What's happening in the world of tennis....
Well in the Mens game, this week sees the second Masters 1000 event on clay as the players take to Madrid. Rafael Nadal will be looking to defend the title (not to mention the points!) he won last year but if he's going to do that, he's likely to have to overcome Roger Federer in the semi-final and Novak Djokovic in the final. Nadal-Federer matches are always eagerly anticipated but most neutrals would perhaps prefer to see Nadal take on Djokovic in the final to see if the Serb really is the real deal this year.
Djokovic won his home-town tournament in Belgrade at the weekend to take his 2011 tally to 27-0. Hats off to him as no one has started a year this well since Ivan Lendl went 29-0 at the beginning of 1986 - incidentally, John McEnroe holds the record for best start to a season with 42-0 in 1984 - but he may not have made it to 27 if he'd have been fit enough to face Nadal in either Monte Carlo or Barcelona so if they do meet in Sunday's final, it will certainly be one to watch!
Elsewhere, Nikolai Davydenko won in Munich to climb back into the World Top 30. A great result for the Russian as he tries to get back to his best after fracturing his left wrist last year.
On the WTA Tour, the women are also in Madrid this week preparing for the French Open. In the first round, all of the seeds in action thus far have won their matches with the exception of Estonian 14th seed, Kaia Kanepi who went down in three sets to German Julia Goerges and the 15th seeded Serbian Anna Ivanovic (who won the French Open only a few years ago) who went out to the fashion victim/trend-setting (delete as appropriate!) American, Bethanie Mattek-Sands in three sets - having won the first set 6-0.
Number 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki will be looking to gain some momentum so that she can triumph at Roland Garros and lift the burden of being the World Number 1 despite not having won a Grand Slam.
That's about it for now folks but keep your eyes open for more updates in the next couple of weeks!
