It is spring, the weather is warmer and professional tennis players are about to get their feet - or at least their socks and shoes - dirty as the tour moves onto clay courts for the next two months.
As it does, here are few notes about the just-completed Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and other recent happenings:
ROGER and RAFA: Fans of the marquee duo of the men's game have no need to despair following Federer's loss in the third round in Indian Wells and the fourth in Miami, and Nadal's exits in the semi-finals of both events.
After winning a total of five of a possible six titles in Indian Wells and Miami between 2004 and 2006, Federer has not reached a final of either event over the past four years. But that lack of success has not been reflected in his performance at subsequent Grand Slam events.
Below is his overall won/loss record at Indian Wells and Miami from 2007-2010 followed by his combined results at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in those same years.
Indian Wells - Miami Grand Slams
2010: 3-2 ???
2009: 8-2 20-1 (French Open, Wimbledon titles)
2008: 7-2 19-2 (US Open title)
2007: 2-2 19-1 (Wimbledon, US Open titles)
As for Nadal, he looked a little shaky in losses to an inspired Ivan Ljubicic in Indian Wells and to a similarly inspired Andy Roddick in Miami. But he kept insisting "I'm playing well" and appears to have survived 10 matches on American hard courts without damaging his tender knees.
Last November on hard courts at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, he lost all three of his round-robin matches in straight sets but quickly regained his form the following week when he went back onto the red clay in Barcelona and led Spain to a Davis Cup final victory over the Czech Republic.
Starting in Monte Carlo next week, he will again be on his beloved terre battue. It will mark the beginning of a stretch of four tournaments - Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome and Madrid - in five weeks for Nadal. A year ago, he came within a single match of perfection at those events - only losing the final in Madrid to Federer after defeating Novak Djokovic the previous day in an exhausting four-hour-and-two-minute semi-final.
*One of the stranger moments during the Sony Ericsson was Justine Henin shouting "allez" to herself in the middle of a rally after she hit an approach shot but before her opponent, No. 2 seed Caroline Wozniacki, had a chance to reply. Immediately, umpire Eva Asderaki called out "hindrance," in accordance with the interference rule, and awarded the point to Wozniacki. "It was my fault," Henin admitted after her quarter-final win, "I spoke too soon because I thought the point was over." Her coach Carlos Rodriguez suggested it may have happened because she was "too anxious and nervous."
*There is something not quite right in the commercial shown on TSN during the Sony Ericsson promoting the 2010 Rogers Cup in Toronto. In the commercial, a voice over lists the names of prominent players and asks which one "will lift the Rogers Cup?" Trouble is, there is no Rogers Cup. The tournament winner is awarded a glass-sculptured tennis racquet!
* Thumbs down to Mikhail Youzhny. After he won 6-1, 1-0 when Mardy Fish had to retire because of a back problem, Youzhny nonetheless proceeded to step out and give the crowd his jaunty, trademark racquet-on-his-head (like a military cap) salute - a definite no-no when you win that way.
* A tip-of-the-cap to this week's WTA Tour event in Marbella, Spain, for its creative tournament name - the "Andalucia Tennis Experience."
* Ominous presence: Wayne Odesnik, who, two weeks ago, pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $8,320 (U.S.) in a court in Brisbane for bringing eight vials of human growth hormone (HGH) into Australia on January 2, defeated Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of in the US Clay Courts event in Houston on Monday. The No. 103-ranked Odesnik, 24, will almost certainly be sanctioned with a two-year suspension, in accordance with World Anti-Doping Agency rules, by tennis authorities when appropriate investigations are completed. Any suspension will be retroactive in terms of ranking points and prize money earned so it doesn't really make sense for Odesnik, who lost to Lleyton Hewitt in his only career ATP final in Houston last year, to be playing the event.