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.

Venus and Serena Williams will face off Wednesday to see who advances to the semifinals at the U.S. Open. Here is their head to head score:

Ever wondered what’s going on behind the scenes at the media operations center at a major tournament? Paula Vergara, a writer at On the Baseline, takes you there.

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.

If you are somewhere in the world that doesn’t have access to TV coverage of the U.S. Open, check out this site for free live coverage available in various languages.

Maria Sharapova manages somehow to stay in the spotlight even though she is skipping this year’s US Open due to a shoulder injury. Shape has a story on how the tennis pro stays active off the court.

Want to get Maria’s bling? Enter to win a diamond-studded Canon PowerShot.

Russian third see Svetlana Kuznetsova was upset by China’s world No 43 Li Na in straight sets in the first round of the Beijing Olympics.

People reports that tennis legend Boris Becker plans to marry the 24-year-old daughter of his former manager.

I loved this photo of Fernando Gonzalez at the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. More Olympics photos are here.