Agustin Calleri, one of the Gauchos who dominated the early part of the last decade, hung up his saddle during a ceremony in Buenos Aires. Photo via i2.esmas.com

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Agustin Calleri's retirement from professional tennis was recently made official in a ceremony at the Copa Telmex in his native Buenos Aires.  Calleri, 33,  was honored by peers in the Argentine tennis community including Juan Monaco, Jose Acasuso, and Juan Ignacio Chela.

Calleri had not played at all in 2010, with his last match coming last year in a challenger in Bogota.  Hanging up the racquet after his last season is certainly understandable, since 2009 saw his ranking fall from #83 to outside the top 400, a precipitous fall that fit his 3-15 record for the year.

Calleri is certainly not the first name to come to mind when you think of players who spent time in the top twenty, but he did reach a career high ranking of #16.  He won two ATP titles, Acapulco 2003 and Kitzbuhel 2006, both of which were (unsurprisingly) on clay courts, interestingly beating an Argentinian in both finals.  He never made the second week of a slam, but he did have a surprising run to the finals of the Hamburg Masters in 2003, one of the four Argentinians who made it to the semifinals that year. 

Perhaps most impressively, Calleri compiled an 11-1 record on clay in his Davis Cup career playing for Argentina, a record which is just about as good as any you'll ever find.

Calleri will not be remembered as much as the other Gauchos (Guillermo Coria, Gaston Gaudio, David Nalbandian), but he deserves credit for his relative consistency.  It's amazing to think that despite being the most regularly visible of the four for the last several years, Calleri is actually the oldest, and first of the Gauchos to officially retire.  Coria and Gaudio have been working hard at comebacks to absolutely no avail for some time now, and Nalbandian's lack of fitness has cut short every attempt at resuming a full-time career on the tour. 

Calleri certainly doesn't have the resume of any of the other three, but at least he knew when to call it a day.

James Blake and Andy Roddick, via Life

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After years of totally inscrutable dedication to the cause, Andy Roddick and James Blake are both sitting out the United States' first Davis Cup tie of the 2010 season. 

The particulars of the match-up likely play no small part in their decisions, as an away tie in always-hostile Serbia on clay against Novak Djokovic is nobody's idea of a fun way to spend a weekend.

James Blake would not have deserved a singles spot on the team anyhow if I was the one making the criteria, but Roddick's loss is a big one.  He wouldn't have beaten Djokovic, but he could have definitely beaten a Tipsarevic or Troicki in the reverse singles.

Sam Querrey and John Isner will likely get the singles nods for the US, but given the surface I'd like to see Wayne Odesnik given the nod over Isner.

My pick to win the 2012 Olympics gold (excluding Stuart Scott lurking creepily in the background). Photo via images.eonline.com

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Mixed Doubles has been added as a fifth discipline for Olympic Tennis starting with the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

While I'm not a proponent of same-sex doubles, I'm a huge fan of mixed doubles, and think it should be played far more often.  I have never understood why joint ATP/WTA events like Miami, Indian Wells and Beijing don't have mixed doubles, or why grand slam warm up events like New Haven, Eastbourne, and Sydney wouldn't offer it to get players ready for the mixed at slams. 

In any event, more mixed is good news, and should make for some pretty awesome action at the AELTC come 2012.

My early picks to medal:

Andy Roddick and Serena Williams, United States -- These two seem to have pretty good chemistry, and their strong net skills and booming serves should serve them extremely well in mixed doubles.

Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic, Serbia --Jankovic has already won a mixed crown on the Wimbledon grounds, partnering with Jamie Murray to win Wimbledon in 2007.  She and Djokovic were runners up at Hopman Cup a couple years ago, and seem to be the most likely pairing for Serbia in 2012.

Fernando Verdasco and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain -- MJMS is one of the strongest players at net in the WTA, and if the Spanish men really want medals they should start lobbying now to be her partner in London.  Verdasco has had a lot of success in Davis Cup doubles, so he's my pick for now.

Any other pairings you'd like to see, or that you think could do well?

Virginia Ruano Pascual, via www.rolandgarros.com (PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images)

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HeTucked away in a Danish news story about Caroline Wozniacki finding new and creative ways to overextend herself by planning a full doubles schedule next year was news of the retirement of one of the great players of the last decade.

Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual, winner of ten grand slam doubles titles, is hanging up her racquet at the end of this season at age 36.  Ruano Pascual's ten grand slam titles this decade are the highest of anyone in the WTA, including both Williams sisters.  She won her first eight slams with Paola Suarez, and her most recent two with Anabel Medina Garrigues.  Six of her ten slams were at the French Open.  She was a Wimbledon away from a career slam, but she made the finals there three times, which is a pretty decent consolation prize.

