Tennis Tour Tidbits – Kei Nishikori, Serena Williams and more…

Written by: Staff on 10th May 2013

Tennis Tour Tidbits - Kei Nishikori, Serena Williams and more...

epa03693578 Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori returns the ball to Swiss Roger Federer during his Madrid Open tennis tournament round of finals round match at the Caja Magica pavilion in Madrid, central Spain, 09 May 2013. EPA/JuanJo Martin |

Serena Williams says that Sloane Stephens did not call her after she made positive comments about the younger American in Madrid despite the fact that Stephens criticized her in an ESPN interview, so it stands to reason that it was Serena who initiated the contact…

After her win over Sabine Lisicki in Madrid, Maria Sharapova signed the name of the Spanish department store that carries her candy line Sugarpova, on the TV camera lens. . .

In L’Equipe, Riccardo Piatti, Richard Gasquet’s coach, said of the crowd during the Djokovic-vs. Dimitrov match: “I have no respect for Madrid’s crowd. It’s a football (soccer) crowd.” . . .

WTA CEO Stacey Allaster told the New York Times that their income from the WTA Championships is “35 to 40 percent of our net operating revenues.” The WTA’s deal with Singapore is said to be worth more than the $14 million per year that Istanbul is currently paying. Even though the Singapore stadium where the WTA Championships will be played in 2014 seats around 12,000, the WTA is looking to seat only 7,500 to 8,000 to start. . .

After playing nearly every week to get her single rankings back up, Bethanie Mattek-Sands has decided not play qualifying in Rome. However, she will play doubles there with Sania Mirza. . .

Rafael Nadal had this point to make about why Madrid has different winner than Rome and Monte Carlo: “Last year we didn’t play in clay, so that’s the truth.” . . .

Nicolas Almagro is having pain in his hip and was scheduled to have an MRI on Thursday…

Former Wimbledon champion Manolo Santana told DPA that he thinks in a few years that Rafael Nadal will be seen as the best player in history, surpassing Rod Laver, who in Santana’s mind, is currently the best ever…

Kei Nishikori’s progression at this week’s Mutua Madrid Open has made the Japanese the 194th ATP World Tour player to earn over $3m in career prize money.

Topics: BETHANIE Mattek-Sands, Kei Nishikori, Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, Sabine Lisicki, Sania Mirza, Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens