Russian world No.22 Nadia Petrova has been drawing a lot of attention with her Ellesse apparel – from her US Open stripes in more than all the colors of the rainbow, to the blue piece pictured above. The Ellesse designs are neither making Petrova look stylish and fashionable, nor flattering her figure in any way. The outfits look like a joke, and as ridiculous as they are, they look even more ridiculous on Petrova (Caroline Wozniacki would look somewhat better in them, for example, or maybe Jelena Jankovic).

Anyway, A Change of Ends chatted with Petrova at the All-Access Hour in Charleston and we learned that Petrova actually hates the clothes Ellesse prepares for her. The interview is hilarous!

Q. Recently you’ve made some pretty bold fash­ion choices on court. How much input…

A. Oh my god. That has noth­ing to do with me. Those are not my choices. Read more »

World No.40 Patty Schnyder lost in the first round of the Family Circle Cup to Chanelle Scheepers 6-4 6-4, after saving nine match points, and will never again play in singles at the tournament which had been her mandatory stop for 15 successive years.

"I feel so good whenever I come to Charleston, but I don't think I will be back as a player – maybe as a fan," said the 32-year-old Schnyder.

Fellow blogger, Diane, visits Charleston every year and here's how she explains the special love Charleston has for the Swiss player:

If you've never been to the Family Circle Cup, then it may be hard to appreciate how wild the crowd goes for Schnyder. Last year, there was quick, polite applause for Caroline Wozniacki when she beat Schnyder, then the crowd broke out in yells when Schnyder made her exit.

Interestingly, Scheepers lost to Schnyder last year in the first round of Charleston. Schnyder is still at the tournament, though, playing doubles with Shelby Rogers.

Schnyder's best results in Charleston were finals in 2002 and 2006. In 2002 she lost to Iva Majoli and in 2006 to Nadia Petrova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The week of Women's Tennis Blog's fourth birthday celebration is in full swing. For the adidas and Nike giveaway I had set the deadline of April 3rd 1 p.m. CET but as there were a few more people that joined later, I decided to accept their submissions as well and I will be accepting everyone who joins by April 5th 1 p.m. CET. But let's move on and offer you another opportunity to win free stuff - a Fetch t-shirt. Remember Fetch? The LA-based tennis brand I introduced to you two months ago.

In order to diversify these contests a bit, I decided to make this one revolve around Twitter. I suppose that many of you don't have a Twitter account, but opening one is simple, free and it's worth it – not only because a lot of WTA stars are there, but also because now it can open you a door for winning a Fetch t-shirt.

To become eligible to win the Billie Jean tee or the Vamos tee you should be Women's Tennis Blog's follower on Twitter and in response to the tweet announcing this contest (an automatic tweet that will go live the moment I publish this post) you should write a reply saying: "______________________ I'd love to win a @FetchSport t-shirt at your #contest". The bold text from the quoted sentence you should copy-paste, while you can fill the first part of the sentence with any text you like. Get creative!

Here's an example: I love tennis fashion and I'd love to win a @FetchSport t-shirt at your #contest.

So there are two steps:

1) You should be Women's Tennis Blog's follower on Twitter;

2) You should write the specific reply (example shown above) to the automatic tweet announcing this contest.

The winner, chosen randomly from those of you who join and qualify, will choose from one of the two t-shirts presented above, available in sizes from small to xlarge.

If you have any questions or uncertainties, don't hesitate to ask me!

The contest closes on Thursday, April 7th, at 4 p.m. CET.

Good luck!

Update: This contest is closed now.

Emily of WTA Tour Insights notified me about the new dress Nike has in store for Maria Sharapova. The Russian debuted blue Cross Court Statement Dress at the Sony Ericsson Open where she finished runner-up on Saturday, but Nike already has a fresh design for her 2011 French Open appearance, a yellow dress that follows the same pattern as the blue one – pretty simple design without too many details and layers, decorative lines, and soft color.

