Celebrity Mound

Serena Williams has moved to play down reports she is dating rapper Drake, insisting her love life isn’t very exciting at the moment. The American tennis star, currently in Melbourne for the Australia Open, answered questions about her relationship at a press conference on Thursday, according to Yahoo Sports.

Serena previously dated hip hop star Common for three years, but the pair split last year. Since then, the tennis ace has been photographed with Canadian rapper Drake, though she claims the relationship is purely platonic and insists she is not back with Common either. She told reporters, “I haven’t been on a date in forever.I can be super picky, never satisfied. It’s a little crazy right now because there’s so much going on that when I’m not playing tennis I don’t sleep because I’m always doing something”. In light of Serena’s flourishing friendship with Drake, Common has been throwing barbs at the Toronto artist through his lyrics, with the ‘Take Care’ star reacting with similar jibes. Speaking recently on the Sirius Hip Hop Nation radio show, Common referred to the ‘beef’, saying, “To me, you can express yourself in many different ways, but I was just missing that hardcore Hip-Hop, that raw Hip-Hop sound, and I was just talking about it.I was saying, man, the song ‘Sweet’ was cats out there doing sweet music. Dude must have took offense to it, so he came out and said some things, and once he said something on record, I said something on record”.

Serena Williams kick off her attempt to capture a sixth Australian Open on Tuesday.

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.”

(source)

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.”

(source)