TENNIS in DEPTH.

Could long-time lovers Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova be expecting their first baby? According to reports, the happy couple told a close group of friends, who were visiting them at their Miami home, that they were going to be parents. If it’s true they’re definitely going to have a gorgeous kid.

Reps for the couple have not confirmed nor denied the news. But if it’s true, we’re placing Anna on baby bump watch! Enrique, 35, first met Anna, 29, in 2001 while filming a music video for his song “Escape.”

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Anna Kournikova was visiting Slovakia where she played an exhibition with Thomas Muster, Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hrbaty.

How about…..”We won 3-2!”

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Tennis legend Billie Jean King and music superstar Sir Elton John are teaming up for their annual charity event — the 18th annual WTT Smash Hits presented by GEICO on November 15, 2010 at the Bender Arena at American University in Washington, D.C. This star studded event will raise money for the Elton John AIDS Foundation and local Washington, D.C. Area AIDS charities.

Billie Jean King and Elton John will each captain a team composed of tennis champions Andre Agassi, James Blake, Stefanie Graf, Anna Kounikova, Martina Navratilova and more who will play the World TeamTennis format. In 2009, Elton John won his 9th overall Smash Hits 16 -13 as Tommy Haas defeated Andy Roddick 5 – 2 in the final set. Despite a strong showing by Team King, Tommy Haas was just too much as he won all three of his sets. Even though it did not count towards the overall match score, Elton John and Serena Williams defeated Andy Roddick and Anna Kournikova 4 – 3 in a celebrity match to open the night.

Last year’s event raised $640,000 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation and AIDS charities serving the Greater Baton Rouge area. Smash Hits has raised more than $9 million for EJAF and various local AIDS charities since 1993.

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Anna Kournikova just returned from Costa Rica where she was to play in the second exhibition match for the Agassi Sampras Tour.

“This was my first trip to Costa Rica so I was really excited to see a small bit of the country and meet some of the locals. I flew in the night before the match which was so nice because I had time to settle in, relax a little and have a great sushi dinner at the hotel.

First up on Saturday was media, I did a press conference with Pete followed by some one on one interviews.”

Jelena Jankovic just returned from Portugal, and was reunited with her boyfriend.

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Age and brawn won out over youth and beauty in an exhibition set of doubles tennis that followed Rafael Nadal’s quarterfinal victory over Fernando Verdasco on Thursday night. The one-set, no-ad contest was supposed to precede Nadal, but a five-set day match tightened up the schedule and the quartet of Grand Slam champions was pushed back to be the nightcap. At the end of 40 minutes of sometimes tennis, sometimes theatre, Pat Cash and Mats Wilander prevailed 7-5 over Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova.

Hingis and Kournikova were back together eight years after winning their second Australian Open doubles title together. They had won in 1999 before taking the crown again in 2002. Hingis also won the singles title in Flushing in 1997 plus four other Grand Slam singles titles and was once the No. 1 ranked woman in the world.

Most of the 23,000 plus in attendance were long gone by the time the elder statesmen hit the court, but those who stayed were allowed access to the best seats in the house and made plenty of noise as the former stars entertained.

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Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova both ruled out returning to the WTA Tour after reuniting to win an exhibition match at Wimbledon.

Kournikova suggested Hingis would have no problem fitting in, but the Swiss five-time singles grand slam winner dismissed the prospect of making a  comeback. Both will play World Team Tennis tournaments, alongside modern-day stars and veterans of the game, but the prospect of serious competition on tour appeals to neither player.

“You could for sure,” Kournikova told Hingis, with whom she won two Australian Open doubles titles. But Hingis said: “I haven’t played that much in the last three years. It’s only three years. But you have to commit. The commitment is totally different.”

She added: “You can’t pop up and say, ‘I’m going to come back and win grand slams’, even if you have a great partner.

“It’s great fun to be out there again with Anna. We had some great times. We’re sharing some good times again.

