A clay curse continues to plague American Andy Roddick as he was forced to pull out of his semifinal match against Stanislas Wawrinka at last week’s Masters Series Rome tournament. The culprit? Back spasms.
We would never wish an injury on anyone (ever) and especially not against Andy, but if an injury can lead to photos like this…?
(Photo by Getty Images)
I have a thing for people who can breakdance.
But I think I will draw the line at the Worm. Put it back in the hole, Radek!
Here’s the Czech celebrates after defeating top seed Roger Federer in the quarters of last week’s Masters Series Rome. (Stepanek’s fiancee, Nicole Vaidisova, was there to cheer him on.)
In his press conference, Roger cut short any questions about the loss, making sure to point out that the straight-set match was close — two tiebreaks — and that he had led in both before losing 7-4 and 9-7.
The extra days of rest will hopefully get him revved and ready to defend his title this week in Hamburg.
As P&P had reported on Monday, Le Coq Sportif North American CEO Tim McCool will announce a reworked marketing strategy for the brand’s launch in the U.S.
Moving out: It’s highly likely that they’ll leave the apparel enclave of the Pacific Northwest (where adidas and Nike are based) and shift their management and operations to the East Coast.
Reaching out: LCS will focus on consumers of the “lifestyle” product focusing around fashion collections. Once that’s in place, they’ll move on to the “performers” aka tennis players.
adidas will continue to keep Justine Henin on their sponsorship roster even after retirement. (Yes, folks — it pays not to do blow.) Here’s an e-mail to TSF from the Sport Performance division:
adidas would like to wish the WTA World Number One all the best in her future endeavors.
adidas has been side-by-side with Justine Henin since 2003 during which time she won seven Grand Slams, including a record-equalling four French Open titles at Roland Garros, and Olympic Gold in Athens.
Justine Henin has been an outstanding player for adidas Tennis and will remain an ambassador of the adidas brand, continuing to inspire and enable young athletes worldwide.
Justine Henin, speaking from the Justine N-1 Club in Belgium, announces her immediate retirement from tennis. This is the first time someone has retired from the sport while holding the No. 1 ranking.
Share your thoughts: What do you think about Justine’s retirement? Tell us!
More: Read the AP report here
Brent Hunsberger, the man behind the Playbooks and Profiles blog at The Oregonian, is reporting that Le Coq Sportif plans to scale back its North American operations, a move likely brought on by the weak dollar and slow U.S. economy. Which is sad, considering that the company just launched the Spring 2008 line (reviewed here) and the Myth shoe (here); and they made a splash signing basketball up-and-comer Joakim Noah, son of French tennis great and longtime LCS spokeperson Yannick Noah, to endorse the brand.
LCS set up its North American shop in Portland, Ore. (also home to Nike), with CEO Tim McCool at the helm. Hunsberger asked him what was going on:
When asked if Le Coq was shutting Portland operations, McCool said, “I’ll give you more details tomorrow (Tuesday).” The company planned to publicly announce its changes later this week, he said.
I hope the news isn’t too bad. But even if that fizzles out, the chicken lives on!
By Michael Kimmelman
May 14, 2008 — Robert Rauschenberg, the irrepressibly prolific American artist who time and again reshaped art in the 20th century, died Monday night. He was 82.
Mr. Rauschenberg’s work gave new meaning to sculpture. “Canyon,” for instance, consisted of a stuffed bald eagle attached to a canvas. “Monogram” was a stuffed Angora goat girdled by a tire atop a painted panel. “Bed” entailed a quilt, sheet and pillow, slathered with paint, as if soaked in blood, framed on the wall. They all became icons of postwar modernism.
A painter, photographer, printmaker, choreographer, onstage performer, set designer and, in later years, even a composer, Mr. Rauschenberg defied the traditional idea that an artist stick to one medium or style. He pushed, prodded and sometimes reconceived all the mediums in which he worked.
Read the rest of the NYT obit here.
Nole Djokovic was the last man standing after a week of upsets and injuries at the Masters Series Rome. He beat Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on the Italian dirt.
About Wawrinka’s getup at the trophy ceremony, Randy “Sky” Walker wrote, “Ugh!” Those Adi Dassler tributes aren’t exactly for such a grand occasion, I guess.
It’s deep: The clay season is totally up in the air, with the men in the top seven spots having no more than two clay titles a piece: Federer, Estoril; Nadal, Monte Carlo and Barcelona; Djokovic, Australian and Rome; Ferrer, Valencia; Nalbandian, the Copa Telmex. Davydenko (Miami) and Roddick (Dubai, San Jose) have none. So who is going to take Roland Garros?
Insert me here?
Dinara Safina had a crazy week, taking out Justine Henin (Trivia: who was the last woman to beat Justine Henin and possibly forced her retirement from tennis?), Serena Williams and then Russian Elena Dementieva 3-6 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
Elena in Yonex. This is the same pink that she wore during the Australian Open but just in a different cut; this one has pleats. <3
(photos by Getty Images)
Mounting legal expenses add to ATP’s losses
By Daniel Kaplan
SportsBusiness Journal
May 05, 2008 — The ATP World Tour is losing millions of dollars because of steep legal expenses tied to a lawsuit brought by one of its tournaments against the men’s circuit, tennis sources said.
