This week, Rafael Nadal has dinner with Cristiano Ronaldo, the Williamses get Posh, and Andrea Petkovic gives what is hopefully a promising update on her injury recovery. Here’s the best from the week of the Tennis Twitterverse.

Tweet of the Week: It took three years, but the WTA finally makes peace in the Middle East.

Peer got a *wildcard* into Dubai? And drew a wildcard from Oman first round, and match played without international incident? WTA beats UN:)—
Kamakshi Tandon (@Kamakshi_Tandon) February 21, 2012

Best of the rest

10. RN10 dines with CR7: Rafael Nadal had dinner with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo. I think they’re friends. So why does this look like a proof of life?

Having a dinner with @Cristiano. Today we filmed the new commercial for Nike. Had a great day!! http://t.co/Xiflnvxp—
Rafael Nadal (@RafaelNadal) February 22, 2012

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Roger Federer is prepping for the London Olympics and has his sights set on '16 Rio, too. (Getty Images)

Five for Friday is an end-of-the-week roundup of interesting tidbits from my notebook. Have something that you think needs to be addressed? Feel free to tweet or email me.

1. Rio or bust: Roger Federer, 30, said this week that he has no plans to retire soon and is looking to play at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

During a conference call to promote an exhibition match next month in New York, Federer was reminded that he once referred to the 2012 London Games as the point at which he would consider retirement.

“Yes, I did say three years ago, four even, that I will definitely play until the London Olympics,” Federer said. “It was more getting journalists off my back, to be quite honest. I will be playing at the London Olympics but, hell, I won’t be retiring at the London Olympics. My body will tell me when to stop, but I haven’t set the date in any shape or form or thought about it in any way. At this point, I’m hoping to play in Rio.”

Federer will turn 35 during the 2016 Summer Olympics. With the way his body has held up, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t there. Then again, 29-year-old Andy Roddick enjoyed 10 relatively healthy years before his body started to break down, in rather sudden fashion, last year. Things can turn that quickly.

Speaking of Federer and Roddick, the two will face off at the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden on March 5. I know the players sign up for these exhibitions months in advance, but you have to think that Roddick is cursing the timing now that he’s sustained yet another injury, this time to his ankle. Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki round out that exhibition field.

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The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.

• Much like Mardy Fish, I do not speak French. But I’m fairly certain that in the video above, Albano Olivetti, who beat Fish on Thursday, says his serve has been clocked at 254 kmh, which converts to 158 mph. Ivo Karlovic holds the record for the fastest serve at 156 mph.

• Caroline Wozniacki and Rory McIlroy have a bet going that requires them to give up their favorite snacks. What’s the reward? ”Let’s just put it this way,” Wozniacki said. ”I wouldn’t do it for a pair of sunglasses.” Let your imaginations run wild, folks.

• Jelena Jankovic believes that the constant travel due to Fed Cup is contributing to the number of injuries and withdrawals early this season. “Sometimes we wish we didn’t have to fly from one part of the world to another, going from hot to cold,” Jankovic said. “It’s not easy and you are at risk to get injured.” Got this on your iPod, JJ?

• Lleyton Hewitt is out of competition for four months because of foot surgery, but a campaign has already begun to get Hewitt a wild card into the London Olympics. That would be an interesting decision for the ITF.

• Ana Ivanovic feels middle-aged now that the younger generation is making its presence known. ”I think they’re playing great,” the 24-year-old Ivanovic said. “It’s a great challenge for us, for players that have been around for a while. They’re pushing us to improve and get better.”

• Variety summarizes the Tennis Channel/Comcast dispute. “We didn’t wake up and force Comcast to put Tennis Channel on the air,” CEO of Tennis Channel Ken Solomon said. “They elected to do so on their own volition. What they have to do, once they make that determination, they have to give us fair treatment once they get similar situated networks.”

• Non-tennis: David Foster Wallace would have been 50 years old this week. Here’s an uncut, 84-minute interview with him from 2003.

• See or read something that you enjoyed and want to share? Feel free to email or tweet us links to pieces from around the Internet that may have slipped past our radar.

Agnieszka Radwanska is already on record as being firmly in the anti-grunting camp, but she’s never gone so far as to make public statements against her good friend and WTA No. 1 Victoria Azarenka specifically.

That ended this week in Dubai, when Radwanska was asked about the blatantly cold handshake she gave her “good friend” after she lost in the semifinals of Doha. In that match, Azarenka sprained her ankle early in the second set and Radwanska took exception to, in her opinion, Azarenka’s exaggerated demonstrations of pain throughout the rest of the match, wincing and limping between points and looking like a woman who was on the verge of retiring at any second.

“I think after this match (in Doha) [I] just lost a lot of respect,” Radwanska said after her quarterfinal win in Dubai. ”If you do this in the match, if anyone didn’t see the match, I think it’s just a quick look on YouTube and you’ll know what was going on.”

You got it, Aga. Here are the highlights from the match. To see the cold as ice handshake, go to the 12:15 mark:

*****

“I was angry because I don’t think this is the great image for the women’s tennis, what was going on there,” she said.

