Wimbledon is the most traditional tennis tournament and that conservativeness is reflected in the white clothing rule. But the color restriction is not limiting players to express themselves and challenge the set rules.

Bethanie Mattek Sands is always attracting a lot of attention with her look and for Wimbledon 2011 she reinvented herself in cooperation with Lady Gaga's designer – the jacket adorned with white tennis balls may have challenged the officials, but it is likely to end up in the Wimbledon Museum (one Bethanie's Wimbledon outfit is already there).

Venus Williams' outfit for Wimbledon is the second biggest shocker of the tournament. Her EleVen zipper jumper with an open back is definitely unique, whether you like it or not. I like the piece for bringing something new (it's not a dress, it's not a shorts and a top), but it reminds of pajamas. Also, I don't appreciate the visible brown bra in the back.

Nadia Petrova's message still hasn't reached her sponsor Ellesse, they simply don't want to give up the fluffy outfits.

Let's move on to some good examples. Read more »

Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki still hasn't lost a set at the tournament and she hasn't lost more than three games per set. Today the Dane defeated Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 6-2 and in the fourth round against Dominika Cibulkova she will be looking for her first Wimbledon quarterfinal. Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam where she hasn't played at that stage.

Twice-defending Wimbledon champion Serena Williams hit 10 aces and 32 winners to Maria Kirilenko's nine winners and scored her first straight-set victory in five matches since her return from a year-long absence. Final score was 6-3 6-2 and Serena will play Marion Bartoli in the fourth round, who beat Flavia Pennetta 5-7 6-4 9-7.

Maria Sharapova is also through and if she defeats Peng Shuai in the fourth round, a clash with Wozniacki is a possibility in the quarters. The fifth-seeded Russian, besides the Williams sisters the only player in the draw who has a Wimbledon title to her name, beat Klara Zakopalova in the third round, 6-2 6-3, but the victory didn't come smoothly. Read more »

Amidst a heated discussion about the role of the Williams sisters in today's tennis, world No.58 Simona Halep of Romania played an impressive first set against Serena Williams, but when the American found her rhythm she shook her opponent with her well-known powerful game and experience. Final score of this second-round match: 3-6 6-2 6-1.

Interestingly, in the first set Williams didn't earn a single break point, and in the next two sets it was Halep. It's also interesting to note that Halep committed zero unforced errors in the set she won, while Williams hit nine. In the third set, Halep had zero winners, compared to Williams' 13.  Read more »

Our regular contributor John Bolan, irritated by the behavior of Serena and Venus Williams who, he believes, are disrespecting the WTA Tour and the other players who work hard all-year long, is sharing his opinion with us. Read on!

For the last several years I have been following the antics of the Williams sisters. I have seen the broken agreements between them and various tournaments. I have been there when tournaments marketed them only to have them pull out at the last minute.  The fake injuries and the appearance fees taken to show up but they play only one match losing to a no body. All this stuff is well documented. It is too crazy to make up.

Last week the Williams sisters actually showed up for a couple of matches at Eastbourne before bowing out so they can model their newest togs in London. The tennis media went bonkers about them while forgetting all about the women who now lead the WTA and where tennis priorities should be. These two players make a mockery of the tennis world and the media but it seems people keep falling for their antics.

Read more »

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and twice defending champion Serena Williams both won their opening matches at Wimbledon 2011.

The top-seeded Wozniacki complained about the wind which was changing the course of her shots, but still she straightforwardly won her first match on grass this season 6-2 6-1 against world No.105 Arantxa Parra Santonja. Wozniacki's number of winners was not much greater than her opponent's, just 14 to 11, but the greater discrepancy in unforced errors gave Wozniacki the obvious advantage, 4 to 15.

Remember that as a Wimbledon warm-up Wozniacki played, and won, a hard-court tournament?

Serena had a tough test in the first round against world No.61 Aravane Rezai and after a 6-3 3-6 6-1 victory sealed with her 13th ace, Serena, who had been away with injury and illness for almost a year, was overwhelmed with emotions, put her head in a towel and wept. I'd like to mention that Serena hit 9 aces more than her opponent, but when it comes to winners, she had just two more, 24 to 22.

