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Maria Sharapova retweeted a video of her practice match in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She’s set to play an exhibition match that Tennis Channel Plus will program live on Thursday, December 15, 2016.

Sharapova, who hasn’t played competitively for nearly a year, is not showing any rust.

The exhibition will feature the homecoming of 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist Monica Puig versus Sharapova, a five-time Career Grand Slam.

Puig, who stunned Angelique Kerber in the Olympics final, will host the exhibition in her home country.

Watch Monica Puig Invitational live on Tennis Channel Plus on Thursday December 15th at 6:30 PM ET.

Tennis meets music and monsters in Big Wild’s latest video for his new single “Invincible (feat. iDA HAWK),” which is out now via ODESZA’s Foreign Family Collective.

The “Invincible” video opens on a rundown tennis court where a young heroine battles a monster to an epic game of tennis in a five-set match.

Every flash of light and every stroke of the racket are perfectly timed to the music, illuminating Big Wild’s signature drum and horn flourishes.

The whole video is set on a tennis court.

Big Wild, a Santa Cruz native, has released singles, “Aftergold” ft. Tove Styrke and “Invincible,” which have gained popularity among the electronic world and reached #1 on multiple music blogs, including Hype Machine.

Have you ever wondered how tennis balls are made? If you have, you’re in luck.

Wired.com did a piece on the process of making tennis balls, which is quite interesting. It turns out big tournaments such as Grand Slams consume as much as 70,000 tennis balls each.

The video below, courtesy of Wired.com, shows the five steps of making the balls. The process includes crushing, compressing, sheeting, buffing, and felting.
 

There were so many interesting stories in 2016 such as Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber’s rise to the top of the rankings, respectively.

Here are Tennis Channel’s top stories of the season:

ATP

Andy Murray’s surprising year-end No. 1, Novak Djokovic’s career Grand Slam, Stan Wawrinka’s U.S. Open win, Roger Federer’s short season, Rafael Nadal’s injury issues, Juan Martin del Potro’s dramatic comeback, and ATP’s hot shots.

WTA

Tennis Channel’s Match of the Year goes to the first rubber of Great Britain versus Argentina Davis Cup semifinal tie.

After stunning Djokovic in the first round of the Olympics, del Potro defeated Andy Murray in a five-set thriller.

Del Potro won the first set 6-4 but Murray came back to win the next two sets.

Del Potro then won the next two sets, taking the rubber 6-4, 5-7, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Murray had 35 aces versus del Potro’s 19, but del Potro made only 28 errors compared to Murray’s 48.

There were so many great shots in 2016 but Tennis Channel was able to narrow them down to three:

No. 3) Gael Monfils against Stephane Robert at the Australian Open

No. 2) Andy Murray versus Djokovic in Rome

No. 1) Juan Martin Del Potro against Cilic in the Davis Cup Final

Juan Martín del Potro arguably had the most gratifying story of 2016.

The 28-year-old, who has had three wrists surgeries that have kept him from the tour, made an amazing comeback in 2016.

Del Potro defeated Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Olympics, going all the way to the finals where he won the silver medal.

In November, Del Potro helped Argentina lift the Davis Cup trophy after they defeated Croatia.

Watch del Potro’s Year in Review:

 

Rafael Nadal looked good in the spring as he won Monte Carlo and Barcelona back-to-back on his best surface but that was short-lived as he had to pull out of before the third round of the French Open, his favorite slam, due to a bad wrist.

Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam winner, missed Wimbledon and lost in the fourth round in New York.

Watch Nadal’s Year in Review segment:

 

17-time Roger Federer spent years as one of the “Big Four” on the men’s tour, but lately he’s been plagued by injuries.

The 35-year-old fell out of the top ten for the first time in fourteen years. He had to cut his season short due to a knee injury.

Watch Federer’s Year in Review segment:

Stan Wawrinka had not beaten a top-ten player in 2016 until the U.S. Open, where he was crowned the 2016 U.S. Open champion.

The 31-year-old defeated Novak Djokovic in the final match. He now has three Grand Slams including the Australian Open and the French Open.

Watch Wawrinka’s Year in Review segment:

Novak Djokovic lost his place at the top of the men’s rankings, but he did have a great season.

