim Clijsters has returned to playing professional tennis after being in retirement for the past two years. When asked why she would be returning to playing professional tennis she mentioned that she has regained her competitive hunger once again. This come at a time when she was once ranked number #1 in the world. Clisjsters who is now 25, retired in May of 2007 and started a family. Her plans are to enter the U.S. Open which starts August 31, 2009 and is her first competition at Flushing Meadows since she won the Grand Slam singles championship in 2005. She is also entering back into professional tennis at a good time when the WTA tour is wide open and does not have any singles players dominating the rankings. 

Monica Seles has written a book that is part autobiography and part self-help book. When you see her book at stores around the world in the next few days, you might want to pick it up. She has written about her struggle against eating disorders and other problems that she had during the height of her popularity. Back in the 1990s she made it up to the #1 spot in the world, the youngest winner of the French Open. Suddenly she was stabbed and the emotional costs were staggering for her. She ended up being depressed and overeating. The constant media scrutiny never helps this kind of situation. But she pushed her way through the problems and seems to have outbattled many of them.

    Tennis great Rafael Nadal is going for a repeat doubles win at Queen’s and Wimbledon after he announced this week that he plans on playing at Queen’s club in June. Nadal will join Britain’s Andy Murray in the spring to practice for the June 8^th doubles match at Queen’s. Nadal who was the victor of last years title against Novak Djokovic in a 7-6 7-5 match. Shortly after that Nadal won against Roger Federer at Wimbledon. Nadal also was the first player to win the French Open, Queen’s, and Wimbledon all in the same year. Nadal match against Federer was the longest Wimbledon final ever. Nadal the victor won in a 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 match play against Federer. 

Who could be angry at Sweden, you may ask? The Davis Cup Committee of the ITF is angry with Sweden. A few weeks ago, there was a big battle between Sweden and Israel in the Davis Cup. But that was nothing compared to the battle, or the potential for battle that we saw in the streets at the time. As a result, the city of Malmö decided to put the final match indoors in front of no one. No spectators were allowed to see the game. This was strongly condemned at the time and at the meeting of the committee a few days ago they decided on some sanctions against the people in the situation. Malmo will not be allowed to host another Davis Cup game for 5 years. All contracts with Sweden will include a provision requiring that spectators be allowed to attend. And there were several other penalties that Sweden will have to incur.

Serena Williams beat her sister Venus during the Sony Ericsson Open this week, to reach the finals against Azarenka, coming up in a few days. But matches between these two sisters are very interesting everytime. First of all, they trained and probably still train against each other much of the time. This way they are some of the most interesting  matches, with them knowing the other’s weaknesses and trying to take advantages of them. Have you ever seen one of these matches? They are very fun and you should check out the replay if you can find it. They are practically evenly matched and it’s an interesting way to see the pair play.