2Q.1 Clay Court BSA's: Serenativity 2.0? Yikes!

You asked for the best, you got the best. Geez. And we thought the original "Serenativity" was awesome.

"I'm playing better. I'm working hard. I'm doing more things. And I feel like I deserve to win, because I'm honestly working very hard"
-- Serena Williams

*2Q.1 Clay Court Awards - Wk. 14-23*
**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Serena Williams, USA
...the Charleston, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros champion went undefeated on the clay this spring, stretching her overall career-best winning streak to thirty-one matches as she grabbed her sixteenth slam title (but first in Paris in eleven years) before heading off for the grass season. Hmmm, could it be that Williams is also following along in her own footsteps, set down in 2002 as she began her "Serena Slam" run? Ready for an encore... or maybe more? Remember, Martina Navratilova once won sixth straight slams without winning a TRUE Grand Slam. Serena could conceivably be readying to put herself in the same position as she heads for southwest London come June 2014. With Williams' version of "Serenativity 2.0" in full flight... anything and everything is possible.
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2. Maria Sharapova, RUS
...the repeat of Sharapova's Rome/Roland Garros two-fer wasn't in the cards, but she defended Stuttgart, and reached the finals in Madrid and Paris. Sharapova wants more grand slam titles, but she's not the best grass courter or hard courter out there -- those roles would be filled by both women ranked ahead of her in the WTA singles rankings. Sharapova has never been a year-end #1, and she likely won't be in 2013, either. She could finish at #2 for a third time in her career, though.
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3. Italian Fed Cup Team
...playing in front a home crowd against the two-time defending champion Czechs, the Italians grabbed the early advantage and never let go, wrapping things up without needing to go to a deciding doubles match. Later this year, Team Italia will play in a third FC final in the last five years, and fourth in the last eight.
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4. Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina, RUS/RUS
...a Fed Cup force and Roland Garros champions. A year ago, that was the description of Errani/Vinci. In 2013, it's the all-Hordette team of Makarova & Vesnina. In fact, they defeated those aforementioned Italians in the final to claim their first slam doubles crown in Paris, ending a 2Q.1 that had begun with the Russians winning the deciding doubles match in the FC semis vs. SVK (after having done the same in the 1st Round vs. JPN in February).
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5. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
...Vika didn't win a clay title in this spring, but she reached the final in Rome and her first career semi at Roland Garros. Her late-starting clay campaign (after an ankle injury layoff) catapulted her past Sharapova into #2 in the singles rankings heading into Wimbledon. So... whew! No Serena until Vika (maybe) reaches her first final at SW19.
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6. Roberta Vinci, ITA
...Vinci, the co-doubles #1, won the Katowice singles crown without dropping a set, finishing things off with a victory over Petra Kvitova in the final. In the FC semifinals, she took down the lefty Czech once more as the Italians ran over the defending champions and into the final.
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7. Russian Fed Cup Team
...just when you count them out, they pull us back in. Down 0-2 against the Slovaks in the Fed Cup semis, the Russians flipped the script and won three straight matches to charge back into their sixth FC final in the last ten years. But they haven't won since 2008.
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8. Sara Errani, ITA
...contrary to popular belief, Errani HAS cut back a bit on her doubles play. She and Vinci haven't won a clay title in '13, and only teamed enough to reach two EuroClay finals (in Rome and Paris, losing both). But Errani reached the singles semifinals in Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, garnering enough points to successfully survive the loss of her points from reaching the RG final in 2012. In fact, even now without the slam runner-up points, Errani is actually ranked HIGHER than she was at this time a year ago -- at a career-best #5.
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9. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
...she led the Russians back from a 0-2 hole vs. the Slovaks in the Fed Cup semifinals, and won her second career slam crown (w/ AO Mixed in AO) in the women's doubles at Paris.
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10. Belinda Bencic, SUI (jr.)
...the Swiss teen, the new girls #1, found a Roland Garros singles title at the end of her current 23-match junior level winning streak. The first girl from Switzerland to win a slam crown since Martina Hingis, Bencic also reached the QF at two $50K pro challenger events during the 2Q.
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**RISERS**
1. Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina, RUS/RUS
2. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
3. Sara Errani, ITA
4. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
5. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
6. Kaia Kanepi, EST
7. Maria Kirilenko, RUS
8. Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
9. Alize Cornet, FRA
10. Angelique Kerber, GER
11. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
12. Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai, TPE/CHN
13. Sabine Lisicki, GER
14. Simona Halep, ROU
15. Lucie Safarova, CZE
16. Lucie Hradecka, CZE
17. Petra Cetkovska, CZE
18. Marina Erakovic, NZL
19. Vania King, USA
20. Sorana Cirstea, ROU
HM- Urszula Radwanska, POL & Bojana Jovanovski, SRB

