Andy Roddick is off the market, girls!

Andy Roddick with Brooklyn Decker in New York City
People magazine reports that Andy Roddick has asked his girlfriend swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker to marry him.

It’s love - love for Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker – they’re engaged!

The tennis star is officially off the market after popping the question to Decker last Tuesday, sources, including Decker’s rep, confirm to PEOPLE.

On Roddick’s official Web site, andyroddick.com, a statement tells fans, “The couple wanted to tell their family and close friends first but good news travels fast. By the time Andy arrived in Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open, the tournament was bustling with the news.”

The pair, who have been dating since 2007, first met after Roddick, 25, asked his agent to track down a number for Decker, 20, a model who has appeared in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.

“With their hectic travel schedules, Andy and Brooklyn plan to enjoy their engagement and will wait to set a wedding date,” adds Roddick’s online statement.

(Photo by: Bauer Griffin)

Sharapova to miss Fed Cup semis, Kuznetsova to lead

Maria Sharapova Fed CupWorld number four Svetlana Kuznetsova will lead Russia’s Fed Cup team in next month’s semi-final against the United States in Moscow.

“We had an agreement with Kuznetsova and Sharapova that one of them would play against Israel and the other against the US,” Tarpishchev said. “Sharapova had already played in Tel Aviv, so now it’s Kuznetsova’s turn. It was sort of a trade-off because both of them have very busy schedules.

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Novak Djokovic featured in April’s Men’s Vogue

Novak Djokovic Vogue Photo

Though Novak Djokovic has failed to defend his title and lost in his opening match at the Sony Ericsson Open, his publicity campaign is going strong. Following Roger Federer’s steps, Djokovic is featured in the April issue of the Men’s Vogue magazine.

(Photographed by Frederike Helwig at the Monte Carlo Country Club in Monaco, where Djokovic now lives and trains. Ralph Lauren Black Label blazer, $695, jacket, $225, and pants, $325; polo.com. Adidas shoes.)

Roger Federer’s girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec rumored to be pregnant

There are lots of rumors flying around on the Internet about Roger Federer’s girlfriend Mirka being pregnant. It looks like the source is Daily Tennis. According to them, Nike people have been told that Mirka Vavrinec is pregnant. The Russian sport sites have picked up this story and carrying it as if it is a confirmed news. However, I couldn’t find any legitimate source to confirm this story. If it is true indeed, then my congratulations to Roger and Mirka!

Sharapova, Kuzentsova, Chakvetadze to play in Olympics

In an interview with RBK TV Russia’s tennis boss Shamil Tarpischev has said that he has almost finalized the list of the Russian players for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. There are four spots available for Russia. Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Anna Chakvetadze are confirmed participants. For the last spot, Tarpischev said he still needed to make a decision between Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva. As for the men’s side, things are more complicated. Since there are five players equally qualifying for the four available tickets– Nikolay Davydenko, Mikail Youzhny, Dmitry Tursunov, and Marat Safin. June 8th is the deadline for the submission of the final participants’ list.

Interview Gem - Maria Sharapova: Freud who?

From Maria Sharapova’s interview at Pacific Life Open.

Q. Ana Ivanovic yesterday spoke to us a lot about how she reads Freud, and she went on for about 10 minutes.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: How she what?

Q. Read Freud, Sigmund Freud, the psychologist.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don’t know who that is.

Q. The psychologist. Very famous?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Oh, psychologist, sorry.

Recent photos from Pacific Life Open

Pacific Life Open photos.

Interview Gem: Andy Roddick Questioned by Hyperactive Fan

Video of Andy Roddick’s pre-match press conference at Pacific Life Open. The girl is lucky that it was a pre-match press conference and not a post-match one. Andy has crashed out in straight-sets after he went down 6-4 6-4 to Germany’s Tommy Haas in the second-round.

Frustrated: ONLY 2 Hours of Pacific Life Open Tennis Coverage

Don’t waste you time to analyze why tennis is losing its popularity in the U.S. No, or extremely little tennis TV coverage equals unpopularity. Yes, you can argue that it is not on TV BECAUSE there is no demand. Here is what’s on demand on FSN network: Snapple High School Basketball Game of the Week, Toughest Cowboy, UltimateBet.net BD Poker Show, In-fisherman, etc… I can “understand” why those programs are “hugely popular”….

Tennis community needs a strong lobbying organization.

You can tell that I am so frustrated that ESPN has dumped Indian Wells coverage, and FSN shows only two hours of tennis in my region (more correctly MSG+, formerly known as FSN New York). I have a quite extended cable package, which includes Tennis Channel and many other sport channels some of them bearing FSN name. But only two hours of Pacific Life Open tennis.

It seems like I am not the only one frustrated. A fellow blogger at Women Who Serve seems also unhappy about it :

ESPN and FSN can both go to hell

ESPN has dumped Indian Wells coverage, of course, and FSN is not a network, but a series of regional networks. If you get FSN West, you get to see lots of the Pacific Life Open, and I think you get to see a lot of it if you have FSN North, too. I have FSN Southwest, and the coverage is terrible. And I’ve heard that some people have FSN channels with even worse coverage than FSN Southwest.

Thanks, ESPN.

Maria Sharapova on Olympics, Golden Slam, and Novak’s Imitations

March 14, 2008,

Pacific Life Open.

Q. Do you plan on playing? Because Andy pulled out of it because he thought it was too close to the US Open for him. What are your thoughts about it? And can you excel at both the Open and the Olympics since it’s so close together?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: The Olympics comes around only once every four years, and the US Open is there every single year. I don’t know if he’s played the Olympics before. But, you know, obviously I never have, and it’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl.
So it’s been one of my priorities for a very long time. You know, I’m privileged to be part of so many athletes. You know, I really don’t know what to expect, because usually you play the same events every single year. You go from tournament to tournament.
I think this will be just completely new and different, and usually you have sort of an idea of what things are going to be like, but I’m really clueless. I’m just — one of the things I’m really looking forward to is the opening ceremony and walking with all the athletes and, you know, athletes from my country, yeah, in front of thousands of people.

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