All eyes will be focused on the Australian open 2009 as the new season kicks off with the its first Grand Slam event in Melbourne in January. The Aussie fans are hungry for a home grown winner, but they know that there are really no Australian open players that have much of a chance of winning. But they will cheer every man or woman who steps onto the court wearing the Aussie flag. The biggest cheers will be for former number 1 player Lleyton Hewitt, who is close to retirement but will give his best effort to please the crowd. Rebecca Cartwright, just about as popular in her own right as Lleyton, will be in the player’s box to acknowledge the crowd’s applause and to support her husband. They were married in 2005 after a storybook romance. Rebecca is a talented Australian actress who is best known for her soap opera role on Home and Away. She also won the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars.

Another successful actress who married a famous tennis player is Bridgette Wilson. She was a former winner of Miss Teenage USA in 1990 before becoming an actress in such films as Billy Madison, where she played the role of school teacher Veronica Vaughn, and opposite Arnold in Last Action Hero. Her marriage to Pete Samprass at the end of his record setting career has worked out just fine and they are a happy couple who stay out of the limelight as much as possible.

A sad day for all male tennis fans was the announcement of the secret marriage of Anna Kournikova to pop singer and recording star Enrique Iglisias. It’s hard to believe that the sexy Miss Kournikova, who set the tennis world on its ear with her provocative style and flirtatious comments, is 27 years old. Their marriage took place on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with just a few close friends and family present. They met when Anna was playing the role of Enrique’s girlfriend for a music video, and as they say in Hollywood, the rest is history.

Although they are not married in the true sense of the word, Roger Federer and Miroslava Vavrinec have been together and visible as a couple for so long, that they might just as well be married. Who knows? Maybe they are! Most observers do not realise that Miroslava was an accomplished tennis player in her own right, in fact she was representing Switzerland at the Sydney Olympics when she met Roger. Her WTA ranking reached as high as #76, before she retired from active play due to nagging injuries.

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have a son and a daughter now, and I have heard that it’s Jaz Elle their 5 year old daughter, who has inherited the tennis genes from her parents, and spends hours hitting a tennis ball. Maybe I should place a bet on her now to win a Grand Slam event one day. Any takers?