Venus Williams' skin-colored underwear raises eyebrows at Australian Open

Venus Williams appeared to moon crowds at the Australian Open, but in fact the tennis star was wearing flesh-colored underwear.

We see London, we see France, where is Venus' underpants?

That's likely what crowds at the Australian Open have been asking themselves since tennis legend Venus Williams took to the court and appeared to flash her backside last week.

However, the 29-year-old star was quick to put any rumors to rest via Twitter.

"I am wearing undershorts the same color as my skin, so it gives the slits in my dress the full effect!" she wrote on Thursday.

For the last few days during the tournament, Venus has donned a bright green one-piece, with undergarmets that match her dark skin. This sparked debate online that she had elected to battle her opponents commando style.

"Please put on some decent panties. I do not watch tennis to see your exposed buttocks!" wrote one fan on her website, venuswilliams.com.

Reaction to the ensemble has been mixed, based on the posts.

"I just love her dress it has flare and it has imagination," wrote "margaret joyce." However, "Susan A. Yeck" had a different reaction.

"Your choice of outfit at a Grand slam tournament (or any tournament) was disgusting," she posted. "People really do not want to see your body parts exposed."

Although the mixed response may have come from the illusion she was naked, photos (like the one above) clearly show she was thoroughly covered. Venus indicated via Twitter that she was pleased with her choice to wear the outfit.

"My dress for the Austrailian Open has been one of my best designs ever! Its all about the slits and V-Neck," she wrote.

Whatever she may wear, the famous sibling has been burying her opponents at the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific. She defeated Casey Dellacqua on Saturday in the second set.

Venus will play along side her sister on Sunday against Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka.

Source: Dailynews

Interview with Vera Zvonareva

Alex Kay has the chance to interview Vera Zvonareva and this is what the Russian has to say...

On kicking on from reaching her first Grand Slam in Australia: I’m not really thinking about it. I’m trying to improve no matter what, I have lots of room for improvement but I’m always confident in myself. I’ve got a lot more experience now and I’m a more mature player.

On how long Russia can continue to produce top players: There are quite a few good juniors coming up but also, if you look at all of us, Dinara is only 22; Elena Dementieva is 27 and probably has a couple more years to play; Svetlana is 23; I’m top 10 and I’m 24 and then there are a few other players and they’re all younger than 25, so I’m sure we will see lots of Russians in the next year or two. But we also have people like Ksenia Pervak, who won the Junior Australian Open final (against Laura Robson).

On why Russian tennis became so strong: Tennis became so popular thank to Boris Yeltsin. We had such a great champion in Yevgeny Kafelnikov and then Anna Kournikova was one of the first ones on the female side. Then it was Anastasia (Myskina) and Elena coming up and lots of girls were practising with them, growing up looking up to them. They started to believe in themselves more, thinking they deserved to be out there as well. We challenged each other a little bit, which helped each other to improve because we practised with each other, we trained in the same facilities and it just made us better and better.

On developing kids: We have lots of great kids' coaches. We don’t have so many Russian coaches working with the professional players on the tour but I think we have great coaches for the kids. They see the talent, work with them, so we get a lot of great juniors but after that everyone makes their own way. Tennis is not cheap, you need money and facilities so lots of juniors are then forced to move somewhere else. So I stayed in Russia when I was young and then I practised over in the US when I was 16 or 17 for quite a while.

On tennis and the credit crunch: I think it might make it a little bit more difficult because to create a good player you need lots of sponsorship for most kids. Most parents can’t afford it because you have to travel, you have to compete, you have to get the experience. It will make it difficult but if we have lots of talent and lots of kids playing tennis, the challenge itself will still produce lots of good players.

