Hihi this is juicy, Jelena Jankovic is fighting with Roger Federer via press.

Last month Federer commented that a player who has never won a Grand Slam should not be granted the number one spot, which was at the time Jankovic was at the top of the rankings, and today JJ fired back to the men’s tennis legend.

"To be honest, I do not like to talk about players, I really prefer to focus on myself," Jankovic, currently ranked third, said at the Paris Open.

"Why should he even care? I don't like putting my nose in other's business."

The Serb is celebrating Rafael Nadal’s humble personality.

"I mean, one thing I like about Nadal is that he is such a great champion, he is so humble, always has kind words for everybody, he is a role model for everybody. Federer is a great champion, I don't want to get in a fight with him but why does he care, I really don't understand. Why does he need to do that?"

Jankovic is currently in Paris for the Open GDF SUEZ, where she’ll face Italian Francesca Schiavone in the first round. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World number two Dinara Safina of Russia will be training in the Croatian town of Varazdin from March onwards.

The two-time Grand Slam finalist Safina and her Croatian coach Zeljko Krajan have agreed with the town to construct the tennis courts where they could work. Safina will finance the costs.

"We've reached an agreement in principle to construct tennis courts that will serve as a base for her training," the mayor of Varazdin, Zlatko Horvat said.

"It's a huge thing for the development of tennis in Varazdin." (source: AFP, photo by our reader Jacob)

Thanks to the Off the Baseline website we’re able to see the highly-anticipated 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit photos prior to their official release.

Russian Maria Kirilenko, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova and French Tatiana Golovin were photographed by Walter Iooss. As for Kirilenko, we know she enjoyed posing on the beach in the Dominican Republic.

We still don’t know who will appear on the cover; it will be announced on Monday’s episode of David Letterman. The 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is dropping on Tuesday the 10th.

Women’s tennis players that had previously appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue include: Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Venus Williams.

Hi people, I’m back from Belgrade and Serbia vs. Japan Fed Cup tie and I’ll share some of my impressions with you.

First of all, not surprisingly, it was not much of a challenge for Serbia to beat Japan and reach the Fed Cup World Group play-offs for the first time.

Serbia cruised to an unassailable 3-0 lead with world No.3 Jelena Jankovic beating world No.26 Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-2 in the Belgrade Arena. On Saturday, Serbia had established a 2-0 lead with world No.8 Ana Ivanovic defeating Ai Sugiyama 6-4 6-4 and Jelena Jankovic cruising past Ayumi Morita, ranked 86th in the world, 6-1 6-0.

In the fourth dead singles rubber, Ivanovic notched up her second win of the weekend by romping past Morita 6-1 6-2. Team Japan, consisting of Rika Fujiwara and Aiko Nakamura, won the doubles match, when the Serbian team of Jelena Jankovic and Ana Jovanovic retired after the second set, so the final score of the Serbia vs. Japan Fed Cup tie was 4-1. Read more »

Maria Kirilenko, who fails to promote beautiful adidas by Stella McCartney dresses enough, too often falling early in tournaments, has changed things in her tennis life, adopting her father Yuri Kirilenko as her new coach. Previously, she had been coached by Eric Van Harpen.

It’s like in the life, sometimes you feel you need to change something. Especially in sport, when something doesn’t work. Eric helped me a lot, I learned a lot of new things thanks to him. We are still good friends with him and his daughter Laura.

I hope this change will be beneficial for Maria’s career. I would love to see more of her.

Also, the world No.37 Kirilenko will appear in this month's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Here’s what the Russian said about the photo shoot she did last November:

I have very good memories of the photo shooting for Sports Illustrated. I went to Dominican Republic with my mother. I was there for three days and I had a great time! All days on the beach posing I can tell I was busy all the days but it was so nice! A great team worked with me. The great photographer Walter Iooss, I think it is a greatest photographer I ever work with. So, I can’t wait when the pictures come out! There are coming 15th of February I guess.

Knowing Maria Kirilenko, I expect the spread to be beautiful. (via Down the Line, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic replaced the injured Maria Sharapova in the main draw of next week's Open GDF SUEZ.