29-year-old Djokovic opened his 2016 campaign by winning his sixth Australian Open.

He followed that by winning the elusive French Open after numerous tries.

Watch Djokovic’s Year in Review segment:

Andy Murray did something that no one predicted, which was dethroning Novak Djokovic as the World No. 1.

After making the finals of the Australian Open and French Open, Murray won his second Wimbledon trophy. He became No. 1 for the first time in his long career, and capped his spectacular year by snagging the year-end No. 1 after defeating Djokovic at the ATP Finals.

Watch Murray’s Year in Review segment:

Agnieszka Radwanska is arguably the most creative player on the WTA.

One of her best shots this season was against Monica Niculescu at Indian Wells, where she demonstrated one of her best skills: anticipation.

Watch the Hot Shots: Year in Review segment:

 

Dominika Cibulkova had one of the most gratifying wins of the season as she won the biggest trophy of her career, months after marrying her long-time partner Miso Navara.

27-year-old Cibulkova won the WTA Finals title, defeating top seed Angelique Kerber.

Watch Cibulkova’s 2016 Year in Review segment:

 

There are sixteen women in the top 100. Here are the five highlights below:

Madison Keys:

21-year-old Keys had a break-through season, ending the year as No. 8. Keys qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time in her professional career.

Venus Williams:

Williams and Rajeev Ram won silver medals in the 2016 Olympic Mixed Doubles. The 17th-ranked American added to her already impressive resume that included seven career Grand Slams singles, fourteen Grand Slam doubles, two Grand Slam mixed doubles, and four Olympic gold medals.

After having a great first half of the season, Victoria Azarenka’s season interrupted by good news: she found out she was pregnant.

Two-time Australian Open champion, who swept Indian Wells- Miami “Sunshine Double” in March, found out in July that she was expecting her first child.

During an exclusive interview with Tennis Channel, 27-year-old Azarenka revealed how happy she was

“You know obviously in theory you know the process but to actually go through that you truly start to deeply understand the magic of it and it’s quite a ride, I have to say,” said Azarenka.

Now the question is will she return to the tour, or will she retire after giving birth?

When Maria Sharapova put out a statement on her website in early March that she was going to hold a press conference, a lot of people speculated that she was retiring. When she did hold the press conference on March 7th however, she shook the world as she announced she had failed a drug test.

During her conference, five-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova revealed she had tested positive for, meldonium, a substance she had been taking since 2006 for health issues.

The 28-year-old initially received a two-year-ban but after a successful appeal, the ban was reduced to fifteen months. Sharapova’s suspension ends on April 26, 2017.

Will she be able to find the form that has one her the five career Grand Slams?

Watch Sharapova’s 2016 Year in Review segment:

After losing in the semifinal of the 2015 U.S. Open and the finals of the 2016 Australian Open and French Open, Serena Williams finally matched Steffi Graf with her 22nd career Grand Slam.

Williams got her revenge on Angelique Kerber in Wimbledon, after losing to the German at the Australian Open Final at the beginning of the year. The American defeated Kerber in the Wimbledon final to win her seventh Wimbledon title, fourteen years after winning her first Wimbledon trophy.

Now the question is will 35-year-old Williams be able to pass Graff and catch Margaret Court, who has the most (24) Career Grand Slam titles?

Watch Williams’ 2016 Year in Review segment:

When Garbine Muguruza upset defending champion Serena Williams in the second round of the 2014 French Open, many people predicted she would one day win the French Open. They predicted correctly since Muguruza did win it in 2016, her first Grand Slam title.

The 23-year-old Spaniard took out 2015 winner Williams in the finals, wining the match in straight sets 7-5, 6-4.

Muguruza had a big letdown after her huge win in Roland Garros, winning only thirteen more matches.

Watch Muguruza’s 2016 Year in Review segment:

2016 was Angelique Kerber’s best year on the WTA. The 28-year-old German won her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open, defeating six-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams in the final.

Kerber consolidated her maiden Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Open, defeating first-time Grand Slam finalist Karolina Pliskova in the final match.

Kerber capped her spectacular year by ending the season as World No. 1.

Watch Kerber’s remarkable year: