There's still a great deal to keep an eye on this fall, even though the Grand Slams have gone. Here are some of the current happenings, including the whereabouts of Roger Federer.

Federer's Return?

Federer decided to bail out of the Stockholm Open, raising quite a few eyebrows, especially when you consider what his explanation was. He pulled out of a relatively small event, which isn't exactly uncommon, but this recently anointed five time United States Open champion is claiming to be healthy following a brief run in with Mono, and now it isn't sure when he intends to return.

He only had a minuscule chance of regaining the top 1 ranking from Rafael Nadal, which may have factored into his eventual decision to bow out of the Stockholm Open. Realistically, he needed to be able to win titles elsewhere in consecutive weeks, including Sweden, Madrid, Paris and Basel. It seems like his bailing out has something to do with simply being burnt out. No one knows exactly how long this break of his is going to last, but when it comes to a career player like Roger Federer, it could be as few as five days before he is ready to go again. However, at this point in his career, Masters Series and Masters Cup tournaments probably do not make that much of a difference, but rather he is going to want to aspire toward being ranked No. 1 and beating Slams.

Ivanovic's Trials

Many males would gladly say that they watch the Serb all year round even if they are not all together interested in Tennis. Ivanovic seems to need to earn some W's in order to restore her confidence in the game. She's entering into next weeks' Tier 1 Kremlin Cup with a 5-5 record, which is surprising to many of her fans. She spent much of the summer struggling with an injury to her thumb, but since the start of September she claims to be pain free, and yet she is continuing to lose many of her matches. Her latest defeat has come from the Chinese battler Zheng Jie following a three hour slugfest at the China Open.

Djokovic's Responses

Novak Djokovic was a crowd favorite in 2007, but today he is viewed more as public enemy number 1, especially at the United States Open last month. He drown significant criticism from Andy Roddick and Tommy Robredo who believed that he feigned injury during the match. He was also booed by crowds at the Arthur Ashe Stadium after attacking Roddick verbally. However, in his first tournament since he appeared at Flushing Meadows, he reached the finals in the Thailand Open and endeared himself to the crowd by performing a traditional Thai greeting for them.

He was tipped by many to finish at No. 1 at the end of the year after a maiden Grand Slam crown, but there is little chance of this happening now. His defeat to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Thailand open final means that he hasn't claimed a single title crown since the early part of May, though he is hoping for a better finish this time around than last, because he last lost five in a row, all of which were straight set matches.

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basel, confidence, consecutive weeks, eventual decision, eyebrows, grand slams, kremlin cup, madrid paris, masters cup, masters series, open champion, rafael nadal, roger federer, serb, slugfest, stockholm open, tennis ivanovic, thumb, tier 1, zheng jie