Martina Navratilova and her mother Jana, who passed away at the age of 75.

In the photos above and below you can see Amelie Mauresmo's mother Françoise. The photos are from the Paris ceremony paying tribute to the career of the France's former world No.1 and two-time Grand Slam champion.

In the following photo you can see Martina Hingis' mother Melanie Molitorova.

As early as in her pregnancy, Melanie wanted her daughter to be a top tennis player, as she herself was once ranked tenth among women in Czechoslovakia.

Elena Dementieva's mother Vera was a recreational tennis players and coached her daughter.

Elena has recently retired, without prior notice, during the WTA Championships in Doha, and the second photo is from the emotional ceremony of Elena saying goodbye to tennis.

More photos of tennis players and their mothers to follow.

The hitting session against Navratilova is scheduled for the morning of October 12th at Kennesaw State University prior to Advanta WTT Smash Hits.

All proceeds benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund.

The auction is open until October 7th.

Of course, Navratilova's main target was the currently loudest player of all, Maria Sharapova.

"If I were the commissioner of tennis I would outlaw (screeching during matches). Maria's level gets louder the closer the match and quite frankly it's not necessary, they aren't lifting 300 pounds, they're hitting a tennis ball."

Navratilova also mentioned the case of 9-year old Lauryn Edwards, who was banned from her local tennis club because her screams were too loud.

"Here you had this little kid who was just barely getting the ball over the net yet the noise coming out of her made you think she was hitting the ball 200 miles an hour. She was concentrating more on making the noise than hitting the ball."

That’s true, kids definitely imitate professional athletes, and even if they don’t naturally have the need to scream when hitting a ball they will start doing it because their idols do it.

BTW: Sharapova’s screams aren’t giving the best example to the young tennis players, but they sure are perfect for waking you up in the morning. (via Down the Line)

Both the players enjoyed the memories this exhibition brought back, and it could be said that the last time they played each other was also in Tokyo, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in 1994. Then, Graf was the winner, just as today, with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Navratilova.

In their fruitful careers Graf and Navratilova met 18 times and each won 9 times.

BTW: For those of you who happened to miss the news, Navratilova is Czech again.

You can see more nice pictures from the Tokyo exhibition here. (source: Sportsnet)

In 1975, at the age of 18, Navratilova went to the United States. Within a month she was granted a green card, while US citizenship she got six years later.

Navratilova retired in 1994 but returned to play doubles in 2000, winning several tournaments. She hung up her racket in December 2006 after winning in mixed doubles at the US Open.

Navratilova, who won the Wimbledon singles title a record nine times, plans to open an academy in the Czech Republic. (source: Times Online, via Women Who Serve)

These two greats of tennis are missed a lot, and I see many people asking will Seles ever return to competitive tennis. Unfortunately, I don't believe that will happen. (via Down the Line)