Larry Brown Sports

Victoria Azarenka is the No. 1 women’s tennis player in the world, and she is dating LMFAO DJ/singer Redfoo. The two appear to have been dating since around September 2012, which is when Redfoo aka Stefan Kendal Gordy was spotted cheering her on at the US Open. Since then, he has traveled to watch her play in other tournaments, including the Australian Open:

That was Redfoo watching Azarenka take on Sloane Stephens in the semifinals of the Aussie Open Thursday.

The two have been spotted at the beach and playing basketball together. They have also reportedly partied in Las Vegas together, and he accompanied her to a tennis exhibition in Thailand.

Redfoo, who is one of the two members of electronic music group LMFAO, which is currently on hiatus, confessed to being in love during a recent radio interview, though he wouldn’t name the woman.

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was asked a fairly simple question at the Australian Open on Wednesday, but he gave a pretty complex response — one that certainly isn’t going to score him any points with the ladies. A reporter brought up the fact that it has been common over the last several years for the top four seeds in men’s tournaments to advance to the semifinals. The same has not been true on the women’s side, and Tsonga was asked why he supposes that has been the case.

“You know, the girls, they are more unstable emotionally than us,” he replied according to the Australian Open’s website. “I’m sure everybody will say it’s true, even the girls (laughter). No? No, you don’t think?

“But, I mean, it’s just about hormones and all this stuff. We don’t have all these bad things, so we are physically in a good shape every time, and you are not. That’s it.”

As USA Today pointed out, English is Tsonga’s second language. Perhaps he meant to say something else and it came out wrong. Or maybe that time he took a ball to the man region has affected his ability to think clearly. If not, it’s going to be tough for him to argue that he’s not a sexist dude. The “unstable emotionally” comment was rough enough. The whole hormone thing? Forget about it.

Serena Williams was bounced in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Wednesday by 19-year-old Sloane Stephens 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. The defeat marked the first time Serena lost to an American player who was younger than her. While it would be premature to call this a “changing of the guard” in women’s tennis, it is a sign of things to come.

Williams, who was already battling an ankle injury suffered during her first-round match, took a medical timeout during the second set to address back spasms. She went on to lose the set and match, but she says she did not consider quitting because of the injury.

Stephens clearly frustrated Williams, because Serena smashed her racquet in anger during the third set.

Here is what the racquet looked like after being destroyed:

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Andy Murray was in such a good mood after wiping out Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open Friday that he teased an interviewer for dressing casually.

Murray was doing his interviews following the match and spoke with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi for a few minutes. The tone of the interview was serious, but that all changed after Rinaldi was done with his questions, leaving it open for Murray.

The Scotsman proceeded to needle Rinaldi for not wearing a tie and having his top button open. Murray even compared Rinaldi to Darren “Killer” Cahill, who he says was wearing a tie for their last interview.

The comments were odd coming from Murray, who isn’t exactly a fashion icon, but we appreciate him showing some personality.

Between his moment with Tim Tebow at the Sugar Bowl and this, it’s been a busy week of headlines for Rinaldi.

There is a lot going on in Maria Kirilenko’s world. The Russian tennis player is playing her first grand slam since getting engaged to boyfriend Alex Ovechkin last month. Kirilenko also defeated Yanina Wickmayer 7-6, 6-3 on Saturday to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open.

After her victory, Kirilenko conducted a post-match interview where the subject of her engagement to the Washington Capitals star came up. When the interviewer pointed out that Kirilenko wasn’t wearing a ring, she retrieved it from her bag and produced it on request.

An embarrassed Kirilenko said the two have not yet set a date for the wedding. She does, however, have a date with Serena Williams in the fourth round.

Lance Armstrong has decided he finally feels like admitting what we have all known to be true for many years — he’s a cheater. He seems to think that by coming clean in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that he can begin the process of being forgiven, but it’s hardly that simple. Armstrong lied for years. He pressured his teammates into doping. He threatened those who refused to help him cover up his scheme. For those reasons, tennis star Novak Djokovic has no respect for the seven-time Tour de France champion.

“I mean, you know, I think everybody was expecting him to (come clean),” Djokovic said during an interview at the Australian Open. “I mean, it would be ridiculous for him to decline and refuse all the charges because it has been proven. They have like a thousand proofs that he’s positive. I think it’s a disgrace for the sport to have an athlete like this.

“He cheated the sport. He cheated many people around the world with his career, with his life story. I think they should take all his titles away because it’s not fair towards any sportsman, any athlete. It’s just not the way to be successful. So I think he should suffer for his lies all these years.”

While I certainly agree that Armstrong is a disgrace (as we outlined in detail earlier this week), whether or not he cheated the sport is debatable. As Ty Duffy of The Big Lead pointed out, doping in cycling is hardly limited to Armstrong.

It’s like steroid usage in baseball. Did players during the steroid era cheat? Certainly. But ratings and attendance numbers were through the roof, and fans certainly enjoyed watching balls fall out of the park. The players may have cheated, but the enjoyment was real. The same can be said of cycling, which gained popularity and roped in new viewers every time Armstrong was going for another Tour de France title. I’m sure the television networks aren’t all that upset that Armstrong was doping all those years.

Polish tennis player Jerzy Janowicz had an epic meltdown at the Australian Open on Wednesday.

Janowicz was in the middle of a first-set tiebreak against Somdev Devvarman when he blew up after what he felt was a bad call that cost him the set. Devvarman seemed to pull a forehand wide, but the judge called it in to even the tiebreak 9-9.

Janowicz was so upset he began yelling and pounding the ground over the call. Because they were playing on one of the smaller outside courts, a Hawkeye review was not available to him. He tried begging the chair umpire to overturn the call, but he had no luck.

Janowicz lost the tiebreak 12-10 to drop the first set, and Devvarman took the second 6-3. But Janowicz regained focus and rallied to win the next three sets 6-1, 6-0, and 7-5 to win the second-round match.