De Young Tennis

John Isner & Nicolas Mahut have revealed that they are already for a rematch. The pair played the longest match in tennis history in 2010, taking place over three days, which American Isner won 6-4 3-6 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-3) 70-68.

This year’s first-round tie is the fourth match on Court Three on Tuesday, and Isner is the hot favourite according to the free tennis bets website.

Defending women’s champion Serena Williams is first on Centre Court against Aravane Rezai, followed by Roger Federer then Novak Djokovic.

Maria Sharapova became the favourite to win the women’s title of Roland Garros 2011 after moving to the fourth round. The seventh seeded Russian comfortably reached the last 16 with a 6-2 6-3 win over Taiwan qualifier Chan Yung-Jan.

Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska, 12th seed, eased past Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer 6-4 6-4 to set up a clash with Sharapova.

Fourth seed Victoria Azarenka swept aside Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-2.

The 21-year-old from Belarus wrapped up her win in 66 minutes and will next play Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova who beat 16th seed Kaia Kanepi 6-4 7-5.

Roger Federer equalled the record set by Pete Sampras for the most number of career single victories. Federer drew level with the seven-time Wimbledon champion on 762 wins by beating Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3 6-3 in the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Only six men have won more matches than Federer and Sampras with American Jimmy Connors leading the way on 1,242.

Meanwhile, Andy Murray’s poor form continued as he and Novak Djokovic were beaten in the doubles in Miami.

The pair went down 5-7 6-3 10-8 to Sergiy Stakhovsky and Mikhail Youzhny in their last-32 clash.

Rafael Nadal it also make his comeback into tennis in the Davies cup. It will be Nadal’s first appearance since tearing a leg muscle while losing in the Australian Open quarter-finals to his compatriot David Ferrer.

Ferrer is also in Spain’s line-up, with Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez, for the first-round match in March.

Captain Albert Costa said: “When Nadal joins our training camp, he’ll be in perfect condition.”

Li Na beats Kim Clijsters to win the Sydney International title. Eighth seed Li was 0-5 down after only 18 minutes, but fought back to win in straight sets 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

“I didn’t believe I could get back from there but it all just changed in one or two points,” said Li.

The win is a fourth career title for world number 11 Li and a boost ahead of next week’s Australian Open, where she reached the semi-final last year.

The trophies that Pete Sampras won in his distinguished career has been stolen. The American said the trophies were taken from a warehouse in Los Angeles, where they were being kept in storage.

“Losing this stuff is like having the history of my tennis life taken away,” the retired star told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

Mr Sampras said he wanted his children to see the trophies and appealed for help in getting them back.

Will they play? Won’t they play?

That’s the constant question when it comes to Serena and Venus Williams and Fed Cup. Whether they lend their name to the cause, back out of commitment or don’t sign up to play at all, the Fed Cup and the Williamses just don’t seem to mesh.

There are those fans who say stop picking on the sisters. There’s no denying they’re great players, not only the best in America, but often the best in the world. But let’s be honest: The last time the Williamses played Fed Cup was way back in 2007.

Maria Sharapova and her basketball star boyfriend Sasha Vujacic are headed for the altar!

Sharapova’s rep confirmed that Vujacic has already asked the three-time Grand Slam tennis champion’s hand in marriage. The proposal took place on October 19, at the L.A. Lakers star’s home in Manhattan Beach, California.

Richard Gasquet and Novak Djokovic will be in quarterfinal action on Friday in Basel.

France’s Richard Gasquet wasn’t in good form on Thursday. The Frenchman defeated Tobias Kamke of Germany in straight sets, but the match was a mess throughout. Gasquet’s quarterfinal opponent is Viktor Troicki. The Serb has been playing well this fall. He won the tournament in Moscow and made the semifinals in Tokyo.

Based on current form and the high level of hard-court tennis Troicki is playing right now, expect him to advance to the semifinals.

After being drawn in the same group in the AEGON Masters Tennis tournament at Royal Albert Hall in London, Tim Henman will face off against Goran Ivanisevic for the first time since their epic Wimbledon semifinal in 2001. Oh to have been in Wimbledon Tickets back then!

The duo is scheduled to play in the round robin stages of the event on December 1. “I’m really looking forward to playing Goran again,” said Henman.