America’s tennis star Coco Gauff attended the TIME Women of the Year gala ahead of the Indian Wells.

The 19-year-old is often regarded as one of the most highly-rated players currently playing in the circuit. Gauff recently appeared in the TIME Women of the Year gala and wore a dazzling Prada gown.
The Florida-born also gave a speech at the event where she gave a lot of credit to her father for her success on the court.

“When I started playing tennis at the age of 6, my dad, who’s here with me tonight, told me, “you can change the world with your racket”, and I believed him,” she said. “I believed him because the women in my life and the women in this room who showed me that a little girl with big dreams can go on to do great things.”

 

Gauff will be hoping to have an impressive outing in the upcoming mega-event after some disappointing performances in the recent past.

In the first Grand Slam of the year — the Australian Open — Gauff’s journey came to an end as she lost in the semifinal to the current world number two Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-4.

People need to see the video of Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic dancing together after Wimbledon. It should be shown at schools, or at the end of particularly grim EastEnders episodes. During times of extreme global strife, the video should be beamed directly onto the surface of the moon. Because, no matter how hard you try, you will never see a more uplifting video so long as you live.

Why? Because it shows Williams and Djokovic wheeling around joyously, gleefully liberating themselves of the self-imposed pressure it takes to become best in the world at something? Because it shows that even fiercely goal-fixated superbeings are able to cut loose and have fun sometimes?

No. The video is life-affirming because Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are rubbish at dancing. In fact, that doesn’t even do it justice. What they do barely even exists in the same galaxy as dancing. Here’s what happens: after they’ve both become Wimbledon champions, Williams and Djokovic find themselves onstage together. Night Fever by the Bee Gees is playing. The pair clasp hands and perform a jokey little victory dance. They stop, but the music doesn’t. So, foolishly, they start dancing again.

 

Except it’s not dancing. Not really. It’s the sort of self-conscious imitation of dance that people reluctantly perform at wedding receptions before they get drunk enough to really hammer out some moves. Serena opts for the dead-armed two-steps-forward-two-steps-back style beloved by elderly aunties, while Novak half-heartedly performs what can only be described as a satirical interpretive performance art piece inspired by peak-era John Travolta.

Wimbledon champions/ Clowns 😜 congrats @djokernole we brought back the dance! #championsdinner #Wimbledon #renasarmy I have a lot of pictures get ready!
Wimbledon champions/ Clowns 😜 congrats @djokernole we brought back the dance! #championsdinner #Wimbledon #renasarmy I have a lot of pictures get ready! Photograph: serenawilliams/Instagram
But the embarrassment is too much for him, so he quickly drops to his knees. The focus is now solely on Williams, who responds by awkwardly wobbling around and intermittently clapping her hands. He’s put this whole sorry saga on her shoulders.

Eventually, after the longest six seconds of anyone’s life, he realises the scale of his transgression, clambers to his feet and brings the whole ugly saga to a messy conclusion. It’s the sort of video you can only really watch with your fingers over your eyes and your fist in your mouth.

But it still needs to be watched, because it is beautiful. It’s a perfectly-timed reminder that these honed, hardbodied athletes, these intimidating reminders of humanity’s limitless potential, are regular people after all. For the smallest possible amount of time, they’re both plunged into terrifyingly unfamiliar territory. They’re raw and exposed, and the best they can hope for is damage control. For 24 wonderful seconds, they’re just like us. They’re us, pulling on a push-door in full sight of our employers. They’re us, asked to improvise a speech on a subject we know nothing about, or tripping up on a cobble in front of a girl we fancy, or accidentally calling our year nine science teacher ‘Mum’.

 

Being forced to dance in front of people after a historic sporting victory is the perfect way to ground someone. After seeing the charming hash that Williams and Djokovic made of it, this sort of ego control should really become mandatory after any important accomplishment. Won Wimbledon? Dance. Crowned as King of England? Assemble a Billy bookcase for me. Cured cancer? Great, now ride this unicycle up a wet hill in your pants.

Forget tennis, this video was the real victory of the weekend. It’s proof that nobody is good at everything. It’s proof that, no matter how red our cape, we’re all still Clark Kent inside. It’s proof that, if he had any sense whatsoever, Andy Murray deliberately threw the semi-final to avoid all of this. Serena, Novak, welcome to the human race.

Maria Sharapova said she fought for the truth so she can end her career on her terms.

