Rafael Nadal has won five of seven tournaments since returning in February. (Andres Kudacki/AP)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal won titles in Madrid, where Grigor Dimitrov had a breakthrough victory and Roger Federer and Victoria Azarenka struggled in returns from lengthy layoffs.

Serena Williams: A. Another week, another title, another demolition of Maria Sharapova (who has lost 12 consecutive meetings), another week at No. 1. Williams successfully defended her Madrid Open title and showed for the first time in more than a decade that she could dominate on all shades of clay, flattening Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 in the final. The scary thing about Williams’ three-title, 19-match winning streak is that she’s not even playing as well as she was at this time last year, when she also won the Family Circle Cup and Madrid Open and came into the French Open streaking.

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Rafael Nadal: A. As the other Big Four members fell one by one, Nadal was able to fight through his one blip of a match and find better form late in the tournament. After being two points from losing his quarterfinal against David Ferrer, Nadal rolled past Pablo Andujar in the semifinals and Stanislas Wawrinka in the final to collect his 40th clay title and 55th overall. Nadal, who missed all of January as part of his seven-month recovery from a knee injury, has made the final in all seven tournaments he’s played this year and claimed a tour-leading five titles. Not even the most optimistic Nadal followers could have foreseen this type of dominance in his return.

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Sloane Stephens lost in the first round of the Madrid Open — part of an eventful week for the 20-year-old. (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, off-court drama overshadowed some tremendous on-court performances.

Sloane Stephens: C-minus. I don’t know what pushed Stephens to go nuclear in her recent interview with ESPN The Magazine, where she detailed her deteriorating relationship with Serena Williams. This wasn’t a case of an unsavvy youngster running her mouth without anyone around to check her. Stephens’ mother cautioned her twice during the interview, but the 20-year-old just couldn’t help herself and used the opportunity to vent. Hey, I’m all for that. The last thing fans and media want is a player to take a page out of the Crash Davis handbook (link contains strong language) and give predictable answers that reveal nothing about her character or her thinking.

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What wasn’t clear to me from the story was whether Stephens understands her own role in concocting the mentor-protege narrative that she blames the media for blowing out of proportion. Stephens has spoken glowingly of Williams in various interviews, telling the media that the two “talk all the time” and that Serena has been “a really great influence” on her career. “I love her to death,” Stephens said of Williams before facing her at the Brisbane International in January. She may not acknowledge it, but Stephens was happy to sell the story until all of a sudden she wasn’t and then blamed everyone else for the myth-making.

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Francesca Schiavone won her second title since capturing the 2010 French Open. (Reuters)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and Francesca Schiavone showed their class on clay yet again. 

The 2012 French Open champions: A. Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova took home their first European clay titles of the season by defending titles. Nadal summarily dismissed the Barcelona field without dropping a set to win his eighth title in nine years at the event. He became the first man to win four titles this season, an accomplishment made even more impressive by the fact that he’s played only six tournaments (and made the final of every one of them, incidentally). Sharapova, meanwhile, scratched and clawed her way through back-to-back-to-back three-set matches before beating Li Na 6-4, 6-3 in the Stuttgart final.

While Nadal’s Barcelona triumph was wholly predictable, Sharapova’s winning performance was not. She needed three sets to slip past Lucie Safarova, Ana Ivanovic and Angelique Kerber to get to the final and then, in what should have been her toughest match of the week, she got revenge on Li, who abruptly ended her Australian Open campaign in the semifinals. It may just be time to acknowledge that Sharapova’s best surface these days is red clay, a weird fact to accept in light of her famous “cow on ice” comments. Six of Sharapova’s last eight titles have come on clay. She has a 16-match winning streak on the red stuff, dating to her wins in Rome and Roland Garros last year.

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Novak Djokovic has now won every Masters tournament except Cincinnati. (Claude Paris/AP)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, Novak Djokovic ended Rafael Nadal’s supremacy in Monte Carlo, and Italy and Russia advanced to the Fed Cup final.

