Justine Henin has added the 2007 United States Sports Academy Female Athlete of the Year award to her already impressive list of achievements. It's the first time Justine has won this very popular American sports award.

The online ballot was presented by United States' daily newspaper - the USA TODAY and communications giant MSNBC. The poll received hundreds of thousands of votes from all around the world, and Henin took first place on the female side. Second place went to Venus Williams, while American swimmer Natalie Coughlin finished in third place. (via Justine Henin's site)

Share This

Indian tennis phenomenon Sania Mirza joined her colleagues Ana Ivanovic and Anna Chakvetadze by signing a partnership deal with adidas. This shows adidas’ commitment to being the dominant international tennis brand and the importance of India in the brand’s vision.

Sania Mirza is pleased to have joined a long list of adidas superstars: "I am extremely happy to be part of such a distinguished family of players and brand ambassadors… I am really looking forward to wearing the stylish 3-Stripes for many years to come."

Hartwin Feddersen, Director of Marketing at adidas India, said: "She is a perfect fit for the brand as she personifies the passion, energy and boldness that adidas stands for. We welcome her into the adidas family and look forward to a long association with her."

A world-class athlete who embodies the adidas philosophy of Impossible is Nothing, Sania Mirza is an inspiration to millions of Asian women and tennis lovers. (via fibre2fashion)

Share This

Australia's No.1 women's tennis player Samantha Stosur is forced to miss the Australian circuit because she didn’t have enough time to prepare. Stosur was unable to compete on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour for most of the last half of the season due to two serious illnesses and she only resumed training three weeks ago.

The world No.46 has withdrawn from the Australian Open, as well as from her home event, the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts on the Gold Coast.

"I always love competing at home in Australia and have had some of my best results here, which makes the decision not to play especially hard," Stosur said. "But I need concentrate on the long-term goal of getting my health and fitness 100 percent again, so I don't want to start competing again until I'm fully ready." (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo via Sam Stosur's official site)

Share This

Now I have photos of two pregnant tennis stars on the homepage — Kim Clijsters and Anastasia Myskina, and who knows, soon we might add Nicole Vaidisova to the list — but don’t worry Women’s Tennis Blog won’t become a pregnancy-oriented blog. Anyway, for those of you still keeping track of retired Kim Clijsters, this is how the former world number one looks now.

What do you say? Not bad at all! Our Fiona lookalike seems very happy.

Kim Clijsters married US basketball player Brian Lynch in a secret wedding ceremony in Brussels, on July 13. She got married only a few days after the announcement of her pregnancy. (photo via WTA World)

Share This

Maria Sharapova will play an exhibition match against fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze in Singapore on December 30, and goods Sharapova will be using during her stay in a five-star hotel will be auctioned off.

Eager fans have been making inquiries - and offers - to buy almost anything Sharapova comes in contact with. However, the officials have decided not to offer everything for auction, for the sake of good taste – therefore, they said, toilet seats or covers won’t be available. Disposable items such as bathrobes, towels slippers, pillow cases and bedsheets will be auctioned off. It’s still not determined yet whether the goods will be washed or not.

BTW: Sharapova will be staying in the presidential suite at the riverside Fullerton Hotel which costs $4,745 per night. (source: Bangkok Post, photo via Sharapova's official site)

Share This