Ruano Pascual's style of play didn't lend itself to anywhere near as much success in mixed doubles, but she did win the 2001 French Open mixed crown with Tomas Carbonell.

VRP was also no slouch when she had a side of the court to herself.  She won four titles, including a rare clay court title in the UK, and reached a career high ranking of #28.

From a doubles perspective, Ruano Pascual has numbers that should make her a lock for the Hall of Fame.  If they are going to start inducting doubles specialists any time soon, she should be atop the list, for sure.

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UPDATE: Justine Henin has officially announced her comeback for the 2010 WTA season.

According to two Belgian newspapers, Le Soir and La Derniere Heure, Justine Henin will announce her comeback Tuesday.  Which is tomorrow.

It was only seventeen months ago that then-#1 Justine said "it is my life as a woman that starts now," announcing her retirement.  Her life as a woman is apparently over, and she is now free to revert to whatever it was before she was a woman.

I'll have more on what Justine's comeback means when more details emerge, but for now I just need to pretend this isn't happening.

Is no retirement sacred?

In related news, Virginia Wade has requested a wild card for the 2010 Australian Open.  Sheesh.

Ivo Minar (right) has tested positive for a banned substance, the AP reports.  The ITF is investigating the positive test. No word on what the banned substance is yet.  Whatever it is, it doesn't appear to be doing a good job at enhancing Minar's performance, as he has won just one of his last ten matches.

Minar, the current ATP #66 and Czech #3, had pulled out of the US Open only this weekend, citing injury.  The pull out just before a positive test is a clear echo of Richard Gasquet's positive test in Miami, as he also pulled out of an event near the time of a positive test.  It is not known yet when Minar tested positive.

Odds that he too tries to blame the positive test on swapped saliva at a nightclub?

Kim Clijsters acknowledges the Cincinnati crowd after beating Marion Bartoli, via d.yimg.com

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In her first WTA match in 28 months, Kim Clijsters impressively defeated US Open series co-leader Marion Bartoli in the first round of Cincinnati, 6-4, 6-3.

Clijsters showed no rust early, racing out to a 4-0 lead before Bartoli could do anything.  Bartoli dug back in to get four games in the first, but Clijsters, despite a lack of match toughness, was better on the big points, and won the first 6-4.  Clijsters continued to play the big points better in the second, getting the one break she needed on the one break point she had, and successfully fending off all seven of Bartoli's break points.

Bartoli, who's last match was a stunning win over Venus Williams in the Stanford final, admitted afterwards that she was scared of playing Clijsters, and bemoaned her tough draw.  Not the mindset a hot player who just beat Venus Williams should have going into a match against a player who hasn't been in a draw in over two years.

Bartoli had been good but inconsistent, never follows up tourney wins well.  She has lost her last four first rounds the tournament after winning a title, a drought which speaks volumes about her streaky, hit-or-miss style of play.

Since she's so unconventional and streaky, beating Bartoli isn't a great indicator of how Clijsters will do against the rest of the WTA.  She faces Patty Schnyder in the second round, and would then presumably run into Svetlana Kuznetsova, then Dinara Safina.  Not an easy welcome mat of a draw, to be certain.

While the match was nowhere to be seen on the internet or American TV, it was apparently aired on TV in Belgium, as Belgians obviously care more about this Clijsters comeback than your average tennis fan.  I'm hoping to get my Belgian tennis-following friend to put up a FanPost recapping what he saw from Clijsters' game in her first match back, I'll be sure to highlight that if and when it happens.

Dinara Safina seeks divine intervention. Photo via d.yimg.com

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WTA #1 Dinara Safina lost her third round match in Los Angeles Thursday night, falling to Zheng Jie by the score of 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.. 

Zheng was close to making this an easier victory, as she led 3-1 in the second before dropping that set and extending proceedings to a third.  But in the third she closed well, winning the last eight points of the match from 4-4 to take the set 6-4 and the match.

This loss will obviously bring a refrain of criticisms about Safina's status as #1.  Winning the smallest possible tournament in Slovenia didn't help silence claims that her ranking is based on unimportant tournaments, and neither will this loss.  Safina did not face any player ranked as high as Zheng in her five matches in Slovenia, nor did she beat any player ranked above Zheng in her five wins at Wimbledon, for that matter. 

But with Serena Williams also losing a match to a lower ranked opponent a few days ago (Samantha Stosur in Stanford), neither of the two women claiming to be #1 have made much headway in convincing anyone over the last week.

Zheng is no slouch, and neither is Stosur.  We'll get to see which is less slouchy tomorrow, when they play in a quarterfinal match.

In my mind, the only threat to win the title outside of that pair is Maria Sharapova, who has a really great chance of taking home the title (and the lead in the US Open Series).