A while ago I came across this super cute photo of Chinese tennis star Zheng Jie playing when she was a child. Hehe, I absolutely love her face in this picture, and her hair.

Zheng is now 26 years old and has so far won three WTA Tour titles: Estoril and Stockholm in 2006, and Hobart in 2005. Her best showing at a Grand Slam was last year at Wimbledon, when she was a surprise semifinalist.

Unfortunately, Zheng has today fallen from No.16 to No.24 in the rankings, having reached only the second round of Wimbledon 2009.

Things this blogs likes to feature are photos and videos of famous tennis players when they were kids. Many of you already know how rich our collection is, but for those who are new here, I suggest they check out our Kiddie Pics section.

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If you’re still among those who have no idea what Twitter is, here’s my short and very definition: it is a website, where you open an account for free and then post messages up to 140 characters long, which all of the people who "follow" you will be able to see. Also, you will see all the messages of the people you follow.

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Fourth seeds Venus and Serena Williams of the United States have won their fourth Wimbledon doubles title by defeating third seeds Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs of Australia 7-6(4) 6-4.

The Williams sisters have now won their second successive Wimbledon doubles final, just hours after playing each other in the singles final for the second year in a row.

The three previous sisters’ Wimbledon doubles crowns came in 2000, 2002, and 2008. (photo courtesy of Life)

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Here’s what Serena said in the interview:

Q. How much of a motivation is it for you to try and regain the world No. 1 ranking?

SERENA WILLIAMS: You know, I'm not super motivated. I think if you hold three Grand Slam titles maybe you should be No. 1, but not on the WTA Tour obviously, so…

You know, my motivation is maybe just to win another Grand Slam and stay No. 2, I guess (laughter).

Q. Does that disappoint you?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No. If it did, I would go crazy just thinking about it. I think anyone really could. That's just shocking. But whatever. It is what it is. I'd rather definitely be No. 2 and hold three Grand Slams in the past year than be No. 1 and not have any.

Q. Do you see yourself as No. 1?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I see myself as No. 2. That's where I am. I think Dinara did a great job to get to No. 1. She won Rome and Madrid (laughter). (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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The first set went with serve, and was decided in a tiebreak. In the second set, second seed Serena broke third seed Venus in the sixth game to lead 4-2, and then won Venus' next service game as well to clinch the grass-court Grand Slam title on her fourth match point. Prior to this final, Venus Williams had won 34 sets in a row at Wimbledon.

Serena has become the first player in women's tennis history to save match point en route to a Grand Slam singles title three times. This time she saved a match point in the semifinal against Elena Dementieva, the longest women's semifinal at Wimbledon in the era of Open tennis, and did the same thing at the 2003 and 2005 Australian Open.

Serena has now won Wimbledon three times, in 2002, 2003 and 2009.

The Williams sisters, defending champions in doubles, are playing the Wimbledon doubles final later today. (photo courtesy of Life.com)

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Here’s an extract from the interview:

Q. This isn't your fault obviously because you played really well, but it's embarrassing for women's tennis to see the No. 1 destroyed in that way, isn't it?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Why do you put it like that?

Q. You played very well.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Are you trying to be down on women's tennis?

Q. I'm trying to be down on the way that Safina is the world No. 1 representing women's tennis.

VENUS WILLIAMS: So you're trying to be down basically.

Q. Not on women's tennis, no.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Okay, because I don't deal with down at all.

Q. It's not down.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm just making sure you're not trying to be down, because I respect Dinara Safina immensely, and I think you should, too.

Q. I do.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Thanks.

One more think that could defend Safina is that Venus was playing on grass, her favorite surface, which is not Dinara's favorite surface. On clay, Dinara was the winner over Venus, this year in Rome, in three sets though. (photo courtesy of Life)

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The powerful Williams sisters will face each other in the Wimbledon singles final for the second year in a row, but that’s not all, Venus and Serena have reached the doubles final as well, also for the second successive year.

The fourth-seeded Williamses, defending champions in women's doubles at Wimbledon 2009, demolished top-ranked Liezel Huber and Cara Black 6-1 6-2 in just one minute over an hour. Serena and Venus faced no break points during the semifinal and made 34 winners to their opponents’ 14.

In Saturday’s final, the sisters will face third seeds Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs, who defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-7(3) 6-4 6-2. (photos courtesy of Life)

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Serena Williams won the longest women’s semifinal at Wimbledon in the era of Open tennis and got one step away from getting another make-up holder (she stores her make-up brushes in her numerous trophies). However, that one step is a huge one. Even though two-time Wimbledon champion Serena will be playing her fifth Wimbledon final, her sister Venus has won the prestigious title as much as five times, having played the final seven times so far, and is twice defending champion this year.

Second seed Serena was one point from losing to fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia, but as always with Serena, it’s never over till it’s over, and the American won the women’s match of Wimbledon 2009 6-7(4) 7-5 8-6. Williams was down 4-5, 30-40 in the final set, before she leveled at 5-5. In the 13th game she broke Dementieva and then held on to her own serve to win in 2 hours and 49 minutes.

In the other semifinal, fourth seed Venus Williams comfortably defeated top seed and world No.1 Dinara Safina of Russia 6-1 6-0 in only 51 minutes.

Serena and Venus Williams have combined for seven of the last nine Wimbledon titles. Impressive! (photos courtesy of Life)

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Wimbledon is by far the most traditional tennis event, but some formalities have been changed in recent years and the latest one is that female players are no longer referred to as "Miss" or "Mrs" on scoreboards.

Instead of "Miss" or "Mrs" in front of players' last names, Wimbledon is now, for the first time in 132 years, using players’ first names. However, the tradition hasn’t disappeared completely, since umpires are still referring to women players as "Miss" or "Mrs".

The introduction of this change happened without fuss or fanfare.

"There is no official line on this," says a spokeswoman for Wimbledon. "It's something that we've just changed this year. It's actually gone completely unnoticed, until now." (source: BBC)

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"Good looks are a factor," said Perkins, and added that court selection is "a great big mixture of where the players are in the draw, who they're playing, what their ranking is".

Svetlana Kuznetsova was among those bewildered by the situation:

It's weird. If you look at the schedule, it's not only about me. It's about Dinara on Court No 2, Venus (Williams) on Court No 1 and the girls who are not very highly seeded they play on Centre. I respect them. They're great players for sure. But this is what's weird for me; what's their strategy, what's their plan of making the schedule?

Kuzzy, I’m illustrating this article with your photo!

Despite the frustrations of the supposedly less-pretty top players, BBC is benefiting from Wimbledon’s scheduling policy.

A BBC source said:

No one has heard of many of the women now, so if they are pretty it definitely gives them an edge. Our preference would always be a Brit or a babe as this always delivers high viewing figures.

(source Daily Mail via Down the Line, photo courtesy of Life)

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