Monday, May 17, 2010

Tennis players Maria Kirilenko, Daniela Hantuchova and Tatiana Golovin

Tennis players Maria Kirilenko, Daniela Hantuchova and Tatiana Golovin posed for the swimsuit edition of the American Sports Illustrated magazine.

Clad in skimpy bikinis, they rolled around on a beach in the Dominican Republic.

Enlarge  Daniela Hantuchova

In fine form: Tennis player Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova poses for the swimsuit edition of the American Sports Illustrated magazine


Sirens on the sand: Tatiana Golovin, who lives in the UK, left, and Maria Kirilenko from Moscow

Miss Golovin, 21, was born in Moscow but now lives in North London with her boyfriend, Arsenal player Samir Nasri.

Her highest singles ranking to date is 12 and she reached the U.S. Open quarter-finals in 2006.

Miss Kirilenko, 22, also hails from Moscow and her highest ranking was 18th in the world last year.

Tennis stars

Court beauties: Maria, Daniela and Tatiana on the beach

Miss Hantuchova is from Slovakia and has reached both the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, which starts next week.


Darcie Baum, who ran the shoot, said Miss Golovin was the most obliging model. 'Personality-wise, she was just a lot of fun. She was like, "You want me to hang upside down? Sure. Take my top off? Sure."

 Tatiana Golovin
Maria Kirilenko
Daniela Hantuchova

Winning shot: From left, Tatiana, Maria and Daniela on their day job

'Kirilenko was the most modest, probably because her mother, Olga, was watching.'

The Sports Illustrated shoot is becoming a tradition for women tennis players.

In 2006 Maria Sharapova posed, and the year before it was Venus Williams. Steffi Graff started the trend in 1997, followed by Serena Williams in 2003 and 2004. Anna Kournikova also posed in 2004.