Besides talking about her traumatic past in the May issue of Sport & Style, Jelena Dokic posed for the magazine in elegant clothes.

The once-again-tennis-star is on the cover of the issue and I absolutely love that she is back in the tennis world, and also active in common off-court activities such as photo shoots.

By the way, I have to mention that Jelena’s father Damir Dokic was arrested on Wednesday for threatening the Australian ambassador to Serbia and is facing up to three years in prison.

Now, forget about Damir and enjoy the pics!

Read more »

World No.3 Elena Dementieva and No.11 Caroline Wozniacki marked the start of the new tournament called the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open by playing "Underground Tennis", the latest promo invention of Sony Ericsson.

Dementieva and Wozniacki played tennis on a specially built court placed on the unused track of the Chamartin Metro station, while commuters were passing by.

Here’s the video clip from the event.

Previously, Sony Ericsson promoted tennis with matches at other unlikely places like the terrace of Villa Miani in Rome, on top of cars, on water, and on a desert island.

Magnificent Dinara Safina beat magnificent Venus Williams 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 in a powerful battle of two hard-hitters and one of the best matches of the season, to reach the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The semifinal lasted three hours and nine minutes, and I believe that tells enough.

The fourth-seeded Williams won the first set after a one hour and 10 minutes long fight. Safina had come back from a break down to level at 5-5, but lost in the tiebreak (isn’t it horrible when a player recovers from a bad situation only to lose in a tiebreak?). Nevertheless, Safina took the match to the third set. The decider was full of breaks, with Williams always coming back from behind, but as I said, always coming back, Safina never kept the lead for long. Finally, at 5-4 Safina was serving for the match and after saving some break points, the Russian world No.1 finally converted her third match point to beat the American.

It’s a real joy to watch Safina play when she has consistency, and against a great opponent such as Venus Williams, there’s nothing more you can ask for.

In-form Svetlana Kuznetsova, who ended her title drought in Stuttgart last week, reached her second consecutive final by defeating sixth seed Victoria Azarenka 6-2 6-4 in the semifinals. The seventh-seeded Kuznetsova will be Safina’s opponent in an all-Russian final in Rome.

As for world No.5 Venus Williams, she will retake the No.3 ranking on May 11. She hasn't been ranked that high in six years. (photos: Tennis Channel)

Quarterfinal matches were taking place today in Rome, and most notably, top seed and world No.1 Dinara Safina survived one more three-setter, while finally-noticeable Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated two-time defending champion Jelena Jankovic.

World No.48 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez had scored victories over Amelie Mauresmo, seed No.11 Marion Bartoli and seed No.8 Nadia Petrova prior to meeting Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals. The 26-year-old Spaniard even took the first set from Safina, and had a 3-1 lead in the second, but the master of recovery won the match 4-6 6-3 6-0.

Safina will play fourth seed Venus Williams in the semifinals. Williams advanced with her first two-setter at the tournament, beating tenth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2.

Seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova has been in the shadow for quite some time, but her shiny days are back as last week she won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and now she has reached the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semifinals taking out third seed Jelena Jankovic 6-1 7-6(3). After winning the first set, the Russian came through a nervy second-set tie break to avenge her defeat in the 2007 final.

Kuznetsova’s next opponent will be sixth seed Victoria Azarenka, who beat Kaia Kanepi 7-6(5) 6-3. (photo: Tennis Channel)

Ana Ivanovic’s preparations for the defense of her French Open title suffered a setback as she was defeated 6-1 3-6 6-4 by Agnieszka Radwanska in the third round. Interestingly, the Serb was leading 4-0 in the third set, but the tenth-seeded Radwanska won six games in a row to advance to the quarterfinals.

World number one and top seed Dinara Safina almost joined Ivanovic in saying goodbye to Rome, but she fought back from a double break down in the third set to beat Chinese 14th seed Zheng Jie 5-7 6-1 7-6 (3) in a thrilling third-round match.

