Maria, Serena Among Most-Searched on Yahoo!
With the 2007 calendar year coming to a close and 2008 about to kick off, we often find ourselves looking back at the year that was. Tennis fans worldwide were tracking events and results during the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season, and as a result of the expanding popularity of women's tennis, two of the players on the Tour - Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams - ranked Top 5 among athletes searched on Yahoo! in 2007.
Sharapova's 2007 season was highlighted by capturing the singles title at San Diego as well as being a finalist at the Australian Open (falling to Serena Williams), Birmingham and the Tour Championships in Madrid (falling to Justine Henin). With a 40-11 record, the Russian native finished her 2007 campaign ranked No.5.
Williams captured her eighth career Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open as well as triumphing at Miami. Williams' 35-10 record allowed her to climb to a season-ending ranking of No.7 after starting the season at No.95.
Additionally, Sharapova (No.2 overall) and Serena Williams (No.5 overall) found their way to the Yahoo! "Hits, Runs & Errors" list, which analyzed the Top 10 sports news searches. NASCAR (No.1), the Boston Red Sox (No.3) and soccer superstar David Beckham (No.4) filled out the top of the list.

Yahoo! conducted the research based on a methodology that analyzed the search queries based on a number of factors, including absolute volume and growth versus previous periods, to see which themes and trends bubble to the surface.
MOST-SEARCHED ATHLETES ON THE WEB FOR 2007
1. Maria Sharapova

2. David Beckham
3. Serena Williams
4. Cristiano Ronaldo

5. Ronaldinho
HITS, RUNS & ERRORS
1. NASCAR
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Boston Red Sox
4. David Beckham
5. Serena Williams