The clay is green, not red, and the palm trees and balmy breeze make Paris seem far away. After each point, the chair umpire shouts out the score in English to spectators scattered along five rows of seats, and the VIP section consists of one couple: Chris Evert and Greg Norman. Yet everyone is here because of the French Open.

The Pleasant Valley Country Club is the home of the St. Vincent's Auxiliary Pro Tennis Tournament. It's the only Pro tournament in the state going ...

Details of Lleyton Hewitt's commercial deals have been revealed in a Victoria state Supreme Court case involving the once top-ranked Australian tennis star and his former management firm. U.S. firm Octagon has filed suit against Hewitt for loss of merchandising and management fees, claiming he breached an exclusive representation contract.

Former French Open finalist Guillermo Coria retired from tennis at age 27 on Tuesday. Coria, a finalist for Roland Garros in 2004 and formerly ranked third in the world, said he had been considering stepping down from the sport for months. "I didn't feel like competing anymore," Coria said in statements published on the Argentine Tennis Association's Web site.

The WTA Tour says Maria Sharapova will miss next week's Italian Open and the Madrid Open the following week as she recovers from right shoulder surgery. Sharapova played her first match in seven months on March 12 when she lost in doubles in Indian Wells, Calif. She was forced off the WTA Tour last August by a torn rotator cuff and underwent surgery on her right shoulder two months later.

Italy is hoping the Williams sisters decide to skip the Fed Cup final in November. Either way, the 2006 champions plan to host the United States in the best-of-five series on slow red clay courts. "I hope the Williams sisters don't come," Italy captain Corrado Barazzutti told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Jelena Jankovic believes her solid game is returning in time for the French Open, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year. Jankovic finished 2008 as No. 1 but has dropped to No. 4 heading into her title defense at the Porsche Grand Prix. "I've now played a few matches on clay, and I feel I am coming back to form," Jankovic said Tuesday.

Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer will take part in the Grand Prix SAR tournament in Morocco this week after she was denied a visa to play in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year. Moroccan organizers confirmed Monday that the 48th-ranked Peer had arrived in the country and would play Aravane Rezai, a French citizen of Iranian descent, in the first round of the clay-court tournament.

Now that she has the No. 1 ranking she's craved, Dinara Safina is looking ahead to her next goal of winning a Grand Slam tournament. Safina turned 23 on Monday and received a pink cake from the organizers of the Porsche Grand Prix, her first tournament since she became the No. 1 a week ago. "I try to celebrate every time I have a chance," the Russian said.

Jim Courier beat Jimmy Arias 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday to successfully defend his title at the $150,000 Grand Cayman Legends Championships. It was Courier's eighth career title on the Outback Champions Series, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over, and his first of the 2009 season.

Roger Federer has refocused on tennis after getting married and then promptly losing to fellow Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters. The 13-time Grand Slam winner spent the last week in intensive training with fitness coach Pierre Paganini, grinding out daily four-hour practice sessions on Italian clay courts.

Rafael Nadal won his fifth straight Barcelona Open title on Sunday, beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 7-5. Top-ranked Nadal exploited Ferrer's inconsistent service game to take the first set and then overcame his own erratic play in the second set to win the Godo trophy at Ferrer's expense for the second straight year.

The United States reached the Fed Cup final for the first time since 2003, beating the Czech Republic 3-2 on Sunday with Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands winning the decisive doubles match. Huber and Mattek-Sands beat Iveta Benesova and Kveta Peschke 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1 on the indoor hard court in Rondo Arena.