FanHouse Maria Sharapova

It certainly doesn't suck to be Sasha Vujacic. After hitching his star to Kobe Bryant, he and the rest of his teammates became the envy of the NBA, helping the Lakers win their 15th championship in franchise history. And now? After reportedly hooking up with Maria Sharapova, he's become the envy of men, period.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I should note that Sharapova has yet to be seen at a Staples Center courtside seat wearing a Vujacic jersey (they sell those, right?), but the two were seen "cuddling up" in public at a recent U2 concert, as reported by CNBC's Darren Rovell. Clearly, that's enough to go on, right? OK, maybe not, but whatever is going on, Vujacic is in no hurry to set the record straight.

She threatened a player, didn't try most of the year, famously threatened a line judge and was thrown out of a match.

The other thing Serena Williams did in 2009 was this:

She won the year-end No. 1 ranking. It became official Wednesday in Doha, Qatar, at the WTA Championships when Dinara Safina, the current No. 1 Williams was trying to overcome, withdrew from the tournament with a bad back. It guaranteed that Williams would finish the year No. 1 for the first time since 2002.

Two more things: She deserves it.

And it's the best thing for tennis.

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BEIJING (AP) -- Maria Sharapova was eliminated from the China Open on Wednesday, losing to Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 6-4.

Svetlana Kuznetsova moved into the quarterfinals by defeating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.

Peng broke Sharapova twice in the first set, and again in the sixth game of the second. Sharapova saved two match points at 5-4 before losing to the 53rd-ranked player.

The former top-ranked Russian appeared to show the strain of her three-set win over Victoria Azarenka the night before.

TOKYO (AP) -- Maria Sharapova won her first tournament since returning from a 10-month injury layoff when Jelena Jankovic retired because of an arm injury in the first set of the Toray Pan Pacific final Saturday

Sharapova was up 5-2 at Ariake Colosseum when the seventh-seeded Serb took a timeout to have her right arm examined by the trainer. Jankovic returned to the court and lost the first two points of the eighth game before retiring.

"It's disappointing," said Sharapova, who had arthroscopic surgery to repair a rotator cuff in her right shoulder nearly a year ago. "It's toward the end of the year and there are a lot of injuries so I wish Jelena a speedy recovery."

TOKYO (AP) -- Maria Sharapova recovered from a slow start Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over compatriot Alisa Kleybanova.

The former top-ranked Russian, who has been struggling since returning from a 10-month injury layoff, will face Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Benesova defeated Taiwan's Chang Kai-chan 7-5, 6-2.

Sharapova, 25th in the world rankings, took control of the match in the second set when she broke Kleybanova three times to open up a 5-0 lead. Kleybanova broke back in the sixth game and held before Sharapova served to win the set.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

22-year-old tennis hottie Maria Kirilenko has been ranked as high as No. 18 in the world, but she's getting a lot of attention for her looks instead of her tennis ability. In fact Kirilenko has been on the cover of many magazines and was selected in 2006 to be the face of Adidas. In this video we talk to Maria about her game and her name -- her connection to Utah Jazz star Andrei Kirilenko.

Check out the video after the jump.

NEW YORK -- This is the picture of pure joy. Pure. Nothing has beaten it down. Nothing has attacked its psyche, not to mention the shoulder or knees.

Melanie Oudin's arms in the air, an American teenager/giant killer with fresh mind and body, having dropped her racquet to the court after beating Maria Sharapova in the U.S. Open Saturday. She is screaming and her eyes are wide, wide open.

What does it feel like when you cannot even imagine the moment you're actually in?

"I mean, I was crying, I was so happy and excited," Oudin said. "I think I'm pretty sure I screamed after I hit that last shot."

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The U.S. Open starts Monday, and there's no reason to wait the whole two weeks just to see what questions the tournament will answer. We already have the answers, and it works out so neatly: 10 questions, 10 answers.

1. Will Rafa's knees get him through the tournament?

This is the big one. And in the long run, tennis needs Rafael Nadal to keep fighting Roger Federer, the best individual rivalry in sports. But it's hard to get a straight answer out of Rafa. In Cincinnati, a week and a half ago, he finally admitted to me that his knees still hurt, and that it was hard to get in position to attack, which is necessary on the hard courts.

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Venus Williams defeated Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2 at the Bank of the West Classic on Friday night.

Australia's Samantha Stosur, winner of 22 WTA doubles titles and no singles titles, provided the biggest stunner though, beating Serena Williams.

"It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest win of my career," Stosur said of her 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over the Wimbledon champion. "We don't always play our best tennis every single day. Maybe she didn't play her best and I played very well."

Despite having four match points, Stosur lost her previous meeting with Williams in three sets in Sydney earlier this season. She also faced the Williams' sisters in the doubles finals at Wimbledon.

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Wimbledon champion Serena Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the $700,000 WTA Premier Bank of the West Classic, beating Hungary's Melinda Czink 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Williams, seeded first and ranked No. 2, has won nine straight matches and 13 of 14 overall. She next plays Australia's Samantha Stosur on Friday.

"It should be a good match," Williams said. "She's improved tons; leaps and bounds. I've been a little bit off this whole week. I hope I can get back on."

Williams finished with 10 aces Thursday and brushed past her opponent in the first set. Czink, a left-hander, played a stronger second set in forcing Williams to a tiebreaker in a match that lasted nearly two hours.