The former world No 1 was initially banned for two years after failing a doping test before having it reduced to 15 months on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Sharapova will return to action at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, playing her first match the day after her suspension runs out on April 26.

The Russian’s impending return has been the hottest topic of conversation in tennis, with a number of players expressing discontent at Sharapova being given wild cards into the biggest tournaments on the WTA Tour.

Sharapova herself appears to see no reason to show remorse.

 

Speaking at the ANA Inspiring Women in Sports conference in California, reported by The Desert Sun newspaper, Sharapova said: “You always want to end your career or a chapter in your life on your terms and in your voice, and to be in a moment where you felt like it could have ended on someone else’s terms was very difficult to accept. And that’s why I fought so hard for the truth to be out.

“You don’t realise how much you love something and how much something means to you until you lose it for some time.”

Sharapova has spent her time away from tennis focusing on her business career.

The creator of Sugarpova sweets took classes at Harvard Business School and spent time shadowing NBA commissioner Adam Silver, at Nike headquarters and as an intern at an advertising agency.

Maria Sharapova’s sweets
Maria Sharapova’s sweets have been on sale at the Miami Open this week
The 29-year-old also wrote her autobiography, which is due to be published in September.

Sharapova said: “I learned that life is okay without tennis, which is a very scary thought because once you’ve done something for so long you think, ‘What am I going to do when I don’t have that?’

“But my mind and my body still have the motivation to be the best tennis player I can be. I got my day job back.”

Former world No 1 Billie Jean King came out in defence of Sharapova, saying the Russian has served her time.

The 73-year-old, 12-times grand slam winner told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I’ve known her since she was 13 and I know how hard she works. I trust her and I think that she had a tough deal in a way.

“She was very good about it (saying), ‘If I broke the rule then I deserve this’.

 

Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova is looking forward to returning to her ‘day job’ next month
“I thought she took it well, she took responsibility and she’s done what she has to do – whatever the rules, if they want to change rules they should have done it before. They can’t change it midstream.”

When quizzed on what message Sharapova being given wild cards into the biggest tournaments on the WTA Tour makes, King added: “She’s served her time, hasn’t she? It’s expired. That’s all you can do.

“What does the WTA say? Because somebody should really weigh in on that.

“Wow, that’s a tough one (having to be a wildcard).

Tennis star Naomi Osaka is having a blast this festive season. The 25-year-old Japanese tennis player is on a Europe tour with her boyfriend, Cordae. The two have been celebrating the holidays with full zest and Naomi posted pictures of the same on Instagram. Although the idea was to share the best moments from her trip with the fans, Naomi received an endearing new year’s wish from Nick Fury himself.

Fans have loved Naomi’s clicks from the trip and what’s more, they’re also on board with Samuel L. Jackson’s comment on the post. The comment already has 195 likes and counting. It looks like Naomi has earned a fan and well-wisher.

 

Naomi Osaka is having the time of her life in Europe

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Naomi Osaka is in Europe for the holidays with her boyfriend, the famous rapper Cordae. The two have been visiting what looks like the Louvre Museum in France. Osaka posted a picture dump of her favorite Europe moments so far on this vacation. She captioned her post with a simple, “Europe”.

A post shared by 大坂なおみ🇭🇹🇯🇵 (@naomiosaka)

Scrolling down to the comments, right at the top of the list there is a heartwarming new year wish from Samuel L. Jackson. He writes, “HAPPY NEW YEAR, KID👊🏾👊🏾‼️🎶🎶👍🏾” on Naomi’s post. While Naomi hasn’t replied to the comment yet, the Hollywood actor’s warmth has surprised and amused fans.

Samuel L. Jackson was always a tennis fan. Be it sending warm wishes to a new talent in the picture like Coco Gauff or thanking legendary players like Serena Williams for their inspiring careers, Samuel was always in the picture when it came to talking about tennis from a fan’s perspective. Looks like Jackson is also an Osaka fan with this recent Instagram comment.

 

Naomi Osaka and Cordae have been dating since 2019. After several rumors about their breakup, the couple posted their Europe tour pictures which also sent out a clear message about their very committed relationship status.

Osaka won her first Grand Slam in 2018, against Serena Williams and made it to international fame. When she met Cordae at a Clippers game in 2019, the rapper had no idea about Naomi’s recognition as an excellent tennis player. However, during this long-term relationship, Cordae has been there for Naomi during all her matches and as she confesses, he has boosted her morale whenever she needed it. Well, from what it looks like, Naomi is one lucky woman!

