Venus and Serena Williams ESPN Story of the YearDecember 8, 2008 - As ESPN Magazine says goodbye to 2008,  Chris Jones recounts the best storylines of the entire year in one massive yarn. The Things We Forget” is a chronicle of 2008 in sports presented in 11 parts. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but most of all, you’ll remember.

In particular, check out Part 4 on Annika Sorenstam:

In May, Annika Sorenstam announced that 2008 would be her last year on the LPGA Tour. One of the most dominant athletes of the past decade had decided to disappear. She had known she would retire since the previous winter, when she peeked at her watch on the driving range and wondered if it was time to go home. “I stopped and thought, Wait a minute, I used to love this,” she said. “All of a sudden, I’m watching the clock. That’s when I knew this would be my last year.”

And Part 6 on Venus and Serena Williams:

Of all the great stories of this year, the resurgence of Venus and Serena Williams was the most overlooked. After their domination at the All England Club—the first time they had met in a Grand Slam final since 2003 and the fifth time Venus had won Wimbledon—they snagged doubles gold together in Beijing. Serena then went to New York and won the U.S. Open without losing a set. (Her toughest opponent was Venus in the quarters.) After being ranked as low as 140 two years ago, Serena was once again the best women’s player on the planet. In almost any other year, the Williams sisters might have basked in a long glow. Instead, even for them, 2008 was a flash that was doused too soon.

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December 8, 2008 - Here’s a quick update on some of what happened over the weekend in women’s sports.

Tennis:
Serena Williams withdraws from Australia’s Hopman Cup with hamstring injury

Soccer:
UNC soccer team wins Women’s College Cup adding to dynasty

The U.S. Under-20 Women’s National Team captured the 2008 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup with a 2-1 victory against Korea DPR.

Golf:
Michelle Wie earns LPGA card as Lewis wins Q-School

Hoops:
Connecticut remains atop AP poll. North Carolina is second followed by Stanford, Texas A&M, OU and Texas.

TCU shocks California and ends school-record winning streak

No. 8 Notre Dame stays perfect, knocks off No. 20 Purdue 62-51

No. 9 Texas knocks Ole Miss from unbeaten ranks

The #1 girls high school team in the country is upset

Volleyball:
Penn State sweeps Yale, advances to regional semis

Swimming:
Dagny Knutson breaks American Record at 2008 USA Swimming Short Course Nats
Mary DeScenza wins twice at USA Swimming Short Course Nationals

Worth reading:
Michael Wilbon on the end of the Houston Comets

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Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.

Maria Sharapova Best Paid Celebs Under 30December 4, 2008 - With a recession officially upon us, top tennis player Maria Sharapova probably won’t be feeling the pinch. Forbes has released their “Best-Paid Celebs Under 30″ list and Masha is ranked seventh with earnings of $26 million.

Sharapova made the mag’s list last year after raking in a cool $23 million but the 21-year-old Russian managed to top that number this time around with earnings of $26 million.

There’s nothing like the combination of talent and good looks to woo corporations looking to spend endorsement dollars. Sharapova’s Australian Opentitle this year was her third Grand Slam win, along with 16 other singles titles. She’s recently added Sony to an endorsement portfolio that includes Pepsi, Colgate-Palmolive, Nike and Motorola.

In fact, athletes (such as Kobe, Lebron) take nearly half the top 10 celebs under 30–indicative of the power of endorsement deals and testament to the fact that they reach their peak much faster than actors, who gain recognition and fatter paychecks over time.

Other female ballers on the list include 27-year-old Serena Williams who earned $14 million after bouncing back and winning three tournament wins this year, matching her combined total from 2005 to 2007. Her endorsement stable includes Hewlett-Packard, Nike and Kraft.

Big sister Venus Williams, 28, defeated Serena at this year’s Wimbledon final, showing she’s got plenty left in the tank (and in the bank) with earnings of $13 million. She’s parlayed success on the court into her own fashion line, EleVen, a collection of casual and performance footwear and apparel.

Other gals on the “Best-Paid Celebs Under 30″ list? Beyonce (#1 with $80 million in earnings) , Keira Knightly, Miley Cyrus, Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen, Hilary Duff and the  High School Musical duo - Asley Tisdale and Vanessa Anne Hudgens.

Earlier in the summer Forbes listed the top-earning athletes with tennis players and golfers topping the list.

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Venus Williams fastest tennis serveDecember 1, 2008 - The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour just released a list of the fastest women’s servers and it’s no surprise that Venus Williams tops both the 2008  list as well as the all-time one and that sister Serena is in the top three.