World No.3 Jankovic joins top-ranked Serena Williams and Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in the Paris tournament.

As you know, Sharapova, who hasn’t competed for six months, withdrew because of her shoulder injury. In her latest diary entry the Russian talks about her rehab. Here's just an extract:

I have been training in Florida the last few weeks and really working hard on getting the strength back in my arm […] And the only way to get back into good shape is by playing tennis. Unfortunately just because the doctor fixes the problem and gives you the green light to practice doesn't mean that you can just go out there playing tournaments. Yesterday I played my first few points with serves in about 6 months which was pretty exciting! Right now I'm aiming for Palm Springs, or Miami, depending on how things shape up.

(photos: Ralf Reinecke)

Four-time Australian Open champion and world No.1 Serena Williams made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Serena was discussing the unbearable heat in Australia, the secret of her success in doubles with sister Venus, the famous streaker that interrupted one of her doubles matches, the Olympics gold medal, and her superstition.

For me, the best part of the interview was when Serena was asked for an explanation of why she was always winning the Australian Open in odd-numbered years (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009) and she answered: "I guess I'm an odd girl".

Former Belgian world No.1s, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, who have both retired from tennis – Henin last year, Clijsters two years ago – are reportedly preparing for exhibition events in 2009.

According to Belgian press, the seven-time Grand Slam champion Henin will play the Belgian Tennis Trophy exhibition in Charleroi on 5-6 December. As for Clijsters, she has been training regularly, together with her former sparring partner Wim Fissette and physical coach Sam Verslegers. The mother of little girl Jada is aiming to participate in some exhibition matches this year.

Clijster’s manager Bob Verbeeck insists that Clijsters’ trainings don’t indicate that she will return to the WTA Tour. At this point, I don’t believe Henin will return either. (sources: tennis.com, Clijsters' official website, photo via sporza. be)

Yesterday I wrote that Maria Sharapova’s participation in the Open GDF SUEZ and Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships was doubtful, but now it’s been confirmed on her official website that she won’t play those events which start on February 9th and 16th.

The reason for Sharapova’s withdrawal is of course the infamous shoulder injury. It’s worrying because she withdrew from the Australian Open saying her shoulder was doing great, adding that she just wasn’t at the high enough level to compete at such a tournament.

However, now she’s pulling out of Paris and Dubai saying: "My shoulder continues to improve every day and I am working very hard on the practice court. I'm looking forward to being back on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour very soon." (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Hi everyone,

Women’s Tennis Blog is back from our four-day break. While we were inhaling the fresh mountain air, the tennis world wasn’t sleeping, and here’s what we’ve missed to report while relaxing in the Bosnian snow.

Serena Williams reached a landmark 10th Grand Slam singles title crushing Dinara Safina 6-0 6-3 in the Australian Open final. I watched the match and Dinara really "was just a ballboy on the court". Don’t forget that Serena’s achievement is even better than reaching her fourth Australian Open title, as she won women’s doubles with her sister Venus too. And even more, Serena has climbed back to the No.1 spot in the rankings.

Sania Mirza has become India's third – and first female – Grand Slam tennis champion by winning the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open paired with Mahesh Bhupathi.

In her latest diary entry Ana Ivanovic is defending the Australian Open – its location, facilities and its position in the tennis calendar. As for modeling, more photos for Ana's sponsor Rolex are out. If it hadn’t been published on her official website, I probably wouldn’t have recognized her.

Also, there are rumors that Dave Rineberg might become Ana's new coach.

You’ve probably heard about Jelena’s World, the documentary movie about Jelena Jankovic. Now you can watch it on YouTube. Here you can see all the parts of the movie, which is mostly in Serbian though.

Dinara Safina has a new official website, with everything you need including a section where fans can e-mail her.

And last but not least, Maria Sharapova, who has slipped to No.17 in the rankings, might be continuing to skip tournaments. Supposedly, she’ll miss Paris and Dubai. Remember, she has been expected to make a comeback at the GDF Suez Open? Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if the rumors proved to be true. However, if she really pulls out of those events, than her claims that she simply hasn’t trained enough seem unreliable.

If I’ve missed something in this overview, feel free to mention it in the comments below.

Glad to be back,

Marija