Emma Raducanu was interviewed by the Sunday Times Style. The very strong and beautiful British tennis player, in addition to the interview, posed for a shooting in which we can see the tennis player in a new guise, compared to how we are used to seeing her on the court.

One of the photos was published, and she made the fans dream: Emma, with a beautiful dark outfit, is lying on a white bed, serene and happy, as evidenced by her beautiful smile. Here’s the picture:

Emma Raducanu: “Sometimes I think I never wanted to win the US Open”
Emma Raducanu was the star of the US Open 2021, beating fellow teenager Leylah Annie Fernandez, in the final.

The winner was the British tennis player, who went from the qualifications to the final triumph of the US Open. Since then, however, the Grand Slam champion has suffered a dizzying decline: injuries and poor results have alternated in an infinite spiral.

 

Until she decided to have surgery on both wrists, and to be away for several months. In an interview with The Sunday Times, she told of those disappointed expectations and the weight of her that rests on her shoulders. She told: “The surgery? Right now I can’t even open bottles or anything because of my wrists.

I was struggling with physical pain, but mental pain was also very difficult for me. When I lost a game I was really depressed. I was under pressure, people had no idea what was going on. I am very young and still learning and making mistakes.

It’s much harder when you make mistakes in front of everyone. The tour is completely brutal. Sometimes I think I wish I’d never won the US Open.” In the spotlight for several months, Emma Raducanu has not been without attacks from many, as she herself said in this interview.

She added: “You have to be on your guard because there are a lot of sharks out there. I think people in the industry. It was difficult to navigate this world. I’ve gotten burned a few times, learned, keep the circle as small, as small as possible, and that’s how it’s going to be best for you.”

And while a number of serious topics were covered including her plans for the New Year, one fan wanted to get straight to the point.

After being asked to chose between an all-expenses paid golf trip or ultimate threesome, the 29-year-old responded: “I feel like guys will originally always think about sex as their first fantasy.

“But then you think about it and compare it to other things.

“It’s like would you rather have a threesome for five minutes or would you rather have a three day trip with all of your buddies and do whatever you want?

“I think that is what people would take 100% of the time.”

Spiranac has built an army of online supporters with her revealing golf tutorials.

She has over 3.5million followers on Instagram and it is no surprise with an array of sultry uploads leaving little to the imagination.

 

Another fan asked whether she would start an OnlyFans page.

But she replied: “I’m sorry sir but 2021 is not going to be the year that I get an OnlyFans.”

Paige recently undertook another Q&A, finally revealing if her assets are real or fake.

Spiranac was a star of the amateur circuit from a young age.

After a couple of Ladies European Tour events, which coincided with the rise of her online fame, she won a Cactus Tour match in Arizona.

However, having failed to qualify for the LPGA Tour, she quit professional playing and focused on building her online persona as a tutorial producer, podcaster and social media personality.

Earlier this year, Maxim named her as the Sexiest Woman Alive.

Serbian foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic handed over diplomatic passports to Serbian tennis players, members of Davis Cup and Fed Cup team, at the Tennis Center Novak in front of numerous guests from the diplomatic corps.

Diplomatic passports were handed over to Ana Jovanovic, Bojana Jovanovski, Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonjic, Viktor Troicki and Novak Djokovic, and others who are not in Belgrade, will receive passports afterwards.

 

“I am honoured to promote to diplomatic service people who have contributed to the popularity of Serbia in the world. Our country has gone through a bad period and the effects can still be felt. Bad image, disrepute and prejudice are still present in some parts of the world. The most effective way to fight something like that is love and arduousness for the country. I think there is no one who could say that you (the players) are not champions in those categories. It’s a great honour to represent country in that way, and also there is not a single country in the world which wouldn’t be honoured to have you as ambassadors,” said Vuk Jeremic.

Novak addressed the audience too.

“Thank you all for coming. It is a great honour for us to be ambassadors of our country. We are individual athletes, but wherever we go we will be recognizable, at least at airports. I am really not used to diplomatic speaches, so I’ll conclude with the sentence that we’ll all try to justify your confidence in us,” said Nole.

It takes a prodigious talent to know a prodigious talent. Maybe that’s why Iga Swiatek and 2020 WTA Coach of the Year Piotr Sierzputowski have been the perfect match ever since her junior days.

Sierzputowski, 28, began coaching when he was 14 years old before pursuing a full-time coaching career at 18 in Warsaw. Sierzputowski began as a hitting partner for his younger sister, Alicja Sierzputowska.

