Tennis stars take the plunge with #IceBucketChallenge

The #IceBucketChallenge has soaked the US and across the world in the past weeks raising awareness of ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a neurodegenerative disorder commonly known as the Lou Gehrig's disease.

Celebrities videoed themselves emptying buckets full of icy water and challenged three other people to do the same stunt. As a result, the campaign has gone viral.

In the tennis scene, Andy Murray was first nominated by Jesse Levine in July to take up the challenge. Later, the former Wimbledon champion named his coach Amelie Mauresmo for the challenge.

Murray has also challenged Justin Gimelstob earlier this week live on air after his second round match in Cincinnati.

“Obviously we witnessed someone going through this right in front of our eyes with Brad Drewett, and it was tough to watch,” said Murray.

“It’s a horrible disease. I wasn’t aware of it personally before the situation with Brad, but now there’s been a few cases of it in tennis the past few years. It’s great to raise awareness for it and hopefully we can raise a lot of money to try and help find a cure.”

ATP Executive Chairman and President Brad Drewett passed away last year after a short battle with the disease, which has no cure.

Laura Robson also did the #IceBucketChallenge recently and has nominated Caroline Wozniacki. The latter performed the stunt in Cincinnati few days ago and has put forward the challenge to Serena Williams and John Isner.

With the US Open coming up, we hope to see more big names taking up the challenge to raise more awareness of the disease. However, our priority is still back on the game - who will win the year-end Grand Slam championships. If you're betting for the game, check out the SportsBettingInfo.com site for betting on tennis which also feature other sports like the NFL, NHL, etc.

(Via ATP World Tour Website, Kpopstarz)

Wozniacki, Kirilenko and Robson play tennis in a mirror court to launch Adidas by Stella McCartney range

Earlier today, Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Kirilenko and Laura Robson played tennis in the world's first mirror court to globally launch the new range of Adidas by Stella McCartney collection.

What do you think of this new range?

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Thai girl Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, Russian boy Andrey Kuznetsov win juniors' crowns

Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand has been crowned the 2009 Junior Girls’ Champion after defeating top seed Kristina Mladenovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Lertcheewakarn, the fourth seed and the runner-up to Britain's Laura Robson at last year's Wimbledon girls' final, is said to have been shaped in the mould of Monica Seles and Marion Bartoli.

According to the Wimbledon official website, Lertcheewakarn uses double-handed ground strokes on both sides and has the ability to return serve effectively and draw her opponents into long energy-sapping rallies.

With this win, Lertcheewakarn becomes the first Thai to win the Junior Wimbledon title.

"I spoke to my parents and they are very happy. I can't wait to get back to Thailand."

"But first I want to do some shopping here, and go to Wimbledon Village."

"Mladenovic is a very good player and is qualifying for senior events like me so its great to have won today."

"Last year I was just excited to be in the final, I never expected to get there. This year I just wanted to win as it is my last year in the juniors."

In the boy's singles final, Russia's Andrey Kuznetsov defeated American Jordan Cox in the boy's final match 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Just in case you want to know, Andrey is not related to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

(Images by Reuters/Getty Images)

Wimbledon Day Three: You've gotta love post-match interviews!

To tell you the truth, I don't feel the excitement of Wimbledon already after Roger Federer vs Rendy Lu Yen-hsun match.

But life goes on and I still have to do my 'job'.

There are a few things that keep me entertained though - reading post-match interviews.

Check out some of these Q&A... the media can be very annoying... and at times funny too.

Fernando Verdasco survived four gruelling sets to beat Kristof Vliegen 7-6(7-3), 6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-4), 6-4 to make the third round.

Q. Is the rumor true that after Laura Robson's loss in the first round that you telephoned her to console her about this loss?

VERDASCO: Who?

Q. Laura Robson.

VERDASCO: No. Who said that?

Q. Rumor. (Changing topic) Which part do you admire the most about Federer?

Roger Federer has a comfortable 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Q. We notice today after many years Mirka wasn't in your box. Should we wait for some special announcement to be made sooner than expected, or not?

FEDERER: No, no, not really. She's just not feeling, you know, a hundred percent. She only felt 95%, so we decided it's better if she takes it easy instead of sitting in the sun maybe, feeling worse the next day.

It's important for her to rest. She's already feeling better, which is good.

Q. Is it still 10 August, more or less, the date?

FEDERER: I never said it. I don't know who told you, but... you can speculate as much as you want.

Q. Mirka told me.

FEDERER: Mirka told you? I'm sure she did (smiling).

Q. Inside information.

FEDERER: She invited you, too, didn't she?

Gisela Dulko defeated Maria Sharapova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Q. What is your football team in Argentina?

DULKO: Football? Boca and Tigre.

Q. Do you have a boyfriend?

DULKO: We talking about tennis here. Not personal, no. I'm not gonna talk about that.

Note: Obviously the person who asked this question didn't know that Dulko is dating Fernando Gonzalez.

Serena Williams spentless than an hour to get past Jarmila Groth to win 6-2, 6-1.

Q. Can you comment on Larry Scott. He's leaving at the end of the week. His tenure.

WILLIAMS: Ten years. Was it ten years already?

Q. His tenure.

WILLIAMS: Oh, tenure.

Serena is hilarious!

Sania Mirza’s singles campaign at Wimbledon ended with a 6-4, 6-4 to Sorana Cirstea.

Q: (Indiscernible - The journalist must be asking whether her fiance Sohrab Mirza is there in Wimbledon.)

MIRZA: No, he's not here.

Q. Do you call him before the match? Does he call you?

MIRZA: That's a bit personal.

There was this particular journalist who kept asking the same silly question about pollution in Beijing to the top players like Serena and Federer. She got this answer from Djokovic...

Novak Djokovic moved into round three with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Simon Greul.

Q. Let me ask you about last year's Olympic Games. You were playing there, but there had been discussions about air quality before the games. Were you actually worried going there playing? How did you feel when you were actually playing there?

DJOKOVIC: Well, I think it's passed a lot of time since then. I don't know why we should talk about it now. But anyway...

(Images via Getty Images, Wimbledon official website)