And here is Elena Dementieva’s interview after losing Serena Williams in a dramatic Wimbledon thriller. Jon Wertheim twitted about it: “just out of dementieva presser…that, friends, is class.”

Q. Is it a match you thought on merit you should have won?

ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Well, I think it was a very close match, and I think we both were playing very well today. It was a good fight.

Actually, I feel very satisfied the way I was playing today. The only regret I have, maybe I should take a little bit more risk on match point, should go down the line.

But overall it was a good match.

Q. Do you think this is the best match ever you have played on grass?

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Serena Williams’s interview after winning a dramatic Wimbledon semi-final match against Elena Demeniteva.

Q. Would that be one of your more dramatic victories?

SERENA WILLIAMS: It’s definitely one of my more dramatic victories, for sure, yeah.

Q. How did you feel at the end?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Felt good, because I felt like I was down pretty much the whole match. To come out on top was, you know, a great feeling. To finally win, it’s good.

Q. You’re not normally lucky to be in major finals, but do you feel lucky to be going into this one?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not at all. I felt like I worked hard. I don’t think there was too much luck involved today. I think it was a lot of skill more than anything.

Q. We’ve all had moments when the body makes appointments that the mind can’t keep. At stages during the match it looked as though your body or your mind wasn’t supporting you. Did you feel that?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. I just felt like I was pretty much there the whole match mentally. I just wanted to, you know, keep going. I wanted to win really bad.

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You can’t miss any tennis match today. Look at the order of play today. All the big names are in action.

CENTRE - SHOW COURT - 1.00 PM START

1. Robin Soderling (SWE) [13] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [2]
2. Dinara Safina (RUS) [1] vs Amelie Mauresmo (FRA) [17]
3. Andy Murray (GBR) [3] vs Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [19]

COURT 1 - SHOW COURT - 1.00 PM START

1. Venus Williams (USA) [3] vs Ana Ivanovic (SRB) [13]
2. Fernando Verdasco (ESP) [7] vs Ivo Karlovic (CRO) [22]
3. Tomas Berdych (CZE) [20] vs Andy Roddick (USA) [6]

COURT 2 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Elena Vesnina (RUS) vs Elena Dementieva (RUS) [4]
2. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs Serena Williams (USA) [2]
3. Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) vs Radek Stepanek (CZE) [23]

COURT 3 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) [8] vs Nadia Petrova (RUS) [10]
2. Dudi Sela (ISR) vs Novak Djokovic (SRB) [4]
3. Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) vs Gilles Simon (FRA) [8]

COURT 4 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Igor Andreev (RUS) [29] vs Tommy Haas (GER) [24]
2. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [9] vs Sabine Lisicki (GER)

COURT 18 - SHOW COURT - 12.00 NOON START

1. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) [11] vs Melanie Oudin (USA)
2. Virginie Razzano (FRA) [26] vs Francesca Schiavone (ITA)

Tatiana Golovin surely likes what Anastasia Myskina is doing with her post-tennis career. Sidelined with a hip injury, the French tennis player of Russian origin (something that the Russian press never forgets to mention) will work as a TV commentator for the France Télévisions during the Roland Garros. That’s a good news for me! Since Eurosport is not broadcasting Roland Garros in my area, I can only watch it on French channels. Given my limited knowledge of French, it becomes quite important who covers the event. The last year’s commentators were quite boring (though still not as boring as the ones working for Eurosport). When you don’t understand the language, it becomes quite important to listen to commentators who are colorful and emotionally unrestrained:-) Let’s say…like…the Spanish commentators. Once, I somehow started watching Rafa’s match on Spanish television (I think it was during the Olympics), oh, man, the coverage was HOT! There was not a single hint or attempt to appear fair and balanced. They were sweating and moaning alongside with Rafa, and screaming after each beautiful shot. Quite an experience, I must say:-)

Tati is not the only one with TV career dreams. In an interview with the Russian media,  Elena Dementieva has also mentioned that she is planning to study journalism after retiring from tennis, so that she can work for television.

World number one Serena Williams has been voted the WTA Tour player of the year for the second time in a row. Serena wasn’t present at the ceremony at the Sony Ericsson Open to honor the award winners and has released this statement:

“Winning the Player of the Year award for the second time in my career is a great personal achievement. I feel great about my game and hope to win many more player of the year titles in the years to come.”

Russia’s Dinara Safina was Most Improved Player of the Year,  Ana Ivanovic was chosen humanitarian of the year for her work and contributions to UNICEF, and Elena Dementieva was honored with the Karen Krantzcke sportsmanship award.

(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

• Elena Dementieva will not play in an upcoming  Fed Cup tie against Italy on April 25-26. She will be replaced by Vera Zvonareva. (Go Tennis)
• Elena Dementieva was ousted by Venus Williams 6-3, 6-3 at the Dubai Tennis Championships. (The Sports Network)
• Nikolay Davydenko will miss Davis Cup showdown against Romania (Fox Sports)
• Maria Kirilenko’s boyfriend Igor Andreev gives an interview for Maria’s website on Valentine’s Day.  (Maria Kirilenko website)
• Marat Safin’s girlfriend expresses her love for the charismatic Russian tennis player through a newspaper on Valentines day. Don’t worry, no wedding plans on the horizon yet:-) (KP)

Russia’s tennis team captain Shamil Tarpsichev confirmed that Elena Dementieva, Anna Chakavetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova have given their agreements to play for the upcoming Fed Cup tie with China. The fourth player is still to be announced. Last time Elena played for Fed Cup was in 2006.

Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva and former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo will meet in Friday’s quarterfinals here. Mauresmo is 8-5 in their lifetime series, but the Russian won their last meeting in Stuttgart last season. I am really excited to have a chance to see them here. I also really wanted to see Chakvetadze play, but she already lost her second round match.

Don’t forget to check out Amelie Mauresmo’s Luxembourg blog.  The 2008 Luxembourg titlist will make $35,000.

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev met yesterday with Russian national tennis team and their captain Shamil Tarpischev in Kremlin. This year’s Beijing Olympics champion Elena Dementieva has given her Olympic “gold” racket to President Medvedev as a gift. Would you give your Olympic racket to your President?

Elena Vesnina blogs about the experience.  According to her, all the players were very nervous initially but thanks to Marat Safin who told a couple of jokes to break the ice, they relaxed and greatly enjoyed the experience. They drank some tea, and the President thanked them for all their achievements.

Dinara Safina looks gorgeous. I am not saying anything about her brother

Dementieva thinking: “Just don’t sell it on Ebay, please.”

Medvedev thinking: “What the hell is this?”

Russia’s tennis boss Shamil Tarpischev has announced his team  for the upcoming Fed Cup final tie against Spain. Though traditionally Russia has the best selection pool when it comes to Fed Cup, it seems Russia’s captain had to be satisfied with a second-string team. World number 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova will lead the team comprised of world number 10 and Beijing bronze medalist Vera Zvonareva, 56th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova and number 71 Elena Vesnina.

Elena Dementieva, and Dinara Safina are somewhat exhausted after their recent sucesses in Olympics and US Open, Anna Chakvetadze can’t find her form after the horrific robbery attack, and Maria Sharapova is out with a shoulder injury.

“This is the best team we could assemble at the moment. Dementieva and Safina have a real chance to become world number one so we have to give them a break,” Tarpischev said.