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.

Before Benesova, Melzer was dating Austrian swimmer Mirna Jukic, a retired 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medalist. Jukic and Melzer started dating in spring 2009 and the announcement of their separation came after Wimbledon 2011. At that Wimbledon Melzer and Benesova experienced great bonding by winning their first mixed doubles title. Here's the video of their Grand Slam victory:

(source: oe24.at, photos: chascow, Ralf Reinecke)

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)

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)

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)

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.

BTW: I hope Vaidisova’s love life is blooming, because her tennis needs revival. Just look at her August, September and October "accomplishments": first round exits at Olympics, New Haven, Stuttgart and Moscow, and second-round (wow!) defeat at the US Open. Actually, her last notable result was in June, when she reached Wimbledon quarterfinals. (photo via HCFoo's Tennis Blog)

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.

• Which players does Carlos Rodriguez consider the best?

I have a lot of respect for the other players, but outside of the Willamses and Sharapova, the rest are still really poor.

You can't teach [how to fight.] You can learn a lot of things, but you cannot change the natural personality of a player. With Serena, Venus, Justine and Jennifer Capriati, they have the personality that even when they weren't enjoying it, they could go through. There's no question that Maria, Serena and Venus are far and away from the other players. Their quality is too good.

• On Jelena Jankovic:

That's the face of tennis today, with a player who is reaching No.1 without winning a Grand Slam. It's a sign. She's a good player, but when you see Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters, they not only win Grand Slams, but they have the charisma. They give something extra, not only hitting balls. There's more behind them.

• On the recent struggles of Ana Ivanovic:

I think Ana can do big things, but she needs more maturity. It's very difficult for a player to learn what to do when she's in trouble. Ivanovic is not able to have a Plan B or C to solve the situations, and she loses complete control. The coach can help with this, but in the end, it's up to the player to find for herself what possibilities will work. The coach can only help you to a certain point.

• On his short coaching of Anna Chakvetadze:

Anna seems like she wants to work, but I told her, at the end of the day, deep inside of you, you don't want to try to go further and to push yourself more to succeed. I cannot help you if you don't have the will to do something, even if I'm the best or worst coach in the world. She has the talent. But she's really confused as to what she needs to do to succeed to do to become a No. 1 or No. 2 player in the world. She's not ready to make the sacrifices it takes to go to the top, there's not question about it. A champion is one inside and outside the court, and when you take Anna outside the court, she's really a disaster.

• On Nicole Vaidisova's potential:

She's amazing. It comes back to the entourage she has around her. It's so important. When you are talking mental, these girls are very strong, but when you are talking emotional, it's very hard. The emotional takes over the mental and she completely loses the way. It's a pity. I hope someone can take care of her because she's charismatic and is a really good player, but her emotional (state) and the intelligence is not that good.

• On Serena Williams:

Serena has the quality, and everything she needs mentally and physically to do it she has. But is she going take care of herself and prepare to go into action? If she does that, I think Serena has another two or three great years left.

• On Maria Sharapova:

She showed that she's able to dominate, but it's not a question of once in a while, it's a question of regularity and the only way she can do it is to concentrate 100 percent on her tennis. If Maria doesn't do that, she's never going to find the consistency throughout the year. In tennis, to be a champion, you have to choose to do everything you have to succeed in your sport. I think today Maria is unable to do so.

She has to concentrate, practice and live for her tennis — no endorsements, publicity and wasting time outside of the court with other things that distract you from No. 1. Once and for all, in front of the mirror, she has to ask herself, 'What do I want to achieve in my career?' I have all the possibilities to be No. 1 and stay there for a long time, but this is the price I have to pay.

Additional info: Carlos also commented on Justine Henin’s possible return to tennis. He said Justine retired because she needed to prove to herself that she can do more than just hit the ball and will only likely consider a comeback once she has taken a very necessary mental break. (via Down the Line)

Tennis couple Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek was at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic.

Irresistible Radek took pictures of his 11 years younger girlfriend while she was walking with Czech flag at the event. Nice of him!

No rumors about this unexpected couple, everything seems to be all right in their relationship. (via Great Tennis Photos)

Vaidisova was defeated by Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-3 3-6 6-2, while Dementieva lost to Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 6-2.

Sugiyama dropped the first three games of the first set, then won eight straight against Vaidisova. Dementieva, who was competing for the first time since losing in Wimbledon semis, was broken five times by Cibulkova and won only 47% of her service points. (sources: CBS, BBC; photos: Getty Images)