That Roger Federer is one curious cat, isn’t he? A week after withdrawing from Stockholm and then using statements like: “At this point, I am not sure when I will be ready to play again, but I hope to be back at some point before the end of the year.”

Well, turns out Federer’s ready to play again as early as next week - so much for taking some extra time off or any serious injury speculation.

Unless he does …

THIS WEEK

BA-CA Tennis Trophy
VIENNA, Austria
Hard-Indoor

Seeds: Stan Wawrinka, Fernando Gonzalez, Juan Martin del Potro, Ivo Karlovic, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils

Notes: Former No. 1 Spaniards Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrero (vs. Karlovic), Croat Ivan Ljubicic, and Guillermo Canas among unseeded. Wawrinka lost in last year’s final to Novak Djokovic.

IF Stockholm Open
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
Hard-Indoor

Seeds: David Nalbandian, Mario Ancic, Jarkko Nieminen, Robin Soderling, Rainer Schuettler, Jose Acasuso, Al Montanes, Marcel Granollers

Notes: Joachim Johansson, who earlier in …

James Blake at 28 years old is a late bloomer, only last year equaling his career-high ranking of No. 4 and remaining a perennial Top 10 player. And it has been almost five years since Andy Roddick hit his peak, but he is another Top 10 mainstay. This year Roddick has wins over the world’s Top 3 players in Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

On the American women’s side, this year Venus Williams won Wimbledon, and younger sister Serena …

Roger Federer announced today that he will forgo the upcoming Stockholm event which begins next week.

In a statement on his website, Raja writes, “2008 has been a tough year for me as I was always playing catch up after being diagnosed with mononucleosis at the beginning of the year. I feel fortunate to be healthy again, but I want to remain at the top of the game for many more years to come and go after the #1 …

THIS WEEK

AIG Japan Open
TOKYO, Japan
Hard-Outdoors

Men’s Seeds: David Ferrer, Andy Roddick, Fernando Gonzalez, Richard Gasquet, Juan Martin del Potro, Tommy Robredo, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Mikhail Youzhny

Women’s Seeds: Caroline Wozniacki, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Jie Zheng, Maria Kirilenko, Kaia Kanepi, Shahar Peer, Tamarine Tanasugarn, Aleksandra Wozniak

Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
STUTTGART, Germany
Hard-Indoors

Seeds: Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva, Agnieszka Radwanska

Tashkent Open
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan
Hard-Outdoors

Seeds: Shuai Peng, Olga Govortsova, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Magdalena Rybarikova, Monica Niculescu, Akgul Amanmuradova, Galina …

If you are a Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fan you have to like what you are seeing from your guy. Earlier today in Bangkok, Tsonga avenged an Australian Open final loss to Novak Djokovic, defeating the Serb 7-6(4), 6-4 to claim his first career ATP title at the Thailand Open.

I may have initially overlooked Tsonga in terms of future potential among the young guns coming up. I thought he was a bit too streaky of a player to really become a …

The 2009 Davis Cup draw is now out, and if the stars show up round one will offer plenty of attractive, intriguing matchups come early March.

In draw order from the top it will be Netherlands at Argentina, France at Czech Republic, Switzerland at USA and Chile at Croatia.

In the bottom half we have Israel at Sweden, Russia at Romania, Austria at Germany and Serbia at Spain.

Some quick observations, the top half is absolutely loaded with six of the …

Things went pretty much according to form this weekend in Davis Cup. Spain rolled up on a game U.S. team, 4-1, while Argentina v. Russia went right down to the decider, with the Gaucho Nation coming through on the back of hero Juan Martin Del Potro to win 3-2.

That sets up a tantalizing finale come late November between Spain and Argentina at Argentina.

Before I dive into that matchup, if you weren’t impressed with 19-year-old Del Potro’s recent run on …

THIS WEEK

China Open
Beijing, China

Women’s Seeds: Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Agnieszka Radwanska, Daniela Hantuchova, Anna Chakvetadze, Caroline Wozniacki
Notes: Former No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo unseeded; Dinara Safina withdraws after winning Tokyo title.

Men’s Seeds: David Ferrer, Andy Roddick, Fernando Gonzalez, Richard Gasquet, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Rainer Schuettler, Sam Querrey
Notes: Querrey opens against American countryman Jesse Levine; former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero unseeded.

Hansol Korea Open
Seoul, Korea

Seeds: Maria Kirilenko, Shahar Peer, Kaia Kanepi, Carla Suarez Navarro, Pauline Parmentier, Marta …

The Davis Cup is back in focus this weekend with the World Group semifinals and an assortment of interesting, if not intriguing, qualifying playoff ties featuring just about all the big names in tennis.

On the big stage, Spain hosts the U.S. and the Russia visits Argentina in the semifinals. I won’t spend much time discussion Spain-U.S., as I think the depleted U.S. team without Bob Bryan but with Andy Roddick and Sam Querrey is not going to put fear …