Third seed Jelena Jankovic, who is aiming for her third consecutive Internazionali BNL d'Italia title, felt good on the court and was leading 6-1 1-0 when her opponent Kateryna Bondarenko retired with illness.

Svetlana Kuznetsova is continuing her good period with a 6-3 3-6 6-0 victory over Flavia Pennetta, while Patty Schnyder, who upset self-proclaimed world No.1 Serena Williams in the previous round, fell to seed No.16 Kaia Kanepi 6-3 6-0. Victoria Azarenka advanced by beating Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-2. Also, notice that world No.48 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who upset No.11 seed Marion Bartoli in the second round, today defeated No.8 seed Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4. The last to join the quarterfinals was Venus Williams who defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-0 6-7(8) 6-4.

Quarterfinal pairs: Safina vs. Petrova, V. Williams vs. A. Radwanska, Kuznetsova vs. Jankovic, Azarenka vs. Kanepi. (photo: Tennis Channel)

Serena Williams, who on Monday stated that she was the real No.1 and not Dinara Safina, suffered a 6-2 2-6 6-1 defeat by Patty Schnyder in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The world No.20 Schnyder was upset by Sabine Lisicki in the first round of Stuttgart last week, but this week in Rome she managed to keep her record on clay against Serena Williams perfect and improved it to 3-0.

The match between "the best in the world", as Williams called herself on Monday, and Patty Schynder was postponed until 11pm because of rain.

The world number two Williams has now lost her last three matches (Miami final, Marbella first round, and this latest one in Rome) – only the second time this has happened in her career. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Statements by Jelena Dokic surfaced yesterday, revealing that she was physically abused by her father as a child. The full story will be available on Thursday, in Herald’s Sport & Style, but we already have complications.

Damir Dokic, who by the way hung up when contacted by the Herald, threatened the Australian ambassador in Belgrade that he would blow up her car with a grenade launcher if she didn’t do something about the interview.

According to Serbian paper Blic, Damir confirmed he made the threatening phone call, and claimed that the article about his abusiveness was full of lies and that the ambassador had to fight that as a representative of a country. Read more »

World number one Dinara Safina and fifth seed Ana Ivanovic moved into the third round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The top-seeded Safina had to decide the first set against Virginie Razzano in a tiebreak, but took the second set straightforwardly to win 7-6(1) 6-1.

Ana Ivanovic also progressed in straight sets, taking out home favorite Francesca Schiavone 6-3 6-4. The Serb will next face tenth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Two seeds were upset today in Rome: No.11 Marion Bartoli fell to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1 7-5, while No.13 Alize Cornet lost to Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4 6-1.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, champion last weekend in Stuttgart, is through, as well as Jelena Jankovic, Flavia Pennetta, Caroline Wozniacki, Kaia Kanepi, Nadia Petrova, and Zheng Jie. And please note: Anna Chakvetadze has also advanced. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Jelena Jankovic, who won the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title in 2007 and 2008, defeated Gisela Dulko 6-3 7-6(6) in the second round.

Jankovic could have advanced much more quickly, but she let the Argentinean world No.39 come back in the second set. Jankovic even put herself in a position of saving four set points in the tenth game before leveling at 5-5. Not only did the defending champion waste the early lead, but at 5-5 rain delay set in and the match was prolonged even more. When play resumed, Jankovic and Dulko held their serves, and the third seed finished the match in the tiebreak. Jankovic was on a good way to waste her chances again, though, as she converted only her fifth match point.

The fourth-ranked Serb will next take on Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko, who knocked out last year’s runner-up Alize Cornet 6-4 6-1. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Injury-troubled Tatiana Golovin is coming closer to the tennis courts, as a commentator for French television during the French Open.

Last year in February Golovin was ranked 12th in the world, while now she’s as low as No.1128. Yes, that's 1-1-2-8! Due to a back injury she missed most of the 2008 season, and we’re still waiting for the 21-year-old Frenchwoman of Russian descent to get back to competing. (source: Tennis.com, photo: Ralf Reinecke)