You can finally buy items from Venus Williams’ EleVen clothing line as her partnership with the Gilt Group has materialized. Go to Gilt.com, sign up and you can add some of Venus’ famous dresses to your collection, like the white one, called the Goddess Dress, in which Venus won her fifth Wimbledon title in 2008.

Dress prices currently range from $79 to $99. As I can see they are on sale now and the sale ends August 30, 6 am CET. So use the opportunity if you want to "Look like a ten, feel like an EleVen".

Venus is happy that her designs have come to life again and said that new items will be available at Gilt.com in the future.

Additional info: Remind yourselves of Venus' 2008 and 2009 on-court outfits. (via Tennis Served Fresh)

Venus Williams will be at Macy's Herald Square in NYC this Thursday to celebrate POLO Ralph Lauren's new line of tennis apparel. The tennis champion will be on hand to meet with fans in the Men’s POLO Ralph Lauren department.

Starting at 6 pm, shoppers will have the opportunity to mingle with Venus Williams, and any customer who purchases $50 or more of Ralph Lauren merchandise will receive a signed photo of Venus Williams. Those still hungry for more can make a purchase of $100 or more and receive 2 tickets to Arthur Ashe Day at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

So, if you’re in New York make sure to catch the chance.

World No.4 Venus Williams has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup in Montreal due to a left knee injury. Williams was supposed to play in Montreal for the first time.

Top-ranked Serena Williams will also miss the event because of the right foot injury she sustained when stepping on broken glass at a restaurant. Another Top 5 player, Samantha Stosur, will not play the US Open warmup either, because of an arm injury.

Let’s recall the words of the Montreal tournament director, Eugene Lapierre, when he initially refused to give Ana Ivanovic a wildcard:

"If we didn’t already have the best players in the world, if we didn’t get all the players we think we can get, my choice would certainly be for the wild cards to go to international players, because you want to sell the attraction. But we have them, so it’s normal to give the chance to young players."

Fellow blogger C Note said it well: "But it's ok, you guys!  They have Stephanie Dubois and Valerie Tetreault!  They'll be fine." (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Serena and Venus Williams have committed to play for their country in the 6-7 November Fed Cup final against Italy. The sisters haven’t participated in the tournament since 2007.

The United States will host the event at the San Diego Sports Arena and other members of the team will be Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and doubles world No.1, Liezel Huber.

"I strongly believe that this team can win the Fed Cup title on our home soil,"  said US Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez.

The United States hasn’t won a Fed Cup title since 2000, and in last year’s final the US team didn’t win a single match against Italy. (photo: Emmett Anderson)

Venus Williams launched her EleVen fashion collection in the end of 2007 and it was being sold exclusively at Steve & Barry’s. However, the company went bankrupt the following year and EleVen was left alone.

Venus has now come out with good news during a Q&A for Sports Illustrated, saying that EleVen will partner with the Gilt Group:

As for EleVen, this is really somewhat breaking news, but I will be partnering with The Gilt Group over the next year to host exclusive quarterly sales of the EleVen collection on Gilt.com/EleVen. The first sale is coming later this month before the US Open. You will be able to find out the details, which are coming soon, on my website, Twitter and Facebook. We are also in advanced discussions with a retail partner and as soon as next summer you will likely be able to find EleVen at traditional retail outlets.

(via Down the Line)

CNN's Kate Giles reports on the lucrative sports deals that tennis players have and how valuable they are to their sponsors. Some top players earn more money off the court than on the court (even though their earnings from playing tournaments are enormous).

Look at our favorite Maria Sharapova as an example: the Russian has a $65 million deal with Nike (don’t forget ALL the other sponsors she has) and her total career prize money is about $13 million which includes three Grand Slam titles. What makes tennis players so interesting to sports brands is the fact that they are not famous only within the niche of tennis but their celebrity status spreads much further.

The second part of the video is even more interesting. It shows how tennis and fashion have always complemented each other and it takes us 120 years back. The TV presenter tries on one of the women's tennis outfits from the past. Remember that we discussed how it would be a cool statement to introduce some of those fashion elements from history to the present (it was in our article called "Wimbledon evolution in video, history photos"). It took Kate half an hour to put the complete 11-piece outfit on! However, I’m still for bringing back some details from the past. (source: CNN’s Open Court)

World No.1 Serena Williams won the 2010 ESPY award for the Best Female Tennis Player. Her competition in the category were sister Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters. Serena was also nominated for the Best Female Athlete alongside Lindsey Vonn (Skiing), Maya Moore (NCAA Basketball) and Diana Taurasi (WNBA) but the award went to Lindsey Vonn.

Kim Clijsters won the 2010 ESPY award for the Best Comeback Athlete for her magnificent run to the 2009 US Open title. The Belgian was unranked at the time and played only her third tournament after a two-year break and a child birth. After the title she propelled to No.19 in the rankings.

Venus Williams stayed short of the ESPY award, but she got another one – the Phenomenal Woman of the Year Award – at the event held in downtown Los Angeles at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel at 500 S. Grand Avenue. The theme of the event was "Saluting Women who Change the Game". (photos: Ralf Reinecke, Twenty90seven)

On Monday night world No.1 Serena Williams hosted a pre-ESPY party in Bel Air, California, and was joined by sister Venus Williams whose presence at the event attracted more attention. Venus was wearing a nice white dress, which would be fine for a photo shoot, but when you have to move, it causes some problems evidenced below. Read more »