Sasha Vujacic and Maria Sharapova

As any workout buff can tell you, when you're in the gym there is no

better motivation than having someone there to help you and push you to
your limits. That person can be there to give you that little extra oomph
you need to set your new one-rep record or increase your VO2 max or some
other fitness term. It's just good to have a buddy there, keeping you safe
and making you work hard. If that buddy happens to be a professional
athlete, even better.

And if that professional athlete happens to be a strikingly beautiful
world champion, then you've really hit the workout jackpot, just like
Sasha Vujacic. He's getting ready for next season by training in Florida
with his girlfriend, tennis star Maria Sharapova. Pretty good gig, if you

can get it. From FanHouse's Tim Povtak:

"It's interesting,'' Vujacic told FanHouse over the weekend. "She has
helped me. We've helped each other, I think. As two pro athletes -- in
different sports -- we both understand what the other is doing and going
through, and what it takes to do well in what we do. She's working hard.
I'm working hard. It's good together.''

It was Sharapova who convinced Vujacic to come to Florida last week to
train for the first time at the acclaimed IMG Academy in Bradenton, where
she has trained most of her athletic life.

Maria Sharapova is preparing for the U.S. Open that begins later this
month in New York. And while she was on the tennis court under the
steaming midday sun, he was in the gymnasium 50 feet away, sweating
through his own shirt, too. They were doing completely different workouts,
on different courts, but they were pushing each other.

But really, this is good news for the myriad Sasha Vujacic fans out there.
While training alongside a world-class athlete — even if they're not
playing the same sport or doing the same routine — he's bound to get
better, just from the two of them pushing each other. Factor in that this
is a contract year for Vujacic and that after a horrible season, he needs
to prove that he's worth another NBA contract, and the Lakers might have a
decent player on their hands. At the very least, he'll be a decent trade
chip.