AP reports:

Anna Kournikova will play for the St. Louis Aces during the 2008 World TeamTennis Pro League season. The Aces traded their first-round pick in the April 1 roster draft to the Sacramento Capitals for the rights to Kournikova and a second-round draft choice. Read more »

Eighth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva came a set down to beat the third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in quarterfinal action at the $1.5 million Dubai Tennis Championships. However, the major upset of the day was Number one see Justine Henin’s loss to unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (7-3) and 7-6 (7-4). Svetlana Kuznetsova also reached the semi-finals after beating France’s Amelie Mauresmo and will play fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic who had an “easy” victory when sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze retired with an injury after losing the first set. 

Maria Sharapova avenged her loss to Agnieszka Radwanska at the U.S. Open by defeating her 6-4, 6-3 and setting up an all-Russian final at the Qatar Open. She will play Vera Zvonareva in the final Sunday who rallied to defeat China’s Li Na 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinal. Zvonareva has been out much of 2007 with injuries but has managed to enroll in the Russian Diplomatic Academy majoring in World Economics. Vera blogs for Russian sports site Championat.ru. Read more »

This photo shows that at least these three Russian players are getting along just fine.

(In photo: Dinara Safina, Elena Vesnina and Maria Sharapova via sports.ru)

It is that time of the year again. I am talking about the Sports Oscar. St. Petersburg, Russia, will be the focus of the sporting world when it stages the 2008 Laureus World Sports Awards in the Marinsky Concert Hall on February 18. The glittering award ceremony will be hosted by famous Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova along with another equally famous Russian export supermodel (with Cinderella story) Natalia Vodianova.

Laureus is a universal movement that celebrates the power of sport to bring people together as a force for good. Laureus World Sports Awards are awarded annually to sportspeople who have been outstanding during the previous year. World No. 1 tennis player Roger Federer has won Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for the last three years consecutively. Unlike Sports Illustrated, they know what they are doing. He is among nominees again.

World No. 1 Justine Henin has been nominated for the 2008 Laureus World Sportswoman Award. The full list of nominees are available here.

Defending champion Russia overcame a loud 4,000-strong Israeli crowd Sunday to reach the Fed Cup semifinals where they will face either USA or Germany.

Russia was 1-1 with Israel when Maria Sharapova won her second rubber match beating Israel’s star Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1. Then Anna Chakvetadze defeated Tsipi Obziler 6-4, 6-2 despite the hostile crowd. The win was sealed by Russia’s Elena Vesnina and Dinara Safina who overcame Israel’s Obziler and Peer 6-0, 1-6, 6-4 in doubles.

Israeli fans were out of control. During Anna Chakvetadze’s match they were booing her and even calling balls out during some points. Chakvetadze used the taunting to her advantage and later accused the Israeli fans of having a lack of respect towards the players. “I expected the crowd to be noisy, but not like that,” she told reporters. “Maybe they thought they came to a soccer match.”

Maria Sharapova also got some “love” from Israeli fans. In the second set of her first match the crowd began imitating the famous grunts she makes on each shot as she hits the ball. But not only did Sharapova ignore the mimicking, she even said afterwards that it inspired her and she loved “the craziness of the Israeli fans.” Check out the video of it. It is quite entertaining:-)

However, it looks like Russia’s captain Shamil Tarpischev doesn’t find it entertaining at all. He has filed a complaint against the umpires and the officials of the tie citing that they did very little to control the crowd. “It felt as if we were playing in the zoo,” Tarpischev told in an interview with Sport-Express. He was also unhappy about the fact that the organizers have oversold the tickets, and the guests of the Russian team were left without seats.

Russia 1-1 Israel
Maria Sharapova (RUS) def. Tzipi Obziler (ISR) 6-0, 6-4
Dinara Safina (RUS) l. Shahar Peer (ISR) 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.

(Photos: Alexander Safonov,championat.ru)

It looks like Pete Sampras has truly enjoyed playing three exhibitions against Roger Federer late last year, where he won the final match. Now AP reports that Sampras will play former world No. 1 player Marat Safin in an exhibition during the SAP Open tennis tournament Feb. 18 at HP Pavilion in San Jose. The Russian is 4-3 against Sampras, including a victory in the 2000 U.S. Open final. Sampras is also schedule to play Roger Federer at Madison Square Garden in New York on March 10.

(AP via Craig Hickman’s Tennis Blog)

Tennis player interviews are entertaining. Whether they like communicating with the press or not, these Q&A sessions often give us some glimpse of into the character of each athlete. However, occasionally the players have to answer quite inappropriate questions.

Many people admire, but don’t necessarily like Maria Sharapova. In addition to her tennis talent, I must admit that she has humor, wit and intelligence (unlike Mr. Sharapov) and knows how to deal with sometimes very annoying questions. Masha is in Israel now getting ready for her first Fed Cup debut for Russia. During the press conference, most of the questions were directed to Sharapova. One Israeli reporter was particularly persistent. Read more »

The most charismatic Russian tennis player Marat Safin is celebrating his 28th birthday today. Happy Birthday Marat! (TIB: Safin is scheduled to play for Russia in a Davis Cup tie against Serbia in Moscow from Feb. 8 to 10. He has also confirmed his participation in Dubai Tennis Championships.)