Miscellany

Laura Robson has been granted a wild card into the qualifying rounds for the Australian Open.

The Australian firm of Tab Sportsbet reports that Kim Clijsters is the favorite to win the Open. Odds-wise, she is followed by Serena Williams and Justine Henin.

Dinara Safina talks with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour about her off-season break and about the 2010 season.

Ravi Ubha gives us five women's storylines to watch in 2010.

Note to John McEnroe: Ekaterina Bychkova wasn't punished for doing the right thing (turning down an offer to throw a match); she was punished for doing the wrong thing--failing to report the request. (I also find it interesting that I knew about the reporting rule, but Svetlana Kuznetsova maintains she's never heard of it.)

"We were both a little bit scrappy," Sam Stosur says of her Medibank International first round match against Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta won, 6-3, 6-1.

Clearing it up for McEnroe

On Friday, John McEnroe announced that Justine Henin lost her Wimbledon semifinal match because the weather became cold. Today, he announced that she lost her Wimbledon semifinal match because she had a mental meltdown.

I don't know what match he saw, but in the one I saw, Henin lost because she was profoundly beaten down by her opponent. Henin is a great champion. In fact, she is one of the greatest tennis players I have ever seen, but on the right day, anyone, even Henin, can lose to a talented player who is having an exceptionally good run.