Daniela Hantuchova in ESPN Body Issue 2012

Daniela Hantuchova is this year's tennis star to make the annual Body Issue on the ESPN magazine.

The Slovak previously posed in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2009.

Other tennis stars who have been featured in the Body Issue are Wimbledon champion Serena Williams (2009) and Vera Zvonareva (2011). For online tennis betting odds for women's tennis, do visit some of the popular sports betting sites.

Click here for the full list of athletes who pose in the buff for ESPN magazine’s signature Bodies We Want photo portfolio.

(Images via tennisforum.com)

Ana Ivanovic, Vera Zvonareva light up Pattaya Open

Defending champion Vera Zvonareva and former world no. 1 Ana Ivanovic head a star-studded line-up at the US$220,000 PTT Pattaya Open, which will be held at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Pattaya from February 6-13, 2011.

Ivanovic has been in Pattaya for the past three days.

The PTT Pattaya Open, which was recently voted “Tournament of the Year” by the players on the WTA Tour, will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2011.

Updated: Here are some latest practice photos of Ivanovic from Pattaya. She looks absolutely gorgeous and in great shape!

(Images via tennisforum.com; PTT Pattaya Open Facebook Page)

I missed Rally For Relief...

On the eve of the Australian Open, Pat Rafter, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Victoria Azarenka, Vera Zvonareva, Rafael Nadal, Kim Clijsters, Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic, Justine Henin, Caroline Wozniacki, Roger Federer, Sam Stosur and Jim Courier spent 90 minutes of their time to come together in an exhibition to raise money for the flood victims in Queensland.

The ATP and WTA stars entertained 15,000 fans at Rod Laver Arena and raised $1.8m within hours on Sunday.

Here's the highlight of the sold-out charity event if you've missed it too.

(Image by by Julian Finney/Getty Images AsiaPac via zimbio.com)

Serena Williams, Vera Zvonareva reach Wimbledon finals

Put Vera and Serena together and you'll create a ticking time bomb (or two).

'A more composed' (according to Lindsay Davenport) Vera Zvonareva has advanced to her first Grand Slam final after defeating unseeded Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals of Wimbledon today.

Pironkova is down and out but made a name for herself in this tournament.

Pironkova’s defeat ended her bid to become the first unseeded woman to reach the final at the SW19.

In another semifinal match, Serena Williams defeated unseeded Petra Kvitova in straight sets to reach her 3rd straight Wimbledon final and 6th overall.

Petra Kvitova pissed off with her performance.

Serena overcame the world no. 62 Czech player to win 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Williams is now one win away from her 4th Wimbledon title and 13th Grand Slam championship!

Serena is expected to work her ass off in order to stop Vera in the final.

I suspect this is going to be a very intense women's final.

(Images via Sina Sports)

Ads: What do you think about cheap hermes watches & blancpain watches, are you interested in cheap chronoswiss watches after buying thomas sabo watches sale, you can enjoy men's shoes at our sites.

Tsvetana Pironkova is Lu Yen-hsun of women's tennis

Women's tennis kinda sucky these days so I don't really watch it lately. I really miss those days where Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic rule the WTA.

Nevertheless, it's worth to mention Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova's achievement last night, who made it into the semifinals at Wimbledon after beating Venus Williams 6-2, 6-3.

Just like Rendy Lu Yen-hsun, she is currently ranked world no.82 and managed to pull off the biggest upset at Wimbledon thus far.

Pironkova, whose home country does not have a single grass court, will play for a spot in the Wimbledon final against the queen of meltdown Vera Zvonareva who knocked out Kim Clijsters 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Video: Russians celebrate X'mas on Jan 7!

In this video, Samantha Stosur, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznesova and Jelena Jankovic shared what they'll be planning for the holiday seasons.

Sorry for my ignorance but I just got to know that the Russians don't celebrate X'mas on December 25!

Updates: Orthodox Christians including the Russians and Serbians celebrate X'mas on January 7.

Safin, Sharapova among tennis stars to kick off 2010 at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic

Looks like it has becoming a trend in Asia (e.g. Doha, Malaysia, etc) where tennis events are heavily bankrolled by their respective governments.

Now the same thing is happening to the yearly tennis exhibition JB Classic after its title sponsor pulled out recently.

A new event with different format has taken over - the Hong Kong Tennis Classic 2010.

Next January, teams from four regions of the world (Russia, Asia, America and Europe) will consist of two ladies and a man.

Team Russia: Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva
Team Asia: Paradorn Srichaphan, Zheng Jie, Ayumi Morita
Team America: Michael Chang, Venus Williams, Gisela Dulko
Team Europe: Stefan Edberg, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka

The new team format will feature women’s & men’s singles and mixed doubles matches over four days of action packed tennis at Victoria Park.

Tickets for the Hong Kong Tennis Classic will be on sale from the beginning of December. Details will be announced in due course.

For more information, please contact the following:
KCE Sport and Entertainment
Mr. Terry Catton, Co-Tournament Director
Ms. Amy Tsang, PR & Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2723 8721/ (852)9809 8710 Fax: (852) 2311 0040
Email: amy@kcesport.com.hk

Vera 'Headcase' Zvonareva's emotional meltdown

I was lucky to be able to catch the repeat match between Flavia Pennetta and Vera Zvonareva last night.