When I talked about the Statement Dress I mentioned how the lack of extravagance in the recent Sharapova designs makes Nike lean towards adidas' approach, and this latest dress is reasserting that with the opening in the back similar to this year's adidas Adizero.

The light yellow is beautiful for spring and will match Sharapova's blond hair and the red clay of Roland Garros well.

Caroline Wozniacki has declined offers to pose for Playboy, including other similar photo shoots for men’s magazines in the past, such as FHM and Maxim.

"I'm not going to take off all my clothes," the Danish world No.1 said, as Tennis.com reports via Ekstra Bladet.

Wozniacki’s agent, John Tobias, said that at the age of 20 Wozniacki is still too young to appear in such magazines, which could also damage her established image. Wozniacki will be kept away from such things for now. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

In the final of the Sony Ericsson Open, Victoria Azarenka's powerful tennis made Maria Sharapova's error-prone game surface and the Belarus went first to a 6-1 4-0 lead, and then all the way to a 6-1 6-4 victory for her second title at the tournament in three years.

Sharapova made 43 unforced errors and held serve only once in the entire match. However, after the match Azarenka pointed out how her good selection of shots forced Sharapova to make mistakes: "I think I had the right tactics. She likes to swing big and when she has time it's very heavy and coming fast. So I was trying to take time away and not let her do that… I think she was missing a lot because of my game."

By virtue of winning the $4,5-million event, Azarenka earned $700,000 and a return to her career best ranking of No.6. Sharapova will be back in Top 10, from her current No.13.

Azarenka has won her sixth career title, while Sharapova now has a 0-3 win-loss record in the finals of Miami. (photo via BBC)

What can be more rewarding than doing what you love and having people all over the world supporting you and sharing your joy? Blogging has given me exactly that, and it's not only readers that are always there with beautiful words and understanding, fellow tennis bloggers are also by my side, even if I'm not in touch with them daily. One of such bloggers is Erwin of Tennis Served Fresh. We started the blogging journey in about the same time, Erwin a little bit before me, and it's nice to have colleagues that are your peers when it comes to blogging.

When I turned on my laptop today and started going through my blog feed, I was surprised to see a picture of myself. Then I read a wonderful title: "It's nice to grow old with someone". In the article Erwin acknowledges how good it is to develop along someone, and invites his readers to join my giveaways. I'd like to mention that Tennis Served Fresh is the first blog/webpage that ever linked to Women's Tennis Blog and it made me ecstatic . It was at the time Women's Tennis Blog still looked like a construction site, without images, with no design, or anything. Just black text and plain purple and green header saying "women's tennis" on WordPress.com.

The title of TSF's post inspires me to mention one thing. When Aaress of On the Baseline sold her blog, I was very saddened because I felt like I lost one of just a handful of blogging peers and also, it made me feel old haha (the blog is still alive though, offering equally rich content). However, Rich of Down the Line and Diane of Women Who Serve are still there, persevering in doing an amazing job.

Thanks to my readers and my fellow bloggers, my fourth birthday party is a real festival! Cheers! (photo courtesy of my friend Brankica)

The 2011 Sony Ericsson Open final will feature powerful, competitive and loud players – Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka. The two are not underdogs, but it can't be said that they were favored to be the last women standing.

Both have already been at this stage of the Miami tournament, but only Azarenka managed to go a step further and win the title against Serena Williams in 2009. If Sharapova wins this time, it will be a huge thing, but not because it will be her first win in the final of Miami in three attempts, rather because the Premier-level title will be a great milestone in her post shoulder injury career.

If Azarenka’s record against Russian players is of any relevance, let's see the WTA Tour stats:

-    Azarenka has a 46.3% win percentage against Russians (25-29)
-    Azarenka is on a four match winning streak against Russians, the best of her career

As for Azarenka's record against Sharapova in particular, they are tied at 2-2, although it was Azarenka who won their last match, in Stanford final last year. Who will win the title is not easily predictable, but the final promises big fight and powerful game. Read more »