Feliciano Lopez

Professional tennis players are about more than serves, backhands and forehands – there's also their style, movement and the way they carry themselves on court, and their off-court presence and personality.

Here's an overview of the best looks in tennis in 2008. For the purposes of this ranking, looks are viewed as an overall combination of appearance, personality and style, and fashion sense.

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Former ATP World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and World No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga headline an outstanding playing field for the Medibank International, to be held in Sydney the second week of the 2009 ATP World Tour season.

Tournament Director Craig Watson announced one of the strongest fields in the event’s long and illustrious history, which includes five of the world's top 20 men and 13 of the world’s top 20 women.

Towering Croat Ivo Karlovic earned the king of aces title for the second straight season, leading the ATP circuit with 961 aces in 2008.

The 6'10" Karlovic averaged 17.8 aces through 54 matches, achieving his highest total for the season with 42 in his second round win against Frenchman Florent Serra at the US Open. In a best-of-three-sets match, Karlovic fired 35 aces to Rafael Nadal's six in the Queen's Club quarterfinals but still came up on the losing end in a third-set tie-break.

  Spanish media has proclaimed the nation the kings of sport after a record-breaking season on the court and elsewhere. The third Davis Cup title since 2000 for Spain has sparked a wave of self-congratulation.

"Spain is Sport," bannered the El Pais newspaper, while the weekend
3-1 Davis Cup finals win over Argentina in Mar del Plata drew praise from the country's sports minister.

Or will it forever be known as the Massacre in Mar del Plata? That depends on your point of view, of course, but clearly this weekend’s Davis Cup final in Argentina meant many things to many people.

Spain’s winning Davis Cup team returned home on Tuesday looking worn out from a night of celebrations followed by a long flight from Argentina.

Fernando Verdasco, Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer, Marcel Granollers and captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario arrived at Madrid’s international airport at 5 a.m. local time. Due to the early hour, there was little fanfare to greet them.

“I think in the next few days we’ll finally realize what we have achieved,” Ferrer told reporters.

Ever since Fernando Verdasco was a young boy, when he could barely see over the top of the net, he had dreamed about winning the Davis Cup for Spain. And the 25-year-old Madrileno realised that dream at the Estadio Islas Malvinas today, beating Argentina's Jose Acasuso in five sets to give Spain the point they needed to complete their first Davis Cup triumph away from home. This was "the most beautiful day" of Verdasco's life, and that is coming from a man who now has Ana Ivanovic, the delightful French Open champion, on his arm.

Spain's nailbiting Davis Cup final triumph over Argentina was hailed as a team victory in adversity by local media on Monday.

"The Invincible Armada" was the front page headline on sports daily Marca while daily El Mundo said: "The Plan B was made of gold."

Much was made of the side's ability to overcome the last-minute withdrawal of world number one Rafael Nadal through injury, and captain Emilio Sanchez Vicario's motivational skills.

Who needs Rafael Nadal?

Even without the top-ranked player, Spain won its third Davis Cup by beating Argentina on Sunday, thanks to Fernando Verdasco’s five-set victory over Jose Acasuso.

Verdasco outlasted Acasuso 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 before a boisterous Argentine crowd at Islas Malvinas Stadium. The fans went quiet as Argentina lost at home for the first time in 10 years in Davis Cup competition.