Looking like little time had passed when in fact it’s been two years, Lindsay Davenport returned to the court last week, teaming up with Liezel Huber to notch the doubles title at the 2010 Bank of the West Classic.
It was like coming home for Davenport, who now has six doubles titles and three singles crowns at the Stanford grounds. Davenport left the tour in 2008 for the birth of her second child.
She’s one of just a handful of players to ever be ranked No. 1 in both singles (first time on Oct. 12, 1998) and doubles (first on Oct. 20, 1997).
The crown on Sunday was her 38th in doubles, and Huber’s 43rd.
While comeback attempts can be dicey, there seems no better time to do it than now for WTA players.
At age 34, Davenport probably isn’t planning to return to the singles’ game, but it definitely worked for Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin after taking time off for family.

Because I love my wife and because I have a morbid sense of curiosity, I took in the season premerie of MTV's version of Masterpiece Theater called "Jersey Shore" last week.

A couple of days later, the entire country was shocked by the news that "Snooki," the show's star of diminutive stature, large mouth and even bigger hair had been arrested for disorderly conduct, which seems just shocking for a person who spends 75 percent of her time intoxicated.

Seeing Snooki's awesome mug shot this morning left me thinking fondly back on some of the best celebrity mug shots of all time, and re-visiting a few, most notably Nick Nolte and James Brown.

It also got me curious to see what tennis luminaries had taken a trip to the pokey. Here's a quick trip down memory lane of times when netters and their families fought the law and the law won.

 

#1 Jennifer Capriati - The classics truly never go out of style, and this was such a shock for most people who knew J-Cap as the precocious all-American girl who took the game by storm way before she was old enough to get a drivers' license or see an R-rated movie.

 

#2 Jim Courier - There's nothing funny about drunk driving, but Courier sure seemed tickled by the fact that he was picked up for being over the limit on the campus of the University of Georgia back in 1999. A police officer saw him run a red light, then found him under the influence. He was convicted that November.

 

#3 Alla Kournikova - Not the best day for the mother of sex goddess and occasional tennis player Anna, especially considering she got busted for child neglect this past January after her 5-year-old son jumped 15 feet from a second-story window while barefoot. Turns out Alla had locked him in the house with a cell phone while she went shopping, not bringing the child along for the terrific reason of "he did not want to go". Perhaps the only more intriguing question in the case is, who the heck has a 29-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son?

What to have a son who grows up to be considered one of the all-time greatest tennis players?

Make sure he’s born in the first half of August.

This week, three players who are all on the GOAT short list blow out the candles. On Sunday, Roger Federer turned 29, on Monday, Rod Laver hits 72 and on Thursday, Pete Sampras will be 39. 

The three men have combined for 41 Grand Slam singles wins. In case the bling doesn’t impress you, also take into account that the trio combined to end the year ranked No. 1 in the world 17 times (Laver 1964-1969; Sampras 1993-1998; Federer (2004-2007, 2009).



All three players fall under the Zodiac sign of Leo (July 23-Aug. 22), and whether or not you believe in astrology, the signs of the Lion definitely show up in the games of Pete, Rod and Roger.


According to the Universal Psychic Guild, a Leo’s life pursuit is to lead the way, and his secret desire is to be a star. No problems there for any of the Big Three.


On the downside of the Leo’s personality, we find that they can be “pompous and patronizing” as well as “bossy and interfering, which leads us to believe that the birth certificate of one John Patrick McEnroe, Jr., must be a fraud, since it says he was born on February 16.

To celebrate the final Grand Slam event of the year, I'll be counting down the Top 14 US Open finals of all-time, one for each day of the tournament.

It wasn't an easy selection to make, just picking 14 finals out of more than 100 years (the men started in 1881, the ladies in 1887) of candidates, and I'm sure they'll be some hurt feelings and some "What are you crazy? accusations along the way, but that's what picking the best of the best is all about.

To coincide with each day of the open, I'll have a new spot on the countdown, starting today, Aug. 30 (Day One of the Open) with our #14 selection -- the 2009 Women's Final between Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki.


Wozniacki was on the rise in the late summer of 2009, having won three Tour titles in 2008 and 2009. She reached the finals of the US Open six weeks after her 19th birthday, becoming the first Danish player - man or woman - to ever reach a Grand Slam final.

Clijsters was at the other end of the spectrum. She was 26, and had taken nearly two years off to enjoy life married with children. She hadn't won a Grand Slam title since her lone singles crown at the US Open in 2005.

Entering the tournament as a wild card, Clijsters stunned both Venus and Serena Williams to reach the final. Wozniacki battled her tooth and nail before dropping the first set 7-5, and Clijsters used the momentum to take a 6-3 second set, oneof the most remarkable comebacks in WTA history. The win became even more picture perfect when Clijsters' daughter rushed the court to celebrate with her mom.

The two women enter this year's Open as top choices, along with Venus, to claim the championship. Wozniacki is ranked No. 2 in the world and has won the last two WTA titles - the Rogers Cup and Pilot Pen. Clijsters won at Cincinnati three weeks ago and has vaulted from fifth in the world to third, bypassing the staggering Jelena Jankovic as well as Venus.

What's your favorite US Open final ever? Talk about it in our men's and women's forums!

Come back tomorrow for our #13 Best US Open Final Ever!

In late 1997, Andre Agassi had been reduced to a tennis nobody, ranked No. 141 and hearing whispers from many that he should give it up.

In 1999, he shocked the world with a title at the French Open, completing his career Grand Slam, then losing the title at Wimbledon to rival Pete Sampras. Sampras had to pull out the US Open with a herniated disc, leaving Agassi as the favorite at Flushing Meadows despite having not won the crown since 1994.

But destiny overrode logic, and Agassi lost only two sets en route to the final against fellow American Todd Martin. Martin had made one amazing comeback after another to reach the final, and led Agassi two sets to one with two break points down 3-4 in the fourth. But he couldn’t close and Agassi not only claimed the title Andre Agassi 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2. 


He also found happiness off the court. He began dating
women’s star Steffi Graf in 1999, and the two wed in 2001.