“All the players around her wanted to have somebody similar to me,” Sierzputowski said. “So they asked me, of course, as a side job. I was playing tennis. I was in school. So it was just getting some money for me for just a few lessons a week.

“So I started pretty early. When I was 18 I already was working in the club. I decided that I have to finish my career because as everybody knows, tennis at a certain level is expensive because you have to travel.”

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Given his younger sister’s talent, the family’s financial resources when to support her career. Sierzputowski moved with her to Warsaw.

 

“I started working in Warsaw in the club where I eventually met Iga after a few years working there,” Sierzputowski said. “I was working with players mostly under 14 years old. I had the No.5 in Tennis Europe at this time, so the girl was playing pretty good.”

Then came the fortuitous call in 2016. Swiatek, then 14, was looking for a new coach after Roland Garros and Sierzputowski’s boss tapped him on the shoulder. Sierzputowsky was just 23.

“I said I feel like I’m not ready for it because I don’t have experience about going from the transition tour, let’s say, to WTA because Iga was already at the stage that she made a junior Roland Garros quarterfinal,” Sierzputowski said. “It’s not a big step, not far away to go to the WTA. You have to take those steps to be there.

“He said, OK, we’ll look for a coach. We’ll put you on the team as a second coach who can travel, can help, can be on the court and hit with her.

“But I was hitting too weak,” Sierzputowski said, laughing. “I was just too weak on the court but I found some good hitting partners.”

In the meantime, Swiatek trialed other coaches but kept coming back to Sierzputowski.

“Iga and her father decided that I would stay with them for the next preseason and then we gonna see,” Sierzputowski said. “And it stayed until right now. So that’s the way how we started our cooperation.”

Sierzputowski has been at the helm for Swiatek’s successful junior career, which included a junior Wimbledon title, and her grinding success through the ITF Tour as she worked to get her ranking up to earn direct entry into WTA events.

“He’s pretty young, but he’s also really ambitious,” Swiatek said. “He has a good eye. Even though he’s young, we are kind of learning together.”

“I think I’m the dumbest person on the team. But I feel like I created the team. It was my idea. It was somehow my thinking, how it should look, how it should work, and it’s working.”

– Piotr Sierzputowski
Sierzputowski’s humility has set the framework for his coaching career. Most importantly, he has not tried to be all things for his young charge and he is quick to acknowledge when he needs help.

“There is not a huge gap in the age between me and Iga,” Sierzputowski said. “It’s nine years. So I cannot be for her a role model for everything. That’s why I need in a team people who know what they are doing. That’s why I’m trying to organize the team as best as I can.

“I don’t have to be a psychologist. I can hire them. I can advise Iga to get one. The same with the fitness coach, physio. Everything is there, and everything is set up.

“I think I’m the dumbest person on the team. But I feel like I created the team. It was my idea. It was somehow my thinking, how it should look, how it should work, and it’s working. So I’m really happy about it because I think this is one of the most important parts of having a tennis coach in the tennis teams on the tour.”

After her incredible run to the Roland Garros title last fall, it’s been a tricky balance to strike to for Team Swiatek. Increased notoriety and obligations at home have led to Sierzputowski organizing Swiatek’s training blocks away from Poland so she can work without distraction. So far the rhythm has worked well. Swiatek started the season by making the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and winning her second WTA title at the Adelaide International.

Iga Swiatek, Adelaide 2021
2021 Adelaide champion Iga Swiatek celebrates with her team.

Tennis Australia/David Mariuz

But there has been no time to relax for Swiatek. Now begins the process of readying for her Roland Garros title defense. After a mini-preseason training block in Sotogrande, Spain, Swiatek is making her tournament debut this week at the Madrid Open.

“I wish I could feel relieved,” Swiatek said. “Yeah, even though I had some great matches, I won Adelaide, I still feel like it’s not enough. I know it’s wrong, but that’s how my brain works. I kind of have to fight myself.

“As soon as I’m going to just chill out and just play, it’s going to be much, much better. Knowing now that I can really play well, I expect myself to play well in every match. It’s not possible because actually [this is] going to be my first full year on tour if I’m not going to get injured or anything. Right now I feel like it’s so hard to switch to other places, change your game, to adjust.

“I was playing really, really well in Sotogrande. I felt like perfectly, maybe not at the beginning, but then when I did some work, it was really solid and great. But when I came here, again I felt like I forgot how to play tennis because the balls were bouncing differently, the clay was a little bit different.”

