Sabine Lisicki recently did an interview with Ellery Maddocks for Tennis Now, chatting about how she turned her hatred for grass into love, the excitement she has for Wimbledon and the London Olympics, cooperation with Longines, the constant travels of tennis players, etc.

Here's my favorite part of the interview, where Sabine explains how the grass surface troubled her not only because of its uniqueness but grass itself caused her health problems:

I used to hate it, the first time I went there (Wimbledon) I actually think I lost 5 straight matches on grass plus one doubles, and then I turned it around in 2009 where I went to the quarterfinals. I have a string grass allergy, so there was a lot against it, but at some point I just turned it around. I just love it now, it plays differently, it's quicker obviously which is good for my service, which is one of my weapons.

Last year at the grasscourt Birmingham Lisicki won the title and went on to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon, her first and only Grand Slam semifinal appearance. However, Lisicki exited this week's Birmingham tournament in the second round already, losing to Urszula Radwanska 6-3 6-4. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

During Roland Garros we saw a lot of Sabine Lisicki, at least here in Europe on Eurosport, driving fast in the Tennis-Point.com commercial, and now the second highest-ranked German has been picked by Nike for their new "Play" campaign featured in Vogue. The 22-year-old Nike Girl is the only tennis player chosen for the project which celebrates the love women have for their favorite sport. The campaign includes a short film in which female athletes share what their sport means to them.

I love Sabine's look – the blond Addams Family edition. Elegant, on the edge and romantic at the same time. (via The Slice)

At the Qatar Total Open, in an all-German first-round encounter between fresh first-time WTA titlist Angelique Kerber and ninth seed Sabine Lisicki, the newer German force took charge, overcame stomach problems, came back from a set down and upset her friend Lisicki 4-6 6-4 6-1. Kerber believes they both played a great match, while Lisicki finds she hadn't committed as many unforced errors in the past ten tournaments she played. Just to mention, the Paris title rose Kerber from No.27 to No.22 in the rankings this week.

Seed No.15 Daniela Hantuchova, who just like Kerber won a WTA title over the weekend, is out of the Qatar Total Open in Doha, having wasted a one-set lead and then falling in the third-set tiebreaker to Simona Halep 3-6 6-2 7-6(4). Romania's Halep overcame a leg injury, and with an aggressive baseline game and good tiebreak clinched one of the biggest victories of her career.

Later in the day, Flavia Pennetta took out eleventh seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 2-6 7-5. Pennetta won two points more than Cibulkova and took the victory.

Defending champion at the tournament is Vera Zvonareva, who will after a first-round bye play Monica Niculescu in the second round. Last week at Pattaya, Zvonareva retired from her quarterfinal in the third set against Sorana Cirstea with a left hip injury. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The 2012 has gained its full swing with the Australian Open, and our loyal contributor and reader John Bolan would like to share his predictions of how the Top 10 rankings will look like at the end of the season. Don't forget to share your Top 10 picks in the comments, as John will send the person whose predictions turn out to be the closest to the actual 2012 year-end Top 10 a picture with an autograph of a Top 10 player. Nice incentive!

Once again, it is time to pick the Top 10 players in the order they will finish on December 31, 2012. We have had a few weeks to observe which players have played well this year. Logic, injuries and where the players finished for 2011 are the main criteria used to make these picks.

My pick for number 1 in 2012 is Victoria Azarenka (I also picked Victoria for number 1 in 2011). She squeaked by Maria Sharapova for third place last year, but is definitely a rising young star whose time has come. Maria is my pick for the runner-up spot – number 2. Let’s hope she stays healthy for the remainder of the year.

Three players who have already been injured this year are Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Andrea Petkovic. Do we take a chance and put any of them in the Top 10? Kim is my #3 pick and Serena #4. Although Andrea is the most sensational player in women’s tennis, she is seriously injured and will miss months on the tour in 2012. Read more »

There was a big women’s tennis exhibition event in Singapore during the weekend, and elsewhere in Asia there was more relaxed tennis going on – the reigning Roland Garros champion Li Na welcomed fellow WTA star Sabine Lisicki and men’s tennis greats Pete Sampras and Carlos Moya in her hometown of Wuhan, China, for an exhibition tournament. Read more »