3...2...1...

The ball may have already dropped to ring in the New Year, but we're still a couple days away from the official start of the 2015 tennis season. And with last year's champions looking to continue their momentum, former greats hoping for a successful return and a couple newbies seeking their big breaks, you know we're going to see some top-notch action from the start.

Of course it won't be full steam ahead for everyone -- Juan Martin Del Potro delayed his comeback and pulled out of Brisbane, while a couple players who entered exhibitions at International Premier League events ultimately withdrew from early tournaments too. And even those who did hit the court again struggled -- Rafael Nadal, playing his first match since an appendectomy in November, won just two games off Andy Murray at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships this week. Results like these could open the door to plenty others.

The only woman who's ever won the title in Shenzhen won't be back to defend, of course, and top tier champs like Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova will be eager to fill her spot. But they're not the only ones -- last year's runner-up Shaui Peng had a strong end to her 2014 season and could get a nice boost from homecourt advantage. And Zarina Diyas, who quietly climbed to #33 in the world, got to the final in Osaka in October and could take a couple in the field here by surprise. But I'm going to keep an eye on Vera Zvonareva, whose comeback last year was half-hearted at best. If she's fully recovered now, she might be ready to cause some of the damage we all know she's capable of.

The women's bracket in Brisbane is a little more intimidating with eight top twenty players hitting the courts in Australia. Singapore qualifiers Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic lead the pack but the biggest surprises could come from some unseeded spoilers. Hometown favorite Sam Stosur launched a late-season comeback last year, reaching the semis in Beijing and taking her third title in Osaka, and 2014 runner-up Victoria Azarenka, who's coming off her first trophy-less season since 2008, will look to make up points right off the bat. But perhaps the player with the greatest chance of shaking things up is Karolina Pliskova who won the Girls' title in Melbourne back in 2010 -- in September she made the final in Hong Kong and followed up that run with titles in Seoul and Linz. She was an alternate at the Tournament of Champions in Sofia and lost the only match she played, but with wins over players like Andrea Petkovic, Angelique Kerber and Ana Ivanovic over the last twelve months, she certainly has the talent to take out the big guns.

There's plenty star power in the men's draw too -- Roger Federer, my player of the year, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic all are coming off breakthrough seasons, but potential threats lurk even deeper in the draw. Alexandr Dolgopolov, whose own stellar 2014 was cut short by knee surgery in July, will be back in action -- he only won one match since his return in Tokyo last September, but it was over an always-tricky Gilles Simon, and he might finally be up for even bigger challenges now. And native son Lleyton Hewitt snatched this title from Fed last year -- he may be well off his career high ranking at #50 in the world, but he's one of those guys that never gives up. Perhaps the same can be said for compatriot Bernard Tomic, who briefly fell out of the top hundred last year after a second round loss at Wimbledon. He may not be at the top of his game these days, but he did manage a runner's-up finish in Sydney in 2014 -- admittedly one win short of his previous result -- and he shocked everyone with a title run in Bogota over the summer. Somehow, it seems, every time we write him off, he manages to pull off a big win.

Over in Chennai, Stan Wawrinka will look to reclaim the crown that launched him into the sport's elite, but players like 2014 standoutRoberto Bautista Agut and comeback kid David Goffin will be out to derail his plans. So will some of last year's most promising young guns -- Jiri Vesely had quite a strong start to last season, and Borna Coric who stunned Rafael Nadal last year in Basel, is just a hair out of the top hundred now and seems primed to climb much higher. But I'd like nothing more than to see Feliciano Lopez to make a big run here. The likely-second seed is coming off a banner 2014 season, reaching a career-high #14 ranking and notching wins over Nadal, Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic -- he hasn't won a hardcourt title since 2010, but the thirty-three year old veteran has shown he has what it takes to put an end to that stretch.

More than a couple stars made their way out to Doha too -- defending champion Rafael Nadal and world #1 Novak Djokovic may headline, but a couple former top ten players could also make a stand. Fernando Verdasco finished 2014 at his lowest year-end ranking since 2006 and will look to turn things back around, and fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, playing his first event since pulling out of his French Open first round, could rack up a couple of much needed points to improve his #71 ranking before heading down to Melbourne. But also look out for Ernests Gulbis, whose shoulder injury kept him off the alternate list in London -- he really slowed down after his surprise semifinal appearance at Roland Garros, but he's got the kind of game that can really catch the favorites off guard, and it might just be the perfect time to show us exactly what he can do.

It's hard to say who'll ultimately come out on top this tennis season, but the good thing about each new year is that everyone starts off with a clean slate. Whether the old favorites continue their reigns or some upstarts make a push into the elite, we're certainly in for some great action over the coming months. And it all kicks off in just a few more days...

Take a Step Back

It's that weird time in the tennis season again, where -- after a month of playing on grass and several weeks still before the final hardcourt Major of the year -- we're forced to turn the clocks back a few weeks and revisit the clay court action of the spring. And the change of scenery may have suited some more than others.

To be fair, Phillipp Kohlscreiber's bad luck in Stuttgart wasn't entirely his fault -- the hometown favorite was the victim of a schedule marred by nearly two days of rain and had to play back to back matches today to start his Mercedes Cup campaign. After completing his opener against Jan-Lennard Struff, he fell in two tight sets to giant-killer Lukas Rosol. Some lower seeds have made a better transition back to dirt, though. Barcelona runner-up Santiago Giraldo, who beat both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Murray in Rome, fell quickly to Roger Federer at Wimbledon. He seems to have gotten back on track this week -- after an easy win over qualifier Mate Delic in his opener he stayed tough after dropping a second set tiebreak today to ultimately set up a quarterfinal against top seed Fabio Fognini. And Federico Delbonis, who hadn't won a match since his Cinderella run to the Nice final, turned his luck around too. After ousting veteran Juan Monaco in his first round, he came back from a set down against Benjamin Becker, and will now face a struggling Mikhail Youzhny for a spot in the semis. And with some big wins in both their pockets already this year, either could make a real run for this title.

