Ana Ivanovic is featured on the Vanity Fair website. She was interviewed by Jessica Flint in New York last month after the BNP Paribas Showdown exhibition for the Billy Jean Cup.

Victoria Azarenka, the 19-year-old from Belarus, defeated world number one Serena Williams 6-3 6-1 to win the Sony Ericsson Open. In  post-match interview Azarenka explained why so many Eastern European women have done so well in tennis of late: “I would say it’s I think it’s just the mentality. Like the Russians, a lot of us, we didn’t have many things when we were growing up. It’s just the hunger for playing and just wanting to do better and get as many opportunities as you can to be better in your life.”

The New York Times had an article about U.S. tennis losing ground in developing players. Here is an interesting statistics from that article.  “Of the top 100 ranked players on the WTA Tour as of March 23, only four were American, and two were in the top 10, the Williams sisters, Serena (No. 1) and Venus (No. 6). (The other two were No. 37 Bethanie Mattek-Sands and No. 85 Jill Craybas.) By contrast, 14 Russian women were ranked among the top 100, including 10 in the top 50 and five among the top 10.”

Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias managed to show the world that their relationship was going strong when the kiss cam found them on the stands during the Sony Ericsson semi-final match between Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

During a recent press conference, in response to a question  if Anna is the love of her life, Iglesias said “If you ask me right now, I’d say she’s the woman in my life, but I don’t know if eternal love exists. The reality is that lots of people who get married get divorced but I’ll be able to answer that question when I’m 90, then I’ll be able to say if I was with her the rest of my life,” 

(See more photos here.)

If you believe these photos and the celebrity gossip sites, actress Camilla Belle (Maria Sharapova’s good friend), is Fernando Verdasco’s new girlfriend. The two were spotted at the recent ATP tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California. Camilla was also in Fernando’s box when he played his quarter final against Roger Federer.  Verdasco until very recently was dating Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic.

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)

“The desire is back.” Words that many tennis fans wanted to hear. Former world No.1 Belgian Kim Clijsters confirmed today the circulating speculations that she is preparing to return to competitive tennis almost two years after retiring at just 23 years old due to injuries.

“I intend to play in the US Open and almost certainly in the tournaments at Cincinnati (early August)- my first official tournament back - and Toronto,” she said.

Clijsters is married to American basketball player Brian Lynch and gave birth to a daughter in 2008.

(Photo: AFP)

In extremely windy conditions, 24-year-old Russian  Vera Zvonareva defeated defending champion Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the BNP Paribas title match.  No. 6 Zvonareva added the crown to the doubles title she won the previous day with teammate Victoria Azarenka. Bonnie D. Ford has recently written a good profile of Vera Zvonareva.

Watch BMP Paribas Open (Indian Wells Masters) tennis live online free.

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After announcing on his website that he and his girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec are expecting their first child this summer, Roger Federer was quick to state that becoming a father will not affect his  tennis mind set:

“I think in a way I always had the dream that once I became No. 1 in the world if I have a child I hope I have it early enough so he can see me playing. So this is very exciting.

I think it’s not going to really disturb my mind-set on tennis a whole lot. I’ve always made sure that my schedule is (arranged with time to) get away from tennis a little but and then come back when I’m ready to play again.

If it does something to me, I think it’s going to motivate me to play for a long time.

For me, this is not a massive shock. But when it does happen (and) your girlfriend-wife is pregnant, it definitely changes your mind-set. All of a sudden you’re hoping everything goes well, whereas before you’re just joking about it. From that respect, I’m excited that the baby comes out healthy and everything goes OK. Other than that, it’s just happiness. And all the people around me, all the people I talk to, everybody is like, ‘Wow, it’s such great news.’

It’s a nice time. And yeah, the baby is due in summer. Summer is a big word, yeah. I’m not going to say anymore.”

(Photo: AFP)

After months and years of speculations, Roger Federer announced today on his website that her long-time girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec is pregnant.

“I also have some really awesome news to share with all of you: Mirka and I are excited to let you know that we will be parents this summer! Mirka is pregnant and we are so happy to be starting a family together. This is a dream come true for us.  We love children and we are looking forward to being parents for the first time. Mirka is feeling great and everything is going well.”

Congratulations!

(TIB: Thank you Isabel for the tip off)