This year, Wimbledon will give male and female players equal amount of money, and more money than ever before! "No tennis tournament has ever offered higher prize money than Wimbledon in 2007," claimed Tim Phillips, Chairman of the All England Club and The Championships. The 25 June-8 July tournament will have an overall fund of £11,282,71 — 8,7% higher than last year.

Winner of Wimbledon 2007 will take home much more money than last year's winner. Amelie Mauresmo took the trophy in 2006 and earned £625,000 — £30,000 less than her male counterpart Roger Federer. This year, both Men's and Ladies' Champion will receive £700,000.

Wimbledon made this change, along with some other changes, to reward the players appropriately for the talent, entertainment and drama they bring to this prestigious grass court tournament.

(via Wimbledon official website)

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Now we know all the members of the Fed Cup semis which will take place in July; France will face Italy, the U.S. will play Russia. Italy and the United States will have advantage of home court.

The United States reached the final four by defeating Belgium with a stunning 5-0 win. Of course, their victory wouldn't have been so convincing if best Belgian players, the top-ranked Justin Henin and fourth-ranked Kim Clijsters, decided to take part in this year's Fed Cup.

However, the U.S. team had one drawback; best-ranked U.S. player, Serena Williams, had to be substituted in one match because of her injury. Vania King, an 18-year-old, played Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens instead of Serena. King defeated Flipkens and booked her country's place in the semis. Now, the U.S. leads 5-1 over Belgium in their Fed Cup meetings.

As for Russia, they lived up to the expectations and reached the semis with a clear 5-0 score against Spain. Russia had as much as three top 10 players — fifth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova, ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova and eleventh-ranked Anna Chakvetadze. Even the lowest-ranked player in Russian team, world No.70 Elena Vesnina, was ranked higher than half of the Spanish team. Best-ranked Russian player, Maria Sharapova, planned to make her Fed Cup debut this year, but eventually withdrew because of problems with right shoulder and left hamstring; however, Russia obviously wasn't missing another great player, their team was strong enough even without Maria.

(source: Fed Cup official website)

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Serena Williams of USA had to pull out of her Fed Cup match against Belgian Kirsten Flipkens because of minor inflammation in her right knee.

Serena's injury appeared after her Saturday's match against Caroline Maes, and her captain decided to replace her as a precaution.

Williams' team said that this injury is not related to her groin injury which, two weeks ago, forced her to leave the tournament in Charleston.

However, Serena's young replacement, Vania King added another point to the U.S. by defeating the Belgian player in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. This victory puts the U.S. into the Fed Cup semifinals where they will face Russia.

(source: Tennis Magazine, Fed Cup's official website)

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Italy, the defending champion, will meet France in the 2007 Fed Cup semifinals scheduled for July.

Italy booked their place in the final four by defeating China 5-0. World No. 23 Tathiana Garbin defeated China's Shuai Zhang 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Mara Santangelo overwhelmed Tian-Tian Sun 6-4, 6-2. In doubles, Mara Santangelo together with Roberta Vinci beat Tian-Tian Sun and Sheng-Nan Sun 6-2, 6-4. (More results Italy vs. China here)

France reached the semis by defeating Japan 5-0. Tatiana Golovin lived up to the expectations and ensured victory for her country by first beating Akiko Morigami 6-2, 6-4, and then Ai Sugiyama 7-6(3), 6-0. (More results France vs. Japan here)

Italy will host France in the semis, which gives a clear advantage to the team of defending champions. However, Italy doesn't have so promising head-to-heads against France; they lost six times and won only once. Still, their one win was last year when they defeated France 4-1 in the first round in Nancy. Later on, they beat Belgium and became the Fed Cup champions for the first time.

The third member of the Fed Cup final four is Russia, who will meet either USA or Belgium.

(source: Fed Cup's official website)

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The most likeable female tennis player, Kim Clijsters, decided Wimbledon to be the last Grand Slam of her career. This means that she won't play at the U.S. Open, which she won in 2005.

However, the former No.1 decided to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon; "That way, I would be able to stay a bit longer at my last Grand Slam tournament," she announced on her website.

Clijsters has already withdrawn from the French Open, because she will be preparing for her wedding at that time. The 23-year-old Belgian will get married to Brian Lynch, American basketball player, on July 14, in her hometown of Bree.

Clijsters has had many problems with injuries during her career, and at the moment she is still recovering from a sore back which forced her to leave the Sony Ericsson Open early. Clijsters' next tournament is J&S Cup in Warsaw which starts on April 30, where she is the defending champion. "I'm not fully there yet, but I want to get used to clay again," world No.4 said.

Kim Clijsters will retire after the tournament in Stuttgart which starts on October 1. She wants to become a housewife who will support her husband and his career.

(sources: ESPN, BBC Sport)

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