Over in Sweden it's some less-surprising names that most benefit from the switch of surfaces. Last year's French Open finalist David Ferrer suffered an inglorious defeat at the hands of then-#118 Andrey Kuznetsov in his Wimbledon second round and needed to rebound on the clay of Bastad, and he's off to a good start. He needed just over an hour to dispatch Victor Hanescu earlier today and though Carlos Berlocq will certainly present a bigger challenge in next, the Argentine has lost opening sets in his last two matches and should be easily handled. And countryman Fernando Verdasco, almost a semifinalist last year at the All England Club, fell quite a bit earlier this time around. But the Spaniard has won four of his six titles on clay, and after taking out Albert Ramos-Viñolas Thursday, he shouldn't face any real challenge until the final. Meanwhile last year's Wimbledon standout Jerzy Janowicz has had a little more trouble -- he played three five-set matches this year at the All England Club and only won two of them. Now out of the top fifty, he didn't make a strong case to move back up the rankings this week and lost his opener to one of this season's up-and-comers Dusan Lajovic. He'll need to pull his game together a bit better once he hits the hardcourts if he wants to show he belongs among the elite.

Slightly more consistent this year, Simona Halep didn't exactly have a disappointing Wimbledon, but with a 5-1 record against the other semifinalists she arguably blew her best recent chance at claiming that first Grand Slam crown -- and it's a bit of a let-down since her stellar run in Paris. She seems to have her groove back in Bucharest -- she's needed about two and a half hours to dismiss her first two opponents and with many of the other seeds falling early, she's the heavy favorite in the field. Petra Cetkovska has a little more heavy lifting to do -- the one time fourth-rounder at the All England Club has almost tripled her all-time high ranking of #25 in the world, but she's had some well-fought wins this week in Romania. And as one of the few seeds left in the draw, she has a real shot at making it to the final. I originally thought Silvia Soler-Espinosa did too -- the twenty-three year old Spaniard reached the final in Strasbourg as a qualifier and defeated Yanina Wickmayer to make the third round in Paris. Against still-struggling Roberta Vinci today, I figured her as the favorite, but after taking the opening set she eventually succumbed to the second seed -- maybe not an on-paper upset, but certainly a squandered opportunity.

Perhaps, though, the most surprising loss by a clay court specialist this week was that of my Roland Garros dark horse Carla Suarez Navarro. Having finally won her maiden title on the dirt at the start of May, she seemed to have broken the seal and, though she experienced an understandable loss early at Wimbledon, I expected her to do a bit better in Bad Gastein. But after being pushed to three sets by qualifier Laura Siegemund, she lost quickly today to world #147 Shelby Rogers. Other seeds have been performing a little better in Austria. Camila Giorgi, who's taking out big names like Maria Sharapova in Indian Wells and Victoria Azarenka in Eastbourne, is the most immediate beneficiary of CSN's early exit and might finally be able to put a loner string of wins together. And Sara Errani, who's cut her teeth on this surface with seven titles on clay, may be able to end his year-long trophy-less streak -- she hasn't dropped a set yet in her first two matches here, and with so much of the draw cleared out for her, she's by far the favorite left in the field. And if she can capitalize on that status she might just be able to make a move back into the top ten.

Of course, we should expect that the players who've seen their best results on clay to be most successful this week too -- but clearly it takes a little something extra to shift as seamlessly as these guys and gals have done. Whether they can ride their momentum to titles this weekend remains to be seen -- but more importantly, hopefully it bodes well for what we'll see from them in the weeks and months to come.

Wimbledon: 10 Things I Want to See

I know what you're thinking: "Oh my God, didn't we just go through this? We're barely a week out from the French Open and we're already gearing up for another Grand Slam?!"

I promise -- next year, we'll have a little more time to catch our breath between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, but 'til then let's gear up for another rundown of things I'd like to see over the next fortnight. Now I'm not promising anything, but my top two wishes for Paris did come true. So maybe -- just maybe -- I'll have as good, or even better luck this time around, and hopefully you'll be just as excited by that action as I will be.

So, here we go! Fingers crossed...

10. Rafa makes it past the second round

Now this should almost be a given -- for a man who ranks #1 in the world, has made twenty-seven Major quarters, is second on the all-time list of Grand Slam singles titleholders and claims two trophies here himself, early rounds -- even at an event like this -- shouldn't require much effort.

We know, though, that that's not always the case -- uber-champions like Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova have all fallen in the first week before, across the four Majors, and not always to top players. And Nadal -- well, two years ago he crashed out in the second round to then-#100 Lukas Rosol in a season-ending shocker and went one better worse in his 2013 return, losing his opener this time to world #135 Steve Darcis. So despite an otherwise impressive 36-9 record at the All England Club, his eighty percent win rate here is actually worse than at any other Slam.

And frankly, I'm a little worried about this one -- despite his top ranking, he was only given the second seed, and he's had little match play on grass this year, and not by choice. Days after leaving Paris he made the trip to Halle and crashed out in his opener to wildcard Dustin Brown. That might be a red flag -- in the years he's reached the final at the All England Club he's made at least the quarters of a warm-up event. But hopefully he'll be able to buck tradition and turn his luck on grass around -- it's been a while since he's shown what he can do on this surface, and now's as good a time as any to remind us how he won that career Grand Slam.

9. Sabine Lisicki reaches the quarters -- at least

Did you forget Lisicki was runner-up here last year? I almost did.

But let's all remember this is by far the German's best Slam, and likely her favorite. Back in 2009 when ranked just #41 in the world, she reached the quarterfinals with wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki in the process. She was even more of an underdog two years later, coming back from injury, but made it all the way to the semis where she ultimately fell to Maria Sharapova. She avenged that loss the next season, though, and last year took out both 2012 finalists Aga Radwanska and five-time titleist Serena Williams on her way to her first -- and so far only -- Major championship match.

Lisicki's been a little quiet this year, though -- her best performance has been a third-round showing in Madrid -- and she's battling her health again. She retired during her second match in Paris with a wrist injury and subsequently pulled out of Birmingham. Hopefully the couple weeks' rest will be enough to recover -- the twenty-four year old has way more talent than her recent results and ranking suggest, and it would be great to see her finally rewarded for it.

