Here is what Ana Ivanovic will probably wear at the first two Grand Slams of 2009 – Women's adilibria Dresses from adidas.

The dresses have a drop waist and pleats on the shoulder and bottom of skirt for movement and ease of the garment in motion.

The violet one is for the 2009 Australian Open, while the cyan version is for the 2009 French Open.

What do you think of the dresses? I find them somewhat conservative, would like them to be more open. The colors are nice, though. However, at first glance I don’t see Ana in those dresses. But who knows, I might change my mind when I see them on her.

The Australian Open might be in danger of disappearing, but they’re certainly not willing to give up.

Their aim is to take the Australian Open experience to a new level for both players and fans. Among other initiatives, record prize money will be offered in 2009.

The players at the Australian Open 2009 will be competing for a record AUD$22 million in prize money. The men’s and women’s singles winners will each win AUD$1.7m – an increase of more than 25 per cent.

The next Australian Open will take place from January 19th to February 1st, 2009. (source: Australian Open)

Justine Henin's clash with Maria Sharapova in this year's Australian Open quarterfinals was accompanied with something that proved to be an incident – Sharapova’s father Yuri ran a hand across his throat. Henin didn’t seem to like that and she even complained to the WTA Tour.

The world number one telephoned WTA Tour CEO Larry Scott after her quarterfinal loss to the eventual Australian Open champion. Read more »

May be strange but the best point of the recently finished Australian Open happened in the first round, and on the first day. It was in the match between third seed Jelena Jankovic and rising star Tamira Paszek, on Paszek's first match point, in the third set at 5-4. During the point, there were at least three occasions when I though it was over for Jankovic. But, she defended so well and stayed in the match eventually winning 2-6 6-2 12-10.

Jankovic could have lost in the first round, but her fighting and extreme determination won the match, and in the end she turned out to be the semifinalist, beating even defending champion Serena Williams in the quarters!

Impressive Maria Sharapova defeated Ana Ivanovic in the final of the 2008 Australian Open, or as some people called it a "glam slam" decider, referring to the glamor and beauty of the two young tennis stars. The trophy ceremony was very emotional for both Maria and Ana, and I'm sure for many fans all around the world.

Read more »

Russia’s Maria Sharapova won her third career Grand Slam title with a 7-5 6-3 victory over Serbia's Ana Ivanovic at the 2008 Australian Open.

Last year, Sharapova won only three games in the Australian Open final against Serena Williams, but this year she was simply unstoppable. During the whole tournament at Melbourne Park fifth-seeded Sharapova hasn't dropped a set, and I believe that in the final there was nothing Ivanovic could have done to win the match, if she had taken her chances, she could have only made it longer. Read more »

Unseeded Ukrainian sisters Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko won the Australian Open women’s doubles title beating 12th seeds Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Israeli Shahar Peer 2-6 6-1 6-4.

It was the first time the Bondarenko sisters had won a doubles title in their 38th tournament playing together. Alona Bondarenko believes that the key to success may be the fact that they stopped fighting on the court, and started listening to each other.

Their previous best was reaching three semifinals in WTA Tour events.

Reminder: In singles Alona was seeded 21st and lost to Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki in the second round, while unseeded Kateryna lost in the first round to France’s Aravane Rezai. (source: Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

The Australian Open website is not the only virtual place where you can get involved with the first Grand Slam of the year. If you can’t visit the Melbourne Park in real life, you can do it in Second Life, an Internet-based virtual world. Plus, there is a competition in this cyber world where you can even win some money, virtual money though.

You can test out your designing skills at IBM's competition. The person who designs the best virtual tennis outfit will win $250,000 Linden dollars, virtual currency used in Second Life. Of course, you can’t use this money in the real world, but with it you can buy plenty of things in the universe of Second Life.

The winner of IBM's competition will be announced on January 25. I'm looking forward to the results of the competition, I suppose there will be some inspiring, fresh, and futuristic designs. (source: Australian Open)