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Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka and Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova are regarded as the likely players to fill the current WTA power void. (US Presswire/EPA)

Last week on The Toss, Bryan Armen Graham joined to debate whether to buy the hype on John Isner. John McEnroe had talked up Isner after his Davis Cup win over Roger Federer, but in the end, the good and loyal BTB readers voted that the 26-year-old American lacked the versatility in his game to be a serious threat.

This week, SI.com tennis producer C.W. Sesno joins to look at another debate about player potential. Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitoa are Nos. 1 and 3 in the world, respectively. They both have one Grand Slam title. Azarenka is 22 year old, Kvitova 21. They’re both pegged as the likely candidates to provide a little consistency to what has been a wide-open WTA.

Today’s Toss: Whose career are you buying from this point forward, Victoria Azarenka’s or Petra Kvitova’s?

Courtney Nguyen: First things first, are these two even going to play another match all year? Kvitova, who seemed destined for the No. 1 spot when this year began, hasn’t played a tournament since Fed Cup, withdrawing from Doha (Achilles injury) and Dubai (illness). Meanwhile, Azarenka withdrew from Dubai on Wednesday, citing the left-ankle injury she suffered in the Doha semifinals. That’s her second withdrawal of the year after she chose to sit out of Fed Cup because of a back injury.

I suspect that Azarenka needed the mental break more than anything else (she’s flying home to Belarus for the first time since winning the Australian Open). But these two keep dodging each other, which is probably why we’re debating this question. If they would just play each other this year, we could start compiling some data and get a more definitive answer. Then again, that wouldn’t be as fun.

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• Roger Federer and dubstep? I never thought I’d see the day.

• The Economist looks at the Olympics and how tennis can carve its own niche: “For Mr [Rafael] Nadal and his closest rivals, the Olympics is now much preferred to the Davis Cup as an opportunity to represent one’s country. Unlike the Davis Cup, it does not sprawl across the season, intruding on other competitions and wearing players down. For spectators, it is an occasional treat, not a never-ending saga. Its knockout format mirrors that of the slams (although uses best-of-three-sets matches, rather than best-of-fives, until the final) and is much more accessible to the general public. … This year, the famous venue is a further boon. No other sport set to feature at London 2012 will take place on such hallowed turf (organisers have built new facilities for most of them). That is bound to raise the profile of the event, and the relaxation of some traditions, allowing players to compete in national colours instead of Wimbledon whites, will be an additional attraction. Interest in Olympic tennis has never matched that in Wimbledon itself. But this year it is likely to come a lot closer.”

• Serena Williams joins her sister and confirms for the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., in early April. We’ll see if that actually pans out.

• Former British No. 1 and Davis Cup captain John Lloyd probably isn’t on Andy Murray’s Christmas card list and I’m not sure these comments to TCPalm.com’s Ray McNulty will do anything to change that. While Lloyd says that Murray is handling the pressure better than he did when he was the British No. 1, he also believes that it’s easier these days because players can have entourages to manage off-court demands and distractions. He also doesn’t buy into the idea that the caliber of today’s players makes it more difficult for Murray to win a Grand Slam. ”That’s all a bit exaggerated,” he said.

• John Isner is the talk of the town at the moment and it looks like he’s embraced his status as a late bloomer. “Isner isn’t shocked by his recent success, though,” USA Today‘s Stephanie Kuzydym writes. “From girls to growth spurts, he said, he’s always been a late bloomer. ‘To this day, I only shave once a week,’ Isner said.”

• I admit, I was skeptical when I heard that the Dubai tournament gave Israeli Shahar Peer a wild card. But it sounds like the past controversy is all water under the bridge.

• I’m very disappointed in myself for not making The Royal Tenenbaums connection. I promise to be better.

• Non-tennis: A modernization of Abbott and Costello’s famous “Who’s on First?” routine.

Victoria Azarenka, 17-0 on the year, steamrolled Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open final to win her first major and take the No. 1 rank. (EPA)

This is all eerily familiar.

A young, top-five player with an emotionally combustible psyche, a body that bordered on frail and recognizable talent but results that didn’t quite match the swagger, finishes one year strong and comes flying out of the gate the next. At the Australian Open, said unnamed player beats a multiple Grand Slam champion in the tightly contested semifinal before steamrolling a top player in the final, all while navigating the public relations minefield with hit-and-miss success.

Victoria Azarenka of 2012, meet 2011 Novak Djokovic. Novak Djokovic, meet Victoria Azarenka. You two should sit down for a chat.

Let’s get the on-court similarities out of the way right up front. Yes, Azarenka is undefeated on the season, as Djokovic was for the first five months of 2011. Yes, like Djokovic, she is winning in commanding fashion (though she pulled out of Dubai on Wednesday with a left-ankle injury, she hasn’t come close to dropping a set since the Australian Open). Yes, her return game is better than anyone’s right now, one of Djokovic’s major strengths. Yes, she is stuck answering questions about how she’s doing it, what’s changed and whether she can keep it up.

