10sballs Checks Out The Gossip Update Around The ATP / WTA Tennis Tours

Photo by @kiki_dominic_fan via Instagram.

 

 

The Social Update around the Tennis Tour

 

By: Thomas Cluck

 

Oh, February, The month with Valentine’s Day • or the hodgepodge month of the tennis season, with players in four different continents, all still recovering from a brutal Australian swing and some hoping to just as quickly forget about it. Some may be relishing the chance to pick up some much needed points and momentum to start the season while others may just be hoping to get to the sunshine of the California desert as quickly as possible.

 

Wherever players are in their tennis seasons’, their social lives cannot take a stop and for many it’s been a busy start to 2018 on and off the court.

 

Perhaps no one has had a busier start to 2018 than Serena Williams, who despite not having played a competitive singles match in 2018, is working hard and well on her way to asserting her place back on top of the WTA. Serena had a full entourage for her return in Fed Cup two weeks ago and with her six month-old daughter Alexis Olympia Jr. and Husband Alexis Ohanian in charge, team Serena will be bigger than ever when she makes her long awaited return to the tour in singles in just over two weeks time in Indian Wells.

 

Williams isn’t the only one making strides off the court, current WTA world number one and newly-crowned Grand Slam champion Caroline Wozniacki is enjoying life in all aspects. The 27-year-old Dane is engaged to former NBA player David Lee and after a semifinal run last week in Doha is continuing to play some of the best tennis of her life.

 

There are a few other of the tour’s top ladies who have recently got engaged as well. Former number one Karolina Pliskova is set to marry her fiance soon and U.S. player Nicole Gibbs experienced one of the most creative marriage proposals from her long-time boyfriend, getting engaged back at Stanford where she won multiple NCAA titles.

 

While she may not be on the tour anymore, former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic is certainly enjoying life off the court. After a surprising retirement at the end of 2016, the beautiful Serb has definitely seemed to be loving life after tennis, married to German football star Bastian Schweinsteiger and pregnant now, expecting her first child soon.

 

And while peace and happiness off the court are usually signs for good things to come off it, ATP and WTA stars Dominic Thiem and Kristina Mladenovic had a rough go of it early on in their relationship. After they announced their relationship on social media, Thiem struggled to win a match post-US Open while Mladenovic was even worse, undergoing a horrendous 15-match losing streak, at one point dropping a staggering 26 sets in a row from Washington DC to the start of 2018. Fortunately for both, Thiem has found his form again, picking up a 250 title on the clay of Buenos Aires last week while Mladenovic recaptured her St. Petersburg magic from last year, advancing to the final there to start February off well.

When I first saw this @voguemagazine cover it brought tears to my eyes. All Vogue covers are special but to share this one with my beautiful daughter @olympiaohanian also the youngest Vogue cover star makes it moment I will never forget. The article is a must read. – Photo by @serenawilliams via Instagram.