Victoria Azarenka puts French Open loss behind her with a new haircut

Victoria Azarenka quickly puts her shocking French Open fourth round loss behind her with a new haircut.

I don't think she will pull a Sharapova and announce that it's a wig later.

Updated: It was a fake one!

(Image via Victoria Azarenka's Facebook fan page)

Dominika Cibulkova would choose Scarlett Johansson or Jessica Alba to play her on big screen

When asked which actress would she pick to play her on the big screen, Dominika Cibulkova has no doubt that it's Scarlett Johansson or Jessica Alba. Good pick, isn't it?

In the interview published on the French Open official website, Cibulkova also said that she will never have enough of handbags.

Currently, Cibulkova is having an amazing run at the French Open pulling off a major upset against the world no. 1 Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.

(Image via French Open official website)

Caroline Wozniacki and Rory McIlroy under the Eiffel Tower

Lovebirds Caroline Wozniacki and professional golfer Rory McIlroy enjoyed an evening together taking a picture under the Eiffel Tower in Paris yesterday.

Meanwhile, on the professional side, Wozniacki has hired former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson to help coach her, DR Sports reports. Johansson has worked closely with her for the past few weeks and is contracted through the US Open.

Let's see who else also taking a picture with the Eiffel Tower:

(Images via Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka's Twitter pages)

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)

Wozniacki, Azarenka the best things that ever happened to Twitterverse so far

If you're a tennis fan and Twitter user but do not know that Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka have joined the Twitter bandwagon, it's time to follow them @CaroWozniacki and @Vika7.

So far, the girls have twitpic-ed some really hawt photos as well as some pretty interesting updates too e.g. Wozniacki got an invitation to the American Embassy to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger and Azarenka revealing her 'betting habit' :D

Wozzie in Liverpool jersey with an autograph specially signed for her by her favourite player, Fernando Torres.

Vika in a sexy pose you simply can't resist!

Hopefully these girls will convince more top players to start tweeting soon namely Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic.

(Images via @CaroWozniacki, @Vika7)

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

The Real Glam Slam in Doha

All top eight women's players attended the draw ceremony for the WTA Championships at the Museum of Islamic Art in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday.

Round robin groups for the Sony Ericsson year-end championships are:

WHITE GROUP
Dinara Safina
Caroline Wozniacki
Victoria Azarenka
Jelena Jankovic

MAROON GROUP
Serena Williams
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Elena Dementieva
Venus Williams

The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals, where each first-placed player will face the second-placed player from the other group.

The 1.55-million-dollar championship willl be held between October 27 and November 1.

World no.2 Serena Williams


World no. 7 Venus Williams


World no. 5 Elena Dementieva

Svetlana Kuznetsova (no. 3), Dinara Safina (no.1), Caroline Wozniacki (no.4)

Victoria Azarenka (no. 6), Jelena Jankovic (no.8)

(Images by Getty Images)

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)

Serena & Venus Williams: Sisters love

Venus Williams got out from the shower in time to catch baby sister Serena on court with Victoria Azarenka.

Earlier Venus had an easy win over Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinal round.

Now, since we're already in July, the US Open series and US Open are coming up. So, here's a video of Serena talking about the love she has for Venus in anticipation of the events.

(Images by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)

VIDEO: FHM 'behind the scene' photoshoot with Cibulkova, Azarenka, Bondarenko, Chakvetadze

We have seen them here before, now let's go behind the scene of the photoshoot.

Victoria Azarenka (in the B&W picture), Alona Bondarenko, Anna Chakvetadze and Dominika Cibulkova will all feature in the August issue of FHM – on shelves July 2, 2009. So don't miss it!

Victoria Azarenka and Anna Chakvetadze

Alona Bondarenko and Dominika Cibulkova

(Image via gototennisblog, fortydeuce)

Leander Paes, Lukas Dlouhy win French Open men's doubles

Leander Paes celebrated his ninth Grand Slam doubles! Seems like this guy never slow down!

Paes teamed with Lukas Dlouhy to capture the French Open title with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman.

It was 35-year-old Paes's fifth men's doubles Grand Slam. He has also won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, including the 2003 Wimbledon and Australian Open trophies with Martina Navratilova.

Navratilova was spotted at the stand sitting next to Bill Gates.