**FRESH FACES**
1. Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
2. Jamie Hampton, USA
3. Laura Robson, GBR
4. Madison Keys, USA
5. Annika Beck, GER
6. Timea Babos, HUN
7. Sloane Stephens, USA
8. Monica Puig, PUR
9. Anna Schmiedlova, SVK
10. Eugenie Bouchard, CAN
11. Ashleigh Barty, AUS
12. Elina Svitolina, UKR
13. Mallory Burdette, USA
14. Yulia Putintseva, KAZ
15. Alexandra Cadantu, ROU
16. Ons Jabeur, TUN
17. Jessica Pegula, USA
18. Donna Vekic, CRO
19. An-Sophie Mestash, BEL
20. Caroline Garcia, FRA
HM- Lara Arrabarrena-Vecino, ESP

**JUNIORS & NCAA**
1. Belinda Benci, SUI
2. Antonia Lottner, GER
3. Nicole Gibbs, USA (Stanford)
4. Jelena Ostapenko, LAT
5. Ana Konjuh, CRO
6. Louisa Chirico, USA
7. Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE
8. Beatriz Haddad Maia, BRA
9. Taylor Townsend, USA (RG)
10. Elizaveta Kulichkova, RUS
11. Kristina Schmiedlova, SVK
12. Darya Kasatkina, RUS
13. Mayo Hibi, JPN
14. Elise Mertens, BEL
15. Tornado Alicia Black, USA
HM- Jamie Loeb, USA & Maria Bouzcova, CZE

**SURPRISES**
1. Stefanie Voegele, SUI
2. Paula Ormaechea, ARG
3. Dinah Pfizenmaier, GER
4. Zuzana Kucova, SVK
5. Silvia Soler-Espinosa, ESP
6. Canadian Fed Cup Team
7. Nastassja Burnett, FRA
8. Mandy Minella, LUX
9. Tereza Mrdeza, CRO
10. Teliana Pereira, BRA
HM- Sara Sorribes-Tormo, ESP

"Honestly, you got a problem? I'm not the one." - Serena Williams, to Jelena Jankovic in the Charleston final

"She has different rules?" - Jelena Jankovic, referring to Serena Williams, to chair umpire Kader Nouni in Charleston

**VETERANS**
1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Maria Sharapova, RUS
3. Roberta Vinci, ITA
4. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
5. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
6. Lucie Hradecka, CZE
7. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
8. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
9. Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka, CZE/CZE
10. Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP
11. Lourdes Dominguez-Lino, ESP
12. Chanelle Scheepers, RSA
13. Marion Bartoli, FRA
14. Virginie Razzano, FRA
15. Cara Black, ZIM
16. Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Kveta Peschke, GER/CZE
17. Zheng Jie, CHN
18. Li Na, CHN
19. Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
20. Samantha Stosur, AUS
HM- Kirsten Flipkens, BEL & Galina Voskoboeva, KAZ

**COMEBACKS**
1. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
2. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
4. Kaia Kanepi, EST
5. Russian Fed Cup Team
6. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
7. Cara Black, ZIM
8. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
9. Sabine Lisicki, GER
10. Petra Martic, CRO
11. Alisa Kleybanova, RUS
12. Alize Cornet, FRA
13. Shahar Peer, ISR
14. Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
15. Michaella Krajicek, NED
16. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
17. Asia Muhammad, USA
18. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE
19. Andrea Petkovic, GER
20. Vania King, USA