“I did it. I had my comeback. I was very happy with it. I lived through all the emotions. I missed it when I was away for three years. That’s why I did the comeback.

“Now it’s different. I’m going to be 30 years old (in September).

“I think I’ve played enough tennis in my life. Tennis gave me everything I have. I’m grateful every moment.”

Kournikova, who turned 29 earlier this month, has not played seriously since 2003, and she looked the least capable of making a comeback as she teamed up with Hingis for a 6-2 6-4 victory over Britain’s Sam Smith and Anne Hobbs.

The Russian-American said: “For me it would be impossible really physically to be on the tour. It even bothers me a little bit playing today. It wasn’t a strenuous match. It was quite fun and giggly. I’m sure I’m going to feel it and I’ll be sore.”

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The Russian domination of the WTA tour is over! Predictions are for  no Russian women in the year-end Top 10. Elena Dementieva, the lone survivor, could have tough times ahead of her after a calf injury so painful it caused her to retire in the semifinals of last week – her first ever retirement at a major.

Safina has been hindered with a back injury. Sharapova has shown flashes of power since returning from shoulder surgery, but has yet to find her consistent prowess on the court from which she won three Grand Slams.

The Russians have fallen out of the Top 10, but they are not gone. In the Top 200, there are 28 Russian women – more than two times the number from any other nation except the United States, which has 14; Italy (10) and France (8); and by comparison, there are six Russian men in the ATP World Tour Top 200.

 It all started in 1988, when tennis returned to the Olympics and the Soviet Union eased its grip.  When Anna Kournikova signed a modeling contract bringing tennis mainstream. Sharapova followed suit, and despite not being in the Top 10 since January of 2009, she has stayed top news by extending her deal with Nike for eight years and $70 million, making her the highest paid female athlete and an icon for Russian girls.

 Russia still has numbers, an army of young girls playing tennis seeking the toughness in Kuznetsova, the grace in Dementieva and the serve in Sharapova. When will the Tour have Russian dominated rankings again? No one knows, but as always history repeats itself.

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The renowned “Dream Team” of women’s tennis is back. Tennis stars Anna Kournikova and Martina Hingis have today confirmed that they will compete together in the Ladies’ Invitation Doubles at Wimbledon this June. The pair formed one of the most formidable doubles tandems in women’s tennis in the 1990′s, winning two Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching No. 1 in the WTA Tour Doubles rankings and earning the 1999 WTA Doubles Team of the Year honors.

“I’m so excited to be returning to the UK to play doubles with Martina again,” said Kournikova. “This tournament has always held a special place in my heart, and it will be a great honor to play on the courts of Wimbledon again. I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun.”

“Anna and I have had a lot of success together and I look forward to being reunited with her at Wimbledon,” said Hingis. “Having won singles in 1997 and doubles in 1996 and 1998, I am excited about returning to the place where I have had some of the best memories of my career.”

Kournikova is a two-time Grand Slam women’s doubles champion, No. 1 ranked world junior champion, No. 1 ranked WTA tour doubles and No. 8 WTA tour singles player. At age 14, Anna became the youngest player to ever win a Fed Cup match. In 1997, she reached the semifinals of Wimbledon and became the second woman in the Open Era, next to Chris Evert, to reach the Wimbledon semifinals in her career debut. She has also defeated many of the world’s top players who have competed on the women’s tour including Lindsay Davenport, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and Arantxa Sanchez among others.

Hingis is a five-time Grand Slam singles champion and nine-time Grand Slam women’s doubles champion. In 1997, Hingis won Wimbledon, the French Open and the first of three consecutive Australian Open crowns on her way to becoming the youngest top-ranked player in history. Her Australian Open victory made her the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century at the age of 16 years and 3 months. The following year, Hingis became only the fourth woman in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam doubles titles in the same year. She owns a 548-133 all-time singles record and her 209 weeks as the world’s number 1 female player ranks fourth all-time.

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