They say tennis is one of the loneliest sports, a man or woman out on an island beating ball after ball back at an opponent that is going through the same mental checklist on each shot in hopes of reigning supreme. In some cases, that solitarily can lead one to a bit of a breakdown.

Enter Viktor Troicki, a 27-year-old Serbian with one career ATP title and now one career-defining meltdown that took place during his second-round match at the Italian Open against Ernests Gulbis. Troicki had dropped the first set 6-1 and was facing a break point in the first game of the second set when chair umpire Cedric Mourier overruled a backhand by Troicki that lost him the game.

That, apparently, was enough for Troicki who started yelling, screaming and pointing at Mourier for the next four minutes.

How bad did it get? Troicki eventually grabbed a cameraman and pulled him over to the spot that he thought the ball landed, instructing the man to do a close-up of what he thought was the in-spot of his

Maria Sharapova with a message for the paparazzi.

Maria Sharapova is dating fellow tennis player Gregor Dimitrov, a fact brought to light earlier this week when paparazzi snapped a photo of Sharapova and Dimitrov sharing a tender moment on the streets of Madrid. Both are playing in the Madrid Open, where Dimitrov upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, so, yeah, it didn't exactly require CIA-level espionage tactics to catch them together.

After winning her own quarterfinal in Madrid, Sharapova joked about the revelation with a bit of impromptu camera lens art. She wrote, "How did you find us???" with a handy marker, smiling all the way. Hey, better this than enraged denials, smashed cameras or lawsuits.

Alas, Maria made the common mistake of failing to account for reversed letters, the same affliction that befell a Florida State fan who apparently painted her face in the mirror last fall. It's cool, we knew what you meant anyway.

[Via FTW.]

-Follow Jay Busbee on Twitter at @jaybusbee.-

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Thomas DrouetDetails continue to emerge of an incredibly ugly incident out of Madrid, where Bernard Tomic's father, John Tomic, headbutted the 20-year-old Australian's hitting partner before the team was scheduled to board an airplane.

The story goes that Thomas Drouet, the hitting partner of Bernard, got into an altercation with John after he told Drouet that he wouldn't be paid or allowed on the flight, going after the playing partner, spitting in his face and then headbutting him, breaking his nose and leaving him unconscious outside the player's hotel in Madrid.

Sloane Stephens — Getty ImagesRemember a few months back when Sloane Stephens went up against Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and stories upon stories were made about how the student was finally getting to face her mentor?

Well, apparently that wasn't so much the case. In an interview with ESPN the Magazine, Stephens held nothing back in how she feels about Williams, basically tearing apart any semblance of a relationship the two American tennis players might have had.

[Also: Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn hit the red carpet in NYC]

Here is a part of the story that comes out on May 13 ...

“She’s not said one word to me, not spoken to me, not said hi, not looked my way, not been in the same room with me since I played her in Australia,” Stephens says emphatically. “And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all these nice things about me to unfollowing me on Twitter.”

Her mom tries to slow her down, but Sloane is insistent. “Like, seriously! People should know. They

Monica Seles at the 1992 U.S. Open. (Getty Images)On April 30, 1993, then-world No. 1 Monica Seles was playing Magdalena Maleeva in the Citizen Cup, an undistinguished event in Germany. Seles was up 4-3 in the second set after having won the first, and appeared to be within minutes of taking the match and moving onward.

And then, during the changeover, the entire world of tennis changed in an instant. Gunter Parche, an unemployed 38-year-old, leaned over and stabbed at Seles with a nine-inch blade. Parche later admitted an obsession with Steffi Graf, Seles' rival, and sought to end the rivalry himself.

"I remember sitting there, toweling off, and then I leaned forward to take a sip of water, our time was almost up and my mouth was dry. The cup had barely touched my lips when I felt a horrible pain in my back," Seles would later write in her 2009 autobiography "Getting a Grip." "My head whipped around towards where it hurt and I saw a man wearing a baseball cap, a sneer across his face. His arms were raised above his head and his hands

Remember when Rafael Nadal was the battered champion that some thought might never return to the form that has picked up 11 Grand Slam titles in his career? Yeah, that isn't exactly what has happened.

Nadal returned to tennis in February, and hasn't just hit the ground running, he's blown the game wide open. Since coming back, Nadal has reached the finals in all six events he has started, winning four of them including the Barcelona Open on Sunday.

His 6-4, 6-3 win was impressive, but it was this tweeter shot he hit late in the first set that was easily the shot of the day.

Nadal came in, Nicolas Almagro lobbed one over his head, and Nadal retreated, pounding it back down the line between his legs and eventually winning the point.

Tommy Haas — Getty ImagesTommy Haas is a guy that has been in and out of our tennis lives for a number of years. Ranked as high as No. 2 in the world back in 2002, Haas is now 34-years-old and a far cry from the player he used to be.

That was, until his fourth round match against No. 1 in the world Novak Djokovic on Tuesday night at the Sony Open.

The funny thing about men's tennis these days is that upsets, real, true upsets, happen about as often as Roger Federer looks fatigued. We get around the Grand Slams and the final four almost always look the same, with the finals being some revolving door of Federer, Djokovic, Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal. But on Tuesday night, Haas pulled off an upset for the ages.

Haas beat Djokovic 6-2, 6-4, an absolute thrashing in tennis terms especially considering that a guy Haas' age hasn't beat a No. 1 in the world since 1973.

It was a "turn back the clock" performance by both players, really. Haas was on his game, smashing his one-handed backhand and pushing Djokovic around

Seriously, what more can you say about this shot by Agnieszka Radwanska in her quarterfinals match against Kirsten Flipkens? Serving up 2-0 in the second set, Radwanska came to net only to have Flipkens' pass catch the tape.

No worries, as Radwanska did a full turn, no-look drop shot for the winner.

I know it's early, but this could easily be the Shot of the Year in women's tennis.