**TEAMS**
1. Italian Fed Cup Team
2. Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina, RUS/RUS
3. Russian Fed Cup Team
4. Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci, ITA/ITA
5. Hsieh Su-Wei/Peng Shuai, TPE/CHN
6. Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino/Lourdes Dominguez-Lino, ESP/ESP
7. Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka, CZE/CZE
8. Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova, CZE/CZE
9. Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Kveta Peschke, GER/CZE
10. Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Sabine Lisicki, GER/GER
HM- Sabrina Santamaria/Kaitlyn Christina (USC)

"Clay probably is not my favorite surface." - Caroline Wozniacki

**DOWN**
1. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2. Slovak Fed Cup Team
3. Petra Kvitova, CZE
4. Serbian Fed Cup Team
5. Christina McHale, USA
6. Li Na, CHN
7. Mona Barthel, GER (non-FC)
8. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL (non-FC/RG)
9. Vesna Dolonc, SRB
10. Sloane Stephens, USA

**FED CUP**
1. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
2. Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci, ITA
3. Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina, RUS
4. Roberta Vinci, ITA
5. Serena Williams, USA
6. Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Sabine Lisicki, GER
7. Samantha Stosur, AUS
8. Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
9. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
10. Marion Bartoli, FRA
HM- Paula Ormaechea, ARG & Eugenie Bouchard/Sharon Fichman, CAN

**ITF PLAYERS**
1. Jovana Jaksic, SRB
2. Denis Khazaniuk, ISR
3. Barbara Luz, AUT
4. Montserrat Gonzalez, PAR
5. Mariana Duque-Marino, COL
6. Caroline Garcia, FRA
7. Ajla Tomljanovic, CRO
8. Ons Jabeur, TUN
9. Viktorija Golubic, SUI
10. Dinah Pfizenmaier, GER

"I feel like my career is almost beginning again or something." - Serena Williams