“She’s getting to the point I feel like, I hope, in two, three years where she will get to her maximum limit of the knowledge she can get, and then it’s gonna be a chess play, like we will move her from one place to another. I feel like this is going to be the best part of her lifetime.”

– Piotr Sierzputowski
It’s all part of the learning experience for Swiatek, though her coach may be more enthusiastic about the prospect. It would be easy for Sierzputowski to revel in their success but what excites him is precisely how far Swiatek is from being the player he envisions she can be.

“Even this year, after the [Australian Open] we sat together, and I was really excited that I can implement some new stuff with her, which makes me really, really happy right now, because it’s not like we are at the end of our road,” Sierzputowski said.

“There is a huge improvement in communication right now. I think she’s getting more mature. So I feel we can work on different stuff than at the time when she was junior. Right now we can work on tactical, we can work on energy management, we can work on how she see the player on the other side, not only herself on the court. She’s much more aware.

“She’s getting to the point I feel like, I hope, in two, three years where she will get to her maximum limit of the knowledge she can get, and then it’s gonna be a chess play, like we will move her from one place to another. I feel like this is going to be the best part of her lifetime.

“We will see. I hope she gonna enjoy it, but right now she’s learning everything really fast.”

Maria Sharapova is quite busy between business and fashion after she retired from tennis in 2020. Now, PR Newswire released a press release about Stagwell set to host world-class athletes as part of the 2023 Cannes Lions. And in that press release, details were shared about how they want to create a cultural zeitgeist platform for sports.

Sharapova will be joined by Allyson Felix, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist in track and field, Spencer Dinwiddie, a Brooklyn Nets star, along with DK Kizer, a former quarterback. And other well-known personalities from the NBA arena.

The former world number one will be among the spoon sport’s first beach partners, all ready to share their vigor and acumen regarding the power of sports and also their ability to connect with large audiences.

 

Sharapova and her new life
The tennis player announced her retirement back in February 2020 and is now facing her new path as a married woman and mother of a small child.

Sharapova spoke in an interesting interview with the microphones of New Beauty and released interesting statements. Here are her words: “The role of mother must arrive at a certain point in your life, I felt ready and to tell the truth it was something I’ve always dreamed of.

I have an excellent relationship with my mother, we are very close and we share a lot, we are related and this is also why I wanted to have a child so that I could share my experiences with him. I’m excited to see him grow and I’m learning new things too.

Every day is a new day, there’s always something to learn and it’s a great challenge.” The former tennis player continues: “Even the sporting aspect is very demanding, it keeps you grounded every day. Tennis was something I wanted to do every week, beyond winning and losing.

 

 

I always had to reinvent myself and challenge myself and I just didn’t feel comfortable. I don’t know if it’s more difficult being a tennis player or a mother, let’s just say both roles are very demanding.” Maria then spoke of her son Theodore, the true protagonist of the interview: “He is an exemplary child, I often talk to him and pray that he has a quiet day.

Fortunately he is very good, I was lucky I must say. Also when I breastfeed him I’m always hungry, I feel like I always have to eat and this thing intrigues me. This was the fastest year of my life, it flew by in the blink of an eye.

I’m excited about this phase of my life, I feel like I’m spending my first months of life and I see that everything is fine. I’m curious to understand how my life will unfold, between work and family and the important thing is to find the right balance.”

On a recent edition of the “ROAR Around The Ring” podcast, WWE Superstar Bianca Belair shared her thoughts on The Street Profits’ alliance with Bobby Lashley and a potential singles run for her husband Montez Ford.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below

On possibly working with Ford on WWE TV: “We’ve never touched on the fact we’re husband and wife on TV. I think in the future that could be great, it could be fun. I think what they have right now is so exciting and so new and I would love to see where they could go with that on their own and see where I can go with what I’m doing on my own. I think in the future, we will come together, but it’s kind of hard, because once you put us together, how do you separate us? … But I’m excited to see where that goes, that faction to me is so powerful, I just think that they’re unstoppable and I just can’t wait until they get some momentum.”

 

On Ford getting a potential singles run: “To hopefully see him in the ring by himself with that WWE Title on his shoulder, that means everything to me and I know that would mean everything to him. So I’m always pushing for that. I love Angelo Dawkins, I love Bobby Lashley, I love what they have going on. I wish equal success for them, but at the end of the day, I want my husband to be WWE Champion.”