The highest-ranked Austrian ATP player Jurgen Melzer likes mingling with top WTA players and after Russian Anastasia Myskina (who is now expecting her third child), Czech Nicole Vaidisova (now married to Radek Stepanek) and Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova (remember their famous photos from a vacation in Maldives?), the handsome Austrian is now dating Czech 28-year-old Iveta Benesova. Read more »

Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek got married in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, the biggest and most famous church in the Czech Republic. The two have been together since late 2007.

Wedding guests included ice hockey star Jaromir Jagr and tennis player Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who reached her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final on the day of the wedding at the ECM Prague Open.

Vaidisova was once ranked as high as No.7 and was one of the rising stars everyone was projecting to reach the very top, but her career didn’t fully live up to the expectations and her relationship with Radek, 11 years her senior, was often stated as the reason behind her drop in form. Vaidisova retired from tennis in March this year, at the age of 20. (photos of Nicole and Radek: © Neal Trousdale)

Former world number seven Nicole Vaidisova has retired at the young age of 20 and is planning to marry long-time boyfriend Radek Stepanek in July.

The Czech was once one of the brightest new stars, and her indisputably good looks only added to her popularity, but in the recent years her results were more than disappointing, especially having in mind her wasted talent.

The fact that Vaidisova lost in the first round of an ITF tournament this year is making her retirement from the sport less of a shocking decision. Her last tennis match was loss to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in Memphis second round last month.

Vaidisova has just informed the upcoming Sony Ericsson Open in Miami that she’s rejecting a wildcard and pulled out of all her tournaments the rest of the season.

Vaidisova is ending her tennis career ranked 176th, with six WTA Tour titles under her belt – the last one came a long time ago, in Strasbourg in 2006. In addition, she can be proud of two semifinals Grand Slam showings, at the 2006 French Open and 2007 Australian Open. (source: Tennis Reporters, photo: Stephane Martinache)

Former world No.1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland has become engaged to her boyfriend Andreas Bieri, a 38-year-old Zurich attorney, and will marry him this year.

The 29-year-old five-time Grand Slam champion commented on her engagement for Zisch newspaper: "It's true: Andreas has made me a marriage proposal. I was totally surprised. Of course I accepted."

Hingis used to be engaged to fellow tennis player Radek Stepanek. When they broke off their engagement in 2007, Stepanek started dating 11 years younger tennis beauty Nicole Vaidisova and they are getting married as well, as Women Who Serve reports. However, this is not the first time news about Vaidisova's and Stepanek's marriage are circulating.

By the way, new tennis blog called Goddesses of the Court has a nice and supportive post about Nicole Vaidisova's talent and her career slump, that as you know Radek Stepanek is often blamed for. (via WTA Women Tennis)

I'm sure you've all missed once-promising Nicole Vaidisova and now I'm happy to share that the Czech won one match at the Regions Morgan Keegan Champs / Cellular South Cup.

The former world No.7, a wildcard in Memphis, defeated world No.224 Laura Granville of the USA 6-4 6-2 to score both her first victory in 2010 and since her opening-round win in Barcelona last April.

Vaidisova, now ranked 192th, is playing her first WTA tournament of the season. She has competed in two ITF events this year, but lost right away at both.

"I haven't been playing much this year yet," Vaidisova said. "I've been trying to practice and work out and get back into things. I'm going to try and play indoors and see how it goes."

The only thing regarding Vaidisova that attracted the attention of the tennis audience in the recent past was her relationship with Radek Stepanek and the continual talks about how he may have been the cause of her slump.

Vaidisova, however, attributes her inconsistency to a lingering right wrist injury that has only recently healed.

"For the most part now, I have it under control," said the 20-year-old. "I'm happy about that. It's always hard when you have to worry about your wrist, or your health."

I hope the time has come to talk about her tennis successes on this blog. (via Commercial Appeal, photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)

It was a star-studded Tuesday at the Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy: Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic and Nicole Vaidisova were seen training there and Jola, the mother of a full time student at Nick's, shot a video where you can see how the top tennis players are practicing.

Additional info: Check out this cute site, Jankovic’s and Sharapova’s cars next to each other.

BTW: Jelena Dokic has also been at the Academy these days, but she wasn't caught on camera. However, Nick Bollettieri himself is regularly updating us on what Dokic has been doing. (source: HCFoo's Tennis Blog)

It’s been a while since we featured the odd tennis couple Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek. Just in case you’ve been wondering are they still together, they apparently are.

The 19-year-old Nicole and her boyfriend Radek attended the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid player party together, and here's the photo proof.

Reminder: Here are some previous captures of the tennis pairing: in Beijing, Rome, Indian Wells, and Prague, I believe.

Read more »

Carlos Rodriguez, best-known as the former coach of once dominant women’s tennis player Justine Henin, was interviewed by Matt Cronin for FOXSports.com and gave harsh reviews of some currently top WTA players.

Ok, the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova can be satisfied, but Jelena Jankovic could feel more than offended. However, we can’t blame Carlos for being honest; I doubt he wanted to insult anyone. Read more »