The tennis world announced its Hall of Fame winners the other day, and Monica Seles was a no-brainer. I don’t know if anybody else on MLBlogs is into the sport, but I’m a big fan and former player and I enjoyed watching Seles over the years.

As everyone knows, she was riding high on the women’s tour, only to be stabbed in the back – literally – by a crazed fan of Steffi Graf.

She made an attempt at a comeback, then sort of faded away, never really retiring (shades of Bernie Williams). Now she’s looking good, wouldn’t you say?

While I’m on the subject of tennis, the Australian Open starts next week.

The story lines include:

Will Roger Federer be successful in his bid to tie Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles? I love the guy, so I hope he does it. Talk about talent. There’s isn’t a shot he can’t execute.

At the other end of the draw is Rafael Nadal, the tournament’s top seed. Very dangerous player.

I pick Federer to prevail on the fast surface in Melbourne. What’s amazing about these two is that they have a great rivalry and couldn’t be more opposite, and yet they like each other. What a concept. Not Yankees-Red Sox at all. Can you picture Youkilis and Joba posing together?

On the women’s side, we have the Williams sisters. Will they face each other?

Turns out they’re in the same half of the draw, so only one of them can win the hardware.

Standing in both their paths is the top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, who is nothing if not acrobatic on the court.

Ouuuuwww.

Missing in action this year is every guy’s poster girl, Maria Sharapova.

She’s been sidelined with – what else? – a shoulder injury. (See my last post about pitchers.)

I’ve been following tennis for a long time, as I said. It’s always fun to see new players make a name for themselves on the tour, but I can’t help missing this guy.

He’s great in the television booth, but those tirades on the court? He could really shake things up.

Here’s a little trip down memory lane.

First, we have the “Please Tell Me” video.

And now, the “Answer the question” incident.

And my all-time fave, “You cannot be serious.”

Peace, Johnny Mac.