Tennis legend Billie King sent a text message to tennis star Sharapova just before she played in the just concluded Australian open in Melbourne. The text said “Champions take chances, and pressure is a privilege.” After the match Sharapova was quoted as saying “I took mine” and this she did beating Ana Ivanovic from Serbia, 7-5, 6-3 to win her third Grand slam. She did not lose any set in all her seven games. Sharapova was in last years final but lost 3 sets to Serena Venus.

Last year she had a shoulder problem and this year she seemed to have overcome it. She was focused all through and it paid off with another title in her kitty. She walked into the final match, ranked as the fifth in the world and won against her 20 year old opponent who would be ranked world 2nd when the next ranking table is released.

Although skarapova did not display same skill she did when she ousted third ranked Jelena Jankovic in the semis or when she stopped the 32 match long winning streak of Justine Henin in the quarter finals. She however did put in enough skill needed to win the match and she did deserve the win. After the match she got another text from King which said “congratulations, you were great’.

Ana Ivanovic brought Venus Williams’ Australian Open to a juddering halt Wednesday.She continues her comeback after a dive in the rankings.It was a sorry end for Williams.With her sister Serena it spelt the end of the tournament for the Williams’ clan.Ivanovic overcame the American eighth seed in a ferociously-contested 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 thriller. Williams played with her left thigh heavily strapped, but gave credit to her opponent. And she defiantly vowed to bounce back.Ivanovic will play ninth seed Hantuchova, ensuring at least one player in the final on Saturday will be contesting their first Australian decider.

Third seed Novak Djokovic ended the hopes of home favourite Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open on Monday.The Serbian recovered from a nervy start to clinch victory in two hours, 26 minutes and set up a last-eight clash with fifth seed David Ferrer of Spain.Lleyton was very tired from the Baghdatis match a couple of nights ago.The Australian 19th seed’s previous match had ended at 4.33am on Sunday morning but he showed no signs of fatigue as he broke to lead 4-2 in the first set, only for Djokovic to hit back and win it.Hewitt, in his 12th Australian Open, gave himself hope when he broke early in the second set but Djokovic struck back to win it and he stormed into a 5-2 lead in the third.

 The Martina Hingis case where the Swiss former world number one tested positive for cocaine during Wimbledon in early July.She was only handed a two-year suspension when an appeal failed earlier this month.WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott told The Melbourne Age newspaper that provisional suspensions could be in place as early as 2009.Currently, once A and B samples have tested positive, nothing further occurs until after the tribunal hearing.

 Sania Mirza caught once again in a controversy over the Indian flag. She is so upset that she is considering about her future. Sania has tried to maintain her composure and avoided talking on the issue, her manager and mentor Mahesh Bhupathi said: “She is very upset, it is a major issue for her.”

Tennis’ governing bodies have joined together to launch a review of their anti-corruption policies after recent match-fixing and betting scandals. The International Tennis Federation, the ATP, the WTA and the organisers of the Grand Slams are all involved.

According to Venus Williams, drugs are no longer a big problem in tennis after former world number one Martina Hingis was banned for two years for failing a doping test. In fact, in tennis, drugs have no use, because they neither keep the ball in, nor calm your nerves. We can dispute a lot of whether Hingis had taken drugs or not but if there was a suspicion; it means it had some grounds. Anyway, since Hingis’s case, there has been no cases of doping violation in tennis, and let’s hope it will remain so.

Don’t miss a chance to see tennis stars at US Open Tennis. It will take place in Louis Armstrong Stadium, Flushing, NY on Aug 25, 2008. Us Open will be ended on Sep 7, 2008. You can still get ticket to this event!