Last year, the sources said, the ATP lost $5 million, and it is projected to lose $6.4 million this year.
In 2005 and 2006, the ATP earned $9.2 million combined, so the losses mark a significant shift in fortunes for the men’s tour. They also come as the ATP has been criticized by top players, the U.S. Tennis Association and representatives of top events on the tour. The ATP is in the midst of a tumultuous remake of its calendar, as well as its image, and the fallout has left bruised feelings and depleted coffers.
Chat with her online, follow her Twittering, and she might even give you a call
Anna Kournikova and SportsMates, Inc., a sports social network, today announced the relaunch of Kournikova.com, Anna’s official website.
The K-Swiss-sponsored project features Anna’s personal blog (she was in Tijuana recently), videos and photo galleries (including some from her personal collection).
The site also features an About Me section with a list of her current favorites, product recommendations, where she is, and status updates sent from her mobile phone.
“I am so excited to relaunch my new website,” said Kournikova. “I love communicating with my fans and I am looking forward to having a lot more personal interaction with them in the new Ask Anna community section of my site. It’s a great way for me to keep the relationship strong and I hope they enjoy the new site as much as I do!”
She might call you: To celebrate the relaunch of Kournikova.com, lead sponsor K-Swiss is giving fans the chance to win autographed memorabilia and a telephone call from Anna as part of the K-Swiss “Win a Call from AnnaK” Sweepstakes and Contest which begins on May 19, 2008. Click here for more info.
“We are excited to partner with Kournikova.com as Anna is a fantastic brand ambassador for K-Swiss with her tennis background as well as her unique perspective on women’s athletic footwear and apparel,” stated Jennifer Weiderman, Vice President of Marketing for K-Swiss.
Live chats: K-Swiss will be hosting live online chats with Anna for the members of SportsMates. The first will take place on May 31, 2008 at 3 p.m. Eastern.
FYI: Originally launched in 2001, Kournikova.com has consistently ranked as one of the most popular official athlete websites. According to Lycos, Anna was the most searched-for athlete on the Internet in 2007, a title she’s held for the past eight years.
The network secures broadcast rights for the U.S. slam; joins CBS and ESPN to cover the North American summer hardcourts
NEW YORK — Tennis Channel, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and ESPN today announced a wide-ranging deal to bring the US Open — the most prestigious annual American tennis event and one of the largest and most important competitions in all of sports — to television audiences via the most on-air hours in history. Under the agreement, which runs through 2014, ESPN and Tennis Channel will share cable and new media tournament rights beginning in 2009, with more than 150 combined live hours and the virtually round-the-clock coverage viewers currently enjoy with the networks’ joint telecasts of other Grand Slams.
Andy Roddick is now in the quarterfinals of the Masters Series Rome after a win over Tommy Robredo. The match came down to a third set tiebreak 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4).
In Berlin, Dinara Safina is tearing up the draw; she ended Serena Williams‘ 17-match winning streak on clay by beating her in the German Open quarterfinals. Safina upset top seed Justine Henin in the round prior.
In the interest of time and space, there’s no need to talk about Serena’s complete disregard of Safina’s victory.
Harajuku Lover: Mirka Vavrinec watches boyfriend Roger Federer beat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in the third round of the Masters Series Rome.
Federer next faces Radek Stepanek in the Foro Italico.
(BTW, I’m sad Juan Monaco hasn’t quite rebounded from that ankle injury that derailed his clay streak; I hope he gets it together in time for the French!)
Andy Roddick finally sheds the grey color block and has some pinstripes do the talking in this short-sleeved Lacoste polo ($95; lacoste.com). And in case you’re wondering, the orange in their palette is named “Gladiolus”; the grey is “She-Wolf”.
Andy took out Mardy Fish in the second round of the Rome Masters and is battling Simone Bolelli as I type. Whodathunk the American would make it deeper into a clay tournament than Rafa Nadal?
Speaking of the hot Italian, Simone opts for the White/Grey version of the Lotto Kontact Polo ($42.99; TW). I still prefer the maroon accents on Juanqui’s version.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray keeps his outfits low-key (he’s letting his hot head do all the talking) in this white Fred Perry kit.
The 16th seed lost to Stanlislas Wawrinka 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) — this after Juan Martin del Potro retired with a back injury to give Andy a spot in that second round match against the Swiss No. 2.
Filippo Volandri lost in the first round to Nicolas Lapentti 7-6 (8-6), 2-6, 6-2. He wore a white and blue shirt from EA7.
And mainstay Carlos Moya couldn’t keep up with Fernando Verdasco, losing in straight sets in the first round. For his kit, Nike moves Carlos away from Rafa’s blue Global Power Tank and dresses him in white ($55; TW.com).
Roger Federer now has a clearer path to a clay court title at this week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia aka Masters Series Roma after Rafael Nadal was taken out by former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-1 in the second round.