**TOP PERFORMANCES**
1. [Blame Virginie!]
One year after losing in the 1st Round at Roland Garros to Virginie Razzano, Serena Williams comes storming back in the springtime. No one beats her, as she runs her winning streak to 31 matches, claims four titles and slam #16 in Paris.
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2. [The Russian Strike Back]
Day 2 heroine Ekaterina Makarina -- with wins in singles and doubles -- leads the Hordettes to a comeback victory over SVK that sends Team Russia into the Fed Cup final
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3. [Welcome Back]
Alisa Kleybanova, in just her second event back since 2011 treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma -- and her first since March '12 -- qualifies for and wins the Landisville $10K challenger
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4. [So Nice She Won It Tiwce]
Stanford's Nicole Gibbs wins her second of back-to-back NCAA women's singles titles, and is named "Most Outstanding Player" as she leads the Cardinal to the school's seventeenth NCAA team crown
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5. [From Martina to Belinda]
Belinda Bencic, coached by Martina Hingis' mother/former coach Melanie Molitor, wins the Roland Garros Girls crown, becoming the first Swiss female slam champ since Hingis in '94
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6. [Vika Whacking Expectations]
Victoria Azarenka reaches the Rome final, her first career Roland Garros semifinal and reclaims the #2 world ranking from Maria Sharapova
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7. [Good, But Not Compared to 2012]
Maria Sharapova has a good (wins Stuttgart, loses RG final), but not great, clay court season a year after completing her Career Grand Slam in Paris
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8. [Buzzing Through the Draw]
Swarmette Qualifier Simona Halep flies through the Rome draw, all the way to an unexpected semifinal appearance
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9. [Not Done Yet]
Francesca Schiavone, at nearly 33, becomes the oldest singles champ of 2013 in Marrakech
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10. [To Errani is Still Divine]
Sara Errani doesn't win any titles (singles or doubles), or return to the RG final, but SF runs in Rome, Madrid and Paris put her at a career-best #5
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HM- [The Late Bloomer]
At 30, Roberta Vinci continues to reach new heights, including winning Katowice without dropping a set, easily handling Petra Kvitova in the final
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[Teams]
1. Russia comes back from a 0-2 Day 1 deficit to defeat the Slovak Republic in the Fed Cup semis
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2. Makarova/Vesnina win Russia's deciding doubles match in FC play, then claim Roland Garros, defeating #1-ranked Errani/Vinci in the final. Could the teams meet again for the FC title later this year?
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3. Italy upsets the two-time defending champion Czech squad to reach the Fed Cup final
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4. Hsieh/Peng end the 31-match clay court winning streak of Errani/Vinci in the Rome final
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5. Stanford, as the #12 seed, is the lowest-seeded NCAA women's team champions ever. The Cardinal defeat the #1, #3, #4 and #5 seeded teams en route to the title.
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*MEMORABLE MATCHES*
Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Bartoli d. Govortsova
...7-6/4-6/7-5. In 3;14, La Trufflette puts on a crowd-pleasing show, coming back from a break down three times in the 1st, saving two match points in the 3rd and then winning on her own FIFTH MP. Oh, if only we could tap into Bartoli's veins, the world energy crisis would be solved.
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Stuttgart 2nd Rd. - Lisicki d. Jankovic
...7-6/7-5. Yes, the earth tilted just a little on its axis when the former Ricardo Sanchez protege met up with the current one. Predictably, unpredictability ensued as JJ saved six set points in the 1st, but lost it anyway, then dropped a tight 2nd, too. Oh, what did the Tennis Gods hide from our eyes by preventing the drama of a 3rd set between these two drama queens from becoming a reality?
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Fed Cup SF Match #5 - Makarova/Vesnina (RUS) d. Cibulkova/Hantuchova (SVK)
...4-6/6-3/6-1. The Hordettes complete the comeback from 0-2.
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Charleston 1st Rd. - Mattek-Sands def. An.Rodionova
...6-4/6-7/7-6. At 3:42, the longest match of 2013.
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NCAA Team Final - Kristie Ahn (Stanford) d. Cristina Stancu (Texas A&M)
...7-5/4-6/6-2. Ahn comes back from 0-2 down in the 3rd set to secure the Cardinal's 17th team crown.
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*COMEBACKS!!!!!!!!*
Fed Cup SF - Russia def. Slovak Republic 3-2
...for the sixth time in Fed Cup World Group play, a team comes back from an 0-2 deficit to advance.
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Madrid 3rd Rd. - Ivanovic d. Robson
...5-7/6-2/7-6. Robson led 5-2 in the 3rd set, and twice served for the match. In the closing moments, the Brit ended things with a double-fault. When you think about, who'd know better how Robson felt after a moment like this than AnaIvo?
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Rome 1st Rd. - Jovanovski d. Wozniacki
...2-6/6-4/7-6. Wozniacki led 4-0 in the 3rd, then wilted on the vine in Rome as BoJo coasted to victory. She liked it so much that she came back and beat Caro in the 2nd Round at Roland Garros, too.
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Rome QF - Halep d. Jankovic
...4-6/6-0/7-5. JJ led 3-0 and held two match points in the 3rd set.
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Roland Garros QF - Sharapova d. Jankovic
...0-6/6-4/6-4. Sharapova commits twenty errors in six games in the 29-minute 1st set, then sees Jankovic's frustration grow to Jankovician levels in just the FIRST game of the 2nd set. Naturally, JJ then loses for the eighth time in nine matches vs. Sharapova.
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Roland Garros 4th Rd. - Errani d. Suarez-Navarro
...5-7/6-4/6-3. The '12 RG finalist erases a 7-5/4-2 deficit and, despite an "odd-seeming" chest injury, goes on to become a '13 RG semifinalist.
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*OH... BIG UPSETS*
Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Puig d. Petrova
...3-6/7-5/6-4. Oh, Nadia. The Puerto Rican teen erases Petrova's 4-2 3rd set lead, bouncing the Russian and making her the "First Seed Out" in Paris one slam after she'd been the 1st Round victim of the oldest-ever Australian Open match winner (42-year old Kimiko Date-Krumm) in Melbourne in January.
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Rome Doubles Final - Hsieh/Peng d. Errani/Vinci
...4-6/6-3/10-8. Errani/Vinci's multiple season-spanning 31-match clay court win streak comes to an unceremonious end in Italy.
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Roland Garros 1st Rd. - U.Radwanska d. V.Williams
...7-6(5)/6-7(4)/6-4. Venus, bad back and Sjogren's symptoms be damned, gives it all she has for 3:20, as everyone knows, even if she wins, that she'll have nothing else left to give once this one was over. U-Rad served for the set at 6-5 in the 1st and held a set point, only to see Venus save it and erase a 6-1 tie-break deficit as she saved five more SP before losing it 7-5. In the 2nd set TB, U-Rad led 4-0, only to see Venus win seven straight points to knot the match. In the 3rd, Radwanska led 4-0, but was broken as she served for the match at 5-2. But Venus' valiant effort ended there, as the Pole finally served things out at 5-4 to hand Williams her fifth career 1st Round slam defeat. As expected, Venus' back injury forced her out of the doubles with Serena.
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"(Women's sexuality isn't covered same way as men's,) with women it's always been assumed that if you're a really good athlete you must be a lesbian. So women always have to prove their heterosexuality in sports." - Martina Navratilova, after NBA player Jason Collins became the first major North American male team sport athlete to come out as gay while still an active player

