Celebrity Mound

The hip-hop star was smooching with the statuesque tennis great in Central Park the other day when an aspiring French rapper who drives a pedicab recognized him, cycled after him and tried to slip him a homemade CD. “Yo! I’m outta here!” growled Common, who quickly jumped into a motorized taxi with his Wimbledon-warrior sweetie and zoomed off.

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Serena Williams is an all-action woman both on and off the court. And it seems that her second favourite place is the beach, as she’s often seen frolicking in the Miami sea.

But the super-athletic sports woman appears to have a problem finding a bikini which adequately covers her impressive gluteus maximus (that’s bottom to you).

The tennis champ relaxed with sister Venus and friends after losing in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Serena enjoyed a turn on a jet-ski, and a spot of sunbathing after losing to Victoria Azarenka in a straight sets victory.

And she looked in fine form as she emerged from the sea Bond girl-style, but her brown bikini failed to provide much coverage from the sun’s harsh rays.

Although, one doubts she would draw many complaints.

In her post-match conference, the world No 1 and defending champion in Florida said she was hindered by an ankle strain ‘in addition to something else on my thigh’, which apparently made it tricky moving to the left, and also moving to the right, forwards or backwards.

Serena retained her No. 1 world ranking last week after defeating older sister Venus 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Florida.

It was their 20th sibling showdown, and each has won 10 times.

But clearly there’s no hard feelings as the pair teamed up for a day at the beach.

The tennis player has also been voted the 2008 WTA Tour Player of the Year for the second time – an award voted for by her peers.

‘Winning the Player of the Year award for the second time in my career is a great personal achievement,’ she said.

‘Last year was a very special year on the Tour for me, winning an Olympic Gold medal with Venus, the U.S. Open title and becoming the World No 1 player again.

‘I feel great about my game and hope to win many more Player of the Year titles in the years to come.’

Serena has won every major title during her career.
Last year, she won the U.S. Open crown, reached the title match at Wimbledon and won three other championships.

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Serena Williams

Maria Sharapova

After serving up yet another tournament victory in Florida, Serena Williams enjoyed a well-deserved day of sun and fun at Miami beach yesterday.

The star looked relaxed as she showed of her athletic physique in very skimpy black bikini while cooling off in the surf.

Her mood couldn’t have been more different on Saturday as she battled it out on the court in a tense match against Jelena Jankovic.

She smashed her racket on the stadium court at one point during the game before recovering to defeat the fourth-seed 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.
The win claimed her fifth Sony Ericsson Open title – a tie with Steffi Graf for the most women’s singles titles at Key Biscayne.

The 26-year-old was thrilled to be matching her hero’s record, saying after the match: “I love Steffi Graf. She’s a great champion and was my role model.

“To even be compared to her is awesome.” Williams’, who was last year romantically linked to rapper Common, has long been criticised for devoting too energy on her pursuits away from the court, including fashion design.

But she insists tennis is once again her top priority.

She says with a laugh: “I wasn’t making as much money, so I’ve got to go back to the bread and butter.”

“I feel like all I want to do is play tennis.”

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Venus Williams and Serena Williams

Venus Williams with her boy friend Henry Kuehne

TENNIS titan Serena Williams, who last dated director Brett Ratner, has a new man. The 2003 Wimbledon champ, dressed in a shiny baby-doll dress, was spotted holding hands and getting “very close” with rapper Common last week at Tenjune during a party for her sister Venus. “They were very friendly, arm-in-arm. She looked great,” said a spy. “All night they were sitting together. They were keeping it cool, but you could tell Common likes himself some Serena. I asked a friend of his and was told they are dating.”

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Serena Williams knows how to party, but spies at Marquee on Thursday night saw the tennis star’s sister, Isha, rush off to the bathroom after one too many cocktails. “Serena asked a cocktail waitress to go and assist her sister. I guess she was too busy partying with Adrian Grenier and Leonardo DiCaprio,” said one source. A slew of celebs were at the club celebrating the Tribeca Film Festival screening of “Gardener of Eden.” A rep for Serena told Page Six, “Isha said she was not sick.”

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