there’s always a silver lining

My friend Chris, on Andy Roddick: “I think [Andy] takes losses harder than any other player, it seems. He always looks more defeated than any other player, like he cant even bear to look up. He just looks at the ground, at his feet, as he rushes off court.”

Chin up, kiddo: None of us expected Andy to go as far as he did at this 2009 French Open. He lost lost in the fourth round to Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 and had never gotten past the third round in all his other attempts.

Don’t worry, Andy, no one’s expecting you to do wonders on clay (and others aren’t even banking on you winning another major!), so that last round was just icing on the cake. Besides, did you see your ass in those Lacoste shorts? To us, you’re still a winner!

Buy: Lacoste Super Dry Polo, Eclipse Blue/White, $95.

More: A few more pics of Andy during his match against Monfils

fila sale: 25% through june 20, 2009

In case you’re jonesin’ for some Fila goods, visit their site and enter the code “TENNIS4U” at checkout to receive 25% off (before tax and shipping) through June 20, 2009.

a budding bromance?

Nikoliano? … or maybe Lopydenko? Josh pointed out this quick Q&A by the folks at rolandgarros.org, who drilled quarterfinalist Nikolay Davydenko about a few things, including who he thought was the nicest guy on tour. Here’s how the world’s top Russian tennis player responded:

“They’re all really nice: Federer, Nadal. All of the guys in the top 100 are cool. But if you asked me which one was the best looking I’d say Feliciano Lopez. Everyone thinks he’s gorgeous, with his blue eyes and curly hair.”

Scoreline: Tenth seed Kolya just fell to real-deal Robin Soderling 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 a day after the Swede upset Rafa Nadal (and Nikolay beat eight seed Verdasco in straight sets). Meanwhile, Lopez dropped out in the second round after losing to Janko Tipsarevic.

More: A few more photos of Lopez’ Halloween costume, courtesy of Joma,

off the rack: serena williams

Such an unassuming Nike kit from Serena Williams, no? It’s almost funny to think that she who is wearing off-the-rack is the one still left standing. It’s good to let her game — and what we can only assume are thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry — do the talking.

Buy: The Nike Women’s Summer Athlete Dress, Classic Charcoal w/Bright Coral Orange & Vivid Pink (swoosh), $95.

Close inspection: Let’s take a look at the blinding accessories — a ring, a few bracelets, giant earrings —

public service announcement: anna kournikova

Thanks to reader Richie Rich (of Heatherette?! Probably not, but we can dream…) for this tip:

“Former Russian tennis World Doubles No. 1 Anna Kournikova will be hosting a live chat with her fans tomorrow on her official website. Anna will be available to answer your questions on tennis, the WTA Tour, the French Open, her life, her recent travels overseas, her charity work, and any other questions you might have.

To participate, log on to www.kournikova.com from 3pm EST on Tuesday afternoon. A link will be posted on the homepage of the Kournikova.com website an hour before the event commences. Alternatively, you can click the “Chat Live” link as a registered member of Anna’s Official Community on SportsMates.com.”

If any of you fabulous TSF readers decide to participate, drop us a line and tell us how it went!

wozniak outmatched by serena, in play and style

Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak was no match for Serena Williams — both in game and in style — during a fourth-round encounter at the 2009 French Open.

Serena easily won 6-1, 6-2. And in the accessories department, Wozniak’s Chanel logo studs were no match for the jewelry worn by the No. 2 seed.

This was less controversial match for Serena, who called out her previous opponent, Maria Martinez Sanchez, as a cheat. Serena alleges that Martinez Sanchez got hit by a ball before it sailed out, which should’ve given the point to Serena. Instead, the ump awarded the point to Martinez Sanchez. Serena, who won anyway, made a stink about it in her presser. We hope Serena was right, otherwise all the fracas was just a big whiny waste of time.

Up next for Serena is Svetlana Kuznetsova, who beat Agnieszka Radwanska.

(image via Getty Images)

jelena’s french open racquet bag

You can never have enough tassels. Case in point: Jelena Jankovic‘s racquet bag, seen here as she gets a left toe blister tended to during her 3-6, 6-0, 9-7 loss to Romanian Sorana Cristea in the fourth round of the French Open. Jelena had reached the semis of Roland Garros in the past two years.

We figured that this would be a Prince bag, but is probably supplied by ANTA now that Jelena’s contract with the racquet company has expired (we have yet to hear about a renewal). Do you know who produced this bag? Tell us!

Looking forward: In the quarters, Sorana will face the winner of the Stosur/Razzano match. TSF didn’t even know that Sam or Virginie were still in the draw.

(image via Getty Images)

trophy watch: a proper send-off

French Open tourney organizers gave one of their own, Fabrice Santoro, a proper sendoff after his first-round loss in this year’s event to Christophe Rochus. Santoro, who was appearing in his record-tying 20th French Open, lost to the Belgian 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

“Twenty years. That counts for something in a lifetime,” Santoro said after receiving this cross section of Roland Garros’ clay courts, presented after the Federer/Haas fourth-round match. “It has been a long road, a fantastic career. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot.” Gustavo Kuerten received a similar trophy last year.

Fabrice, known for playing two-handed groundstrokes off both wings and his crazy slices (enough to garner some attention at the 2007 U.S. Open), is playing 10 more events before hanging up his racquet.

At his presser, he left us another nugget about what’ll be different in his life next May: “So when you’ve played this tournament 20 years in a row, in May you start wearing your clay shoes, you start preparing to be able to play for three, four, five hours, even 6 hours 33 minutes for my longest match, so you feel next year in May I will no longer be a tennis player.”

(image via Getty Images)

nole’s sex face

If we don’t think about these things, then who will?

Scoreline: Nole lost his third round match on Saturday to Lips Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. This, after he won a clay title in Belgrade and made the finals of Monte Carlo and Rome. Too bad, too: he just lost the No. 3 ranking to Andy Murray. Back to the drawing board!

(Thanks, Fullerton)