**By the Numbers...**
0... number of women who'd reached back-to-back slam QF as an unseeded player since #1-#32 seeding (mid-2001) before Svetlana Kuznetsova followed up her Australian Open unseeded QF run with another in Paris
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3... number of main draw tour wins in the career of German Dinah Pfizenmaier. All of them have come at Roland Garros the last two years.
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3... doubles titles won by Kristina Mladenovic with different playing partners in 2013. The Pastry has won five titles with five different partners since last August.
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6... consecutive wins in singles finals by Roberta Vinci, whose win in Katowice moved her career record in WTA finals to 8-1
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12-2... #1 Serena Williams' career head-to-head edge over #2-ranked Victoria Azarenka
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14-2... #1 Serena Williams' career head-to-head edge over #3-ranked Maria Sharapova
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7-6... #2 Victoria Azarenka's career head-to-head edge over #3 ranked Maria Sharapova
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31... consecutive wins by Serena Williams, tied for 18th on the all-time single-season WTA list. A title run at Wimbledon would move her into the top ten single-year streaks in tour history.
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467... number of wins new Roland Garros Women's Wheelchair champ Sabine Ellerbrock, the 37-year old German who defeated the #1 and #2 seeds in Paris en route to her first slam crown, would have to win to match the career-closing match winning streak of 21-time slam champ Esther Vergeer, whose '13 retirement opened the door for a new champ in the first "official" post-Vergeer slam competition. For the record, Vergeer didn't just win 470 straight matches -- she was 559-1 in her last 560 matches!
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2007... the last time a Russian woman (Anna Chakvetadze) climbed into the singles Top 10 for the first time in her career before Maria Kirilenko did so following Roland Garros. Kirilenko is the twelfth Russian Top 10 player in tour history.
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"To be honest, I don't really know or remember what it feels like to lose in singles. I know what it's like to lose a Monopoly game and I don't like that." - Esther Vergeer

=THE GOOD=
Serena Williams & Patrick Mouratoglou
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"Venus and Serena"

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"I think for Serena, nothing is out of reach. If she really wants something, it is very difficult to stop her." -- Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams' coach

=THE BAD=
Depending on "Serbian Bad Luck Charm" Vesna Dolonc in the Fed Cup semifinals
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Svetlana Kuznetsova leaving a slam with "what might have been" issues, having been up a break vs. Serena in the Roland Garros QF. It's the fourth time in her career that she's held match point, served for the match or been a break up in the deciding set of a Round of 16-or-later match against the eventual winner of a grand slam -- and it's the third time it's happened in Paris.
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Anabel Medina-Garrigues caught "fluffing" balls during her match with Serena in Madrid, and mentioning Sharapova's on-court noise when AMG wasn't given a point in a RG match because of a noise she made on the court (not in a match vs. Sharapova, it should not noted)
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=THE USUAL=
AMG didn't reach a slam quarterfinal

=THE WTF?=
AMG took a love set off Serena in Madrid!