As I'm talking about Serena and Caroline in the same article, I'd like to mention Serena's recent interview in which she actually praises the current state of women's tennis.

I think the tour's doing fine. Great new campaigns going on, so much going on in women's tennis. There's so much depth in women's tennis. It's good. Everyone's playing so hard.

Fashion info: Wozniacki is sticking with her weird Adidas by Stella McCartney ruffles, only now in white. Serena is sporting a Fila-like Nike dress with a deep V-neck and a vertical black line as an accent. The name of the dress is Nike Women's Fall Smash Lawn Dress. (photos via Wimbledon)

As our faithful reader P!nky suggested, I'm making a poll for Wimbledon, a bit reluctantly, though, as Roland Garros winner Li Na was not even included in my Roland Garros poll which featured twelve names. This time I've narrowed down my list a bit, but if the player you favor is not included, feel free to add her in the comments section.

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Li Na is here because grass is her good surface and she won the French Open recently, although she did lose early to Daniela Hantuchova at the AEGON International. Talking about Hantuchova, I think her current form gives her big credentials for this year's Wimbledon, although her retirement in the semifinal against Petra Kvitova at Eastbourne is worrying. Kvitova played the Wimbledon semifinals last year and this weekend she played the final of Eastbourne which she lost to Marion Bartoli. I wanted to give justice to Bartoli and include her as well, because she won on the grass of the Wimbledon tune-up, has had a great win-loss record recently and played the final of Wimbledon in 2007. Caroline Wozniacki is world No.1, so she has to make the list. Serena Williams is defending champion, although she didn't impress in the lead-up to Wimbledon, while her sister Venus won the tournament five times. And last but not least, the 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who played impressively this clay-court season, and grass is her much better surface.

What do you say? Who do you think has the greatest chance to win Wimbledon 2011? (photo: Fimb)

The current Big Three of women's tennis, if I may call them that way – Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters – had very much different Wednesday. Serena lost in Eastbourne, Venus won, while Kim faced the fact that she would have to withdraw from Wimbledon because of her injury sustained yesterday in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Serena Williams survived a scrappy first-round encounter with Tsvetana Pironkova, but top seed Vera Zvonareva was a sterner opponent and even though Serena led 6-4 5-4 Zvonareva prolonged the match and won it 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 after three hours and 12 minutes of play. Positive news for Serena today is her Wimbledon seeding. The defending champion will be seed No.7, which is 19 places higher than her ranking, and will avoid the highest-ranked opponents until at least the quarterfinals. Read more »

If Serena Williams is known for something it's that she never gives up and when you watch her matches you have to know that no matter how desperate her situation is, she can always pull out a win. Today at the AEGON International Serena was in exactly that type of situation, trailing Bulgarian world No.34 Tsvetana Pironkova, who by the way took out Serena's sister Venus from last year's Wimbledon, 5-0 in the first set. However, Serena used her experience and Pironkova's lost opportunities to her advantage and bit by bit won the match 1-6 6-3 6-4. Interestingly, at the end of the match, Serena's total number of points was 80 and Pironkova's 79. Read more »

As a form of tribute to the Williams sisters' return to tennis, I decided to share this beautiful old story of the Williams family and update Women's Tennis Blog's section dedicated to players when they were kids.

The short film shows the beginnings of Venus' and Serena's careers, the LA ghetto neighborhood they grew up in, their father Richard's clear vision, and even a "respected author" who said "demographically tennis is still perceived as a white upper-class sport, I don't think there are people out there dying to give millions of dollars to a ten-year-old black girl". You also get to see a 13-year-old Venus and a year younger Serena talking, laughing and playing tennis.

More childhood photos of Serena and Venus are available here, while here you can see little Venus with her enthusiastic father on the tennis court. Read more »

Serena and Venus Williams are set to play the AEGON International in Eastbourne, and even though some fans are still finding it hard to believe the sisters will indeed show up, it is highly likely that their comeback is for real. To celebrate the return of the biggest names, the WTA Tour has even made a short video of the Williamses practicing ahead of their first competitive tournament in a long time – Serena hasn’t played since last year’s Wimbledon, which is practically a year, and Venus hasn’t played since January’s Australian Open (while even before that, after Roland Garros 2010 she played only Wimbledon and the US Open). Read more »