David Ferrer’s also out, as is Guillermo Canas and David Nalbandian (part of that cabal who chipped at Roger’s confidence in 2007, though these two are stronger on hardcourts). I think the only person who can currently pose a threat is Nicolas Almagro. Do y’all agree?
The longer Roger stays in the draw, though, the higher the likelihood that we’ll see more practice shirts. For now, he’s used two:
Nice yellow bandana from Nike to go with his ringer tee.
This second one has two perpendicular white lines mimicking those of a tennis court. There’s also a graphic on the back of the shirt, but I can’t find a photo that shows it off properly…
(photos via MTF)
The Monte Carlo tournament might only have a ceremonial “1000″ title when the ATP revamps its calendar for 2009 and beyond, but that view is still going to be worth a million bucks.
(Roger Federer photo via MTF)
Mark Sanger, the founder and webmaster behind murraysworld.com, recently got a letter from the lawyers of scrappy Scot Andy Murray threatening legal action if Sanger didn’t take down pictures “leeched” off Andy’s official site and posted on Sanger’s.
Sanger, of course, is pissed. And he feels that Murray’s camp is using copyright infringement as an excuse to suppress “a website that is… often critical of Murray’s career.” On the other hand, Andy’s site “reports only on the positives and even goes as far as to censor the public when they post direct criticism at Murray,” he writes TSF via e-mail. Whatever happened to tough love?
As of this post, Sanger’s site still stands. And it’s a good one, at that. Why Murray’s legal team is threatening this guy is beyond me. Sanger’s has been running this website (non-commercial, btw) since 2005, a year before Andy Murray launched andymurray.com. C’mon, people — lemons:lemonade::crazy passionate fan with great web publishing skills:webmaster.
(I know, I know — there’s also something ot be said about *stealing*. I can only hope that Mark has posted visible notes on his forums telling readers to consider netiquette when sharing pictures of Andy from other websites…)
A recent Help Desk column at T Magazine answers a reader’s plea for sneakers that can pass off as fashionable in a conservative professional environment.
The finalists: tennis shoes, of course! (What else would we write about?) adidas‘ Tournament edition (see our write-up here), the designs of Superga, and a line called Common Projects were all mentioned. There are others, too, so take your pick. When you do, just make sure to keep a few rules in mind: no shoes that can actually survive a hitting session, stick with dark and solid colors, no logos, leather instead of canvas, and please — stick with dressing up a casual style instead of dressing down a lace-up. Trust me on that last one.
USA Today reports that Venus Williams will start hawking PowerAde, the sports drink second only to the Maria Sharapova-endorsed Gatorade in market share.
By Theresa Howard, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Coca-Cola’s PowerAde is giving Gatorade a run for its calorie count.
On the heels of Gatorade’s rollout of low-calorie G2, No. 2 sports-drink brand PowerAde is going all the way — to zero calories. Trying to build on the success of diet drinks Coke Zero and Sprite Zero, PowerAde Zero is going into stores now.
Traditional sports drinks, such as regular PowerAde, provide calories for energy as well as electrolytes to replace those lost in vigorous exercise.
“PowerAde offers carbohydrates for those with intense workouts,” says Matt Kahn, vice president of marketing. “But there’s a whole group of calorie-conscious gymgoers. This is the first major brand to give hydration and electrolytes with zero calories.”
Tennis star Venus Williams will endorse the drink in print ads next week. Other ads in Us Weekly and Men’s Health will tout its zero calories vs. Gatorade products by showing calories per 8 ounces: 50 for Gatorade, 25 for G2 and 10 for flavored Propel Fitness Water.
Williams drinks pink lemonade PowerAde on the court, but says she’s wanted a lower-calorie alternative for less intense workouts.
“I have a nutrition plan and need to rehydrate without the calories,” says Williams by phone from a photo shoot for Shape magazine.
Says Kahn, “We think even an elite athlete is going to be careful about consuming wasted calories.”
Zero comes in strawberry, mixed berry and grape, artificially sweetened with sucralose and acesulfame potassium.
“I can’t keep it in my refrigerator — everyone takes them,” Williams says. “Grape is my favorite. Purple is my favorite color, and grape is the best flavor, and that’s the one that’s always gone.”
PowerAde sees Zero as a way to revive growth. Volume for PowerAde’s line, which has 19% of the sports-drink market, slid 1.5% in the first quarter, according to trade publication Beverage Digest, while volume for all sports drinks grew 1.3% and Gatorade rose 2%. Reduced-calorie G2 has been out just four months and already has captured 8% of all sports-drink sales.
In addition to the push for Zero, PowerAde is ramping up its marketing overall for summer. It recently became a Little League Baseball sponsor and added 15 new athlete endorsers, including NBA star Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia pro baseball player Ryan Howard.
Entering the peak season, Kahn says, “We think we have the right strategy… to take PowerAde up a notch. We expect big things from PowerAde Zero.”
(src)
The one piece missing from the Lotto Spring 2008 line being peddled at Tennis Warehouse is this black version of the Effect Crewneck. David Ferrer wore it for a few matches at last week’s tournament in Barcelona.
(JFTR, I prefer the white. Yep, story of my life…)
(photos by Getty Images)
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