8. An American has a breakthrough

This country has been looking for its Next Big Thing Slam after Slam, and while players like John Isner and Sloane Stephens certainly have had the most consistent success, it sure would be nice to see a little more depth in the U.S. field. And for whatever reason, it feels like Wimbledon, more than the other Majors, is the most likely venue for that to happen.

On the men's side Steve Johnson might be our best hope -- just off his peak ranking of #63 in the world, he's actually the second best American on the ATP Tour. He's certainly more of a hard court player -- he reached the third round of the U.S. Open a few years back and beat Tommy Haas and Feliciano Lopez on his way to the Delray semis this past February -- but he did put up a fight in the Halle quarters and got in another match win in 's-Hertogenbosch. Patrick McEnroe picked him as a dark horse for Roland Garros, which might be giving him a little too much credit, but with five first round losses at his last six Slams, he should at least pull himself together enough for a couple big match wins at a Major.

Madison Keys is also due for a breakout performance -- the nineteen-year-old got a couple Slam match wins last year and, despite a middle-of-the-road #47 ranking, she's had some solid results this year. She's one of a handful of players to beat Simona Halep this year, riding that momentum to a semi in Sydney, before upsetting Alison Riske and former world #15 Julia Goerges in Strasbourg. She's never done much at a Major, though, but after stunning former world #1 Jelena Jankovic and defending champion Elena Vesnina in Eastbourne this week, she could be ready to change that. And any success here could put her further on the path to take over the reins of U.S. tennis when the time comes.

7. A grass-courter steps up to the plate

Both these guys have shown some promise on Tour, but neither has much hardware to show for their efforts. Meanwhile a couple players who first joined the winners' circle with trophies on grass have an opportunity to finally parlay that into results on a big stage.

Magdalena Rybarikova has hung around the mid-double digits in the sport for years, and while she has picked up a handful of hardcourt titles during her career, her first trophy came in Birmingham five years ago. Still, somewhat surprisingly, in her six appearances in the All England Club's main draw, she's never won a match. She seems to be getting her act together this week, though -- unseeded in Den Bosch, she's already bean French Open semifinalist Andrea Petkovic, and stands a good chance against Annika Beck in her quarterfinal today. She's still out of seeding territory at Wimbledon, but depending on how the draws shake out, she could present an early threat to some of the favorites.

Thirty-two year old Nicolas Mahut made his first splash on Tour a little later than most, but captured his first career trophies just last year, both on grass. Of course he's most known for that epic loss at the All England Club a few years back, but he spent more time on this surface in that one match than most players in the field ever have, so he's certainly got experience on his side. He's actually won a solid sixty-plus percent of his matches on the lawn, and though he's the on-paper underdog against 2014 standout Roberto Bautista Agut in his quarterfinal today, he might just be able to pull off the win and keep on going.

6. Half the semifinalists play their Final Four debut

This is really a variant of a wish I have at every Slam -- for someone to have a breakthrough on a big stage, surprise a couple the favorites and maybe make a new name for themselves that lasts a little past the end of this fortnight. And after the Wimbledon we saw last year, there's plenty of opportunity for anything to happen.

Alison Riske hasn't yet had a lot of luck at the Majors -- the twenty-three year old notched a career-best fourth round showing in New York last year -- but she's a two-time semifinalist on the lawns of Birmingham and comes to London just a shade off her career high ranking. She lost her opening round in Eastbourne, but put up a good fight against a tough Angelique Kerber, and with wins over players like Elena Vesnina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova this year, she could be ready to finally make a splash when it counts.

Slightly -- and only slightly -- more tested is Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who defeated three seeded players on her way to the Birmingham final last week. More known for her doubles results -- she has seventeen titles in the paired discipline versus just one in singles -- the Czech's run was by far her best performance at a Premier-level event, and pushed her nearly twenty spots up the rankings. Like Riske, she's never had great showings at the Majors, and she might have lost some momentum after a first round loss in 's-Hertogenbosch, but two of her three third round showings have come at Wimbledon, and she could go a little further this time around.

Alejandro Falla also broke his streak this week, falling to Jurgen Melzer at the Topshelf Open immediately after his Cinderella run in Halle. But the veteran Colombian has had some success at the All England Club before -- in 2012 he opened with a win over marathon man John Isner, and a couple years before that he was up two sets on defending champ Roger Federer in their first round. He's only once made the fourth round of a Major -- in Roland Garros back in 2011 -- but it's never too late to change that history.

World #9 Milos Raonic is, on paper, the most likely of this group to meet these expectations, but somewhat surprisingly he seems to keep falling short, especially on grass. Despite a game that's been likened to that of Pete Sampras, he's actually lost more on this surface than he's won, and he's coming off a opening round loss to Peter Gojowczyk in Halle. His performance at Wimbledon has been even more lackluster -- even with his big-service game and consistency at the top of the sport, he's lost in the second round here three years in a row. He did finally break the second week seal in Paris though, reaching the quarters before losing to Novak Djokovic, so he might just have the confidence to live up to his potential.

5. A former Cinderella gets back to the ball

But as great as it is to see new faces get in the mix at the Majors, you really want to see players carry success into subsequent years. And this can be difficult for a variety of reasons -- a loss of adrenaline, sidelines for injury, etc. -- I'm hoping a couple athletes who've gone farther than we expected in the past make another run this time around.

Maria Kirilenko is probably the longest shot of this group, not because she doesn't have the potential to repeat her 2012 quarterfinal run, but because she's struggled to come back from a knee injury that took her out of the Australian Open this year. She's only played a handful of matches at all this year, winning a single one in Madrid before withdrawing, and this week bowed out of her Den Bosch opener against qualifier Mona Barthel. She's now ranked #87 in the world, a far cry from her peak in the top ten about a year ago. But she's had some of her best results on these courts -- she was also an Olympic semifinalist that year -- and with virtually nothing to lose this go-round, she might be able to really shine.

