As you may know, Own the Zone has sponsored Women’s Tennis Blog for some time, and I have already written one article about their main product, OTZ band vibration dampener, which is based on excellent design and use of quality materials to help absorb the string and racquet vibration. Today, the company would like to introduce you to their pink band dampeners.

For every pink Bucket-of-Bands (48 pink 2-band packets) purchased by pro shops and tennis specialty stores and for every pink OTZ bi-pack (2 bands per packet) sold online via www.otzsports.com, Own the Zone will make a donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Read more »

World No.4 Ana Ivanovic spent 10 days in London preparing for the 2008 season and some critics of the Britain's Lawn Tennis Association said that the £40 million ($92.8m) spent on the state-of-the-art National Tennis Centre at Roehampton wasn't intended to help Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in her preparation.

However, Carl Maes, the LTA's head of women's tennis, believes that the presence of one of the world's leading players could only be a motivational and educational factor for British players.

"We can only gain from having somebody like Ana around," said Maes. Read more »

Here’s a sneak peek of the new outfit Serena Williams will wear when she launches defense of her Australian Open title in Melbourne next month. Serena will be wearing white and purple — a white Nike dress with purple accents over purple lycra biker shorts.

“I just think I represent all females out there who believe in themselves,” Williams said.

(via Tennis Week Blog found through Women Who Serve)

Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams have reorganized their schedules and decided to skip the Medibank International in Sydney.

The two former world number ones will instead prepare for the 2008 Australian Open at the J B GROUP Classic exhibition in Hong Kong which will take place from January 2-5. Apart from Sharapova and Williams, the exhibition in Hong Kong will include Daniela Hantuchova, Elena Dementieva, Ana Ivanovic, Anna Chakvetadze, Peng Shuai, and Caroline Wozniacki.

However, world’s top-ranked player Justine Henin will participate in the Sydney's tournament as the leader of the women’s draw.

The 2008 Medibank International will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre from January 6-12.

Sorry Martina, I know you're not pleased with the way you ended your career, but I can't help laughing at this cartoon. I came across it at WTA World forum yesterday, and was thinking for some time whether or not to include it in my blog. I read comments on the forum, and some people found it extremely funny, some people didn't understand it, some thought it was mean, and some it was "soooooooo four weeks ago". I think the cartoon is really funny (hm, if I were in Martina's shoes, maybe I would have thought differently).

Yesterday I was in Belgrade at the charity tennis exhibition called NAJJ Srbije and now I’ll share my impressions with you. As you probably know, the event was organized by Serbia’s four best-ranked tennis players (Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Novak Djokovic, and Janko Tipsarevic) in order to raise money for charity, while at the same time giving home fans an opportunity to be a part of a tennis spectacle.

I liked the fact that the event was organized with heart, and that the players were genuinely happy to be in front of thousands of people in their home town (let’s just remind you that Jelena showed up despite her doctor’s orders to skip the exhibition). The other good thing is that they gave many young tennis players a chance to show their skills in front of so many people (just to mention that line judges were also kids – they were sooo cute). Read more »

Jelena Jankovic was officially appointed a UNICEF ambassador to Serbia on Thursday in Belgrade.

The world's third-ranked tennis player will try to justify the role that has been given to her, determined to promote a healthy lifestyle. Jankovic believes that the right to be healthy is one of the basic children’s rights and will therefore promote sport as a way to keep young people away from alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. Jankovic also believes that everyone should do their share to make children and young people choose the physically active lifestyle, crucial for their overall health.

Jelena Jankovic is the second Serbian tennis player to have volunteered to help promote the rights of children after world number four Ana Ivanovic became a UNICEF national ambassador in September. (source: B92)

Every few weeks Maria Sharapova is included in some top-earners list, and the latest one is Forbes magazine’s annual "20 Under 25" list, which ranks the Top-Earning Young Superstars. The Russian money-making machine came in at a respectable third place after bringing in $23 million from June 2006 – 07.

Here's what Forbes had to say about the 20-year-old tennis star:

"Tennis' 'It' girl struggled with injuries in 2007, winning only one tournament and banking $1.7 million on the court. That's down from five tourney wins and $3.8 million in prize money the previous year. Not to worry, Sharapova's endorsement portfolio is one of the strongest in sports. This year she added Pepsi as a sponsor to an already impressive roster that includes Nike, Canon, Colgate-Palmolive and Motorola."

Why does every sponsor want Maria Sharapova? The secret of Sharapova’s marketing success explains the phenomenon in detail.

Additional info: Yahoo have announced their Top Trends in Search and Maria takes the second spot in the most searched sports terms of the year. (via Down the Line, photo via Siberian Siren)

Here I am, having another entertaining video for you – tennis players and their lookalikes. You simply have to watch it! I don’t know how much it took this person to make the video, but for me it would be mission impossible. I suppose the material was slowly being collected over a certain period of time.

The video might offend some players (although I don’t think they should take it seriously), but nobody can deny that this piece of work deserves attention. My favorite lookalikes? It’s difficult to make a choice, but I would go for the two photos of Maria Kirilenko and Maria Sharapova. Enjoy!

(via Down the Line)

On Thursday, December 13, former world number one Venus Williams will receive her associate’s degree in Fashion Design from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale.

Williams, who has been attending the college since the fall of 1999, has been dedicated to finishing her studies in the midst of Grand Slam wins to receive this long sought after degree. That deserves respect!

“I love fashion and the idea that I am using my design education to actually create clothing and footwear that reflects my personality and energy both on and off the court,” said Williams of her new line, EleVen.

Andre West, chair of the Fashion programs at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale said, “Venus has been a blessing to the department in so many ways, her drive and focus as we know is somewhere in the stratosphere. She has taken that same drive that she shows on the court all the way to the cutting table, sewing machine and computer.”

Tennis Served Fresh has been covering everything that has to do with Eleven, so you can find tons of details about the collection there. (via On the Baseline)