Top-ranked Justine Henin withdrew Saturday from the tournament in Charleston, S.C., beginning April 9, saying she wants to return home to Belgium and rest before beginning her clay-court season. Henin, who has been battling a respiratory problem, withdrew from the Charleston event after losing to Serena Williams in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open.

The German Tennis Federation has filed a lawsuit against the ATP in federal court to protest planned schedule changes by the governing organization for men’s tennis. The German federation said Friday that months of negotiations between the two sides had broken down over a plan by the ATP to reduce the clay-court Masters tournaments — leading up to June’s French Open — to Madrid and Rome,…

Serena Williams says her boycott of the Indian Wells tournament will continue, despite new WTA Tour rules making participation mandatory. Williams and her sister Venus last played in the California tournament in 2001, when the family was booed after Venus withdrew just before a semifinal match against Serena.

The memoir of tennis sensation, gossip column favorite and philanthropist Andre Agassi, a book strongly desired by numerous publishers, has been acquired by Alfred A. Knopf. Financial terms were not disclosed Wednesday, although bidding reportedly topped $5 million as publishers flew out to see Agassi at his hometown of Las Vegas, touring his Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy, a charter…

The WTA Tour approved a streamlined tournament schedule beginning in 2009 that will include a longer offseason and fewer top-level events, with the changes designed to increase player participation and reduce injuries. The number of Tier I and Tier II events will be cut to 20 from 26, and the offseason will expand to nine weeks from seven, the women’s tour said Tuesday.

Rafael Nadal will skip Spain’s Davis Cup quarterfinal match against the United States next month because of a lingering foot injury. The second-ranked Nadal was left off the team for the April 6-8 match against the Americans in Winston-Salem, N.C., Spanish Tennis Federation spokesman Pedro Hernandez said Tuesday.

Serena Williams says a heckler bothered her throughout her match Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open, making at least one racist remark before he was finally ejected. “The guy said, `Hit the net like any Negro would.’ I was shocked,” Williams said. “I couldn’t believe it. I had to do a double take. I think I hit a double fault on that point.” Williams won the third-round match against Lucie Safarova,…

Roger Federer won a record four annual ATP awards Monday — only one for his tennis. Federer received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for his charity and volunteer work in 2006. He received the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, chosen by players, and was voted the fans’ favorite award for the fourth consecutive year.

These days, Serena Williams tries to play a tournament every couple of months, just to stay sharp. Her scheduling has long been unorthodox, but as she showed at the Australian Open in January, a rusty Williams still can dominate. She won her eighth Grand Slam title by routing Maria Sharapova in the final.

Lleyton Hewitt withdrew because of a sore lower back before his opening match Friday at the Sony Ericsson Open. Hewitt said he hurt his back in a match last week at Indian Wells. “Not a whole heap I can do about it at the moment,” Hewitt said. “I don’t want to go out there and play in pain, and obviously not being able to compete 100 percent like I’d like to every time I go on the court.” Hewitt,…

Tim Henman has rescinded his retirement from the Davis Cup and was named in Britain’s team for next month’s match against the Netherlands. Captain John Lloyd said Friday that Henman was in the six-man squad for the Europe/Africa Zone Group One match in Birmingham. Henman will be joined by debutants Jamie Murray and Richard Bloomfield, along with Andy Murray, Greg Rusedski and Jamie Baker.

Tennis is turning up the volume and turning off the lights. Inside a stark white building in downtown Miami, models strut outfits that glow under the black lights, a DJ spins club classics and tennis players blast backhand shots across the darkened court. In an effort to attract a younger crowd to a sport known for its formality, Sony Ericsson — which sponsors the WTA tour and this week’s…

The ATP Board voted to eliminate the round-robin format that led to an embarrassing flip-flop in the interpretation of results at a Las Vegas tournament this month. Remaining events that had planned to try round-robin will instead revert to the single-elimination format used at Grand Slam events and most other tournaments, the ATP said Wednesday.

At age 23, Kim Clijsters has decided to ease up on her tournament routine to make more time for shopping and nice meals so she can enjoy each city she visits. It’s a sort of phased retirement. The former U.S. Open champion plans to call it quits and focus on family after playing an abbreviated schedule this year.

Andy Roddick and James Blake were selected Wednesday for the U.S. Davis Cup team that will face Rafael Nadal and Spain on an indoor hardcourt in next month’s quarterfinal. Captain Patrick McEnroe will also go with the world’s top-ranked doubles team of brothers Bob and Mike Bryan in the best-of-five event in Winston-Salem, N.C.