Kim Clijsters – 2010 WTA Player of the Year

Kim Clijsters of Belgium was voted Player of the Year for the 2nd time in her career. She first earned that honor in 2005.

The 27-year-old from Belgium won five titles in 2010, including her second U.S. Open crown in a row. She won at Brisbane, Miami, Cincinnati, and the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, as well as taking her third title at Flushing Meadows.

Just one year after making a comeback following a break to rest injuries and start a family, Clijsters was voted the top honor in a balloting of players as well as the Player Service award given to the woman who did the most to support her fellow players through the WTA players’ council or other initiatives.

Dementieva announces unexpected retirement

Olympic Champion Elena Dementieva made a surprise announcement that she is retiring at the age of 29 after losing her last group match at the year-end WTA Tour Championships in Doha on Friday. She is seen here in the photo wiping away some tears after her announcement.

The World No. 9 ranked player has given up her bid to win a Grand Slam. Since 1999, she had competed in 46 consecutive Grand Slams until she missed this year’s Wimbledon because of a calf injury. She reached the final of the French Open and the U.S. Open in 2004, but was unable to win the final match. Her career high season-ending ranking was No. 4 in 2008.

Maria Sharapova is engaged!

Three time major champion Maria Sharapova is engaged to Los Angeles Lakers guard Sasha Vjuacic.

The agent for Sharapova confirmed the news in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

According to numerous reports, Vujacic, 26, asked 23-year-old Sharapova to marry him on Tuesday night at his Manhattan Beach, Calif. home. Vujacic said he proposed on the one-year anniversary of their first meeting at a friend’s barbecue. Awww, isn’t that sweet? “It’s was probably old school,” Vujacic said. “I had to do it like a gentlemen.”

Serena Williams calls it quits for this season

Serena Williams has made it official – she is out for the season.

The former world number one announced the news that she was pulling out of the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships and the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas final on Tuesday.

Not that many of us expected anything different. After all, the last half of this year she has been claiming to start up again for the next tournament, then just a few days later saying she is withdrawing from that tournament.

Serena Williams actually plans to return to tennis next week

Serena Williams is returning to the WTA Tour at next week’s Generali Ladies Linz after spending the time since July sidelined by a cut on her right foot. The event will be played in Linz, Austria.

Prior to her injury, Williams cruised to her fourth career Wimbledon title and 13th Grand Slam.

Organizers of the Linz event said the Wimbledon and Australian Open champion confirmed her entry Thursday, the same day she lost her No. 1 ranking. It makes one wonder if that was just a coincidence, or if Williams didn’t like being dethroned.

Serena Williams is out of WTT

World No. 1, Serena Williams of the USA, will miss the entire 2010 World Team Tennis season.

Serena plays for the Washington Kastles, and was a vital part of the team in capturing the World Team Tennis Championship in 2009, and was scheduled to play four matches this season.

In a statement Monday, the WTT said that the current women’s No. 1 player will not be able to join her team to play her scheduled WTT matches after cutting her foot earlier this week The wound is reported to have required stitches.

Venus and Serena Williams fined $4,000 each for missing press conference

Serena and Venus Williams were each fined $4,000 at Wimbledon for skipping a news conference after their loss in the doubles quarterfinals.

Serena said Thursday she is “shocked to hear” about the penalty, adding she and her sister rarely speak to the media after Grand Slam doubles matches other than finals.

Serena and Venus were the doubles top seeds at Wimbledon. They lost to Russians Vera Zvonareva and Elena Vesnina in three sets Wednesday, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Lindsay Davenport coming out of retirement to play at Wimbledon

Former World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport of the USA announced last week that she would be coming out of retirement to play in two WTA Tour events.

She’ll be playing in the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University in the final week of July, and the Mercury Insurance Open in La Costa, California in August.

At age 34, Davenport hasn’t played in a tournament since the 2008 U.S. Open and claims that she’s not coming back, just playing for fun. She stated:

Hingis’ comeback rumors false, but will play World Team Tennis

Swiss tennis legend Martina Hingis apparently will not attempt a comeback. On The Baseline reports that they have confirmed via one of Martina Hingis’ agents at Octagon today that her comeback rumors are just that—-rumors.

Hingis turned pro in 1995, but chronic foot injuries caused her to retire in 2003 at the age of 22. She remained retired for three years, returning to tennis in 2005, winning three titles and reaching a ranking of No. 6.

Serena Williams makes Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” list.

Besides making a name for herself in tennis, Serena Williams has also made the Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” list.

Billy Jean King described Serena this way for Time Magazine: Serena Williams is one of those rare champions who have transcended sports and impacted our society. In tennis, she is as focused as she has ever been at any point in her career, and it shows. (She recently picked up her 12th Grand Slam title, the same number I won.)