The Czech A-Teams

Although the Czech Republic has given so many great tennis champions in previous years, recently the country failed to produced the same amount of talent. Martina Navratilova, Iva Lendl,  Hana Mandlikova or Jana Novotna are all legends of the game, but after their retirement, their place was hard to fill.

However with Kvitova's stunning triumph at Wimbledon and Berdych's sudden glimpses of magic, the nation finally got something to cheer about. The duo showed their class in the beginning of the season, teaming up to win the mixed-doubles event in Perth. They were imperious in winning the Hopman Cup, disposing of the Frenchmen Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet in the final.

The successes kept on coming for the Czech, as Kvitova and co. successfully defended their Fed Cup title. It was Safarova though who clinched the final victory over Serbia, as she defeated both former number 1s, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, to bring in two vital points. 

Inspired by their female counterparts performance, the Czech squad lead by Berdych was determined to end Spain's reign in the Davis Cup and collect the country's first trophy as an independent nation. To help their cause, Corretja's team was deprived of its main superstar, Nadal continuing to be sidelined by the knee injury that forced him to miss the second half of the season. However, with Ferrer in hot form and Almagro as the supporting actor, the Spaniards were not to be dismissed easily.

Day 1 saw the two nations tied at 1-1, with Berdych beating Almagro in a five set thriller, while Ferrer cruised passed Stepanek. The doubles match proved vital in determining the winner. Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez were starting as hot favourites having just claimed the ATP World Tour Championships in London, but old fox Stepanek was yet to say his last word. He and Berdych produced a superb performance to recover from the loss of the opening set to stun the Spaniards 3-6,7-5,7-5,6-3. Stepanek was top notch on Sunday too, scoring the decisive point with a four set victory over Nicolas Almagro.

With Berdych losing in straight sets to Ferrer it was up to Radek to clinch the win and his older compatriot did not waste the opportunity. "I was dreaming about it my whole life and now we're standing here as Davis Cup champions, it's amazing," Stepanek said. "I had a lot of chances in the second set. I was playing very aggressive today; I wanted to be the one who was more active. Even though I lost the third set, I had no doubt about my tactics. I came on the court with a mindset that I had to stay calm, hungry and concentrated. That's what I did tremendously well today."

Having won all the team trophies in 2012, the Czech Republic has established itself as the dominant force in the world.

Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Ivo Minar and Lukas Rosol respectively, won Czech Republic's first Davis Cup trophy since the country's independence. They beat Spain 3-2 in front of a magnified crowd in Prague.

Earlier this month, Lucie Safarova, Petra Kvitova and doubles specialists, Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, won the Fed Cup final against Serbia. Former world number 1s, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, were unable to cope with an inspired Safarova, who brought in two decisive points. 

At the start of the season, Petra Kvitova teamed up with Tomas Berdych to win the Hopman Cup in a final against Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet of France.

photos: GETTY IMAGES

It's The 'Purple Rain' Fashion Scoop

With the 2011 season nearing to its end, the players were keen to showcase their fall apparel. With a pretty homogenous view from the courts, it looks like the designers reached a consensus, making purple the star colour of the autumn. It doesn't matter if we are talking about violet, cyclamen, purple, red violet or magenta, but these last months brought about a genuine Purple Rain on both the women's and the men's tour.

It terms of rivalry, the battle of the titans was once again won by Adidas. Nike produced a rather disappointing collection, allowing their stiff rival to stand out once more. However, there is one Nike garment that tops the bill, as Victoria Azarenka stole the show in her red violet - black ensemble. The Belorussian proved worthy of her fashion credentials, consolidating her status as one of the best dressed tennis player. The other Nike ladies though look dull, boring and most worryingly, ill fitted. The tight purple top does not serve the Wimbledon champion well at all, as it reveals her unsexy belly. On the men's side, it looks like Rafael Nadal, who lost his on-court supremacy, has found his fashion mojo. Although a bit too wintery, I liked his snow flake violet T-shirt.

In the Adidas camp, fashion queens Ana Ivanovic and Sorana Cirstea look at their utmost best in playful, joyful and youthful AdiZero clothing. The Serb wore a magenta version of her Wimbledon gown, while the Romanian opted for a magenta top and a colourful magenta-orange skirt. The colour pallette does wonders in combination with their dark skin tone and their dark hair. The same can be said about Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who complements his exuberant on court persona with matchy attire from the same AdiZero collection.

Fashionista wannabe Jelena Jankovic was quick to adapt to the autumn trends. For her last tournament of the year she selected a plain violet ANTA dress, proving once more that you cannot prefabricate fashion sense if there's none. From the boring violet, to the common shape and the lack of glam, the dress marks another miss in Jankovic's long list of ill-thought looks.

Victoria Azarenka - NIKE (A+)

Petra Kvitova - NIKE (D)

Julia Goerges - NIKE (C)

Na Li - NIKE (D)

 Lucie Safarova - NIKE (B-)

Rafael Nadal - NIKE Rafa Ace (B) 

Ana Ivanovic - AdiZero (A-)

Sorana Cirstea - AdiZero (A-)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - AdiZero (B)

Jelena Jankovic - ANTA (B-)

photos: GETTY IMAGES