Never in their eight previous matches in the period of eight years, from 2002 to 2010, had Francesca Schiavone beaten Venus Williams, and at the December 3rd exhibition event in Milan, the Italian managed to beat both the Williams sisters, on top of showing her dancing skills by entertaining the 11,000 crowd to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" with Flavia Pennetta.

Schiavone defeated Venus 7-5 7-3, and then Serena 7-3 8-10 8-6. Pennetta also beat Venus, 7-6 7-2, but lost to Serena 6-8 7-3 7-3. The Williams sisters won the doubles 3-7 8-6 8-6.

Neither of the Williams sisters played competitive tennis since the US Open, however they did play another exhibition match recently, last month in Columbia, and Venus defeated Serena 6-4 7-6(5). (source: ESPN)

Petra Kvitova may not be famous for her fashion, but the Nike-clad Czech had a stellar 2011 season – with six titles, including a Grand Slam and WTA Championships – and I decided to feature our world No.2 in my apparel retrospections for the first time.

The first thing you notice is that Kvitova is not wearing dresses. Two-piece outfits are her thing, and she wears them well.

Also, there is no eye-catching jewelry, no special accessories, except for a headband.

Kvitova nurtures the classic sporty look, but she did wear a wide range of colors during 2011, as opposed to world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, who sported Adidas by Stella McCartney dresses with many details but only changed three colors in the entire season. Read more »

One of the best-known tennis couples were Russians Maria Kirilenko and Igor Andreev, and without the news of their breakup a photo of the 24-year-old Kirilenko with another man emerges on Twitter. Namely, on November 30 Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin tweeted the above photo of him and Kirilenko saying:

Me and my girlfriend Maria….she is my queen!!!!

The 26-year-old Alex Ovechkin describes himself as a proud captain of the Washington Capitals. Read more »

Ricardo Sanchez is Caroline Wozniacki's new coach and he will work with the Danish world No.1 alongside her father Piotr.

Wozniacki is glad to have a coach who is familiar with her game and the games of her opponents, while Sanchez made him dream come true by partnering with the 21-year-old.

Here's how Wozniacki commented on the new cooperation:

We know him very well, and he has been watching so many of my matches and created tactics against me, so he really knows me as a player. He also knows all the other girls on the tour very well.

Sanchez is thrilled about his new assignment:

It's like a dream come true. Like Pep Guardiola must have felt when he was allowed to coach FC Barcelona. I have seen many of Caroline’s matches, and she has become my idol because of her personality and hard work. Piotr and I will work closely together about everything. I have a lot of respect for the work he did with Caroline. She picks up new things very quickly, and without injuries and with everything well organized, we will go to Australia and try to win there.

Read more »