Before the Australian Open began, Serena Williams claimed that she hadn’t been on a date in forever. If the latest gossip reports are true, that has changed.

The New York Post says Serena went on a date with 20-year-old Bulgarian tennis player Grigor Dimitrov. From their blurb:

A spy tells us the pair had lunch at hip restaurant L’Avenue, and then left together for a romantic stroll on the streets of Paris, where Williams has an apartment. They were also spotted visiting the Eiffel Tower. Despite the age gap — Dimitrov is 20 and Williams 30 — the spy said, “They were laughing and seemed to really enjoy each other’s company. It looked like a first date.”

The last time we said Serena was on a date, it was with country singer Jake Owen. The two said it was just a dinner between friends. Will Serena say the same thing this time? I dunno, but we do know that the last couple spotted getting cozy in Paris ended up back together, so maybe that bodes well for Serena.

Thanks to The Big Lead for sharing the story

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal battled for 5:53 in a memorable final at the Australian Open before Nole got a break to win the match in five sets, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. The match began Sunday night and ended Monday morning at 1:37am in Melbourne. It was the longest final at a grand slam in history and the longest match ever at the Australian Open. The players were so drained they could barely stand for the trophy ceremony and needed to be seated.

What was impressive about the match is the way both players kept coming back. Novak lost the first set but came back to win the next two. Then Nadal was down 5-3 in the fourth set and facing defeat, but he came back to win it in a tiebreak. Nadal was also up 4-2 after getting a break in the final set, but Novak broke him back and then won 7-5.

Djokovic has now won five majors and has won three in a row. His three straight finals wins have come over Rafael Nadal, who will be looking for his 7th career French Open title. Nole’s five grand slam titles are behind Nadal’s 10 and Roger Federer’s 16.

If you were watching the semifinal match between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray at the Australian Open Friday and saw what appeared to be Vlade Divac sitting in Novak’s box, you were not imagining things. That really was Vlade Divac sitting in Novak’s box.

Divac and Djokovic apparently have a relationship (Novak has tweeted a picture of them together) and are both sporting ambassadors for Serbia. Nole is perhaps the country’s most popular athlete; Vlade is the president of the Serbian Olympic committed.

Reports say Vlade was in Australia to discuss some Olympic business in Sydney this week, and he scooted over to Melbourne to watch Novak compete. As strange as you may find it, it’s nothing compared to when P. Diddy was in Nole’s box.

Tomic and his girlfriend Donay Meijer were pulled over by officers in the Broadbeach precinct after he was “showing off” his orange V8 BMW through the restaurant precinct.

Tomic came to police attention again this afternoon and was followed home from Surfers Paradise by a siren-blaring patrol car after allegedly refusing a direction to pull over.

The teenager is still on his P-plates but has a special exemption to drive the high-performance car to and from training and other activities directly related to his tennis.

I’m guessing that means he has the Australian equivalent of a learner’s permit.  Tomic told reporters the police are acting like he “killed someone” and says he believes he has done absolutely nothing wrong.  He says he had his entire day planned out and was simply trying to have fun with his “mates” on Australia Day.

Acting cool in front of the lady friend, are we?  I can’t say I blame you.

You don’t see that very often.  Roger Federer was obviously just flicking the ball in the direction of the sideline during his Australian Open semifinal match against Rafael Nadal on Wednesday.  I highly doubt he expected the ball boy to make the one-handed catch of the year.  Nadal defeated Federer for the 18th time in 27 career matches between the two to advance to the finals.

You think all ball boys and girls are the same? Think again. Obviously they brought in some major talent for the Australian Open.  You don’t find people who can make plays like that just walking around outside the complex.  I’m glad the crowd acknowledged it, because the kid made it look so easy that I’m surprised anyone even knew it was a great play.  If they interviewed him after the game, I guarantee he would have said nothing more than, “Just doing what I get paid to do.”

I’m pretty sure former world No. 1 and current analyst/reporter Jim Courier was trying to ask Novak Djokovic a question about his conditioning Wednesday, but whatever he intended to say came out all wrong.

Novak beat David Ferrer in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of the Australian Open. The match wasn’t as easy as the score indicates; Djokovic was down 4-2 in the second set tiebreaker before he won five straight points to take the second set and a two sets to none lead.

Courier asked Djokovic why he breathed through his nose when he was playing, leaving the No. 1 seed stupefied. Courier realized his question was pretty stupid, and quickly changed subjects.

French Open winner Li Na lost her fourth-round match at the Australian Open to Kim Clijsters in three sets Sunday and ended up crying in her postmatch press conference.

Li was up 5-4 in the second set and failed to serve out the match. She also was up 6-2 in the tiebreaker and blew that lead, surrendering six straight points. She then fell behind 5-1 in the third but rallied back to make it 5-4 before losing the match. Li was probably disappointed that she lost relatively early in the tournament, and that she blew several match points.

When pressed about the loss after the match and asked if she cried, Li broke down. She had to leave the conference early because of the questions.

Hey, don’t judge her too harshly. Do you have a country of 1.2 billion people disappointed in you?

Tomas Berdych won his fourth-round match against Nicolas Almagro in four sets at the Australian Open Sunday, but he lost the fans doing it. Late in the fourth set, Almagro charged the net to retrieve a drop volley from Berdych. With very few options because he was on the run, Almagro tried to whip a ball cross court. It ended up hitting Berdych in the arm. Almagro put his hand up to indicate he was sorry, and he tried to tell Berdych the shot was unintentional. Berdych wanted no part of the apology.

Almagro won the next game but Berdych won the tiebreak to take the match. The victorious Czech shook hands with the chair umpire but refused to shake Almagro’s hand. The crowd, which cheered him after the win, quickly changed to boos.

Almagro said after the match he played to win the point and that he left the court with his head high.

Berdych did not back down in his postmatch news conference.

“Anyone who has played tennis knows the court is pretty big and you have some space to put the ball in,” Berdych said. “This is not the way tennis is. You always have enough space to put the ball and to try not to hit the player.”

Berdych’s poor display of sportsmanship may cost him heavily. He faces No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and will likely have the crowd against him.

Meijer is Tomic’s 21-year-old girlfriend, who also happens to be a model. As you can see from the photo to the right, she is extremely easy on the eyes. But that’s not all. According to an Australian newspaper, Meijer has put her modeling career on hold so she can finish up her pharmacy degree. A pharmacist and a model? It’s no wonder she has been stealing the show during the tournament.

Of course, Meijer is not the hottest tennis player girlfriend in the world.  For me, this lovely lady still takes the cake.  That being said, Tomic is doing very well for himself during his young career.

H/T The Big Lead

“You can’t really do anything about the past,” Wozniacki said according to the Belfast Telegraph, noting that she has taken valuable advice from McIlroy. “You just need to look forward. You have a tournament now, and you want to do the best you can. That’s it. Then if it goes well, it’s great. If not, you have the next one.”

Aren’t they just the perfect couple? One minute Woz claims she’s the real superstar in the relationship and the next she’s admitting to taking advice from Rory.  They aren’t No. 1 and No. 2 in the world for no reason.  Wozniacki did say, however, that she believes golf can be more taxing on your mind than tennis.

“I think it’s more mental than tennis,” she explained. “You do one wrong movement and the ball goes in the trees or somewhere and it’s difficult.”