Kirsten Flipkens, the 2003 Girls' champion here, saw her best main draw results a little more recently, sneaking into the semis at Wimbledon just last year with wins over a resurgent Flavia Pennetta and former champion Petra Kvitova. She's lost eleven first round matches since then, though, and fell Wednesday in her attempt to defend finalist points at 's-Hertogenbosch. It would be great to see her regroup over the next few days, if only to prove last year's run was no fluke.

There were a couple Cinderellas to choose from on the men's side last year, but Jerzy Janowicz's performance so far this year makes him less likely to repeat. Instead I'm watching Fernando Verdasco, who, while ranked outside the top fifty, took a two-set lead over Andy Murray in last year's quarterfinal. After a title in Houston and a fourth round in Paris, he's at his highest ranking in almost two years. And if he can keep the momentum he gathered in Den Bosch -- he's got a winning 6-2 record against today's quarterfinal opponent Jurgen Melzer -- he could make another run here too.

It's been a little longer since Bernard Tomic had his miraculous quarterfinal run at Wimbledon -- he was a qualifier in 2011 when he beat Nikolay Davydenko and then-#5 Robin Soderling in London. Now, though, with a 5-6 record on the season before this week, he's at his lowest ranking since then, #82 in the world. He might be ready to come back though -- he only made the second round in Eastbourne, but took top seeded Richard Gasquet to three tight sets. He still has his best record on grass, too, so if there's any Major where he'll see his comeback, this one's it.

4. The defeated get redemption

There's one good thing about the quick turnaround after the French Open: top stars who walked away in the early rounds with their tails between their legs -- and there was certainly plenty of that this year -- have an immediate opportunity to erase those memories with a deep run at another Major. And I'm hoping some of the guys that dropped early at Roland Garros are able to get momentum back on their side.

It's been a tough couple months for Mikhail Youzhny -- though still ranked in the top twenty, the veteran Russian has compiled a weak 7-11 record on the year, and after barely making it out of the first round in Paris, he fell in four to Radek Stepanek a match later. Clay's not traditionally his best surface though, so he's got much better prospects on the lawns of England. Though he lost his opener last week in Halle -- a slightly worse result than his runner-up finish in 2013 -- he has made at least the fourth round at Wimbledon eight times before. That makes this his most consistent Slam and possibly the best opportunity he has to turn his season around.

Stan Wawrinka has an even tougher ask -- with a 17-19 record on the grass, this is actually his worst surface. He's lost his opening match at the All England Club five times, including on his most recent two trips here, probably why he was only granted a fifth place seeding -- two spots below his rank. To be fair, those losses came to more-than-solid players -- then-#35 Jurgen Melzer in 2012 and 2002 champ Lleyton Hewitt last year -- but only one of his wins came over someone ranked in the top fifty. After the newly-minted Grand Slam holder failed dramatically to defend quarterfinal points in Paris, he's got to prove he's no one-hit wonder. He got a couple match wins in his London semi run last week, but he'll need to up his game if he's gonna do something big this fortnight.

Roberta Vinci may have a slightly better shot at redeeming herself than these two gentlemen. While the Italian did manage to reach the doubles final at Roland Garros, she didn't come close to realizing her potential in the singles draw and, much as I'd feared, crashed out in the first round. But she's historically been a decent grass court player, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon the last two years and even picking up a title on the surface three years back. She lost her opener in Eastbourne this week, so clearly troubles persist, but this might be the best surface for her to turn things around.

But perhaps the player I'd most like to see do something big at Wimbledon is former world #1 Caroline Wozniacki. Yes, I was hoping for a resurrection in Paris, but circumstances being what they were, that was not in the cards and she couldn't manage to get past Yanina Wickmayer in her opener there. But I hold out hope that she'll bounce back stronger now -- not just because her game is much better than what she's shown us the last few months, but also because her ex deserves to see her not only succeed, but triumph. This will be a hard venue for her, though -- it's the only Slam at which she hasn't made the quarterfinals, and she's run into some tough opponents early the last two years -- but that would make her victory so much sweeter. But she's notched some big wins in Eastbourne this week, taking out both Sam Stosur and Sloane Stephens already, and, with a quarterfinal meeting against still-rising Camila Giorgi, she has plenty of opportunity to go further. And I'm betting I'm not the only one hoping she does so.

3. Two first-timers take home the trophies

This might be asking for a lot, but we've already had one virgin win a Major this year and two more reach the finals. Would it be that big a stretch to go a little further?

It's already pretty unlikely we'll see a defending champion repeat in the first place -- 2013 women's champion Marion Bartoli, after all, retired from the sport just weeks after claiming her only Slam last July, and Andy Murray, who surprisingly did make the Roland Garros semis earlier this month, suffered two long five-setters to get there and then failed to defend the Queen's Club title, falling in his opener to doubles specialist Radek Stepanek. And while Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and other former winners certainly lead the rest of the field, they're also capable of being surprised. And more than a couple contenders vying for that spot.

There are plenty of ladies who could realize this dream -- French Open runner-up Simona Halep won one of her first career titles on the surface less than a year ago while 2012 finalist Agnieszka Radwanska may not have won a title yet this year, but still has by far her best record at this Slam. Still you gotta like the chances of 2012 Juniors champ Eugenie Bouchard who, at this time last year, was ranked outside the top fifty and had only won one match at a Major. Yes, her run in Melbourne was largely luck -- the highest ranked player she faced before the quarters was #68 Lauren Davis -- but she more than backed it up with wins over Angelique Kerber and dark horse Carla Suarez Navarro on her way to the Paris semis. She had a surprising first round loss in Den Bosch this week, but maybe a little rest before heading over to London is just what she needs to do something big.

It'll be a little harder for a man to penetrate the Slam stranglehold of the ATP stars -- only nine different players have made the last twenty Grand Slam finals compared to sixteen different women, and just five men have combined to win all those trophies. Still there are a couple guys who could make an impact -- Tomas Berdych has reached the final here before and Kei Nishikori has managed some big wins already this year. But my little-less-dark horse has to be Grigor Dimitrov, who's made my "10 Things" list twice already this year. The 2012 Juniors champ at the All England Club finally made the second week of a Major in Australia and is fresh off his first grass court title at Queen's Club. If he keeps up his momentum, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make a real play for this title.

