Stalker charged with threatening Maria Sharapova

A former US university football player has been charged with threatening tennis beauty Maria Sharapova, as well as his former coach.

Leonard Taylor, a defensive back for the University of Wisconsin from 1995-98, was arrested last Friday and faces charges of stalking and telephone harassment over calls he made to Barry Alvarez, his former head coach and now the University of Wisconsin athletic director.

In the calls, Taylor threatened to kill Sharapova and her family as well as Alvarez himself.

Taylor's father, Leonard Taylor Sr., told police his son has been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and stopped taking his medication about three months ago.

According to the complaint, police were informed in September that the 32-year-old Taylor had been calling Alvarez at work and leaving "disturbing messages".

Police contacted Taylor, who vowed to stop calling.

However, he began calling again in November, voicing "excessive profanity, threats against Alvarez and references to how professional tennis player Maria Sharapova (had) done (him) injustices in various ways," the complaint said.

According to the documents, Taylor left 29 messages on Alvarez's voice mail on November 24 and 25, in some of which Taylor said he wanted to marry Sharapova but also kill her and her family.

And by the way, Sharapova will be back in court joining world no. 1 Jelena Jankovic, Venus Williams and Zheng Jie in the revamped JB Group Classic in Hong Kong in January.

The annual exhibition tournament will see a team concept adopted for the first time with teams from Europe, Russia, the Americas and Asia Pacific competing at Victoria Park from January 7-10.

(Via AFP, Image via Yahoo! Sport)

Andy Murray drives without a license; grannies's favourite

Recently, Andy Murray clocked up close to 300 laps of the Go-Kart track in Surbiton before heading off to his winter training camp in Miami.

While everyone was fully insured (and are licensed drivers), Andy who doesn't have a driving license still managed to scoop most of the trophies along with Ace Group's Pat Cunningham.


The 21 year-old Scot also talked about being popular among the grannies.

"I get a lot of fan mail and a lot of it is from older people, from 65- or 70-year-olds."

"It's a mixture, but it's surprising that I get so many from grannies and grandpas. They say, 'It's been great to watch you'. It's just very supportive about everything I've done."

(Via Andy Murray's official website, independent.co.uk)

What's up with Rafael Nadal?

Here are some updates of the world no. 1 player Rafael Nadal.

On November 26, Nadal joined the rest of his Spanish team mates in meeting the Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the Moncloa Palace, in Madrid after the country's victory at the Davis Cup final.

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On the following day, Iker Casillas and Nadal met to discuss the charity event called 'Friends of Iker vs Friends of Rafa'.

This is the second year of their charity event with the main objective to free the world of malaria. The event will involve both tennis and football, and as an extra treat, a bit of karting action.

All the players have not yet been confirmed but F1 driver Fernando Alonso will definitely be taking part and Casillas and Nadal could not resist taking pops at the other today.

"Rafa has a good pair of feet but he does not have the vision," quipped the Real Madrid goalkeeper before Nadal responded with: "Iker could do with some tennis lessons, I would even give them for free if he wanted.

The event will take place three days after the clash in the Camp Nou on the December 16.

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On Friday, Nadal was a celebrity representative of a vendor at the Moscow Millionaire Fair, an annual event that attracts some of the wealthiest people on the planet.

"Moscow's not like Ibiza, it's a lot colder," Nadal, who traveled to the Russian capital to promote the luxury houses of Ibiza-based Vitaeibiza Homes.

A throng of journalists met Nadal upon his arrival at the Crocus Expo fair complex, where more than 200 Russian and foreign companies have been exhibiting their luxury goods - everything from cars to yachts to helicopters - amid tight security measures.

Nadal was pictured here with Marat Safin in Moscow.

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A biography called Rafael Nadal: The Biography written by Tom Oldfield and published by John Blake Publishing Ltd will be released in early April 2009.

You may pre-order the book now at Amazon.

(Images via Yahoo! Sport, kickette.com, menstennisforums.com, amazon.co.uk)

Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun featured on Taiwanese version of 'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader'

Yesterday Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun was featured on a Taiwanese version of the popular game show 'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader'.

The show was know as 百萬小學堂 hosted by the popular Zhang Hsiao-Yen.


According to gare315 on menstennisforums, Rendy appeared to be slightly nervous on his debut TV show appearance.

Rendy was said to be able to reach the 7th stage (out of 9 stages) and earn about 10,000 NT dollars.

(Via menstennisforums.com, Image via Rendy's official website)