Maria really hasn’t been marketed that much in Russia. It’s important to her because that’s where her roots are. I also felt that was a really untapped market, with the 2014 Sochi Olympics coming up.

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Maria Sharapova will be skipping the Fed Cup semifinal for Russia against Serbia. The match is scheduled to be played in April, but it seems like this does fit in with Maria’s schedule. Very interesting to see that she has no national pride whatsoever.

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Here is Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Bojana Jovanovski during the practice session for the Fed Cup.

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If I was the Russian captain I probably wouldnt even want her to play, since she hasnt seemed to care in the past!

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Pete Sampras supported Marat’s move into politics saying,

“In 20 years Marat will be the President of Russia. Marat is going to go a long way. He is very intelligent and articulate and he’s good with people, and that’s half the battle with being a politician.”

It currently seems like elections in Russia are fraudulent, so it is no surprised that he got elected. I’m wondering if his constituents actually wanted him in!

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Yes.. Its true. Marat Safin is running for Parliament in Russia.

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Anna Chakvetadze has been named as candidate for Russia’s Right Cause party in the upcoming elections in Russia. Anna hasnt played on the tour since Wimbledon as she has been struggling with dizziness.

It be interesting to see what Anna would do if she was elected. Would her tennis career continue?

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Up-and-coming Russian tennis player Alisa Kleybanova has been diagnosed with a form of cancer called Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She has made the announcement today, which also coincided with her birthday. She is now 22 years old.

She is now in a hospital in Italy, receiving her treatment. The Russian hasn’t played since May and had this to say; ”It’s not an easy time for me right now. I’ve been a bit unlucky with my health.” “I’ve been having treatment and it has been going well, but it takes lots of patience and I’ve had to be really strong to go through this. The good news is after I do treatment for a few more months, if I feel well, there’s a chance I’ll be able to play tennis again. I really miss playing – I miss seeing fans and friends around the world, I miss hitting the ball, I miss everything. Tennis has been my life for the last 15 years.”

The Russian has Stage 2 of the disease, so let’s give our best wishes to Alisa and hope that her retreat from the game will be a short one and that she will come back to the tour better than ever after this ordeal.

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Radionova is known for on-court theatrics and tactics. During the match Radionova questioned a huge amount of line calls and even went for a medical break due to a back injury. I think the back injury was just a load of crap! Back in 2007 in Cincinnati she was defaulted from a match for unsportsmanlike conduct in a similar situation. Seems like most players on tour havent forgot about this just yet!

Anastasia Rodionova’s comments on the match:

I don’t know what happened, I guess Svetlana was disappointed. It doesn’t really bother me. I go out there and try my best, every single match that I play.

I’m happy that I won the match and I’m looking forward to my next round. I played really well and I served really well. I felt really good on the court. It can’t even compare to my first round.

And what about suggestions the injury was not as severe as she claimed?

I strained a muscle a bit on my hip at the beginning of the second set. I’m fine. I have a bit of history there and I wanted to make sure it was nothing serious.

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