So tennis whites can be a bit dull. And sports wear is not the most sexy attire around.

And Venus Williams was playing in the French Open in Paris... which might go some way to explain her bizarre choice of outfit in her first match of the tournament.

The 29-year-old player looked as if she had borrowed a negligee from a burlesque troop at the Moulin Rouge.

Looking as if she was about to burst into the can-can at any moment, Venus exhibited her normal flair on the court - athletically reaching for shots and slamming balls past her opponent Patty Schnyder of Swtizerland.

But the lacy, tutu-type attire kept bunching up to reveal her skintight flesh-coloured knickers.

It gave onlookers more than an eyeful of her shapely derriere.

Venus is becoming renowned for her on-court dress, which she wears to give publicity to her personal clothing line.

The star said she was wanted to create an 'illusion' - she's actually created a bit of a furore.

Last month she wore a similar outfit - a red dress with black trim, minus the lace - at the Madrid Open.

But it's unlikely her colourful outfits will go down well at the All-England tennis club.

Players are expected to wear classic white at Wimbledon.

While all talk was of her outfit, rather than her skill, Venus is currently ranked No.2 in the world.

She has never won the women's singles titles on clay and has only made one appearance in the French Open final - which is perhaps why she chose style over comfortable sportswear in the first round.

She did go on to win the first-round match against to Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, 6-3, 6-3

The Taliban launched a ferocious assault on NATO's biggest base in Afghanistan to target either ace footballer David Beckham or British Foreign Secretary William Hague or Defence Secretary Liam Fox.

Taliban chiefs acted after learning that Beckham was in the war-torn country on a morale-boosting visit to British troops. They also discovered that Hague and Fox were meeting government officials on a separate trip.

The appearance of the trio was believed to have prompted Saturday's surprise attack on Kandahar airfield, the Daily Star reports.

"The Taliban could not resist the chance of taking out one of these VIPs. They weren't to know none of the three men were at Kandahar. It was one of the obvious places to have a go," a source said.

Beckham bravely shrugged off the security scare as he paid tribute to fallen British men. He stood, solemn and head bowed, before a memorial at Camp Bastion in dangerous Helmand province to the 286 members of the UK Armed Forces who have given their lives.

Hours earlier at Kandahar airfield, gunners from the RAF Regiment sprang into action as insurgents launched a "complex and well co-ordinated" assault. The base is home to nearly 27,000 troops including 1,000 British soldiers.

One unit of Taliban opened fire on the base's Northern Entry Checkpoint, while a second group tried to storm the airfield perimeter. The attackers hit the base with five rockets, their trigger to launch a ground assault.

RAF Regiment troops caught and detained several insurgents and at least one Taliban was killed. The attack injured 13 US and Canadian troops.

IPL Awards Jury
Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, INC (Indian News Channels), Lalu Prasad Yadav, Brinda Karat, Shobhaa De, Income Tax Department.

2010 IPL Award Winners

Most Promising Player:
Lalit Modi for making too many promises he couldn't keep.

Best IPL Debutante:
Shashi Tharoor who scored heavily without playing a match.

Most Powerful Hitter:
Sharad Pawar, as former BCCI boss he has final say on IPL's future.

Best Catch:
Deepika Padukone, by Royal Challengers and Siddharta Mallya in particular.

Best Stumping:
Lalit Modi by Shashi Tharoor.

Most Male Fan Following:
Cheerleaders.

Most Female Fan Following:
Lalit Modi (being chased for VIP passes).

Worst Match:
Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar.

Best Match:
Nita Ambani and Sachin Tendulkar.

Costliest Dropped Catch:
Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia.

Costliest Match:
Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar.

Best Commentator:
Mandira Bedi (when she wasn't speaking).

Worst Commentator:
Danny Morrison (when he was speaking).

Most Consistent Performer:
SRK (whenever he knew the camera was on him).

Most Inconsistent Performer:
Yuvraj Singh (when the camera focused on him batting).

Most Dramatic Performance:
Katrina Kaif In IPL's Bangalore Royal Challengers Music Video.

Best New Cricketing Term:
Sweat Equity.

Best Expert Comment:
Lalu Yadav on his son: "Yadavs should not be carrying towels and water bottles."

Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza arrive for their wedding reception in Lahore.

Teams battle for 35 hours to break record for longest ever football match... and the final score was 333-293

If you think 90 minutes of football is long enough for a match, then imagine having to sit through - or play - a 35-hour game.

The longest ever game of football ended today with a 333 to 293 scoreline.

The All Stars were eventually victorious after a marathon 35 hours on the pitch against Cambray FC in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

They have now smashed the Guinness World Record for the longest match ever played - the previous record was 33 hours.

The 36 footballers, who came from churches around the area, had planned to play for 40 hours, but torrential rain made the pitch unsafe.

The teams were raising £30,000 to build a school for poverty-stricken children in India.

All Stars player Pete Sheppard, 24, said that tiredness was the biggest hurdle.

'We did a lot of intense training sessions but they don't prepare you for how long an ordeal this is,' he said.

Ninety minutes is a long time but you are playing double that before you have a break. That last hour everyone was really counting down the minutes.'

Each squad had 18 players, who each raised £1,000 for the game, and every player had to stay on the pitch for three hours at a time.

Every three hours there was a five-minute break for substitutions. And for every hour on the pitch, the players earned a five-minute break.

None of the players were allowed to leave the area around the pitch so tents were pitched along the sidelines, while invigilators watched.

Cambray player Andy Champion, 37, said the game had remained competitive until the final whistle.

'We started off quite fast because we were all so excited, but I was actually surprised by the pace of some of the lads hours into the game,' he said.

Cambray FC, from Cambray Baptist Church, and the Cotswold All Stars, made up of players from different churches, are on target to raise £30,000.

The money will help the Dalit community in India, who are considered outcasts and denied access to public areas such as parks.

Footballer's wife Emily McKeown, who helped organise the event, said: 'Supporters have been coming through the night to watch them and have even pitched up their tents as well.

'The players are completely shattered and many of them have been left with injuries.

'We had to make the decision to stop when the rain got heavier and it became a bit too dangerous.'

See the Tennis Beauty & Cricketer after there Marriage