With increased intensity of off-court training among over the last few decades, the increase in physicality is clearly reflected in serve speed. The six fastest servers of all time have all emerged over the last three years.

Perhaps the most noteworthy result of the 2008 season was Venus Williams equalling her all-time record of 129 mph, which she first served at the US Open last year but repeated at Wimbledon this year. 

Top 15 Fastest Servers - 2008
  1. Williams, Venus (129.0 mph - Wimbledon)
  2. Groenefeld, Anna-Lena (128.0 mph - US Open)
  3. Williams, Serena (125.0 mph - Miami)
  4. Lisicki, Sabine (124.0 mph - Cincinnati)
  5. Brémond, Severine (121.8 mph - Australian Open)
  6. Bychkova, Ekaterina (121.2 mph - Roland Garros)
      Petrova, Nadia (121.2 mph - Roland Garros)
  8. Stosur, Samantha (121.0 mph - US Open)
  9. Fedossova, Youlia (119.3 mph - Roland Garros)
10. Sprem, Karolina (119.0 mph - Amelia Island)
11. Ivanovic, Ana (118.1 mph - Roland Garros)
      Tulyaganova, Iroda (118.1 mph - Australian Open)
13. Amanmuradova, Akgul (118.0 mph - Amelia Island)
      Cavaday, Naomi (118.0 mph - Wimbledon)
      Kleybanova, Alisa (118.0 mph - Wimbledon)

Top 15 Fastest Servers - all-time
  1. Williams, Venus (129.0 mph - 2007 US Open, 2008 Wimbledon)
  2. Groenefeld, Anna-Lena (128.0 mph - 2008 Wimbledon)
  3. Williams, Serena (127.0 mph - 2006 Cincinnati)
  4. Schultz-McCarthy, Brenda (126.0 mph - 2007 Indian Wells, 2007 Cincinnati)
  5. Ivanovic, Ana (124.9 mph - 2007 Roland Garros)
  6. Lisicki, Sabine (124.0 mph - 2008 Cincinnati)
  7. Granville, Laura (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
      Gullickson, Carly (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
      Stevenson, Alexandra (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
      Taylor, Sarah (123.0 mph - 2003 Memphis)
11. Petrova, Nadia (122.4 mph - 2005 Australian Open)
12. Henin, Justine (122.0 mph - 2005 Charleston)
13. Brémond, Severine (121.8 mph - 2008 Australian Open)
      Molik, Alicia (121.8 mph - 2005 Australian Open)
      Sánchez Lorenzo, María (121.8 mph - 2004 Acapulco)

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Women’s sports briefs from around the world wide web. We don’t write this news; we just link to it.

Hoops:
Cardinal lose JJ Hones to ACL injury  - Stanford junior point guard JJ Hones suffered a knee injury Sunday during the Cardinal win against Rutgers and will miss the rest of the season. It’s her second ligament tear in two years. Does this preclude Stanford from reaching the Final Four?

Tennis:
Maria Sharapova expects to be back on the tennis tour at the start of 2009 - According to her agent, Masha is planning to defend her Australian Open title after being sidelined since July with an injured right shoulder.

Mauresmo not ready to retire - Former world No.1 Amelie Mauresmo has committed herself to at least another year on the WTA circuit in a bid to end her career on a positive note.  The 29-year-old Frenchwoman struggled for form throughout this year and saw her world ranking plummet outside the top 20 as she failed to win a single tournament.

Olympics:  
Modern Pentathlon cut from five events to four - Modern pentathlon has been cut from five events to four in a bid to boost the sport’s popularity and keep it on the Olympic program. The International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) voted to combine pistol shooting and running into one discipline to create a shorter and more dynamic event.  Women have competed in the pentathlon since the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Volleyball:
U.S. women’s volleyball coach Ping steps down - Jenny Lang Ping, 47, the former star of China’s Olympic champion volleyball team who guided the U.S. women’s volleyball team to the silver medal in the Beijing Olympics, will step down as coach of the US women’s national squad. Known as the “Iron Hammer” in her playing days, Ping was the only woman coach among those guiding the world’s 20 top-ranked national teams. Ping, who has a 16-year-old daughter, cited family reasons for her decision.

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November 24, 2008 - Thanks to Women’s Tennis Blog for pointing out this YouTube video of Venus and Serena Williams taking part in a quiz during Wimbledon 2008. The sisters answered multiple choice questions meant to test how well they really know each other (a la the Newlywed Game) and they didn’t disappoint. Enjoy!

