If Bryant McKinnie has a better than ordinary Vikings season this year, all the credit may go to his tennis pals, the Williams sisters.

McKinnie told TMZ that Venus and Serena Williams have been putting him through high-intensity tennis drills at a private Florida facility to help the offensive lineman with his balance and footwork. "Says the sisters focused on quick lateral movement as well as improving acceleration backwards and forwards from a dead stop," reads TMZ.com www.startribune.com/a567.

On Twitter ,McKinnie has been seeking tennis playing partners and posting videos of his tennis workouts with the sisters. However, one of his recently video posts was actually from a previous workout.

McKinnie told TMZ the workouts were difficult but that the Williams sisters were very patient with him and he feels it will all pay off on the field.

For good offensive measure, TMZ includes a photo illustration that appears to show McKinnie checking out Serena's derriere.

A single man and survivor of the Minnetonka Love Boat scandal, McKinnie also has enjoyed hanging with Deelishis and Lil Kim. He chronicles a lot of his partying plans on Twitter.

McKinnie is apparently holding no grudges against TMZ for reporting that he dropped $100,000 on champagne at a Los Angeles nightclub.

Sharpening his athletic skills by practicing with Venus and Serena is a lot more wholesome than other activities that have generated chatter about McKinnie. As TMZ noted, now that the NFL lockout is over we'll get to see for ourselves whether tennis drills really helped McKinnie's football game.

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