On the difficulties of success at Wimbledon: It’s very tough to make Wimbledon a priority. Of course it’s a Grand Slam and of course I want to do as well as possible out there because I love the tournament, but I only get the chance to play one tournament on grass before Wimbledon and I really never get the chance to practise on the grass courts. If you look at my whole career, you can literally county how many weeks I’ve played on grass. It would be something like 20 weeks in total throughout my career since I was six years old. It’s not enough so it’s very difficult to produce your best tennis. But I will try to maybe change my preparation because Wimbledon is a special tournament. It’s not only a Grand Slam, it’s something with so many traditions that I have been watching on TV since I was a kid.

2008 World Championship Ice Dance Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski

Compulsory Dance
Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski are Russian ice dancers and the 2008 World bronze medalists. They ended the night with 203.26 points. The compulsory dance was to the "Argentine Tango."

The color goes well with the music, red and black usually shows the drama of the tango. The style of the costumes are okay. Sergei looks good in black and I like the simplicity of his costume. The black satin button-down shirt with quarter sleeves gives a sophisticated yet casual style that fits the music well. I like it that he pulled back his hair, but he should get a trim.

The style of Jana's dress is not very pleasing. I like the style of the skirt and beadings on the dress. But I didn't like how the color faded into pink and black. I really don't like the black gloves she's wearing. I liked that she pulled her hair back and added a black flower, it pulls outfit together nicely.

I give it 1/2

Original Dance

For their original dance, they skated to "Two Guitars" by Paul Mauriat, a Russian Gypsy Dance.

Instead of Russian Gypsy, these costumes remind me more of "carribean-flamenco" style. The bright pink, orange, and green reminds me of a luau and the flower patterns remind me of a Hawaiian theme style.

The good: the fringes and the black relates to the music. The bad: the color, the style, Sergei's covered boots, and so on. I don't mind the color, it brightens up the costume, but it doesn't relate very well to the music. Jana's dress (if you can call it a dress) is very busy and very revealing. The cut-outs in the bodice is not bad, but it's barely a dress. The skirt is busy with fringes, flower-patterned shawl, and etc. And why is there a fabric wrapped around her arm?

With Sergei's costume, it's ugly. I get that he's matching his partner's costume, but what is with the big flower all over the right side of his shirt?! And his shirt is way too low (button them up a bit). The black boots over the skates make him look like a pirate!

Overall, I give it 1/2

Free Dance

For their free dance, they skated to "A Night on Bald Mountain" by Modest Mussorgski and "In The Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt" by Edvard Grieg.

He's suppose to be a demon and she's a witch. The costume, like the music, is very "Halloween-like" and very theatrical and "costume-ish." On the other hand, the style of these costumes is very busy and distracting.

Jana's dress (again if you would call it as a dress) has a lot going on. Some details I like are the designs on the dress such as the spider webs to personify her character. But I feel like pieces are going to fall off as she skates (it happened to Sergei once with the million frills he's wearing).

Like Jana, Sergei's costume is very busy. He's wearing more frills than any of the ladies in these competitions. I hate the blue and red strands on his pants that cover his boots. But his scruffy look and his long hair depicts his character very well.

Silent killer Maria Kirilenko dumps Maria Sharapova

TWO things made everyone sit up and take notice of young Russian Maria Kirilenko on Rod Laver Arena yesterday.

Firstly, she beat 2008 Australian Open champion and former world No 1 Maria Sharapova in straight sets in the opening match of the tournament.

Secondly, she created a sensation with the simple gesture of putting her finger to her lips late in the third set.

Was she trying to quieten down the rallying cries from the crowd for Sharapova to keep fighting? After all, Sharapova had crawled back from 4-1 down to 5-4 and only had to hold serve in the 10th game to get back on level pegging at 5-5.

But it was not to be. Sharapova was down two match points on her own serve and after saving one, she sent a cross-court forehand over the sidelines to hand victory to her 22-year-old compatriot and friend 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 6-4 in three hours and 21 minutes.

If they'd stayed on court 13 minutes longer they would have broken the Chanda Rubin-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario record from 1996 of the longest women's singles match in Australian Open history.

As it was, all everyone wanted to know was why Kirilenko had put her fingers to her lips.

Countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova thought she was mimicking Russian soccer player Andrei Arshavin, who was part of Arsenal's 2-0 win over Bolton in English Premier League action earlier yesterday.

"It's unbelievable. I got so many questions in the locker room, in the players' lounge. What did you do? What does it mean?" Kirilenko said.

"I don't know. Everyone can think what does that mean. Normally, it was for me actually, that everything is calm, you know."

The 22-year-old has a mature head on her shoulders.

She knows there will be much fuss made of her second career win over Sharapova (the other was in Beijing in 2005) but she is a realist.

"It's a great win, but it's only the first round I pass. It's like nothing big happens," she said.

But the 1700-plus media contingent was intrigued whether Sharapova's shoulder surgery, which forced her to miss the 2008 US Open and 2009 Australian Open, was still not giving her enough consistency on what used to be one of her weapons.

"I served big when I had to. I served big second serves," Sharapova said, rebuffing that line of questioning.

"You know, if I'm going to serve at that pace and do it for three hours and make those types of mistakes, then I'm okay with it."

Sharapova also dished out nine aces to Kirilenko's one, although she gave away 11 free points through double faults.

Sharapova also made an uncharacteristic 77 unforced errors.

"Just didn't win the match. You know, bottom line," Sharapova said when asked what went wrong.

The Kirilenko camp will be riding high, especially boyfriend Igor Andreev, who is set to play his first-round match today against world No 1 Roger Federer.

"He had Federer and I have Sharapova. I think before the matches he said that we can start the year like loud," she said laughing. "And I already start the year loud, I think. So now, his turn."

Earlier another Russian winner, Dinara Safina had to defend her 2009 season, which started with a humiliating 78-minute loss to Serena Williams in the Australian Open final and ended with severe back pain at the WTA Championships in Doha.

"It was still a great season. You know, I didn't make a grand slam (win) but I still won big tournaments," Safina said after defeating Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 6-4. "So, you know, every year I'm doing better. So why I even have to be sad or something?"

What will make Safina even more happier is Sharapova's exit. The pair was destined to meet in the fourth round. However, another Russian is lurking, French Open champion Kuznetsova, who swatted away Russian-turned-Australian citizen Anastasia Rodionova 6-1 6-2.

Source :

theaustralian

Michael Jordan Sues Chicago Grocery Stores

Michael Jordan wants $10 million from two grocery stores — bagged and carried out to his car — that he says used his identity without permission in ads published in a commemorative Sports Illustrated issue, “Jordan: A Hall of Fame Career.”

In the pair of lawsuits filed in Chicago court, Jordan says Dominick’s Finer Foods and Jewel Food Stores took their Hall of Fame congratulations a little too far.

According to the suit, the Dominick’s ad features MJ’s name with the phrase “You are a cut above” and a photo of a steak. (Witty!) Below the congratulations is an ad for $2 off a Rancher’s Reserve steak, a trademark of Dominick’s parent Safeway.

The mesquite-flavored kicker: There are already two steakhouses and an online steak company named after Jordan. As Matt Bortosik at NBA Chicago points out, there is absolutely no way Jordan would want to sell steaks in direct conflict with his restaurants and companies.

In the Jewel ad, a pair of Jordan’s Air Jordan basketball shoes with number 23 on the tongues sit below a message of support that ends with Jewel’s friendly “just around the corner” slogan. Apparently, the picture is an “inaccurate and misleading copy” of his famous Nike kicks.

Jordan seeks $5 million from each grocery store for false endorsement, consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and unfair competition.

While it’d be easy to cynically joke about Michael Jordan, of all people, needing more money, it doesn’t mean he should allow himself to be advertised unknowingly. Congratulatory or not, Dominick’s and Jewel’s advertising departments appear to be at fault.

But hey, if either supermarket chain wants to run a full-page magazine to commemorate The Basketball Jones’ 500th episode, by all means, knock yourself out. Might I suggest a Canadian bacon angle?