Alicia Molik officially announced her retirement after a long run of injuries, including a debilitating inner-ear virus.

When she reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in 2005 Molik achieved her career-high of No.8, but spent most of the rest of the season off the circuit because of the virus.

"Injuries and niggles are part of being an athlete, and you accept it, but every time you suffer a setback it’s not just difficult physically but it’s very emotionally draining as well," Molik said.

"It’s difficult getting back on the horse every single time and trying to attain the same level."

Molik is planning to commit herself to new interests: "I think I’m still young enough to focus my energies on something that I feel is again challenging."

The 27-year-old Australian won five singles and seven doubles titles in her twelve year professional career, as well as the bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics. (sources: On the Baseline, ESPN)

Getting Personal has sent me a personal tennis calendar, so I've decided to write a little article about the present I received.

You can choose to personalize your calendar with a name or a company's name — I wanted to have one dedicated to Women's Tennis Blog. It’s nice. I especially like the fact that you can order these calendars whenever you want because they start in the month that you choose. So, you're not restricted to the beginning of the year, but you get twelve months from the starting point you want.

I believe, however, that they work a bit better with personal names than with the names of companies, or in my case the names of blogs, because it looks a bit odd that Women’s Tennis Blog is playing against Murray.

Here you can read more info about these calendars and see the image gallery.

After the cut you can see two photos of Women's Tennis Blog's personal calendar. Read more »

Hello dear readers!

Just to tell you I'm taking some time off, I'm going on vacation, to Greece, and Women's Tennis Blog's posting schedule will be slower in the next 13 days. I've prepared a number of articles in advance to keep you entertained, but only maybe will I follow the latest tennis news.

See you in two weeks!

World No.61 Ashley Harkleroad who yesterday lost to Serena Williams 6-2 6-1 in the first round of Roland Garros, revealed that she posed for the August edition of Playboy magazine.

"I'm proud of my body. I was representing a female athlete's body," Harkleroad said after the match.

"I'll be the first tennis player ever. That's kind of cool." Read more »

I've written a guest post for On the Baseline Tennis News on the topic that perplexes many people – What's the Secret behind the Rise of Serbian Tennis?. The article, which is part of On the Baseline’s Tennis 101 series, is my attempt at solving the mystery behind the enormous success of Serbian tennis. I hope I’ve succeeded in my task, at least to some extent. Of course, in the comments section I would like to hear your view on the topic.