Ball boy pens song, gives marriage proposal to Ana Ivanovic

Melbourne, Jan 3 (ANI): French Open champion Ana Ivanovic received a marriage proposal on Friday during her first practice session for the Brisbane International, which starts tomorrow.

The 21-year-old Serbian tennis star has spent two weeks preparing at the Sunshine Beach with her Australian trainer Scott Byrnes.

The tournament top seed's first practice session at Pat Rafter Arena yesterday prompted a marriage proposal from a ball boy, in his early teens, who also sang a song he wrote for Ana, as she signed autographs.

A smiling Ivanovic replied: "Maybe when you're older."

Ivanovic, who hopes to go one round further than her Australian Open final loss to Maria Sharapova last year, practiced for an hour and looked very sharp to gladden the hearts of organizers, the Daily Telegraph reported.

"I worked hard physically in the off-season and I'm looking forward to some competition and some matches again,"' the world No.6 said.

"I just came down to Brisbane today. It's my first hit today and I really enjoyed it. When I go out to the practice courts I just think of the beautiful surroundings and the beaches down the road so it's very easy to work hard," she added.

Her first match at Rafter Arena will be on Monday night, against an opponent to be determined by today's draw, in a break with tennis convention to give spectators keen to watch her first match every chance of arranging a free night.

Ivanovic said she had had no lingering soreness from the thumb injury, which disadvantaged her in August and September and had completely recovered from a recent virus. (ANI)