A-Rod and Sharapova in tennis love matchJanuary 21, 2007 12:00am
ANDY Roddick dismisses talk of a blossoming relationship with Russian starlet Maria Sharapova with the same ferocity he blasts a forehand from mid-court: 15-love.
But Sharapova, the glamour girl of the women's circuit, likes to tease. At the US Open last year, as she practised alongside Roddick, she wore a none-too-subtle shirt which said "love is in the air": 15-all.
It's the tennis love affair that everyone wants to talk about off the record - even people close to Roddick - but no one will officially confirm.
US magazines reported in July that the two stars had been in a relationship for more than 12 months, pre-dating their 2006 Australian Open visit when a Melbourne newspaper chronicled Sharapova's three trips to the Crown Casino to watch Roddick play poker.
Since then there have been denials - "we are just friends" - but also a sense the two stars have been playing their own private game with the media.
Sharapova, 19, and Roddick, 24, denied at the US Open late last year that doubles had become a more attractive game than singles. Yet they were reported spending time together in Los Angeles last July at Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion on the eve of the ESPY sports awards function. There were other nights at bars in Hollywood and Manhattan Beach.
"I don't really want to talk about my personal life," Sharapova said in New York. "When two tennis players are friends and are known around the world, people are going to talk.
"That's exactly what's happening."
Roddick said: "I keep saying it. We're not dating. I can't say enough nice things about her, but she's actually busier than I am."
But the sporting world is abuzz that tennis has a new glamour couple to follow on from Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.
Sharapova is the most photogenic and marketable player in the world, but Roddick also transcends the sport, especially in the US. He even hosted television comedy show Saturday Night Live in 2003 after winning his first grand slam title.
Traditionally, relationships forged on the tennis court don't survive - just ask Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters - but the sporting public is hoping for a Sharapova-Roddick partnership to last.
Perhaps because of that pressure, Roddick and Sharapova are determined to keep prying eyes away from their private lives.
When it was revealed that Martina Hingis had become engaged to Czech player Radek Stepanek, Hingis sat down at a press conference the next day and placed her hand over her engagement ring. It was a reflex gesture to protect her privacy, before she decided to allow photographers to snap away at the diamond.
Before Hingis's three-year break from tennis, she was asked at a press conference why she seemed to date only tennis players.
"Who else am I going to meet - a journalist?" she replied with no little scorn.
Hingis had public relationships with Magnus Norman and Ivo Heuberger and also was linked to American Justin Gimelstob and Julian Alonso before she left the tour in 2002 with foot injuries and waning motivation.
"I know my private life is balanced and I'm happy the way things are going," world No7 Hingis, 26, said last week.
"You live your life at the courts, and it can feel as though something is missing.
"Now we both know that, ok, we go do our jobs and then the next day we can enjoy ourselves. We don't have to worry about anything else."
The Hingis-Stepanek, Roddick-Sharapova love match is nothing new.
In 1974, Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert won what was called Wimbledon's "love doubles" by taking the two singles titles that year when they were engaged.
They split two years later and Evert married - and divorced - British player John Lloyd. She is now dating Greg Norman.
The relationship between Clijsters and Hewitt was played out in the public eye before they split as amicably as they could in late 2004.
Hewitt announced his engagement to his now wife Bec, an actress, hours after his 2005 Australian Open final loss and Clijsters plans to retire from tennis at the age of 24 to marry American basketballer Brian Lynch.
Roger Federer's long-term partner Mirka Vavrinec was a former tour player who quit her career to travel with him, ultimately helping out with management matters.
The Russian starlet has already placed on record what she looks for in a boyfriend.
"Probably someone who understands the business that I'm in and respects it, but also someone with a good sense of humour," she said. Roddick seems to fit ... game, set and match.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21091571-2,00.htmlP.S: Sad to see Monfils out
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His hair and face look like he has just walked out onto the tennis court prior to a match when he has actually won a match and run hard for at least 80 plus minutes!
She was the most deserving I thought...
