Dinara Safina is expected to do very well in the French Open, currently going on over in Europe. It’s very exciting so far, with all the best players finally meeting expectations, although Venus’ Williams exit wasn’t fully expected. Safina hasn’t lost on clay yet this year, and is on a major run. She’s looking for her first grand slam title and it will be entertaining to watch her take on many of the other great players in the series. Is she ready? She thinks she is. But she isn’t getting a lot of kind words from her coach. She didn’t get as much as a pat on the back after she won decisively against Diatchenko this week. But they have a system and she understands that he’s just pushing her more. It’s a great Open this year, so keep tuning in!

Federer has really been fighting his past over the last few months, as well as a rather bad back. Recently he won a title finally, for the first time in what seems like a year, beating Nadal. Now he’s starting at the French Open again, where he was destroyed by Nadal last year. In fact, his first match was on the same court where that infamous battle took place. He’s going to be pushing himself forward to take back the title if possible. In any event, it wont hurt him to shake off those demons once and for all. His first match went off without a hitch, so we’ll be able to see him move on in the competition and perhaps he’ll actually get all the way to the final or further.

Damir Dokic could be in the slammer for as long as 8 years for threats that he made to the Australian embassy in Belgrade. He was upset about recent media reports that he had abused the famous tennis player Jalena Dokic, his daughter, when she was a kid. So he threatened the Australian ambassador to Serbia, in order to get the media reports to stop. He said “I’m a war veteran and I’ll kill her (the ambassador) with a hand grenade launcher in centre of Belgrade.”And he was found to have a lot of weaponry in his house, and they arrested him. The media reports were based on an interview with Dokic and the ambassador doesn’t have control over the media of the country, so this seems to be where his logic got lost along the way.

Roger Federer is in the game! He has hardly even been on the radar screen for some months now, but suddenly he appeared at the Madrid Masters and beat Rafael Nadal to win it! Not only hasn’t he won anything in awhile, but he’s hardly played in any for quite awhile. Nadal had played for four hours the day before in the semifinals, trying to get Novak Djokovic out of the tournament. Federer is doing a great job, it seems, bringing himself back from the wilderness. But it certainly seems Nadal still has the advantage over the other players, because he’s still got a lot of momentum and a lot of talent. He’s also young, so it wont be too hard for him to really win again.

In Madrid, the men’s battle seems to be silent but the women are really competing right now. It’s really exciting right now. Jankovic was able to take out a Russian woman and dominated much more than one would have expected. She used to be the number 1 player but has fallen back. Dinara Safina, the current world #1, had to push Lucie Safarova to really win. She had a great first set, dominating, but the Safarova was able to come back and Safina had to actually get herself back into the game. It was a great match, going back and forth just like the tennis balls they play with. The Finals are coming up soon, so let’s get ready for some fun!

Richard Gasquet might be in a bit of trouble. This is one of the players that was one to watch. He isn’t one of the top-top tier of players but he’s definitely a contender. But his “A” sample on his drug test found some amount of a recreational drug in his system. This drug has been identified by several sources as cocaine. If his “B” sample also comes back positive, he could be banned for two years from the tour. There have been no official comments from anyone, but these are the rumors that are going around. Gasqueet pulled out of the Miami Masters with a neck injury. He was expected to return in the next month or so, but this might be fully in jeopardy now!

There is apparently a big scramble at the top of the WTA tour right now. This isn’t a big surprise, because there’s been a big shift in the set of players that are competing now. It’s like a new generation has taken the helm of tennis. The world of Federer and the Williams sisters has shifted into Nadal and Safina. Federer is injured, it appears and may still be looking for a comeback, but hasn’t proven much yet. So Nadal is on top. Meanwhile, the Williams sisters, while still fantastically talented, are kind of coming down in their careers right now, it would seem. They’ll still be a force, unlike Federer, but they may be on the downturn.

Serena Williams is back in the headlines, bringing people into her cause. She is currently the #2 women’s player in the world and it is apparently important to her that she come out and clarify that she is, in fact, the best player. Williams recently dropped from the top spot. Safina has been a real up-and-coming player the last year or so. Williams says she’s the best player. Safina says that she may be right, but that they cannot compare their playing abilities, because she’s older and has more experience. Better to compare their records when Safina has gotten to be that age. So Williams is being humble by saying that she’s the top in the world.

Rafael Nadal will be competing in the Thailand Open that is in September. At issue will be a prize of over 600,000 dollars and the chance to remain at the top of the rankings worldwide. He would probably remain at #1 anyway, but he’s interested in keeping his streak going this season. He’s quickly making it impossible for Roger Federer to actually catch up and it will take a major movement of Federer to get himself back to the top. He hasn’t actually appeared in a competition for several months and that lowers his chances a lot at the moment. It’s going to be a great year for Nadal. Probably not so much for Mr Federer.