Agnieszka Radwanska slams Jelena Jankovic in the face

And that's in a form of a yellow tennis ball (hehehe!).

Agnieszka Radwanska definitely has a sense of humour.

Or perhaps she's telling us something here.

The retirement of Justine Henin has resulted in a stiff competition for the WTA no.1 position among many players including Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams and Jankovic.

And Jankovic is considered the last man standing after winning 3 titles in a row and hold on tight to the no. 1 place.

Sometimes it can be lonely at the top.

Especially after a series of battles to the top, you could have made quite a number of 'enemies' along the way. If you know what I mean ;)

Now, I wonder how Jelena will react to this. I bet she's not going to be impressed by the drawing for sure.

By the way the drawing will be auctioned for the benefit of a local children's charity at Linz, Austria. It could snatch the highest bid!

(Via Women's Tennis Blog)

Rafael Nadal makes Askmen.com's Most Influential List

The influence of Rafael Nadal seems like reaches far beyond the tennis court.

Nadal made it into the list of Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2008, released on Monday by Askmen.com.

Back in August, AskMen.com, the world's leading men's lifestyle web site, asked its readers to help identify the most influential men of 2008: the guys who have had the biggest influence on the way other men behave, buy and think.

More than 200,000 votes were cast and when the results are in, it is not a surprise that a number of prominent sports personalities have made the final cut – including Nadal.

Nadal who is at no. 30 on the list had an overall score of 79.8 (82.5 from Askmen.com and 77.0 from readers).

Here are the reasons why Nadal is no. 30, according to Askmen.com:

All sports need subplots, and Rafael Nadal supplied men around the globe with a scintillating story this year when he faced off against No. 1 seed Roger Federer in the Wimbledon finals for the third consecutive time.

The pair proceeded to play the longest final in the tournament’s history, with Rafael Nadal coming out on top 4 hours and 48 minutes later with a hard-fought victory.

Sports scribes and fans alike were left breathless by the phenomenal spectacle and three-time champ John McEnroe even went so far as to label it "the greatest match I have ever seen."

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama tops the list of most influential men, followed by Apple Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs at No. 2 and American swimming superstar Michael Phelps at No. 3.

(Via ATP, Askmen.com)

A tea party with Dmitry Tursunov at St. Petersburg

Dmitry Tursunov and St. Petersburg Open organizers visited Children`s Crisis Center - a charitable public organization that supports children at risk and children from crisis families.

The meeting with the children from the centre went on in a very joyful and relaxed atmosphere.

Dmitry told the children about his childhood, his school years, and about the long time he spent in the USA away from his family.

The children had opportunity to ask him questions that concern them most at the moment - how to achieve success in life, how to choose the right profession.

They were interested in many other things as well, for instance, the attitude of the famous tennis player to bad habits.

Tursunov answered that the only thing he tried was smoking.

"Though I did not like smoking and I quit not even having started", Dmitry added.

It turned out that the kid`s main hobby is table tennis, and Dmitry played with the children with great pleasure.

Though, no one could beat Dmitry in the mini-table tennis tournament that they held after tea - his tennis skills showed up.

After the tournament Dmitry gave the children prizes with St. Petersburg Open logo, and invited them to the tournament and the master class for young players held by Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn.

Besides, the children will have an opportunity to take part in different competitions and games organized in the arena of the St. Petersburg Sports and Concert Hall within the framework of the Family Day.

Updates:
The bad news is veteran Dominik Hrbaty upset Dmitry Tursunov 6-1, 6-1 in the first round at St. Petersburg Open.

(Via St Petersburg official website)

Andy Murray celebrates Madrid success with an ice bath

After a successful run at the Madrid Masters, Andy Murray made a short trip back to UK before heading off to another tournament at St Petersburg.

There was no glamourous celebration awaited him unless you think an ice bath is one.

Murray warned that the ice bath is not for the faint of heart.

He said with Neoprene boots or not, nothing quite prepares you for the moment when you have to put your body - up to your waist - into the water. Brrrrrrr..........

Here are some tips from Murray:

There's a few clearly identifiable phases in the ice bath. Somewhere after getting in (phase 1) and screaming things like "will someone please say something funny to take my mind off this (phase 2), comes phase 3, which can be best described as trying to look like it's not really a big deal.

So what do you get from an ice bath? Murray explained:

The science of it all is that the cold forces the blood vessels to constrict, draining away the blood. Likewise, when they get out, their legs fill up with 'fresh' blood, helping to invigorate the muscles.

The next thing you know, Murray's ready for his next tournament and is now at St Petersburg.

(Via andymurray.com)