Of course, if either of these two meet their potential this fortnight, my top two wishes can't possibly come true...

2. A ten year reunion in the ladies' final

A full decade ago a seventeen-year-old Maria Sharapova, ranked just fifteenth at the time, stunned practically the entire world when she defeated the top seed at Wimbledon, two-time defending champion Serena Williams, and claimed the first of her five Grand Slam trophies.

On the ten year anniversary of that fateful day, wouldn't it be great to see a rematch?

Of course, these two have seen each other plenty since, but the Russian has won just one of their fifteen subsequent meetings -- in fact, she's only taken a single set off Serena since 2010.

This time I want to see a battle -- and, truth be told, I wouldn't mind the same scoreline we got in 2004.

Sure, even beyond the head-to-head record, Serena is the favorite -- the top seed holds five trophies here and, if history is any indication, she'll likely take out aggression from her early loss in Paris on all her opponents the rest of the year.

But she's certainly fallible, too, and if Maria makes the final -- as the fifth seed, she could meet Williams as early as the quarters -- she might be able to take advantage of that. Since her injury-induced second round exit last year, she's put together a solid 31-7 record and now leads this year's race to the season-ending championships. She's healthy, should have tons of confidence after her French run, and will be eager to end a long stretch of losses to her rival.

And if you remember how many streaks have already come to an end this year, there may be no better time to do it.

1. A six year reunion in the men's

Yeah, I wish the numbers rounded out a little better here too, but it's been a while since one-time arch-rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal met for a Major title, and I won't stand on formality. As happy as I am to see new stars rise in this sport, sometimes I long for days of yore, and Wimbledon, more than any other Slam, is the place where you expect to see tradition upheld.

Of course it's gonna be tough for either of these guys, to say nothing of both, to reach finals weekend -- they've each had their troubles here recently, and Roger, despite his seven titles here already, hasn't even played for a Major title since 2012. But I'm holding out hope for Rafa, and Fed did just capture his seventh title in Halle. Neither is ready to walk off into the sunset yet, and hopefully they'll put together at least one more big campaign here.

It's probably too much to ask for these guys to put up the kind of battle they used to -- their 2007 and '08 Wimbledon finals combined for more than nine-and-a-half hours of court time, but five of their six most recent meetings have been decided in straight sets, mostly going in Nadal's favor. But there's no reason that on this surface, under these circumstances, these two can't keep us on the edge of our seats for a few hours Championship Sunday. And, as much as I usually root for Rafa, a win by the veteran sure would be sweet after the drought he's had recently. So it would only be fitting that it comes against the man who's proven his foil so many times before.

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As usual, for some of my wishes to come true in London, others obviously cannot. But as much as a couple of these seem like long shots, some crazy things have happened at Wimbledon before -- and at all the Slams, in fact this year -- so there's no reason to believe even the most far-fetched are well within reach.

But there's plenty more stuff sure to catch our attention over the next fortnight, so be sure to check back later this week for a full preview of Wimbledon 2014. And in the meantime, let me know what you're hoping to see this year at the All England Club.

Unlikely Heroes

During a weekend in which only one top seed made it to a final, we shouldn't be surprised that things didn't go entirely according to plan when deciding where the trophies went. In fact, just one of the four titles awarded Sunday went to the higher seed in the championship match, and even those players who didn't come away the winners put in performances that could launch them into a new level of play.

Alize Cornet may have been the favorite in the Katowice Open final, but certainly did some heavy lifting to get there. The French wildcard dropped a bagel set to the former Klara Zakopalova (née Koukalova) but scored a comeback in the quarters and, after losing the first six games to top-seeded Aga Radwanska in the semis, rallied for the upset to reach her second championship of the year. And while this time she made good on her favored status, the real story in Poland may have been that of Camila Giorgi. The young Italian had pulled off big wins in the past, most recently against Maria Sharapova in Indian Wells, but had yet to follow up one victory with another. This week, though, she took down Roberta Vinci -- inexplicably still ranked in the top twenty, despite having won just two matches this year -- veteran Shahar Peer, and always tricky Carla Suarez Navarro. In the final she was down a set and a break before forcing a decider, and even came back from a two-break deficit to even the score. She did lose eventually, in a three-plus hour long marathon battle, but having finally kept momentum going for longer than a day she may have proven she has some staying power.

Underdogs had a little more luck elsewhere this weekend. At the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, the two top players, John Isner and Tommy Robredo, both lost their openers, allowing numbers three and four to grind their way to the final. Nicolas Almagro, who'd only won one match in the last two months -- he'd skipped January's events with injury -- had a few relatively easy early rounds and got a walkover from Sam Querrey in the semis. Fourth-seeded Fernando Verdasco made it an all-Spanish final -- after a challenge from Steve Johnson in his opener, he rolled through his next two matches to make his first championship match since last July. He hadn't had much luck when playing for a title, though, losing in his last six attempts and going trophy-less for almost four years, and at #29 in the world with just five career crowns to Almagro's thirteen, he was the on-paper underdog in Sunday's championship. But Verdasco had the better record against his compatriot, 6-3 head-to-head, and capitalized on that history from the start -- taking advantage of weak serving from his opponent, he got the break in the first set and, after saving set points in the second, stayed stronger in the tiebreak to close out the win. While the size of the upset may not have been tremendous, the importance of the win -- the end of a long losing streak -- was much greater, and could bode well for the upcoming clay court season.

Things got a little more dramatic in Casablanca. Here, too, high seeds lost early -- Gael Monfils pulled out after his big Davis Cup weekend, while both Kevin Anderson, red-hot at the start of the season, and crowd favorite Benoit Paire, lost early. Ultimately fourth seed Marcel Granollers, a middle-of-the-road singles player who's been ranked in the twenties and thirties the last several years, and yet another Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, well off his career high #23 in the world, were left contesting the final. Like with Verdasco, his last title came in 2010, but the thirty-year-old had beaten Monfils in Miami and had put together wins over the likes of Carlos Berlocq and Paire already this week. He also had history on his side, having won his only previous Tour meeting with Granollers at this event four years ago. But the younger finalist got the lead in this contest, taking the first set and fighting back from a break down in the second. But GGL stayed tougher here too, forcing a decider and then never looking back. It was just his third career championship -- and, again, his first in over three years -- and the win brings him back into the top forty for the first time since 2011. If he keeps the momentum over the next couple weeks, who knows what he could accomplish -- he might just be able to turn the big events upside down.

