It was a great experience to see some of my favorite tennis players play live. As I have promised in my previous post, here are some of the photos that I managed to take while running back and forth between Suzanne Lenglen and Philippe Chatrier courts. It was so cold and windy, that I didn’t wait to see Marat Safin loose his perhaps the last Roland-Garros match. I really enjoyed seeing Maria Sharapova playing again with the same fire and focus. She is definitely back! Enjoy the photos. I will post more photos tomorrow.

Murphy Jensen, one of the colorful hosts of Tennis Channel’s “Open Access.”

So French, so Roland-Garros…

Maria Sharapova battled through her countrywoman Nadia Petrova.

(TIB: More Roland-Garros photos to come.)

Marat Safin at Davis Cup against Romania.

The Russians are coming…

At a dinner reception…

I am going to miss his necklaces when he retires…

• 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)

To all Marat Safin fans out there, this might be a good news for you. Ever since Marat’s pictures surfaced online with his recent girlfriend Nastya Osipova, Safin’s female fans have started enthusiastically discuss if she is good enough for the famous charismatic Russian tennis player. Now the Russian Life magazine writes that Marat’s father Mikhail Safin wonders why they haven’t met his girlfriend yet, a 24-year-old pop Russian singer whom he reportedly has been dating for about a year. “We only hear from friends and the media that Marat has a girlfriend. Maybe he is being shy or maybe he has his own reasons not to let us in his personal life. However, I find it strange.” See more Nastya’s photos here.

You have probably already seen Marat Safin sporting two black eyes during the Hopman Cup. According to Russian Vzglyad newspaper, Marat Safin got his injuries during a night club brawl in Moscow. As he was making his way to the dance floor, Safin accidentally bumped into 18-year-old Sergey Bondarchuk, the son of the famous Russian actor and producer Fyodor Bondarchuk.  They allegedly got involved in an argument which turned into a brawl which eventually was broken up by the night club security. The newspaper notes that Bondarchuk Jr. was there with  5-6 friends. Both sides have already reconciled, and Marat hasn’t filed a report with police. Here is what Marat said about the incident.

Q: You spent a lot of of time in Spain. What is it that attracts you there?

A: I like Spain for many reasons–the food, the culture, the people.  Even the competitive spirit, the hunger to play, to train. Where else would I go? To Miami? There they play tennis in the morning and then go play golf in the afternoon. The evening is steak, cocktail or MacDonald.

That’s my explanation. And here is Marat’s explanation:

A battered-looking Marat Safin on Sunday admitted involvement in a brawl in Moscow last week, but wasted no time declaring he had won the fight.

The fiery Russian stunned fans when he turned up late at the mixed team Hopman Cup sporting two black eyes, but recovered in time to beat Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6, 6-4 in his opening match.

“I won the fight, I’m good, I’m OK,” said the former world No. 1. “I got in trouble in Moscow but it’s OK, I can survive.

“It’s just a small problem. I wasn’t in the right place at the right time,” he added, without elaborating.

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?”

Marat Safin is famous for both his tennis and dating skills. His new girlfriend is Nastya Osipova, a Russian pop singer. Here are some photos for you to grade his new girlfriend:-)

See more photos here.

Q. Your sister was in here earlier after her win, and she talked about you actually have talked to her through the years about trying to learn from your…

MARAT SAFIN: My mistakes, yes. (laughter.)

Q. Can you just give us a couple minutes what you think of what she’s done professionally so far this year in particular and maybe what her chances are?

MARAT SAFIN: I think if she will do everything opposite of what I’ve been doing throughout the years she will be No. 1 in the world for a long time. That’s as simple as it is.

Read the full interview here.