And though Azarenka has produced amazing results this season, any talk of Grand Slams, Golden Slams, undefeated streaks and Djokovician dominance is still premature. Let the woman enjoy her moment before we ratchet up the pressure and expectations. We’re not even through two months of the season yet. Funny thing is, the comparisons don’t stop with results or game styles.

Azarenka has a big personality, one that she doesn’t shy away from or try to hide. Djokovic knows a little bit about that. He burst onto the scene making as much noise (if not more) with his personality as with his game. His impressions and penchant for jokes were a breath of fresh air during a time when restraint and professionalism (in the classic sense of the word) reigned. But when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal began to take some issue with his behavior and that of his box, the fresh air quickly grew stale.

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This week saw the addition to Twitter of one notable tennis personality, a person who still has — how can I phrase this delicately? — a very devoted fan base despite the fact that he’s retired and has moved on to other pursuits.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, Marat Safin reportedly joined Twitter.

Dear followers! It is me and I am real today I was at university in NNovgorod, the were about 100 students and some spicy questions .—
marat_safin (@safin_marat1) February 20, 2012

His account isn’t officially verified and, to be honest, his tweets just don’t sound like him. But the press secretary for Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, which Safin represents in the lower house of Parliament, confirmed it, as did Safin’s sister, Dinara Safina.

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Michael Chang became the youngest man to win a Grand Slam title when he won Roland Garros at age 17 in 1989. (Pierre Gleizes/AP)

Michael Chang made a career out of setting almost every “youngest ever” stat in the books. On Wednesday he turned 40 years old, which is making the rest of us feel like “the oldest ever.”

The youngest and oft-overlooked fourth member of that Golden Boys era of American men’s tennis (alongside Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier), Chang was initially its breakout star. At 15 years old he became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the U.S. Open and the youngest player to reach the semifinals of a Tour-level event. All these records were nothing compared to what he was to accomplish less than two years later. In 1989 he became the youngest man to win a Grand Slam title, beating Stefan Edberg in the Roland Garros final to win his first and only major title.

Ask most people about that final and you might get some blank stares. But ask people about his fourth-round comeback when down two sets to love against Ivan Lendl and you’re bound to get an emotional reaction. Chang battled cramps and rattled the unrattleable Czech with underhand serves, moonballs and precarious court positioning.  It was a career-defining win for Chang and one of the most memorable matches in tennis history.

His French Open title was the first for an American man at Roland Garros since Tony Trabert in 1955 and it propelled him into the top five three months later. He would go on to make two more Slam finals (the Australian Open and U.S. Open in 1996), reach a career-high rank of No. 2, and win 34 career titles before retiring in 2003. Not bad for a guy who was outsized and outgunned during his 15-year career.

Here we look back to some of the best of Michael Chang.

1. David slays Goliath: Or at least he makes Goliath’s brain melt. Down two sets and a break in the third set to world No. 1 Ivan Lendl in the fourth round of the 1989 French Open, Chang decided his best chance was to get the robotic Czech to start over-thinking. Lendl had beaten Chang two years earlier and he made the mistake of telling the 16-year-old exactly how he did it:

“You’ve got nothing that can hurt me,” Lendl told him. “You’ve got no serve; your second serve is not very strong. So, pretty much, whenever I play you, I can do whatever I want, however I want, and I’m going to beat you pretty comfortably like I did today.”

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Andy Roddick, who injured his ankle last week, fell from 17th to 27th in the rankings. (EPA)

Some numbers from around the tennis world:

27: Andy Roddick’s ranking, down 10 spots from last week and his lowest since being No. 30 in August 2001.

20: Ranking for Angelique Kerber, the first time she’s been in the top 20.

4: German women in the top 20, the first time that’s happened since 1988. Kerber (20th) is joined by Andrea Petkovic (10th), Sabine Lisicki (13th) and Julia Goerges (19th).

84: Percent of first-serve points won by Milos Raonic in his first 12 matches this year, an ATP high.

190: Aces for Raonic in those 12 matches, also a Tour high. No. 2 Tomas Berdych entered this week’s tournaments with 148 aces in 14 matches.

83-2: Raonic’s record in service games in eight career matches at the SAP Open, where he’s won back-to-back titles.

300: Career match victories for Agnieszka Radwanska after Tuesday’s win against Aleksandra Wozniak in Dubai. The 22-year-old Radwanska improved to 300-137.

12: Consecutive years that Roger Federer has won a singles title. He extended that streak with Sunday’s victory against Juan Martin del Potro in the Rotterdam final.

13: Consecutive years that Mark Knowles has won a doubles title. The 40-year-old Knowles teamed with Xavier Malisse to win the SAP Open last week. Knowles has won a doubles title in 19 of the last 20 years, with 1999 the only exception.

99: Career doubles finals for Knowles. He’s 55-44 in those matches.

171: Weeks as the WTA’s No. 1-ranked doubles player for Liezel Huber, second all time and 66 behind Martina Navratilova’s record 237 weeks.