Speaking of rocking the boat, there may have been no bigger surprise this weekend than what we saw in Bogota. Former world #1 Jelena Jankovic made good on her top seeding at the Copa Claro and reached her first final since taking the title there last year without dropping a set. But with the three seeds below her all losing their openers -- and the other not fairing much better -- she didn't face anyone in the top seventy-five until Sunday. And even then she only faced off against world #74 Caroline Garcia, who'd only just made her first Tour semi a few weeks back in Acapulco. But the young Frenchwoman can play on clay -- remember a few years back when she so nearly took out Maria Sharapova in the Roland Garros second round -- and after forcing Serena Williams to a third set in Miami, she might just be improving her overall game too. In today's match she needed barely eighty minutes to dispatch Jankovic, her first ever win over a top ten player. The victory brings Garcia to within a stone's throw of the top fifty, and with several weeks of dirt events still to come, I would expect her climb even higher and maybe finally prove herself on the big stage.

Across the board this weekend's winners proved themselves up to the task against some formidable foes. And these long shots, able to perform at their best when it really counted, may have really turned a corner -- whether launching their careers or cementing a comeback, every one of them showed they're ones to watch.

And the next time they take the court, they might not be much of dark horse at all.

Turning Up the Heat

Things sure got interesting fast in Indian Wells, didn't they?

With a couple rounds still left to go, both of last year's champions bowed out in spectacular form on Monday, creating holes in the draws wide enough to fit a truck.

Sure it began early, with 2012 titleist Victoria Azarenka succumbing to injury and falling to Lauren Davis in her opener. But Maria Sharapova quickly followed suit, losing an early break to qualifier Camila Giorgi. She was able to force a third, but Giorgi stayed tougher in the two and a half hour match, closing out the biggest win of her career. The young Italian, just off her highest ranking at #79 in the world, knows how to play against the big names -- she beat Caroline Wozniacki last year at the U.S. Open and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2012 with wins over Flavia Pennetta and Nadia Petrova. Her problem so far has been the follow-through, but with a largely cleared out section of the bracket, this might be her turn.

The bigger shock -- if not on paper, then certainly in excitement -- may have come from the next match in Stadium 1. Three-time champion Rafael Nadal, who'd reached at least the final of every event he's played this year, had already survived a scare from Radek Stepanek in his opener, but with a 10-0 set record against Alexandr Dolgopolov in his third round, he was still the favorite. Rafa stumbled early, though, dropping serve three times in the first set, but despite getting just 32% of his first serves in, the world #31, who'd lost to the top seed just a few weeks ago in Rio, held on for the set. He got a break in the third, too, and though he flinched when trying to serve out the match, some solid serving in the tiebreak notched him his first career win over a top-ranked player. He's still the lowest seed in his half, but with some of the blistering shots he was hitting Monday, he might not be that big an underdog.

But while these guys have been grabbing the headlines recently, still others could be the beneficiaries. Sloane Stephens, who'd only beaten one top fifty player so far this year, scored an upset of Ana Ivanovic in her third round and the seventeenth seed is now the highest ranked player left in her quarter. And Melbourne Cinderella Casey Dellacqua has continued her momentum in the desert with wins over Kirsten Flipkens and Roberta Vinci this past week. But the biggest opportunity in the bottom half of the ladies' draw might be with Caroline Wozniacki, winner in 2011 and runner-up last year. The former world #1 did manage one title late last year -- a far cry from the seasons when she was pulling in five or six -- but she's only gone as far as a semi in Dubai in 2014. She's still a low seed in her section in Indian Wells, but she managed wins over often spunky Bojana Jovanovski and Yaroslava Shvedova in her last two rounds, and she's beaten her next opponent Jelena Jankovic in their last five meetings, just taking the lead in their head-to-head. If she can keep her cool, it might be a great chance to re-assert herself as part of the elite.

On the men's side, the top half is still full of seeds -- albeit, not always the ones we'd predicted -- still a couple flying under the radar might be able to capitalize. Kevin Anderson has quietly reached the final of the last two tournaments he's played, and though he's up next against this year's breakout star Stanislas Wawrinka -- admittedly, a man he's never beaten -- the big-serving South African might be more warmed up an primed for an upset. And Milos Raonic, absent from Tour since the Australian Open, made his return with a couple big wins this week. He also has a 2-1 record against on-paper favorite his next opponent Andy Murray, who himself has had to come back from losing sets in his first two rounds. Still the bottom half, where a full half the field is unseeded, could be where we see the most excitement. Fernando Verdasco, 2-3 on the year before coming to California, frankly surprised me with his win over Horacio Zeballos in his opener. He's dead even with Richard Gasquet, who he'll meet later today, and is the underdog to be sure, but the Spaniard has pulled off upsets before and could certainly do it again.

There's a lot of ball left, of course, and none of these players' paths forward are certain at all, still they've each been able to deliver so far at the BNP Paribas Open. And as the stakes get even higher in the days ahead, they'll have to turn up their A-games even farther. There's no telling when their opportunities will come, but if they keep bringing the heat, any one of them could stun us all.

Failure to Launch?

Wimbledon is over, people!

It's been over a month since we crowned this year's French Open king and queen!

This is the time in the season when players should be making the switch to hard courts as they prep for the last Major of the year. But for a reason I've never understood, none of the events this week help athletes transition, keeping some still on the grass and sending many more all the way back to the clay. Sure, the surfaces may play to some stars' strengths better than the American concrete, but can they keep it up once they're in full U.S. Open tune-up mode?

