Giles Simon Upset by Daniel Brands in Hamburg

I was stunned when Giles Simon reached the top 10 last year. I couldn't believe that a player as minuscule as Simon could beat both Roger Federer (twice) and Rafael Nadal, but he did and he ended up peaking at 6 in the world. Simon's run in the top 10 is likely nearly over. He has a ton of points to defend this summer, and he started off poorly by losing his opening match in Hamburg, where he was playing instead of Indianapolis, where he was the defending champion.

The Hamburg draw opened up nicely today as three of the top five seeds lost. The tournament is worth 500 points to the champion, which is twice as much as any other tournament so far this summer. Hamburg was a Masters Series Event until this year when it was stripped of that title and demoted to an International. Don't get to used to the tournament titles because they will likely change next year again.

I've been working on the summer standings (slowly) and should have them done by Monday. For both Men and Women.

Nathalie Dechy Pregnant/Retires

Nathalie Dechy has announced her pregnancy and retirement. At age 30 Dechy is hanging up her rackets to start a family.

Dechy turned pro back in 1994, so her career has been quite lengthy. She achieved her career high ranking of number 11 in 2006, a year after she nearly beat Lindsay Davenport to reach the Australian Open Finals. Dechy finished the year ranked inside the top 100 for 12 consecutive years.

Many of you may best remember Dechy for her match last year at Wimbledon where she was a letcord away from beating Ana Ivanovic, then the top player in the world, but she is also a three time Grand Slam Champion winning two US Open Women's Doubles, and the French Open Mixed Doubles.

Paes and Kendrick Start Fight During WTT

Things got a little heated in a recent World Team Tennis match when Leander Paes took a volley right at Robert Kendrick. John McEnroe was quick to give Paes a piece of his mind, but Kendrick decided to retaliate, by taking a first serve and drilling it right at Leander.

World Team Tennis is usually not very serious, it is actually pretty boring, but this got interesting as there is clearly some bad blood between Paes and Kendrick. They dislike eachother, and I'm sure McEnroe isn't joining the Paes fan club soon either.

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Jeremy Chardy Wins First ATP Title in Stuttgart

Jeremy Chardy had a rough start today in the Stuttgart finals, dropping the first set to Victor Hanescu 6-1, but Chardy was able to fight back and with a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the last two sets and claim his first ATP Title.

Jeremy Chardy burst onto the scene last year when he reached the fourth round of Roland Garros as a wild card, now he will likely move to a new career high ranking after winning his first career title. Chardy's previous high was 39, but my sometimes faulty projections project that he will move to 35 in the world.

The US Open Series will be starting this week in Indianapolis. I will be covering that extensively, and hopefully some of it will be televised. I have yet to check ESPN2's schedule.

Also I'm putting together a summer standings. It is just a simple ranking of players who have accumulated ranking points between Wimbledon and The US Open, it will be a good way to see who the hottest players on tour are before the last Grand Slam of the year begins.

Robin Soderling wins Fourth Career Title in Bastad

I was stunned when Robin Soderling pulled off the upset of the decade, maybe of all-time when he beat Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, but now I'm stunned he is continuing the good form.

Since the start of Roland Garros Soderling has compiled a record of 13-2, and only lost to Roger Federer. This week he continued his great form, by cruising to his fourth career title without losing a single set. Soderling will likely move to the top ten with this result, and I expect his confidence will catapult him well into the top 10 soon. He has the potential to be 5 in the world.

Soderling defeated Juan Monaco in the finals. Monaco fell in the rankings this year, but he too will be moving up as he is playing consistent tennis after being out with injury.

Flavia Pennetta Wins in Italy

Flavia Pennetta won an all-Italian final today when she crushed Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2 to win the XXII Internazionali Femminili Di Tennis Open in Palermo. This is the seventh title for Pennetta in her career.

Pennetta has been hanging around the top 15 for quite some time now and peaked at 9 on February 11 of this year. She moved from 15 to 13 after this title, and is just 200 points shy of debuting in the top 10. Sara Errani also moved up 9 ranking positions for reaching the finals, but she is shy of her top ranking of 31, currently she is 38.

Flavia Pennetta is one of the best looking players on tour so I will try to have some Bikini pics of her for the Bikini series.

Sybille Bammer Wins Second Career Title

29 year old Austrian Sybille Bammer won her second career title today at the ECM Prague Open in Austria. Bammer defeated Francesca Schiavone in the finals 7-6, 6-4.

Bammer has already moved up to 22 in the world after this tournament, her career high is 19. Schiavone moved back into the top 25 at number 25. Both players in the finals are 29 years old so this was truly a battle of veterans. Bammer is perhaps most well known for not only being a touring professional, but for having a soon to be 8 year old daughter. Bammer's daughter Tina was born in 2001. Bammer cracked the top 100 for the first time in 2005 at age 25.