Passing shots

Recently retired Tathiana Garbin plans to work with the Italian Tennis Federation, and she will also do some television work.

I learned a lot about Rebecca Marino by reading her Memphis blog this week. The rising Canadian player was born in Toronto, raised in Vancouver, and trains in Montreal. She is a big hockey fan, as one would expect, and she likes reading, going to movies, and hanging out in coffee shops. She doesn't go in for tanning (smart Rebecca!), and she is big into shoelaces. I learned more from reading Bobby Chintapalli's interview with her: As a child, Marino was a Jennifer Capriati fan, her coach thinks she is an inch taller than she actually is, and she really likes Alison Riske.

Serena Williams, who loves all things Green Day, recemtly got to tour the Broadway set of American Idiot.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands attributes a lot of the injuries on the tour to over-practicing.

Jarmila Groth is the top qualifying seed in Doha, and she has made it to the second round of qualifying. Also into the second round is Viktoriya Kutuzova, whom we haven't seen in a long time.