I have to tell you it was the ultimate meltdown ever happened on any WTA or grand slam tennis tournament!

I couldn't find any youtube video yet... probably someone will upload it soon. But in the meanwhile you can find it at the US Open website. Just find under Audio & Video and look for Pennetta vs Zvonareva match on September 6, 2009.

Chris Chase wrote sort of a chronology of what had actually happened in Yahoo! Tennis.

• Zvonareva cried on the court during the second set tiebreak.
• Hysterically cried in the locker room in between the second and third sets.
• Ripped off a portion of the medical tape that was wrapped around her thighs.
• Complained to the chair umpire that the remaining tape left around her thighs prevented her from playing.
• Screamed an obscenity at the chair umpire when she wouldn't give her a medical timeout to fix said medical tape.
• Loudly yelled a compound word/profanity after hitting an unforced error.
• Continued to rip the tape off her leg.
• Smashed her racquet into a post.
• Spent the final changeover sitting in her chair with a white towel draped over her head.
• Lost the third set 6-0.

What was not mentioned by Chris in detail was, when Zvonareva skidded and fell, did the splits, she just sat there on the ground, pounding on her leg with her palm.

You can see that in the US Open website.

The scariest part was (also not mentioned by Chris) Zvonareva knocked her head several times while being attended by a trainer. Luckily she did not pull a Mikhail Youzhny that night.

While leaving the court, she something like "I hate the crowd"....

This year's US Open has to be the wackiest of all times, and Zvonareva's behaviour was simply the climax of a truly bizarre week.

10th Annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis

I've been out of town for the past couple of days so I haven't been able to update some of the pre-US Open events that took place over the weekend.

In a quick update, let's start off with the 10th annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis, which is famous for its food, drink and celebrities.

Held at the W Hotel, and the Food Bank for New York, it has some of the biggest names in tennis including Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Billie Jean King, Sam Groth, Vera Zvonareva, Fernando Gonzalez, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer and Asia's very own Rendy Lu Yen-hsun.

Roddick mixing drinks with Natural Food Chef Bethany Frankel.

Left to right - Chef Ariane Duarte, Jo-Willy, newscaster Hannah Storm and chef Carla Hall.

HCFoo's favourite, Rendy Lu serves up a tennis-themed cake :D

David Ferrer

Vera Zvonareva

Fernando Gonzalez

(Images by Donald Bowers/Getty Images North America)

Istanbul Cup: Partying in Turkey can be fun, even without booze

You've read about Vera Zvonareva attended the Istanbul Cup’s official opening ceremony that took place at the Archeology Museum.

Among the tennis players appear in this tournament are Anabel Medina Garrigues, Vera Dushevina, Aravane Rezai, Patty Schnyder, Timea Bacsinszky, as well as Turkish girls Ipek Senoglu, Cagla Buyukakcay.

The girls attended the ceremony which lasted three hours and ended with a concert by Eurovision singer Hadise.

And of course the girls know what they are supposed to do there - dance and have fun!


(Images via Istanbul Cup official website)

Could Vera Zvonareva be the "Mall Queen of Tennis"?

Roger Federer and Jelena Jankovic are some of the tennis players who have done it.

Vera Zvonareva joined them by making an appearance at the largest local shopping mall in Istanbul, Turkey as a part of a promotion event for the Istanbul Cup this week.

Now this is really weird because Zvonareva kind of remind me of Tiffany, the red-haired all-American teenage singer who promoted her songs by touring shopping malls across America back in the late 80s!

At the event, Zvonareva played tennis on a mini tennis court with Turkish player Ipek Senoglu and then signed autographs and interacted with the local tennis fans.

She also took part in the tournament's opening ceremonies at the Archeological Museum on the same day.

Thanks to IMG for the photos and updates.

(Images by Turgay Arslanturkoglu)

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)

What did The Sunday Times have done to the Russian girls?!

Dinara 'Tennis Goddess' Safina at work.

Safina can't win the Wimbledon Grand Slam with those stilettos...

I think Vera Zvonavera's ankle is not fully healed.

Adidas Stella McCartney has killed Maria Kirilenko. So did the photographer.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze are also featured in this special edition of Spectrum, The Sunday Times newspaper.

I have the feelings that those pictures won't be any better than these.

I'll post them here if I can find them.

(Images via Forty Deuce, tennisforum.com)

2009 Ralph Lauren Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party

Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Anne Keothavong, Ana Ivanovic and Elena Dementieva pose during a studio session at The Ralph Lauren Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party was hosted by Richard Branson at The Roof Gardens yesterday in London, England.

There are a lot of celebrities who attended this party like Sugarbabes, Blake, Kelly Rowlands, etc. But as usual, I'll only post the players' photos.

Here you go the pictures during the arrivals.

Ana Ivanovic and the host of the party that evening, Richard Branson.

I love Serena Williams' slick back hairstyle....

Vera Zvonareva looks very elegant...

Woa... that's a bad make-up again by Svetlana Kuznetsova...

One of the top tennis couples - Lucie Safarova and Tomas Berdych

Venus Williams and WTA CEO Larry Scott

(Images by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Europe)