Crown Melbourne's IMG Tennis Players' Party

Held on the eve of the Australian Open, the IMG Tennis Players' Party was attended by world class tennis professionals and entertainment industry heavyweights.

The event saw the appearances of Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Daniela Hantuchova among other tennis players. Also gracing the event were Elizabeth Hurley and Ian Thorpe.

Elizabeth Hurley and Shane Warne

Maria Sharapova

Ian Thorpe

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Heather Watson

Janko Tipsarevic

Sabine Lisicki

Daniela Hantuchova

(Images via Zimbio)

Behind the scenes: Nike players receive their gears

Nike is a little behind when it comes to posting photos of their players getting their gears compared to Wilson and Adidas.

Nevertheless, it's nice to see the happy faces on their sponsored players.

These are just a few selected ones. You can get to see more on their Facebook page. Surprisingly Rafael Nadal is not in the album.

Roger Federer

Li Na

Juan Martin Del Potro

Sabine Lisicki

Grigor Dimitrov

(Image via Nike Tennis's Facebook page)

Tennis stars let their hair down for Life magazine

Maria Elena Camerin, Julie Coin and Severine Bremond Beltrame

Professional tennis players work hard when on court.

So LIFE magazine wanted to see what happens when these players leave their competitive spirit behind.

Check these players letting their hair down for some relaxing (as well as some cheeky) poses.

Here are the players in sequence: Severine Bremond Beltrame, Jill Craybas, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Vera Zvonareva, Sabine Lisicki, Gisela Dulko, Jelena Jankovic and Alla Kudryavtseva.

For more pictures, go to Life.com.

A note of thanks to Natasha for this info.

(Images by Lee Jenkins Grooming: Kenny Campbell For Premier via Life.com)

Wimbledon Day 9: Girls, Girls, Girls... But surprisingly no drama...

Boring day, I should say?

And the results were predictable too...

Besides Dinara Safina, who was made to sweat by Sabine Lisicki, other favourites easily sailed through to the semifinals.

Safina who thought she was a Santa Claus on court yesterday, served 15 double-faults!

However, the top-ranked Russian reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time after a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 victory of unseeded Lisicki.

Venus Williams, the favourite to win the Wimbledon again seems too hot for Agnieszka Radwanska to handle.

Venus won 6-1, 6-2.

Venus's baby sister Serena who was out on a revenge against Victoria Azarenka with a 6-2, 6-3 win.

Serena admitted that the heavy defeat inflicted on her by Azarenka earlier this year in the Miami final did much to fuel her victory.

Finally Elena Dementieva also performed a "Williams" demolition job on Francesca Schiavone, winning 6-2, 6-2.

Tonight the gentlemen will play for places in the semifinals.

(Images by Getty Images)

Wozniacki-Lisicki bump: Move bitch, get out the way!

Sabine Lisicki was not trying to emulate the Bryan Bros by giving Caroline Wozniacki a chest bump.

Apparently, the girls who dressed like twins, were walking towards their seats during the changover.

The thing was, Lisicki didn't notice Wozniacki, or vice versa. And so they bumped into each other!

Check out Wozniacki's reaction... she looked pretty pissed and had a quick word with the umpire thinking that it was intentional and rude.

(Images by Getty Images)

Wimbledon Day 8: Fans cheer, vintage Hewitt, Haas, Federer, Ferrero roar

Thousands remained transfixed to the giant screen on Henman Hill to join the 15,000 fans inside the stunning arena cheering for Andy Murray to a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3,5-7, 6-3 victory against Stanislas Wawrinka.

Dubbed as Prince of Darkness, Murray survived the five-set sweat-fest against the Swiss no.2 under Centre Court’s new roof.

Earlier of the day, Federer outserved Robin Soderling 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals—three weeks after downing the Swede in three sets in Paris for his first French Open title.

Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Haas also produced vintage displays at Round 4 at the Wimbledon.

Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt fought back from two sets down on Monday to defeat Radek Stepanek 4-6 2-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 and take his place in the quarterfinals.

Juan Carlos Ferrero swept through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the second time in three years on Monday, downing French eighth seed Gilles Simon 7-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The Spaniard wildcard will face Murray for a place in the semifinals.

Tommy Haas reached the “elite eight club” at Wimbledon for the first time in his long career after beating Russian Igor Andreev 7-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Next he will face off with Novak Djokovic whom he beat in Halle.

Joining Djokovic at the quarterfinals are big servers Ivo Karlovic and Andy Roddick.

In the women's singles, a tearful Ana Ivanovic retired 1-6, 1-0 after a leg injury in her fourth-round match against Venus Williams.

Ivanovic took a 10-minute break during the first game of the second set to have her left thigh taped by a trainer.

She returned for two more points, but after hitting a service winner to take the game, she began crying as she walked to her chair and told the umpire she was retiring.

The new retractable roof over Centre Court was closed for the first time Monday after a light sprinkle halted play during the second set of a match between Dinara Safina and Amelie Mauresmo.

The world no.1 Safina defeated Frenchwoman Mauresmo 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Unseeded German Sabine Lisicki continues her great run at the Wimbledon after defeated Caroline Wozniacki with a 6-4 6-4 victory in the fourth round.

Others who also made it to the quarterfinals are Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, Francesca Schiavone, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska.

(Images by Getty Images)