"Martina has been a soulmate for many years. We've been through a lot in life, especially me in the last eight years. She's been along with me, supporting me, guiding me at times," said Paes.

"When I was diagnosed with cancer and I couldn't play, she basically stayed away from the game and didn't play mixed doubles until I came back."

"Whenever I look at a person like Navratilova, she gives me a lot of inspiration. It was strange that just at the end of the second set when we were getting a bit nervous and a bit edgy, she came out there and was just making eye contact."

"Lukas served three doubles faults early in the third set. I told him at one point, Martina is out there. Come on. Have a look at her. She's inspiring us."

Paes and Dlouhy first teamed up at Roland Garros last year, losing in the last 16 to eventual champions Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna.

They then finished runners-up to Mike and Bob Bryan in the 2008 US Open final.

"We started playing together at Roland Garros last year. We lost then to the champions so we made it a point that we would come back and try and win it this year," added Paes.

Judging from the way they celebrated their win by hugging and hoisting each other into the air, they'll probably stick around for more Grand Slam moments like this.

In the women's doubles, Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual won their second consecutive French Open women's doubles title by beating Victoria Azarenka and Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-1 on Friday.


(Via AP; Images by Patrick Kovarik/Matthew Stockman/AFP/Getty Images)

Tennis chicks in bikinis: Cibulkova, Azarenka, Bondarenko, Chakvetadze in FHM mag

I totally missed this one out until I read it at GTT.

Perhaps in conjunction with the French Open, Dominika Cibulkova, Victoria Azarenka, Alona Bondarenko, and Anna Chakvetadze agreed to pose in June's French edition of FHM, one of men's best lifestyle magazine.

I'm telling you, I totally dig Cibulkova here!


(Via gototennisblog)

2009 French Open Week 1: It's Black Sunday!

It was a Black Sunday at Roland Garros!

First, defending women's champion Ana Ivanovic went down 6-2, 6-3 to Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.

Not long after that, it was four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal turn, who was stunned 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(2) by Robin Soderling.

Labelled as one of the major upsets in French Open history, this is Nadal's first loss ever at the French Open, and his first ever loss in a best-of-five match on clay.

I guess the only person who saw this coming is Elena Dementieva, who predicted the loss earlier.

Now the French Open will have a new men's champion this year.

The pressure is on Roger Federer... or perhaps he should breathe sigh of relief now that his two main competitors on this surface are gone.

Yesterday, Novak Djokovic, a semifinalist in the last two years, bowed out in the third round after losing to no. 29 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Now I need to root for someone in order to keep my interest in this year's Grand Slam.

I hope Federer or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will win.

At least Federer will get his 14th Grand Slam or Tsonga will be the first Frenchman to win at Roland Garros since Yannick Noah since 1983.

For the women's singles, I think Dinara Safina has shown enough so far that she dominates the other ladies.

Unless Maria Sharapova managed to pull off miraculous wins to the final, I'm not so keen on the women's tennis as much as I like men's tennis.

Now I need to take some time off to mourn Nadal's defeat. See you guys tomorrow.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Not that I don't prefer women's tennis of late...

Too bogged down with work recently, I didn't have much time left to spend on women's tennis for the past weeks, missing the Fed Cup and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

At Stuttgart, looks like the new world no.1 Dinara Safina will play against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final match tomorrow, after defeated Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Earlier, Kuznetsova easily overcame compatriot Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic are already in Rome for a promotional event at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Someone in tennis forum suggested that Vika was flipping off Ana.

Okay, they are friends again :P

(Images via Quotidiano.net)

Will it be a bullish year for Zheng Jie?

Wishing everyone a fantastic Lunar New Year!

Let's start off the Ox year with some updates from Zheng Jie.

She took a water taxi ride along the Yarra River yesterday on New Year Eve.

Today she'll have a big match in the quarterfinal against Svetlana Kuznetsova. I'm a fan of Kuzy so whoever wins and through to the semifinals, I'll be just as happy.


Updates:
Oh no! Zheng Jie retired from the match after a wrist injury in the first set.

Kuzy will now face second seed Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, who also enjoyed a brisk workout after her opponent, Victoria Azarenka, retired due to dizziness and an "undisclosed illness".


(Images by Robert Prezioso/Getty Images via zimbio, xinhuanet)