The Olympic Games are just around the corner and all the tennis players who have qualified are excited about joining the biggest sporting event in the world, while those left behind are dreaming about being able to play the next time. Now I'd like to ask you: Do you think the Olympic Tennis Event is at par with Grand Slams or do you see the gold medal as less important than a Grand Slam trophy?

Here's what WTA players are saying:

It’s getting closer and closer. I’m getting little butterflies in my stomach. As a tennis player, you get to play Grand Slams what seems every other week. You don’t think about the Olympics. It’s an added bonus. – SERENA WILLIAMS, 2000 and 2008 gold medalist with sister Venus in the women’s doubles

The Olympics is one of my biggest goals. Growing up, the Olympics was a huge part of our culture, so I can’t wait to be an Olympian. – MARIA SHARAPOVA, Russia's first female flag-bearer Read more »

During the 2012 French Open Croatian Petra Martic attracted the most attention so far in her career by reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time and ousting a Top 10 player, Marion Bartoli, for the first time. Following the claycourt Grand Slam, Martic ascended to a career-high of No.42 in the WTA rankings. Lured by her spring success, I decided to feature the 21-year-old Petra in the Childhood Photos and Videos of Women's Tennis Players series.

At the age of four, little Petra approached her mother Sandra with a definite decision that she wants to be a tennis player, even though her mother played handball and her father soccer. Besides naming tennis as her profession of choice, Petra added: Read more »

Fila has revealed the Olympic collection, containing different outfits for each country: Serbia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Spain, Romania, Italy, Belgium, Slovenia, New Zealand, etc.

Serbian Jelena Jankovic will wear a predominantly red Essenza Dress, with touches of the other two colors from the Serbian flag – blue and white. On the chest, besides the Fila logo, there is Serbian coat-of-arms, while the back features Serbian flag.
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With the Olympic Games approaching fast, occasion is perfect to enrich our WTA Players and their Boyfriends/Husbands series with the information about a couple of a women's tennis player and an Olympic medalist – Hungarians Greta Arn and her famous boyfriend Zsolt Nemcsik.

The 33-year-old Arn is the winner of two WTA titles (Auckland and Estoril) and her highest ranking was No.40, achieved in May 2011. Her boyfriend, 34, is a sabre fencer and one of his greatest achievements was a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Thank you, Patty, for telling me about Arn's boyfriend and contributing to our series, which is so far featuring the marriages of Karolina Sprem, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez and Elena Dementieva. Stay tuned, a lot more content is waiting to be added! Also, feel free to send me your tips about the partners of WTA players via Women's Tennis Blog's contact form. (photos: WTA, © Neal Trousdale)

In their first meeting in almost four years, second seed Dominika Cibulkova defeated good friend and top seed Marion Bartoli 6-1 7-5 in the final of the Mercury Insurance Open for her second WTA title and second Premier one.

Before their encounter in the final, Bartoli said:

Dominika and I love to practice with each other. We've practiced many times. We have been best friends since so many years now. It's obviously a final, so we're going to try our best to win, but it's great to play against your best friend, because even if you lose, you're happy for them.

After losing the first game of the match, Cibulkova won the next six to win the first set, while in the second she was trailing 4-1 before taking six of the next seven games and winning the match to add the Carlsbad title to her last year's Moscow.  Read more »