Venus, Serena & Sharapova smash it up at an Oscar after party

Quality time with Eva Longoria and Victoria Beckham wasn't enough this weekend for Venus and Serena Williams, who took to the Vanity Fair Oscar after party in Los Angeles. Maria Sharapova was also on hand, a day away from her appearance on Chelsea Lately. See photos of all three, dressed exquisitely in their own ways, at the bash, including some delightful images of Venus chatting with Cameron Diaz, who along with Jennifer Lopez, tried to steal the Academy Award show itself with a display of rump.

There was also some vaguely tennis-tinged news ahead of the Oscar telecast, which itself was basically a vehicle for Billy Crystal to show how startlingly unfunny he is anymore. Sacha Baron Cohen's latest alter ego, the Dictator, carried an urn containing the remains of his "dear friend and doubles tennis partner Kim Jong-il" on the red carpet before showtime. During an odd exchange with Ryan Seacrest, he proceeded to dump those ashes down the front of TV's resident talking head's suit. Watch the clip here:

What to even say about that dusty mess? As boorish as Baron Cohen can be, it was also good to see Seacrest humbled in a way. In any event, it's even better to see tennis sneaking into the mainstream, even at the hands of the guy who brought us Borat.

—Jonathan Scott (Follow me on Twitter @jonscott9.)