"Like, seriously! People should know. They think she's so friendly and she's so this and she's so that -- no, that's not reality! You don't unfollow someone on Twitter." -- Sloane Stephens, on Serena Williams

"I made you." -- Serena Williams' Twitter message to Stephens, after Stephens star-making upset of her in Melbourne in January

=THE ILL-ADVISED=
Getting into a "social media war" with Serena Williams, especially when you "call her out" as "fake" and "not your friend" after you'd been the one who constantly referred to her as "my good friend Serena" in the past

=THE OVERDUE=
Marion Bartoli played in her first career singles match for France in Fed Cup competition
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Venus & Serena played their first tour match against each other since 2009
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=THE RETURN OF QC=
Jelena Jankovic shimmies with a towel in Charleston
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Jelena Jankovic dooms herself by getting into a verbal exchange with Serena in Charleston about JJ serving too quickly
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Jelena Jankovic dooms herself by getting into a verbal exchange with herself and the player's box one game into the 2nd set in the QF at Roland Garros, after JJ had taken the 1st set at love over Maria Sharapova
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Jelena Jankovic, after winning her first title since 2010 and making the Miami SF in the 1Q, re-enters the Top 20, reaches the Charleston final and the final eight in Paris for the first time in three years
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"A lot of times, you know, my mind just keeps running, and sometimes it makes sense, what I say, and sometimes it doesn't." - Jelena Jankovic

=THE CAUGHT ON FILM=
Maria Sharapova & Grigor Dimitrov, on the streets of Madrid


=THE CAUGHT ON VIDEO (or "Possessed by The Rad")=


=THE COACHED BY THE DAD (again)=
After a two-week coaching "tryout" with Jana Novotna, Marion Bartoli went back to her dad/coach Walter

=THE PAST REPLAYED BY VIKA=
Azarenka reminds Mariana Alves of her "checkered" past

"After all you've done, how are you still in the game?" - Victoria Azarenka, to "controversy magnet" Mariana Alves

=THE REMEMBER WHEN? (circa 2002)=


=THE IF YOU CAN'T BE MARIA, be a Maria=
Tatjana Malek married her coach and became Tatjana Maria

=THE IF YOU CAN'T BE AGA, be something else (or show a lot more skin)=
Polish player Marta Domachowka posed nude in Poland's edition of Playboy


=AND, of course...=

Caroline Wozniacki went 1-5 on red clay this spring, and announced that she'll soon have a new ("mystery?") coach. She did make time to experiment with another profession, though.

And rub elbows with the rich and (formerly) powerful.


WoziCondiRoy???




