Serena Williams and Common Split

serena williams and coomon splitAccording to In Touch magazine, world tennis number 1 Serena Williams and her boyfriend rapper Common have broken up. Everything seemed to be going great for the couple. Common talked about Serena as recently as last week. Whatever is happening between them, we hope that it will not affect Serena’s performance in Paris, where she has managed to advance to the third round of the French Open.

Venus Williams’s outfit and tennis fashion in New York Times

Venus tennis outfit at Roland Garros

Venus Williams’s outfit draws a lot of attention at this year’s French Open. One headline cracked me up: Venus Williams (and her outfit) advance. The lacy, see-through black dress that she designed has also made it to The New York Times.  The paper also runs a slide show called Tennis Fashion: Oxymoron where they showcase several of controversial outfits worn by tennis stars throughout the sport’s history, including Maria Sharapova’s tuxido-inspired get-up.

Brave move: Sania Mirza to marry Pakistani cricket star Shoaib Malik

Sania Mirza Shoaib Malik wedding

Sania Mirza photo burning

Indian tennis darling Sania Mirza has always been surrounded with controversy. And this one is her boldest move.

Sania has confirmed yesterday that she is planning to marry former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik on April 11. Watch her video announcement here. NPR also had a story on how the love across Pakistan-India border can complicate the matters.

Indian right-wing nationalist protesters have already started their protests by burning an effigy of the tennis player in Mumbai on Wednesday.

Good for your Sania!  Be happy!

(Photos: Getty Images)

Elena Dementieva signs new endorsement with Maui Jim sunglasses

Elena Dementieva signs sunglasses deal

/India PRwire/ — Maui Jim, the manufacturer of premium sunglasses, confirmed today that they have entered into a partnership with the world’s number seven ranked tennis
player Elena Dementieva. Under this agreement, Elena will be a brand ambassador for Maui Jim, promoting its products on a global level with various forms of marketing, advertising, PR, Communications and Promotions.

“I’m excited to partner with Maui Jim Sunglasses as I really like the durability and style of their products,” said Dementieva. “But what really grabbed my attention is their concern for sunlight protection. As a professional tennis player, many of my events are outside so protection from the sun is critical. Read more »

Serena Williams to travel to Kenya next week

Female tennis world number one Serena Williams will visit Kenya for three days next week to inaugurate a school built with her funds and several other partners, local media reported on Thursday.The school, which is located in Makueni district of eastern Kenya, was built through partnership between Hewlett Packard (HP), one of the world’s largest technology firms, and Build African Schools (BAS) initiative — an American non-profit making organization.

The school will give chance to hundreds of primary school pupils in the area to continue with their education and an opportunity to pursue secondary school education. Read more »

Giving Back: Roger Federer visits Ethiopia

I strongly appreciate when people in power or with money who have achieved something in their lives, still find time to get involved in humanitarian work.  So, we try to cover their efforts as much as possible on this site. This time the kudos go to Roger Federer, who recently visited Ethiopia and posted some photos on his Facebook page.

Roger Federer Austrian stamp

Roger Federer: “I am on my way to visit one of the projects that I support in Ethiopia. But before I left home yesterday, the Austrian Postal Service presented me with a stamp. It was a nice honor.”

Roger Federer charity Ethiopia

Roger Federer: “Here is a shot from today when I visited the project i support in Ethiopia. It was touching to see the impact my foundation has had on the lives of these kids. I had a great time.”

One more photo after the cut. Read more »

Fernando Verdasco modelling for Calvin Klein

Spanish tennis player Fernando Verdasco was one of four men chosen to represent Calvin Klein X — a new range of underwear briefs that will be marketed globally in the same campaign, encouraging their customers to “mark your spot.” The photos were shot by fashion photographer Mikael Jansson in New York. As an additional bonus, here is the video from the photo shoot.

Fernando Verdasco Calvin Klein ad photo

Another one after the cut… Read more »

Maria Sharapova spotted with new boyfriend

Charlie Ebersol is old news. So who is Maria Sharapova’s new boyfriend? Maria has been spotted recently with her rumored boyfriend Sasha Vujacic–a Slovenian basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers. The Los Angeles Lakers drafted him in 2004, and in 2008 he signed another three year deal worth fifteen million dollars. You can follow Vujacic’s on Twitter. Here are some photos of the lovely couple.

Maria Sharapova and Sasha Vujacic

Maria Sharapova and Sasha Vujacic

More photos after the cut… Read more »

Roger Federer’s Australian Open Interview - Final

Q. Would you say maybe your ability to retrieve is just as important as shot?making, the balls you ran down?

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, I mean, I definitely think footwork is something of the most important things in tennis, especially at the level that we’re playing at. At the moment, I think it’s become extremely physical, you know, the game of tennis, especially at the baseline. It’s not as much back and forth. It’s more side to side.

I feel like, you know, my movement’s back. I think that’s a great thing. I definitely had to play some of my best tennis tonight to come through. That was clearly the case.

Q. Did you think it was a great strategy tonight, more than usual?

ROGER FEDERER: Well, I mean, he’s obviously a very patient man from the baseline, you know. I mean, I think this is how he made it to the top really. You know, not missing much, being dangerous, mixing up his pace very well, some loopier, some flatter. He can obviously go angle, hard down the line, as well as his backhand. I think that makes him particularly tough to play against.

Read more »

Andy Murray’s Australian Open Interview - Final

Q. You had those chances in that third set.

ANDY MURRAY: I had chances in the first set as well. You know, I had a chance to go up a break. Maybe three chances to go up a break at 2?All. You know, he started to play a lot better after that second set. Second set he deserved to win for sure.

I thought third set I had more of the chances. I thought I deserved to take it into a fourth, but it didn’t happen.

Q. You’ve played him 11 times. Did he show you anything different?

ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, I think his level is a lot more consistent, you know, in the slams. You know, I don’t know. Maybe, you know, in the other tournaments he tries a few more things out.

But, you know, the shots that he hits great, you know, all year round, they’re still great. You know, he just makes fewer unforced errors I think than he does the rest of the year.

Read more »