Novak Djokovic: A-plus. What in the world would be the upside of playing an ATP Masters 1000 on a bum ankle? Turns out, quite a bit. After watching him struggle physically through his first two matches — he needed three sets to get past both Juan Monaco and Mikhail Youzhny — it seemed that Djokovic should pull the rip cord and rest for a while. Then the draw opened up with surprising losses by Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin del Potro, and Djokovic was able to make the final without really being tested by Jarkko Nieminen or Fabio Fognini. What he did in that final was simply unbelievable.

WERTHEIM: Djokovic’s Monte Carlo title adds to ATP intrigue

In snapping Rafael Nadal’s 46-match winning streak in Monte Carlo with an emphatic 6-2, 7-6 (1) victory, Djokovic not only played flawless tennis but also reset the expectations for both men for the clay season. Nadal had thrown down the gauntlet in his four-tournament return, culminating in a win at Indian Wells on the hard courts that Djokovic is supposed to dominate. And now Djokovic has come out on top in the King of Clay’s backyard (this was the world No. 1′s third victory in 15 meetings on the surface), making the lead-ups to the French Open in Madrid and Rome even more important.

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Italy’s Roberta Vinci won her eighth WTA title and fifth on clay in Katowice, Poland. (Alik Keplicz/AP)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, John Isner made a big splash in Houston and Roberta Vinci finally made us sit up and take notice. 

Roberta Vinci: A. This may blow your mind, but with her 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory over Petra Kvitova in the final of the inaugural BNP Paribas Open in Katowice, Poland, the Italian journeywoman/doubles specialist, 30, is knocking on the door of the top 10. She’s up to No. 12, ahead of Maria Kirilenko, Marion Bartoli, Sloane Stephens and Ana Ivanovic.

Vinci reformed herself with improved fitness and inspiration from good friend Sara Errani’s splendid 2012. Like Errani, Vinci can’t overpower anyone with her ground strokes or serve, but she makes up for it with placement and variety. While her quarterfinal run at last year’s U.S. Open remains her standout result, she’s backed it up nicely this year, including quarterfinals in Sydney and Miami and a semifinal in Dubai. Watch out as we head to her favorite surface, European clay. She could pass Nadia Petrova and Caroline Wozniacki and get into the top 10 by the French Open.

Petra Kvitova: B-plus. Regardless of the quality of competition, it’s good to see Kvitova get wins. She’s a confidence player and needs to get to a place mentally where she believes in her shots. She tore through the field in Katowice with ridiculously big hitting, and her loss to Vinci in the final wasn’t entirely surprising given the arhythmic way Vinci plays. Overall, it was a positive tournament for Kvitova, who is a solid clay-court player. The surface slows the ball down just enough to give her time to get set on her shots, and the bounce is right in her strike zone. A title in Stuttgart, Madrid or Rome is not out of the question.

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Novak Djokovic recovered from an injured ankle to lead Serbia to a win over the U.S. and a trip to the Davis Cup semis. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Here is a wrap-up of performances from the Davis Cup, the Family Circle Cup and more. 

Serena Williams: A-minus. By rallying past Jelena Jankovic 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 to defend her Family Circle Cup title, Williams improved to 11-0 since unseating Victoria Azarenka at No. 1. It wasn’t the dominant performance she had here last year, but she was facing much tougher competition: Jankovic, who has always played her tough; her sister Venus; and Mallory Burdette, who forced Serena to elevate her game in the third round. She’ll now have the opportunity to rest before possibly joining the U.S. Fed Cup team in Delray Beach, Fla., against Sweden and then beginning her red clay season in Madrid in May.

Her Charleston win didn’t come without a bit of controversy. After dropping the first set, Serena exchanged words with Jankovic about how fast she was playing between points. The Serb later admitted she lost her focus. Jankovic has quick-served in the past, though I’m not convinced she does it intentionally. But Serena’s complaints undercut her own gripes to the umpire about Azarenka’s holding her up when she served in the Doha final in February. The rule is to play at the reasonable pace of the server, not at the reasonable pace of Serena.

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Serena Williams showed physical and mental fortitude in her Sony Open win. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Here is a wrap-up of the Sony Open.

Serena Williams: A. In her first tournament since regaining the No. 1 ranking, Williams won her record sixth Miami title and she didn’t even have to play her best tennis to do it. She came back from a set and 4-1 down to Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round, 5-2 down to Li Na in the second set of the quarterfinals and a set and a break down to Maria Sharapova in the final. In winning her second title of the year, Williams showed once again that her status as the best player in the women’s game is equal parts pure talent and mental fortitude. When those two aspects are clicking, she’s impossible to stop.

Andy Murray: A. The new ATP No. 2′s decision to skip any tournaments in February to train for Indian Wells and Miami paid off with his second Sony Open title, beating David Ferrer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) in the final. While the rest of the ATP came in fatigued and mentally halfway to Europe, Murray was fresher both physically and mentally. That proved to be the difference in his grueling win over Ferrer.

As an interesting side note, every title that Murray has won since the Olympics has also been won by… Williams. Both were gold medalists at the London Olympics, 2012 U.S. Open champions, Brisbane champions and now Miami champions. Weird, right?

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Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova enjoyed the spoils at Indian Wells. (Getty Images)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Here is a wrap-up of the BNP Paribas Open, where Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova won titles.

Rafael Nadal: A-plus. The best thing about Nadal’s storming through the draw to win his first hard-court title since 2010? We no longer have to spend the energy wondering if he can play at his pre-injury level. He can, and that’s just good news for tennis.

Maria Sharapova: A. Sharapova was in good spirits throughout Indian Wells and it showed in her focused but relaxed play. She didn’t drop a set and walked away with her first title since the French Open last year, blasting Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-2 in the final. She obviously didn’t have to face her nemeses, Serena Williams or Victoria Azarenka, but the new No. 2 took care of business. After Azarenka humiliated her 6-2, 6-3 in the final on the same court last year, it was a nice bit of redemption.

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Rafael Nadal next plays his first hard-court event of his comeback in Indian Wells. (Christian Palma/AP)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis. Last week, Rafael Nadal won his second straight event in his comeback, Novak Djokovic stayed undefeated in 2013 and an outspoken Latvian took Delray Beach by storm. 

Rafael Nadal: A-plus. Are you kidding me? In his third tournament after a seven-month absence, Nadal blazed through his toughest test yet. He won the Mexico Open without dropping a set or being pushed to a tiebreaker, culminating in a 6-0, 6-2 beatdown of No. 4 David Ferrer in the final. That scoreline is as much a tribute to Nadal’s form as it is to the acreage of real estate he occupies in Ferrer’s head, earned over the course of the last nine years during which the 11-time Grand Slam winner hasn’t lost has lost once to his Spanish countryman on clay.

So is Rafa back? It’s still difficult to gauge his level, given Ferrer’s lackluster performance in the final. But Nadal feels physically well enough to confirm his intention of playing Indian Wells, which is a great sign. I don’t think he’ll win the tournament, but a quarterfinal run would be proof to me that he’s as close to being back as we could expect one month into his return.

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Petra Kvitova won her first WTA tournament title since last August. (Regi Varghese/AP)

The Report Card hands out grades for the week in tennis

Petra Kvitova: A-plus. The Dubai champion built on the previous week’s three-set loss to Serena Williams in Doha, which was her best match in more than a year. She dropped only one set in Dubai, in the final against Sara Errani, beating three top-10 players in Errani, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska. She won her first title since the New Haven Open last August by doing what she does best, rendering her opponents mere spectators as she blasted winner after winner. Kvitova improved to 10-2 in finals and moved up one spot to No. 7.

Kvitova’s run was a much-needed reminder of what the WTA would (or should) look like if the Czech can rediscover her 2011 form. In the current WTA landscape, Kvitova is a top-four player with the firepower to challenge Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova. Much ink has been devoted to her 2012 slump, but it bears reminding that the “slump” included two Grand Slam semifinals, one major quarterfinal and two titles. Looking fitter and more confident, she’s primed for a charge up the rankings over the next six months.

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