WORD FROM SERENA: She stopped short of giving a timeframe for her return, but Serena Williams, in Washington, D.C. for a junior clinic, said, “I’m feeling better. Just starting training. I’m a little later than I suspected and hoped. But it’s going steady. Slow and steady, I think, always works out when it’s a race.”
YOUNG OFFERS APOLOGY: Donald Young has reportedly apologized to several of the USTA staffers whom he blasted in a tweet last week, including both Jay Berger and Patrick McEnroe. The Atlantan told the AP, “Basically, I want to just apologize for what I said and the way I said it. It wasn’t the right way to say it, at all.”
DINNER IS SERBED: Novak Djokovic‘s parents may own a trio of restaurants, but their son isn’t necessarily open to ordering everything on the menu. Said the world No. 2, “I’m allergic to some food ingredients, like gluten. It means I can’t eat stuff like pizza, pasta and bread. I have lost some weight, but it’s only helped me because my movement is much sharper now and I feel great physically.”
DJOKOVIC, NADAL HONORED: Djokovic was recently honored with the Order of Saint Sava, the highest decoration awarded by the Serbian Orthodox Church. Said the Serb, “This award is certainly the most important I’ve ever got,” said Djokovic. “As an athlete and a religious person, it’s hard for me to find appropriate words to describe my feelings.” Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, was awarded the Juan Antonio Samaranch Prize in Madrid.
COVER GIRL: Ana Ivanovic graces the cover of the Serbian edition of Cosmopolitan. “I had a lot of fun during this shoot,” said the No. 18-ranked Ivanovic, who was photographed by renowned fashion shooter John Russo. “John and his team were a lot of fun to work with, and so talented. Actually, John is a big tennis fan and an expert of the game. He remembered as much about my matches as I did.”
THE NUMBERS
1: Teen in the ATP Tour’s top 100 — No. 69 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who turns 20 on May 16.
7: Teens in the WTA Tour’s top 100, three of which are Americans — No. 88 Melanie Oudin, No. 91 Christina McHale and No. 93 Coco Vandeweghe.
QUOTEBOOK
“It was shaping up as a quiet week in Tennis Land and then Donald Young hit the ‘compose’ button on his Twitter account. He ripped up the USTA and, well, let’s just say the content would merit a point penalty.” — Jon Wertheim, SI.com
“You have to feel sorry for the highly capable Mary Joe Fernandez, captain of the U.S. team, for she has no cards in her deck. Melanie Oudin is hopelessly outclassed at the elite level, and always will be, and it’s hardly inspiring when your top player admits that the pressure of trying to win in Stuttgart ‘put extra weight on my shoulder.'” — Bruce Jenkins on the U.S. Fed Cup team’s woes
“Djokovic has a good chance of being No. 1 in the next two or three months. I could lose the No. 1 ranking even if I win nearly everything and this isn’t normal. He has very little to defend and I am defending a lot of points through to Wimbledon.” — Rafael Nadal
“The offensive mindset is certainly a mindset we’ve had as a country, and we want to continue to have as a country…That’s the way we play. I want people to understand that that certainly is something we’re aware of and we want to teach our kids to play in that manner. But we also want to teach our kids to play smart and to be great competitors and to be great movers, because if you’re not those things, you really don’t have much of a chance to make it at the highest level.” — USTA Player Development GM Patrick McEnroe