[standings after Roland Garros; w/ post-1Q standing]
1. Serena Williams (2): way ahead on the computer, but 1-to-1 with Vika in slams and head-to-head match-ups, so who's to say Serena has her second straight "Ms. Backspin" title wrapped up just yet?
2. Victoria Azarenka (1): defended her AO crown, but lost her #1 ranking. Had her best-ever RG, and climbed back up to #2. Stay tuned.
3. Maria Sharapova (4): by the end of the summer we'll know where she stands, but one gets the sneaky suspicion that Maria will sit around at a gathering of great champions two decades from now and joke with the likes of Venus, Lindsay, Martina and others about how many more slams they'd won if not for Serenativity... 1.0 or 2.0.
4. Italian Fed Cup Team (-): dethroned the defending champion Czechs
5. Errani/Vinci (3): though not quite as dominant lately, they're still the best (regular) doubles team in the world, and might lead Team Italia back to the Fed Cup winners' circle
6. Sara Errani (7): still the best singles/doubles combo on tour. Well, unless you go with...
7. Roberta Vinci (HM): she's poised to continue her late-blooming career by reaching the singles Top 10 (she's at #11) for the first time after turning 30
8. Agnieszka Radwanska (5): a force in January, but a shadow of that on the clay until Roland Garros. Remember, she reached the Wimbledon final in '12.
9. Russian Fed Cup Team (-): the "B" team got the Hordettes back into the final. Now will the new "A" team -- minus Mr. T -- get them title #5?
10. Makarova/Vesnina (10): with the hasty demise of Kirilenko/Petrova, are they poised to become the best all-Hordette doubles team ever?
11. Li Na (8): quick start, middlin' middle
12. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (-): how's she doing? What time is it?
13. Maria Kirilenko (HM): the first Russian to make a Top 10 singles debut in six years
14. Sloane Stephens (HM): making much news, but still tyring to make the jump from promising star to actual champion
15. Mattek/Mirza (HM), Petrova/Srebotnik (6), Babos/Minella (-) & Kristina Mladenovic (-): the doubles portion of the post-RG "Ms.Backspin" schedule.




*Longest Active Streaks*
[Top 10]
141 weeks...Victoria Azarenka
115 weeks...Maria Sharapova
109 weeks...Petra Kvitova
88 weeks...Agnieszka Radwanska
62 weeks...Serena Williams
56 weeks...Angelique Kerber
63 weeks...Sara Errani
44 weeks...Li Na
18 weeks...Caroline Wozniacki
1 week...Maria Kirilenko
[Top 20]
314 weeks...Marion Bartoli
278 weeks...Agnieszka Radwanska
265 weeks...Victoria Azarenka
251 weeks...Caroline Wozniacki
209 weeks...Li Na
203 weeks...Samantha Stosur
140 weeks...Maria Sharapova
124 weeks...Petra Kvitova
91 weeks...Serena Williams
87 weeks...Dominika Cibulkova
71 weeks...Ana Ivanovic
69 weeks...Angelique Kerber
60 weeks...Maria Kirilenko
53 weeks...Sara Errani
43 weeks...Roberta Vinci
40 weeks...Nadia Petrova
20 weeks...Sloane Stephens
11 weeks...Jelena Jankovic
4 weeks...Carla Suarez-Navarro
1 week...Kirsten Flipkens

*RUSSIANS DEBUTING IN WTA TOP 10*
1975 - Olga Morozova (USSR)
1988 - Natasha Zvereva (USSR) - later BLR
1998 - Anna Kournikova
2001 - Elena Dementieva
2003 - Anastasia Myskina
2004 - Nadia Petrova
2004 - Svetlana Kuznetsova
2004 - Maria Sharapova
2004 - Vera Zvonareva
2006 - Dinara Safina
2007 - Anna Chakvetadze
2013 - Maria Kirilenko

*LONGEST WTA SINGLE-SEASON WIN STREAKS*
74 - Martina Navratilova, 1984
55 - Chris Evert, 1974
53 - Martina Navratilova, 1986
50 - Martina Navratilova, 1983
45 - Steffi Graf, 1988
45 - Steffi Graf, 1987
44 - Steffi Graf, 1993
41 - Martina Navratilova, 1982
37 - Martina Hingis, 1997
37 - Martina Navratilova, 1978
36 - Chris Evert, 1976
36 - Monica Seles, 1990
35 - Venus Williams, 2000
33 - Chris Evert, 1982
33 - Chris Evert, 1981
33 - Chris Evert, 1975
32 - Steffi Graf, 1994
31 - SERENA WILLIAMS, 2013 *
31 - Chris Evert, 1971
--
* - active streak

"I'm already focused on Wimbledon." - 16-time slam champ Serena Williams, after winning Roland Garros

Hmmm... should I go ahead and say, "Uh-oh," now and get it over with?

All for now.