TENNIS LOVE

It was love-all for Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovic last year as the Scot and the Serb flirted their way to the mixed doubles title. Like giggly teenagers, they held hands, made suggestive comments and had such on-court chemistry that onlookers suspected that they were witnessing the start of a beautiful relationship.

Jankovic even announced that she had bribed Murray with “many kisses” if he made a good return, saying that she was trying “to pump him up a little”. It clearly worked.

Off court, however, love did not blossom in the way that everyone hoped and they will not be reuniting this year because Jankovic wants to concentrate on her singles. But tennis loves a good romance, as the following examples show.

Five that didn’t last

Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors

It was the summer of love for Wimbledon in 1974, when Connors and Evert, who were engaged, won the singles titles, but they split by the year’s end.

Evert and John Lloyd

Five years after breaking up with Connors, Evert married Lloyd. They divorced in 1987.

Lleyton Hewitt and Kim Clijsters

The Australian started dating the Belgian after they met at the 2000 Australian Open. Engaged in 2003, they split a year later.

Martina Hingis and Radek Stepanek

Hingis had previously dated Magnus Norman, Ivo Heuberger and Justin Gimelstob before getting engaged to Stepanek in 2006, breaking up nine months later. When asked why she dated only tennis players, she snapped: “Who else am I going to meet? A journalist?”

Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova Regularly seen together but denied that they were more than friends, although Sharapova practised with the American at the 2006 US Open, wearing a T-shirt saying: “Love is in the air”.

And three that succeeded

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf

Agassi and Graf danced together at the champions party after the French Open in 1999. They were married in 2001 and have two children.

Roger Federer and Mirka Vavrinec

Vavrinec was a former tour player who reached No 76 in the world. She retired in 2002 to become Federer’s manager, having become his girlfriend in 2000.

Stepanek and Nicole Vaidisova

There must be something special about Stepanek because he is now seeing Vaidisova, 19, ranked No 18.