In her first match in four months Kim Clijsters, feeling "perhaps fitter than ever", defeated world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in a singles match-up at the 2011 Diamond Games exhibition, 6-2 7-6(5). The Belgian continued with a 6-2 6-1 victory in doubles, playing with her younger sister Elke Clijsters, an ITF Junior Doubles World Champion, while Wozniacki was teamed up with Belgian world No.26 Yanina Wickmayer.

The 10,000 spectators at the Antwerp Sports Palace were treated to a number of entertaining stunts.

Wozniacki and Clijsters were imitating infamous WTA screamers: Read more »

Venus Williams may have played only 11 matches in four tournaments during 2011, but the abundance and shockingness of her outfits makes me have an impression she played at least 15 events this season. The tennis champion is a graduate in fashion design and has her own EleVen clothing line, but I advise you to dull your receptors before checking out what she had on offer during the 2001 season.

Even though Venus' designs in 2010 raised quite a few eyebrows and made a lot of tennis fans say "what?" and "why?", right at the beginning of the year the American pushed her own boundaries of tackiness with a dress whose top is some yellow net and bottom a blur of undefinable colors.

Even though she played only three matches at the January's grand stage, Venus had a different dress ready for each one of them. Fellow tennis fashion shocker Bethanie Mattek Sands may admire Venus for the fact that she designs her own clothes, but I can only assume that Bethanie is speaking for the minority. Read more »

Earlier this week I published an interview with Bethanie Mattek Sands, so now it's a perfect time to share some of her childhood photos. This first one is HILARIOUS! You know that I practically never use all caps in my writing, but I had to use them this time. The Indian-style Bethanie, with long blond pleats, super cute!

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Another fashion retrospection, another first-time honor. Women's Tennis Blog's apparel overviews date back to 2007 and on Sunday I featured Nike representative Petra Kvitova for the first time. Now let's have a look at one more hot player of 2011, new Top 10 member – Adidas-clad Andrea Petkovic.

We opened this season's fashion retrospections with Caroline Wozniacki and Adidas by Stella McCartney, but let's check out a more sporty Adidas – the colorful Barricade.

Petkovic opened the season with a runner-up finish to Petra Kvitova at Brisbane in an all-pink ensemble, and continued it by reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals switching two outfits from the Barricade line which was all about the refreshing green and red, and white. Have a look at my 2011 Australian Open fashion focus, Justine Henin and Maria Kirilenko also looked great wearing the line. Read more »

A year ago I interviewed Bethanie Mattek Sands about her favorite tennis outfit, her tattoos, her best friends on the WTA Tour, etc. This fall I had an opportunity to interview the American again and I asked her about her 2011 season, her leisure activities and of course her opinion on the on-court WTA fashion.

MARIJA: What will you remember the 2011 season for?

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: Even though my 2011 season ended early due to injury I was able to reach a career high ranking and still get some of my best wins to date. The win at Hopman Cup with my partner John Isner was an amazing start to my season and I really felt I was able to gain some momentum and confidence. Off the court I have to say the Wimbledon Player Party will always be memorable as I got to rock a custom Alex Noble dress on the red carpet.

MARIJA: How is your shoulder injury now? Will you be perfectly healthy for the start of the new season and the Hopman Cup?

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: I'm happy to say my shoulder has come along way from where it was. I've been able to practice the last couple weeks but the time off and rehab I was able to take really helped it heal up. I'm excited to be going back to Perth for Hopman Cup at the end of December. If it wasn't such a far flight I would be "down under" more often!

MARIJA: What was your favorite activity you had more time for during the rehabilitation process? I read that you enjoyed cooking? Read more »