Dear readers,

Today I am going on a two-week vacation in Thailand! Unfortunately, I will miss all the tournaments leading up to the Australian Open, but I will come back just in time for the first Grand Slam of the season.

Women's Tennis Blog will be alive while I'm away. I've prepared some articles in advance. There will not be updates on the tournaments in Australia, but I've made two series of articles:

1) photos of tennis players and their mothers – I thought it would be nice to draw some attention to the mothers of WTA stars, who are undoubtedly behind a great portion of the success of their daughters,

2) reviews of players' official websites – websites are an important possession of all public figures nowadays, so let's see how successful some WTA players are in creating their online presence.

There will also be a couple of guest posts, from a former sports writer and tennis junkie, Merlisa, and our great contributor, John Bolan.

And of course, Happy New Year everyone! Thank you for being such a great support for Women's Tennis Blog, I can't thank you enough! I hope that 2011 will be another great year for tennis and for our little community here.

By the way, I will celebrate the New Year's Eve in an airplane haha. At midnight I will be somewhere above Europe, according to my calculation.

See you in 2011!

Looking forward to an awesome and sunny Australian Open!

Marija

(photos: Rene Ehrhardt, Victoria Peckham)

We are closing our 2010 retrospections of WTA players' outfits with Victoria Azarenka and Nike. This overview is especially for our reader Pietaar, who wanted me to feature the world No.10 and her fashion.

All Azarenka's 2010 outfits are very nice, they suit her well, although there is nothing outstanding about them. The fact that they are not impressive or too innovative is not their drawback, not everyone should follow in the footsteps of Maria Sharapova, or let's say Aravane Rezai. Read more »

As our readers Yellybean and Stiven suggested, we are doing a review of non-Stella McCartney Adidas by presenting Adidas' two lines - Adilibria and Barricade - and what better than on the examples of Ana Ivanovic and ex-Stella McCartney face Maria Kirilenko.

Along with Serena Williams' Nike designs, Ana Ivanovic had the most beautiful outfits in 2010. As always with Adidas, it was the mixture of high-quality, simplicity, innovativeness, classic look and sporty look.

I absolutely love how Ana Ivanovic and Adidas Adilibria match, but I have to say that the line looked perfect on Flavia Pennetta and Sorana Cirstea as well. Read more »

Maria Sharapova is featured in a new Nike shoe commercial for their Nike Free technology, which allows you to move as if you were barefoot, giving your feet their natural freedom, thus increasing your strength and flexibility during every workout.

Maria is "Making the most of every movement", as their slogan says, alongside other female athletes such as Allyson Felix, Joey Duck and Leah Kim. The music is from Adele and her brand new single Rolling in the Deep. (via Forty Deuce)

Zheng Jie marked the beginning of the 2010 season with an Australian Open semifinal, but the Chinese will not get back to Melbourne to try to repeat the success, because of her left wrist injury. Zheng sustained the injury at the US Open, and worsened it by playing doubles all the way to the semifinals. Then she skipped all the post-US Open events because of the injury which even required a surgery.

Zheng is currently ranked 26th in the world, but her ranking will drop after the Australian Open, when she loses the points earned by the 2010 semifinal. (photo: Nick Bollettieri)

Serena Williams may have suggested a delay in her comeback all the way until spring 2011, but it doesn't mean she's not eager to train. The relentless Serena still has her right leg in the crystal-decorated cast, but that doesn't prevent her from making red carpet appearances and even hitting the tennis court!

Everything's there! Ballet flats (actually, a ballet flat), sunglasses, Swarowski crystals and a tennis racquet! (source: Simply Serena Williams)

Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters will play an exhibition match in Hua Hin, Thailand, on the first day of the new year. Wozniacki has already arrived in Thailand, while Clijsters will be there on Wednesday.

The exhibition event is called the 84 World Tennis Invitation Hua Hin, and the match between Clijsters and Wozniacki will start at 5 pm at Centennial Park, InterContinental Hua Hin Resort. The women’s exhibition will be followed by the match of American twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan against Thai twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana.

Wozniacki and Clijsters will sign a get-well book for His Majesty the King at Siriraj hospital on Thursday and after that they will meet Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House. (source: Caroline Wozniacki's official website, photo: r. olczak)

Thanks to our regular reader Maja J, we are learning about these sneak previews of adidas' WTA stars wearing their clothing for the 2011 Australian Open. We've already talked about the beautiful purple adilibria outfit Ana Ivanovic will be wearing Down Under, but now we're having the photo of the outfit on Ana herself (previously I thought it was a dress, but now I hear it's a skirt and a top), as well as the pictures of Justine Henin and Flavia Pennetta in the designs adidas prepared for them.

Justine Henin will be in more colors than usual with her new SS11 Barricade two-piece ensemble, but I have to say I prefer the less is more approach when it comes to Henin and colors. The outfit, consisting of a polo shirt and skort, will be available in two color combinations of "fresh pink", "intense green" and white.

Read more »

Chinese world No.11 Li Na maybe hasn't won the WTA Humanitarian of the Year Award, which went to the hands of Maria Sharapova, but Li's humanitarian efforts in 2010 deserve utmost respect. Her latest good deed is a 900,000 Chinese yuan (approximately $135,000) donation to an orphanage in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in China.

Remember that Li donated all her Madrid prize money, which was $57,500 for her quarterfinal showing, to earthquake relief efforts in Yushu County in northwest China. Then later in the year she visited the children of an orphanage in the city of Xining, the victims of the Yushu earthquake, and donated additional $59,000.

During the visit to Xining, Li promised to donate all her China Open prize money as well. She reached the semifinals and gave away $170,000. (sources: Tennis Forum, Women of China)

The time has come for us to review the 2010 Nike outfits of Maria Sharapova, the indisputable tennis queen when it comes to both on and off court fashion. I said indisputable because the Russian picked up two awards based on fan votes at this year's WTA Player Awards – most fashionable player (on court) and most fashionable player (off court), and unlike in many other cases, rare are those who disagree.

From the sea weed of the Melbourne dress to the tuxedo of Flushing Meadows, you can notice that the glamor of Sharapova's dresses is actually what she brings with her self-confidence and personality.

Injuries may have haunted Sharapova's career, but her fashion sense has never left her and we have as much as three past retrospections to prove it – from the years of 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Read more »