Photo: Bauer-Griffin.
On the pro tennis tour, the score is love for top players.
By sara brady — Written on Jun 03, 2010
The French Open is winding down, but the behind-the-scenes action is still hot. While many top players are happily coupled up with civilians—Rafael Nadal, for example, has been dating his hometown sweetheart, Xisca Perello, for five years—many others are cruising the insular world of pro tennis for love. The men's and women's tours are a hotbed of hookups, breakups, and salty euphemisms about forehands. Here we'll take a look at some of the tours' sexiest couplings, past and present.
Steffi Graf & Andre Agassi
The tennis world's power couple emeritus have between them 30 Grand Slam tournament titles, two Olympic gold medals, and two children. Andre, who was previously married to Brooke Shields, and Steffi hooked up at the winners' ball after clinching their respective tournaments at the 1999 French Open. They married in 2001 and have been making occasional appearances as the real-life version of Paul Bettany and Kirsten Dunst in Wimbledon ever since (although they were both way better tennis players). Last year husband and wife played mixed doubles against Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman to inaugurate the new roof at Wimbledon and it was super cute. Doubles Tennis Can Have The Same Drama And Intrigue As Any Relationship
Roger & Mirka Federer
As is part of modern sports-romance legend, the two Swiss players met at the 2000 Olympics in the Sydney athletes' village and have been together ever since. Mirka retired from pro tennis in 2002 and became Roger's PR manager, watching from the boxes as her partner became the winningest player of his generation. They married and welcomed twin daughters last year. On the court Federer can seem almost unbearably smug, but whenever he's photographed with his wife he just looks like an ordinary fellow who's very much in love. We adore that. Play Together: Top Sports For Couples
Ana Ivanovic & Fernando Verdasco
Belgrade-born Ana, currently ranked 42nd on the WTA tour after a second-round loss at the French, dated No. 9 Fernando Verdasco briefly, first hooking up at the 2008 U.S. Open. They split a few months later, in January 2009. The pressures of a long-distance relationship plus two high-powered careers just proved fatal to their love. But while it lasted, Ana and Fernando were gorgeous together. Plus, you know, he has his own ABBA song, so that's awesome.
Nicole Vaidisova & Radek Stepanek
Fellow Czechs Nicole and Radek made quite the splash when they began dating in 2007. He had just broken off his engagement to WTA tour star Martina Hingis, and she was just 18, 11 years younger than Radek, who had a reputation as a hard-partying playboy. Tennis gossipmongers said it wouldn't last, but two years later, the couple is still together and planning to marry next month. Nicole retired from tennis in March, while Radek is currently ranked 20th in the world. 5 Celeb Couples Who Met At Work
Kim Clijsters & Lleyton Hewitt
Australian Lleyton and Belgian Kim began dating in 2000 after meeting at the Australian Open. The two comely blonds have a couple of Grand Slam victories each under their belts—Lleyton won the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002, and Kim won the U.S. Open in 2005, then emerged from retirement last year to notch a second victory. They were engaged at Christmas 2003 but broke up the following October, and are now on good terms. Kim is now married to basketball player Brian Lynch and in 2008 gave birth to a daughter, Jada. Lleyton married Aussie actress Bec Cartwright in 2005 after a whirlwind romance and they are now expecting their third child. To Be Or Not To Be(friend) An Ex
Dominika Cibulkova & Gael Monfils
Both of these seasoned pros—Slovakian Dominika and Frenchman Gael—have track records of dating at work. Before Dominika, Gael, who just washed out at Roland Garros with a grueling third-round loss to Fabio Fognini, dated his countrywoman Alizé Cornet when they were both teenagers. After breaking up with Gael shortly after the 2008 French Open, Dominika went on to date Austrian player Jurgen Melzer, who just knocked Novak Djokovic out of the French and previously dated WTA pros Anastasia Myskina and Nicole Vaidisova. See, we told you tennis was just one big high school full of pretty people shagging each other.