Anastasia Rodionova

Anastasia Rodionova ended 2009 ranked No. 97 in WTA singles and No. 40 in WTA doubles.

Another Bun in the Oven: Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay Davenport has withdrawn from the Australian Open and is off the WTA indefinitely because she is pregnant with child No. 2.

Julia Vakulenko

Julia Vakulenko was born in the Ukraine but now plays with Spanish citizenship. She has four ITF singles titles and a high WTA singles ranking of 32nd.

Arrest Made over Sharapova Threats

Here's an odd (and sad) story: A former University of Wisconsin football player has been arrested over threats made regarding Maria Sharapova. The player, Leonard Taylor, played for the Badgers from 1995 to 1998. Over the past several months, he left dozens of phone messages for his former coach, Barry Alvarez, in which he told Alvarez (among other things) of a desire to marry Sharapova - but also made threats against Alvarez, against the life of Sharapova, and against Sharapova's family.

Anna Kournikova

We feature Anna Kournikova today because ... um ... er ... hey, do we really need a reason?

Jelena Jankovic

Say this for Jelena: She's not afraid of bold fashion statements.

Vania King

Vania King is an American tennis player of Chinese extraction who has one career WTA singles title (from 2006). She's known more as a doubles player, and her five career WTA doubles titles include two from the latter half of 2008 - one with Nadia Petrova in September; another in November with Anna-Lena Gronefeld.

Dinara Safina

The year 2008 has been a kind one to Dinara Safina. As this is written, she's No. 3 in the WTA singles rankings. Safina reached six finals in 2008, winning four tournament titles.

Venus Williams

Congratulations to Venus Williams, who won the WTA Sony Ericsson Championships for the first time on Sunday. Venus defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-7, 6-0, 6-2 in the finals.

Vera Zvonareva

Vera Zvonareva opened the WTA Sony Ericsson Championships as the 8th seed and with a victory over the 6th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova. Zvonareva entered the tournament ranked No. 9 in the world.

Elena Dementieva

Elena Dementieva at the 2008 WTA Championship launch party.

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Svetlana Kuznetsova at the WTA Championship seeding party. Svetlana enters that tournament ranked NO. 7 in the world.

Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Generali Ladies Linz in Linz, Austria. It was Ivanovic's first final since the French Open, but her third tournament title of 2008.

Dominika Cibulkova

Yellow.

Jelena Jankovic

Jelena Jankovic is back to No. 1 in the WTA world singles rankings after winning her last two tournaments. Those are the China Open (Sept. 22-28, 2008), and then the Porsche Grand Prix in Berlin, where Jankovic defeated Nadia Petrova in the final.

Maria Kirilenko

Maria Kirilenko, ranked No. 33 in the WTA singles rankings as of this writing, won her third title of 2008 on Sept. 28. She defeated Samantha Stosur for victory in the Korea Open. Kirilenko previously won the Estoril and Barcelona championships earlier in the year.

The Book on "Venus"

These images are from a new art book - a coffee-table book, so to speak - featuring Venus Williams photographed by fashion photographer Koto Bolofo. The photos are artistic and sensual, and Venus has never looked better.

The book is published by Steidl (www.steidlville.com) with a cover price of $60. Discounted copies are available on Amazon.

Amber Liu

California Amber Liu won the NCAA women's singles championships in 2004 and 2004 while playing for Stanford University. She is engaged to tennis Hall of Famer Michael Chang, who is also her coach.

Vanessa Menga

Vanessa Menga is now retired from competitive tennis, but she won a gold medal in doubles for Brazil at the 1999 Pan American Games, and reached a high of No. 163 in the WTA singles rankings. She has appeared in the Brazilian edition of Playboy.

Anna Kournikova New Maxim Shoot

Anna Kournikova is on the cover of the Maxim currently on newsstands. Here is one of the shots from the photo spread. See the rest at MaximOnline.com.

Monica Seles

As the 2008 U.S. Open winds down, let's not pass up the chance to post this photo of Monica Seles, looking better than ever, as she waves to the crown upon her introduction as a past champion.

Flavia Pennetta

Flavia Pennetta reached the quarterfinals at the 2008 U.S. Open before falling to Dinara Safina. Pennetta, from Italy, has two tournament wins so far this year, the Abierto Mexicano Telcel and the Cachantun Cup, both on clay; she's reached on other final. Her WTA singles ranking as of this writing is 19th.

Serena Williams

Serena Williams defeated sister Venus in the 2008 U.S. Open quarterfinals, 7-6, 7-6. As the Williams girls pointed out several times themselves in the run-up, it's a shame this matchup had to happen in the quarters, rather than the semis or finals.

Jelena Jankovic

This is Jelena Jankovic modeling the Reebok "dress" she's been wearing throughout the 2008 U.S. Open.

Elena Dementieva

Elena Dementieva won her 2008 U.S. Open quarterfinal match over Patty Schnyder in straight sets. Dementieva is currently ranked sixth in the WTA singles rankings. She has one tourney win so far in 2008, reached two other finals, and made it to the semifinals in three over events.

Patty Schnyder

Swiss player Patty Schnyder won her fourth-round match at the 2008 U.S. Open, defeating Katarina Srebotnik 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. Schnyder is up to No. 15 in the WTA singles rankings. She has reached one final so far in 2008, and one semifinal.

Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay Davenport lost to Marion Bartoli in straight sets at the 2008 U.S. Open in the third round. Could this be the final appearance for the American stalwart?

Ana Ivanovic

The biggest surprise thus far in the 2008 U.S. Open is the second-round loss of No. 1 seed Ana Ivanovic. It's the earliest exit from the tournament by a top seed since 1968. Ivanovic lost to Julie Coin, ranked No. 188 in the world, 3-6, 6-4, 3-6.

Elena Vesnina

Russian Elena Vesnina is the No. 71-ranked player in WTA singles going into the 2008 U.S. Open.

Venus Williams

Venus Williams gives a wave as she is introduced during the past champions stroll prior to the 2008 U.S. Open.

Dominika Cibulkova

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia won her first-rounder at the 2008 U.S. Open over Jill Craybas in straight sets. Perhaps she celebrated with a cocktail.

Kateryna Bondarenko

That's Kateryna Bondarenko on the left, with her sister - and doubles partner - Alona. Kateryna had the misfortune of drawing Serena Williams in Round 1 of the 2008 U.S. Open and, well, you know what happened.

Samantha Stosur

Australian Samantha Stosur fell in the first round of the 2008 U.S. Open to Venus Williams.

(photo via The Age)

Sorana Cirstea

Sorana Cirstea of Romania opened her 2008 U.S. Open with a victory over Lucie Safarova, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Cirstea's best showings of the year are four trips to the quarterfinals. Her WTA singles ranking at the time of this writing is 53rd.

Gabriela Sabatini

Gabriela Sabatini is another of the past champions who got to wave to the crowd on Day 1 of the 2008 U.S. Open.

Chris Evert

Chris Evert was among the past champions introduced to the crowd on Day 1 of the 2008 U.S. Open.

Caroline Wozniacki

Young up-and-comer Caroline Wozniacki won the U.S. Open tuneup in New Haven, Conn., the Pilot Pen, over the weekend. Wozniacki def. Anna Chakvetadze, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the final. It was the second tournament victory for Wozniacki this August.

Melanie Klaffner

Melanie Klaffner is a young Austrian tennis player who has enjoyed success on the ITF Tour. Melanie has two career ITF singles titles (Lenzerheide/2007; Bals/2006) and five career ITF doubles titles, including two in 2008 (Antalya-Manavgat in Turkey, and Galatina in Italy).

Her WTA world rankings at the time of this writing are 237 in singles and 200 in doubles.

Melanie has also been a member of the Austrian Fed Cup team since 2006. In January, she went 1-1 for Austria in a Fed Cup match against Argentina, securing her team's only point in the match.

Vera Zvonareva

Photo by Matthias Vriens/New York Times Magazine)

Russia's Vera Zvonareva was the bronze medal winner in Beijing, defeating China's Na Li, 6-0, 7-5. The 23-year-old has reached four WTA finals in 2008, winning the Prague Open in one of them. Unfortunately, in one she had to withdraw with an injury, and she ran up against Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams in the other two. But Zvonareva has moved up to 11th in the world rankings at the time of this writing.

Gold for Serena and Venus

The Williams sisters had a disappointing Olympics in singles, Serena and Venus each getting knocked out in the quarterfinals. But as a doubles team, they won gold in Beijing, just as they did eight years ago in Sydney. Serena and Venus dominated the Spanish duo of Anabel Medina and Virginia Ruano in the gold-medal match, 6-2, 6-0. Because the last photo of one of the Williams girls we ran was of Venus, we offer Serena Williams above for this post.

Dementieva Does It

Olympic gold for Elena Dementieva in Beijing. Dementieva defeated Dinara Safina in the gold-medal match, 3-6, 7-5 6-3.

Alona Bondarenko

Playing doubles for Ukraine with her sister Kateryna, Alona Bondarenko has advanced into the semifinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympic draw.

Na Li

Na Li of China gave the Beijing Games home crowd something to cheer about, booting Venus Williams out of the Olympic draw, 7-5, 7-5. Na has one WTA tournament championship in 2008 and has reached the finals in two other tourneys. She is No. 43 in the WTA singles rankings.

Elena Dementieva

Big win for Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals at the Olympic draw. Dementieva ousted Serena Williams, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the singles semifinals.

Ivanovic WDs at Olympics

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic is out of the 2008 Summer Olympics, without playing a match. Ivanovic withdrew on the first day of play in the Olympic tennis draw, citing a thumb injury.

"It was just too painful," the Serb said. "I haven't played at all the last 10 days. It's one of the hardest moments in my career. I'm very, very disappointed."

So are we, Ana, so are we.

Dominika Cibulkova

Dominika Cibulkova is a Slovakian who turned professional in 2005. She won once each on the ITF circuit in 2005 and 2006, and made her Grand Slam singles debut at the French Open in 2007. She has represented Slovakia in the Federation Cup multiple times. Cibulkova has moved up steadily in the WTA world rankings, climbing all the way to No. 20. She has reached two finals in 2008, losing to Maria Sharapova at the Bausch & Lomb Championships on clay, and falling to Dinara Safina at the Rogers Cup on hardcourts.

Sesil Karatantcheva

Bulgarian tennis player Sesil Karatantcheva turned pro at age 14 in 2003. She has been ranked as high as No. 35 in the world in singles, and has six ITF circuit singles titles.