Until she showed up on court to play her first round match at the Australian Open we didn’t know for sure which dress Maria Sharapova would be wearing.

First, we were convinced it would be the brown dress called Nike Sharapova Australian Open Flora dress. But no! Daniela Hantuchova sported it at the last week’s tournament in Sydney, so we thought there was no way the Russian fashionista and last year's Australian Open runner-up would wear something non-exclusive at a Grand Slam.

Finally, the mystery is resolved — Sharapova is wearing that same dress, but the color is different. Good enough.

BTW: In the first round, fifth-seeded Maria Sharapova defeated Croatia’s Jelena Kostanic Tosic 6-4 6-3, and will next play Lindsay Davenport, who has just climbed to the top of the list of the highest earners in women’s sport. (via Tennis Served Fresh)

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Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia advanced to the second round of the Australian Open after a long and totally undecided encounter with Austrian prodigy Tamira Paszek.

Except for a few moments in the match when she really shined, Jankovic made lots of double faults and unforced errors, easily lost her service games, nothing went her way, and on top of all that, struggled with the injury she sustained in the Hopman Cup. The 17-year-old Paszek, on the other hand, was strong, her shots were fast and precise, and overall played much better.

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The Australian Open was run by just four full-time staff members sixteen years ago, while today that number is 140.

Sarah Clement, who is now Tennis Australia’s general manager of operations and events, was one of those four people and she shared with the public what it was like to organize the Australian Open back then.

"We were responsible for everything – players, sponsors, staffing, site, contractors, media, you name it," she explains.

"It was the four of us and we did everything. You literally did have a nervous breakdown. It’s a bit blurred, I think I literally ran for three weeks."

Can you imagine that a Grand Slam was prepared in this way? How things have changed. The 2008 Australian Open is organized by 140 full-time staff members, and a total of over 4000 people will work around the clock to deliver what is planned to be the biggest and best Australian Open ever. (source: Australian Open)

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Former world number four Jelena Dokic failed to qualify for the 2008 Australian Open, and now she’s angry at Tennis Australia (TA) for not giving her a wildcard.

Besides criticizing them for not supporting her in times of crisis, she also questioned the wildcard selection policy.

"The issue is who they (TA) gave it to. They didn't even wait to see how I would play in Hobart. The wildcards were announced after the first day of qualifying in Hobart, so I was disappointed they didn't even take me into consideration," said the 24-year-old Dokic, who was hoping to revive her career through the Australian Open.

"I definitely think I deserved a wildcard into the main draw, I think I've done more in one week and had more big wins in one week than some of those girls have in their whole careers."

Dokic also said that some selectors were bias and unfair because they gave the wildcards to their trainees. (source: DNA, photo: Getty Images)

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Jelena Dokic’s big plans of competing at the 2008 Australian Open are over as she failed to qualify losing 6-2 6-1 to Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand in the second round.

What was one of most anticipated matches of the day turned out to be a one-sided affair. The former Wimbledon semi-finalist, who reached a career-high ranking of fourth in 2002, was outplayed by Tanasugarn, who broke early in the first set and never looked back.

The 24-year-old Dokic will have to be patient and try to impress us at some other tournament. I hope her comeback will turn into a successful one. (photo via Australian Open)

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