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Maria Sharapova's determination to overcome both her awkwardness on clay and major shoulder sugery paid off with a career-defining French Open title last year.

From the language in Paris to the clay at Roland Garros, American tennis players -- with the possible exception of Serena Williams -- are out of their element at the French Open.

Dealing with clay is the only way. The top players don't like the dirt, but that doesn't mean they don't win on it.

The tennis season always seems to revolve around Serena Williams, but is she the biggest gainer through the season's first quarter?

Because we all dubbed her the best player in the world anyway, no one really did any cartwheels when Serena Williams finally did become No. 1.

Sloane Stephens, Jaime Hapton and Madison Keys are using their big serves to narrow the gap between them and the Williams sisters in American women's tennis, Kamakshi Tandon writes.

Between the upsets, epics and no-shows, as much as the Australian Open played out the way it was supposed to, it was anything but ordinary.

Between footwork, footwear and the court surface, the number of pratfalls at the Australian Open raised a few questions.

At 19, Sloane Stephens is the last teenager standing in Melbourne. In the quarters, she'll meet Serena Williams, who at 19 was a Grand Slam champion and is in no mood to be a mentor just yet, writes Kamakshi Tandon.

While the loss of No. 6-seeded Juan Martin del Potro was the only upset of the day, other big names had their share of scares.

Serena Williams cruised in her first-round match at the Australian Open despite rolling an ankle. The question now: Will the injury play a role going forward?

Forget the tennis, we've got the offseason dirt. There were enough relationships formed, broken and rumored, and a host of other juicy episodes, to talk about for the entire Australian Open.

Serena Williams was such an overwhelming favorite coming into the Australian Open that not much thought had been given to the chances of the other candidates. The question now: Now what?

At this stage of her career, Serena Williams is finding success by breaking from habits that used to make her an extremely unconventional tennis player, Kamakshi Tandon writes.

The No. 1 ranking in women's tennis has become devalued as players have come and gone at the top spot. Can Serena restore order?

From au natural to all made up, makeup is a point of contention when it comes to tennis' major stars. Does it have a place on the court?