Unlikely tennis happenings in 2013Rafael Nadal Of all the tournaments Rafael Nadal could have made his return at, the VTR Open in the Chilean resort town of Vina del Mar is one of the least likely, based on the Spaniard's scheduling history.
Roger Federer Roger Federer plays Newport: This is the grass-court equivalent of Rafa's visit to Vina del Mar. The Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, RI is one of just six grass-court tournaments on the ATP calendar, but it's the only one held after Wimbledon. As such, Newport rarely boasts a strong field, contested mostly by Americans and players outside the Top 10 who didn't fare well at the All England Club.
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Last year, Fedfans overlooked the fact that Roger's margin of #1 was due to playing Rotterdam last year, a crap tournament he hadn't played in 7 years!!! After Fed reached #1, I made up a story
about Djokovic playing Bastad, and Fedfans crapped themselves
that it would be a travesty for Djokovic to chase cheap points just to regain the #1 spot.
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The Williams sisters play Indian Wells
For an entirely different reason, it's unlikely that we'll see Venus Williams and Serena Williams playing at the BNP Paribas Open. Joel Drucker does an excellent job of recapping the controversy here. Essentially, neither sister has played Indian Wells since 2001, when Venus pulled out of a semifinal with Serena just four minutes before their match.
The Davis Cup comes to Forest Hills: This takes wishful thinking to an entirely new level. The West Side Tennis Club -- colloquially referred to as Forest Hills -- has seen far better days from a pro tennis standpoint. (As a club for recreational players, it's still lovely.)
http://espn.go.com/tennis/blog/_/name/tennis/id/8924947/unlikely-tennis-happenings-2013