The top seeds have struggled so far in Budapest with Lucie Safarova winning just one game in her opener against world #190 Valeria Solovyeva and 2008 champion Alize Cornet faring little better. Of course, they could turn things around once they hit the pavement -- Safarova, after all, made a nice run to the Montreal semis last year -- but others might be poised to make a bigger statement. Simona Halep went on a ten-match winning streak just before Wimbledon, winning two titles on two surfaces. She didn't fare so well at the all England Club, but this time she could resume her momentum and get in some rest before heading to New York. She's won her first two matches in Hungary with little drama and, as the top seed remaining, could give herself a nice bolt of confidence before switching to hard courts the next few weeks.

Meanwhile in Palermo one clay court specialist is looking to erase her own memory of a bad Wimbledon. Two-time champion Sara Errani has been a little quieter on the dirt this year than last, but she did well at the premier events early in the season and made her way back to the Roland Garros semis. In 2012 she parlayed a win in her homeland into a semi showing in New York and, though certainly not a sure thing, her performance her would make up for a first round exit from the All England Club. But also watch out for Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier -- though she's spent most of the year on the ITF circuit, a run to the French Open third round put her on the radar. She's already upset eighth seeded Karolina Pliskova and veteran Anabel Medina Garrigues in Italy, but has yet to make many strides off the surface. If she can take the lessons she's learned the last few weeks with her, it could bode well for her summer season.

It's not just the women who've used this week to go back in time. Nicolas Almagro, last year's runner-up in Bastad, came back from an ugly first set to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez earlier today while recent top-ten player Juan Monaco, a disappointing 16-14 on the year so far, earned himself a quarterfinal match against Grigor Dimitrov. But the best story in this draw might be Fernando Verdasco, whose quarterfinal run at the All England Club put him squarely back on the tennis map. And on clay, arguably his best surface, he might be able to accomplish even more -- he hasn't really been tested in his first two matches but could give Almagro a challenge next. More good results in Sweden might be what he needs to show recent success was no fluke and to ride his wave to bigger wins in the U.S.

A couple men in Stuttgart, on the other hand, are looking to get momentum back on their side. Gael Monfils seemed to be well on the comeback trail with a title in Bordeaux and a runner-up finish in Nice, but pulled out of Wimbledon a few days before the tournament began. He'd climbed back well in the first half of the year, cutting his ranking from triple digits in February to #60 in the world now, but is still out of seeding territory in Germany. He did pull off wins over always tricky Paul-Henri Mathieu and sixth seeded Florian Mayer, though, and might have laid the groundwork for success the next part of the season. But he'll have to get past Philipp Kohlschreiber first -- the second-ranked German took a bit of a tumble when his first round exit at the All England Club fell far short of his quarterfinal run last year, but he could turn things around now. He'll need to, too, since he's got a bunch of hard court points to defend too -- including a fourth-round at the Open -- so his third round against Monfils might carry more importance than usual.

While all these guys and gals took this week to revert to spring-time play, the men in Newport chose to stick to the grass, and not all got the desired results -- top seeded Sam Querrey, a finalist here in 2009, notched his second straight opening round loss, this time to world #120 Tim Smyczek. But defending champion John Isner might be able to take advantage of the hole his compatriot left in the draw -- the big-serving American retired from his second round at Wimbledon, but has been on point so far at the Hall of Fame. This is often his best time of year -- he's won titles at Newport and Winston-Salem the last two years running -- but once did it mean a solid run in New York. After fits and starts in 2013, he'll want to make sure this time counts. And his arch-nemesis and very good friend Nicolas Mahut is lurking in the top half of the draw, fresh(-ish) off his first career title in Den Bosch. He's never had much luck off the grass, but if he does meet and beat Isner in this final, he might be turning his entire career around.

This week's tournaments, admittedly, didn't give players much choice but to put off their hard court seasons just a little bit, but hopefully their experiences this week will serve as a good launching pad for the summer events. With the U.S. Open just over a month away, the competition is only going to heat up from here, and they'll need to keep the momentum they've garnered this week without wearing themselves out.

After all, at this stage in the year, the last thing they want is to find themselves stuck at an age they won't be able to grow out of.

It's a New World

I woke up this morning feeling like something had changed in the world. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who felt that way.

This weekend we crowned two brand new Wimbledon singles champions, both of whom had come THISCLOSE to tasting glory at the All England Club before, but only this year were able to take home the trophies. And after a fortnight that might be best remembered for slippery stumbles and shocking upsets, it was their victories that marked the end of a couple long droughts -- and possibly the beginning of a new era.

Marion Bartoli was the unlikely runner-up here in 2007 -- ranked just nineteenth in the world at the time, she had only just made her first Major fourth round a month earlier at Roland Garros. She found her groove though on the grass that season, reaching the semis in both Birmingham and Eastbourne before beating then-world #3 Jelena Jankovic and top-ranked Justine Henin to make the final here. She was technically the favorite against Venus Williams then, but the on-paper underdog, three times a winner at Wimbledon already, had the upper hand that Saturday, and Bartoli had to settle for second best. The Frenchwoman hung around the top players after that, though -- a staple in or around the top ten through the years since, she took home big titles in Stanford and Osaka, ended Serena Williams' comeback run at Wimbledon in 2011, and brought Victoria Azarenka's miracle beginning last year to a close in Miami.

She was a little slow to start this season, though -- she split with her father as coach, struggled a bit with injury and illness, and came back to the All England club way under the radar. But the withdrawal of Victoria Azarenka and the loss of Maria Sharapova cleared her half of the bracket early in the tournament. In fact, Bartoli didn't face a seeded player until the semifinals where she dismissed Cinderella woman Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets. Her opponent in the final, meanwhile, had been doing most of the heavy lifting this week -- Sabine Lisicki, struggling herself all year, had taken out five-time champion Serena Williams in the fourth round and then survived a threat from last year's runner-up Aga Radwanska in the semis. Though she was playing her first Slam final, the German has had some of her biggest successes on these courts, and might have been hoping to deliver Marion another upset in the championship match.