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Ana Ivanovic - UnicefNovember 24, 2008 - Lots of feel-good stories around the holiday season. From Ana Ivanovic’s website comes news that the star tennis player is launching a charity holiday campaign complete with cuddly teddy bears that can be given as gifts:

Ana is the figurehead of UNICEF’s Christmas gift campaign in Serbia. Together with basketball legend Sasha Djordevic, Ana is appearing in print advertising to promote the items, which are sold on a 100 per cent charitable basis.

“When I was a kid I used to receive UNICEF cards,” said Ana. “Now, I am sending them. It is a special pleasure to know that each UNICEF card and product, apart from making a person who receives it happy, directly helps at least one child.”

Items for sale in Serbia include teddy bears, greeting cards and toys such as the “Brio Ant”. Visitors in Serbia can buy the items by visiting the UNICEF Shop.

Funds raised through the gift campaign are used within Serbia to fund UNICEF’s priority programmes, which are aimed at promoting a rights-based approach to the survival, development and inclusion of all children from conception through adolescence.

There is a particular focus on the rights of those children who are excluded due to ethnic background, disability, poverty, violence, abuse or exploitation. Ana fronts the “School Without Violence” programme and she visited a Belgrade school earlier this month.

Ivanovic, who grew up in battered, war torn Serbia (along with Jelena Jancovic),  has an on-going relationship with the UN. Last year, she was named UNICEF National Amabassador for Serbia. In that role she uses her name and fame to advocate for child rights in Serbia, particularly in the areas of education and child protection.

Good stuff Ana.  To see who else is giving selflessly back - check our post on Random Acts of Kindness.

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sharapova_modeling.jpgNovember 23, 2008 - She may not have played a competition in months but women’s tennis star Maria Sharapova has been keeping busy and obviously staying in shape.

Still recovering from a shoulder injury, which forced her to miss a significant part of the 2008 season, Masha hopes to return to playing tennis in January.

In the meantime, the Russian ace has been having fun on the fashion front, attending New York fashion week,  and modeling for such publications as British Hello!, Russian Vogue (Nov. 08 cover) and California Style (Dec. 08 cover). Sharapova also recently posed for the December 2008 issue of Spanish GQ Magazine.

Check out this vid for a sneak peak of the Pretty Tough fashionista’s latest photo shoot or visit Sharapova’s website for more photos.

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Williams Sisters Harper’s Bazaar

November 17, 2008 - This month’s issue of Harper’s Bazaar features the swinging sisters of tennis.

Serena and Venus Williams took part in a high-fashion editorial shoot in Flushing Meadow, home to the US Open, posing for photog Terry Richardson. The girls wore an array of designers including Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Sonia Rykiel, Diane von Furstenberg, Celine, and Herve Leger by Max Azria.

In the top right shot, Serena reaches for a serve while sporting a $695 Diane von Furstenberg dress, a $380,000 De Beers bracelet and a $148,000 Tiffany necklace.

The sisters went to great lengths for the shoot including wearing stilettos to practice.

“High heels kind of hurt on the court, but fashion is pain.” —Venus told Harpers.

Serena felt the fashion accessories gave her a view of the court from a whole new angle.

Asked who would win a fashion match, Serena said she would because she’s a little quicker in her heels! 

Check out this vid of the shoot.

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Serena Williams visits Kenya to open schoolNovember 16, 2008 - US Open and Australian Open tennis champion  Serena Williams headed to Africa this week and visited Kenya for the first time.

Sunday Nation followed her visit and noted that activity came to a stop in the sleepy village of Matooni as the world number two ranked tennis player opened a secondary school named after her in the area on Friday. The Serena Williams Secondary School,  south-east of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, was built in record one month, and is fully equipped with a computer laboratory and Internet facilities for the students. Wonder how long it will take for these kids to discover MySpace and Facebook?

Serena, the younger of the two Williams sisters famous for their tennis prowess, is on an African tour as the global ambassador for Hewlett Packard HP, who have teamed up with Build African Schools Foundation to put up learning institutions equipped with the latest technology.

For the better part of this week, Serena has been on a similar trip in Johannesburg, South Africa, working with the Starfishgreatheart Charity for orphans infected with HIV. On her website she wrote:

“This charity helps give aid, care, and housing to kids with AIDS. These kids are mostly born with AIDS and they don’t have the care that they need or can live with. The kids I met today were orphans. It was so sad to see them in this situation. They had so much hope and love in their eyes, yet a tinge of sadness behind their pupils bringing me to tears. …”

Her foundation, which concentrates mainly on education projects for the poor, has set up another school in Senegal.

Nice to see athletes giving back. Keep up the great work girl!!

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