I don't get this. Serena was injured so badly that she lost in 2 sets of a big tournament. Not her style. And then she turns around and plays this week. Right now she lost the first set to Zakopalova? Whatever happened to resting when injured?

Two things: Maybe she was hoping she would feel better running on the softer clay. It seems like she really wants to do what she can to keep the #1 ranking.

The other thing, I really think she made a promise to Conchita to play her tournament and wanted to keep to it out of respect for a fellow legend of the game. For this reason, I actually thought it was more likely she would play Marbella than Charleston and would not be surprised to see her pull out of next week's tournament and probably not resurface for a month until the Madrid tournament. Although both Charleston and Rome are premier tournaments, they are not mandatory, so its okay for her to skip them. At least, that's what I think is true.

I don't think I've ever seen Serena keep her promise to play in a small tournament when she is clearly injured.

And then there's that little thing called an appearance fee too darlings. But yeah...she lost in 3 sets and has fulfilled her commitment. So now she just needs to rest and get to 100%

Yes, that had to be a motivation for $erena.

Maybe the WTA news of the week so far is Madison Keys at the Ponte Vedra Beach tournament in Fla.

Keys beat Alla Kudyatseva (the girl who beat Sharapova in last years' Wimbledon) in the first round. Not bad for a 14-year-old.

She's playing Petrova (no slouch on clay) right now and was holding her own, 3-3 in the first set. She's tall and has a big serve, but now she's down a break.

I don't think so. She has all the money she wants. Health....precarious. Valuable. And when she is 100%, she can really show some fabulous tennis. I would think that would be more important than a few bucks. The loyalty to Conchita seems like the only thing that would have much weight. I like that. But there are other ways that she could "appear" at the tournament. Do some promo stuff with the fans. Conchita could play her up while saying she has to rest her injury. To play 3 sets on a bad knee/whatever? Ummm. Suspitious.

Also, I was just reading that because Charleston got downgraded, it is worth less points this year than last. Thus, Serena needed to win Marbella and Charleston to avoid losing ground to Safina, which she has failed to do with her first match. Perhaps she figured she would give it a go, and see how far she could go on a bum leg. She pushed Zakopalova to 3 sets, but it looks like she decided to take the foot of the accelerator in the third set (losing it 61). Maybe if Zakopalova wilted from the 2nd set win, Serena would have played to win the match. Again, I figure she'll be a no show in Charleston. If she can do well in Madrid and the French, she can regain the top spot.

I'm really interested in seeing what a healthy Venus near the peak of her powers can do on clay. She has actually won more clay titles than Serena. I'm not sure what her career match record on clay is, but I think it might be better than Serena's. Yep. I keep dreaming Venus will win the French. We'll see. I remember in 2004 she was on quite a roll on clay, nearly winning 3 titles in a row, only to be bundled out by Myskina at the French.

Ugh....I mean I guess #1 is ok but when you are the best, ranking shmanking. I have NEVER cared about Serena's being #1 or not. Same with Venus. Venus has been number one for a total of 11 weeks, yet has more slams and accomplishments than girls who have been ranked number one many more weeks than that. Ultimately, its about the slam count now. Other girls can have the number one ranking. I wish she wouldn't have played it. She needs to rest up and focus on being healthy for the French and Wimbledon. Screw the ranking.

She wouldn't be able to maintain the #1 ranking if she couldn't keep playing anyway. The only way to get over the injury is to rest it, so I don't really know what she was thinking.
I just a report that says Safina will be #1 next week anyway. That's kind of cool. The first brother/sister to both be #1 at some point.

Now Dinara's going to have to put up with the honor of being the "number one player, yet with no slam." I wonder if the Fed will say something like he did about Jankovic when she was number one with no slam. It may be short-lived, depending how she does up until and during the French. These next few weeks she doesn't have to defend much, but she won Berlin and made it to the finals of the French. At the same time, Serena won the Family Circle cup last year, but did horribly all the way up until the Big W.

If she follows her brother's record, it will be a short stint.
Geez, why is the women's game so uninteresting right now? The last time was when Justine was working so hard staying at the top. And then.zzzzzzzzzzz. If Kim can come back, that would be something....
Or...........if Amelie started make her way back up. Like I expect that to happen....