But that would not be the case this time, though, as the emotion and exhaustion of a week's worth of victories finally got to her. Bartoli had the advantage from the start in Saturday's final -- she allowed Lisicki just ten points on serve in the first set and broke her in every service game. The scoreline was a little closer in the second, but the usually big-serving Sabine struggled to hold in one game after another, and was nearly reduced to tears when she couldn't get a jump on her opponent's game. After just over eighty minutes it was the Frenchwoman claiming the crown and ending a six-year stint as a bridesmaid at the sport's grandest ceremony.

Andy Murray came to Wimbledon this year intent on providing water for a drought of a different kind -- one that had lasted most of a century. Though a Gold medal last summer and a U.S. Open crown a few weeks later proved he had the stuff of a Grand Slam champion, his homeland's Major remained without a British king since Fred Perry last claimed the honor in 1936. He'd made a valiant effort in last year's final, and it seemed this year -- with a warm-up title at Queen's Club and every man who'd ever beaten him here out by the second round -- he was bound to go one better. He had a tough time, though -- surprise quarterfinalist Fernando Verdasco ran off with an equally surprising two-set lead in their Round of Sixteen, while super Cinderella Jerzy Janowicz looked primed to repeat his Paris victory in the semis -- but he never faced a top twenty during the week, and was the clear favorite in terms of both experience and fan support.

World #1 and 2011 champ Novak Djokovic didn't have an easy time of it either, though. He didn't drop a set in his first five matches, but faced powerhouses later in the draw, meeting uber-veteran Tommy Haas and 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych before being forced to go the distance against back-in-form Bronze medalist Juan Martin Del Potro in the semis. Still he'd rebounded from long matches to win Majors before, so there was clearly no counting him out.

But like with the ladies, this time was also different. The top two seeds stayed on serve early before Murray claimed the opening set, and Nole ran to a 5-2 lead in the second. But buoyed by the crowd and ready to rally, the Scot won eight of the next nine games to take the second and grab a break in the third. Like in their U.S. Open final, though, momentum seemed to shift back to the Serb -- but only for a short while. Though he saved three championship points in the tenth game and even earned a couple chances to break back, Murray ultimately closed out the three-plus hour match, cementing his place in the history books and finally giving the Brits something to cheer about. It was Nole's first straight-set loss at a Major since 2010, but more importantly Murray's first successful attempt to prove he's no one-hit wonder. He's currently the only man holding two Grand Slam trophies, and the win makes quite an emphatic statement as he begins to journey to defend his New York crown.

Both winners start this week, for the first time in their careers, as Wimbledon champions, a distinction that carries more than a little clout in the tennis world. By ending their streak of disappointments -- whether at the Majors, and this one in particular, or for their countries -- they've set themselves on a new course for their seasons, and maybe for their careers.

What they do with this opportunity, of course, remains to be seen -- but from here it sure looks like the possibilities are endless.

Which of These Things Is Not Like the Other Ones?

Take a close look at the four men left contesting this year's Wimbledon title. Notice anything?

We have in our midst three former Grand Slam champions...and one dude who's never won a title. Of any kind. Ever.

This, of course, wasn't the semifinal field we expected to see at the All England Club, but even after early upsets punched holes in the draw, latter-round outcomes were far from certain.

Juan Martin Del Potro, who skipped the French Open due to sickness, hyper-extended his knee during his third round match and took another big tumble during the sixth point today against David Ferrer. He said afterwards he had thought about retiring but, thanks to some "magic pills" supplied by the tournament doctor, was able to not only get a quick break, but went on to win an astounding eighty-seven percent of his first serves and close out the match in straight sets. It's his first semi appearance at Wimbledon, but he hasn't dropped a set yet, and after winning Olympic Bronze here less than a year ago, he might be able to improve on that run.

Hometown hero Andy Murray also skipped Roland Garros but, with a title at Queen's Club and after the losses of both Roger and Rafa, his road to at least the final here seemed clear cut. An on-the-rebound Fernando Verdasco had other plans though -- the one-time top-tenner had fallen out of the top fifty, but had ousted veteran Xavier Malisse, thirtieth-seed Julien Benneteau and tricky Latvian Ernests Gulbis on the way to his first Slam quarter since 2010. The Spaniard came out swinging today, too, winning the first two sets off the world #2 before ultimately falling in the three-and-a-half hour match. With the win, Murray secures his fifth straight Wimbledon semi and warded off what might have been -- even with all the other crazy $h!+ that's happened this fortnight -- the upset of the tournament.

Novak Djokovic, champion here two years ago, didn't have as dramatic a day today, but that doesn't mean he wasn't tested. After a tough-as-nails first set against Tomas Berdych -- neither had a break opportunity in the hour-plus opener -- he got down two breaks to the Czech in the second. The top seed quickly regrouped though and was able to close out the match in straights. The win sets up Nole's twelfth meeting against Del Potro -- and the sixth since losing Olympic Bronze to the big Argentine. He'd dominated the first four matches of that history, but stunningly lost in the Indian Wells semis this past March. Djokovic is clearly the favorite here, and probably healthier. But if DelPo plays the way he has -- in spite of injury, no less -- it's going to be hard to get past him.

But the true surprise in this year's semi lineup has to be twenty-two year old Jerzy Janowicz, a man who started 2012 ranked #221 in the world. The big-serving Pole arguably had a breakthrough at the All England Club last year when he reached the third round as a qualifier and took a two-set-to-one lead over then #29 Florian Mayer. But he really started grabbing headlines in November when he reached the Paris Masters final with wins over Marin Cilic, Janko Tipsarevic and -- you guessed it -- Andy Murray. Now in the top thirty, he didn't have to face as many favorites this time around, but he nevertheless ousted clay court specialist Nicolas Almagro in the third round and today beat out fellow Pole Lukasz Kubot for a chance to play for the final. A win on Friday would put him in only his second championship match, but having had an easier time in his quarter and the confidence of the win last fall, he certainly can't be counted out in his rematch with Murray. And the way this tournament is going, I'm not sure I'd be surprised if it happened.

These four men certainly have various degrees of experience at this level of play, with some just being inducted into the sport's elite while others have become quite accustomed to these ranks. And while the remaining field is not what we've been used to at the Majors, all of these guys have definitely proven this is where they belong.