fuzzy yellow (eye)balls: oakley x stpl

Oakley celebrates its 35th anniversary by collaborating with Staple on issuing new versions of the eyewear company’s designs, each tied to a sport in which Oakley has a solid presence.

First up (released July 13) is a tennis-themed version of the Eyeshade, a style that debuted in 1984. The entire frame’s coated in tennis ball fuzz; note the lines — inspired by a tennis court — over the right eye of the lens. They’ve only produced 150 of these puppies, unfortunately, so if you get a hold of one, feel free to gloat and drop TSF a line. (What do you think of the glasses? Tell us!)

A cycling take on the Jawbone (that’s the style Janko Tipsarevic wears) will drop on August 1. Golf, surfing, and snowboarding will also get their own makeovers. See the entire lineup here.

(images and info via Highsnobiety.com)

one part temper, one part shriek…

Maria Sharapova and Yanina Wickmayer have teamed up and entered the Bank of the West Classic (at Stanford starting on July 26). This is the only the third time since 2005 that Masha’s played doubles.

We love this Maria Doodle from FT (they didn’t quite get her penmanship right, though).

Tix and info: Check out event details at the tournament website.

(via FierceTennis and WTB)

please hold our calls: tennis channel’s summer coverage

In an effort to bring our readers better service, the west coast offices of TSF recently signed up to get Tennis Channel.

DecoTurfin’ U.S.A.: The network’s 2010 Olympus U.S. Open Series coverage will cover nine tourneys starting July 23: the Atlanta Tennis Championships (Atlanta), Farmers Classic (Los Angeles), Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington, D.C.), Rogers Masters (Toronto) and Western and Southern Financial Group Masters (Cincinnati); on the women’s side, they’ll cover the Bank of the West Classic (Stanford, Calif.), Mercury Insurance Open (San Diego), Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open (Cincinnati) and Rogers Cup (Montreal). FYI, they will not be covering Pilot Pen (at Yale).

Schedule: Dates, times, and info about commentators all

short balls: tears of joy

Dressing, acting and crying like a 12-year-old boy (all so charmingly, might we add!), Rafael Nadal embraced the World Cup in all its glory by cheering on his champs, Spain, in South Africa on Sunday. The Spanish team downed The Netherlands 1-0 to win the country’s first-ever World Cup title, and Rafa got all giddy (and shed some tears) over the futbol success. Looks as though Rafa will keep one foot on the soccer field in the near future as it was also announced last week that he is now a partial shareholder of the Real Mallorca club team.

While one future Hall-of-Famer was in Africa rooting on his countrymen, seven tennis personalities were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame over the weekend in Newport, R.I. Most notably were the doubles tandems of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge and Natasha Zvereva and Gigi Fernandez. Brad Parks, one of the founding fathers of wheelchair tennis in America, was also honored, as were Derek Hardwick (a pioneer in modernizing the game to its current Open format) and Owen Davidson (a doubles specialist) were also inducted.

In this economy, it might be good to be a tennis player. The US Open announced that the winner of its men’s and women’s singles titles will walk home with $1.7 million each, with the chance of each winning an extra $1 million for talking the US Open Series crown during the summer. The tournament had a 7% increase overall in payout, bringing its total purse to $22.6 million. Ka-ching!

Donnay, once the racquet of champions, is trying to make a resurgence in the global tennis market. The company launched nine new racquets recently, and will use the success of Yanina Wickmayer (their only notable player) to help market the brand. The company once was a big-time player in tennis as the club of choice for Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi, Margaret Court and Cliff Drysdale.

There’s a whole lotta short(er) balls and (OT) after the cut.

back for more, pop music logs in another tennis video

If Rafael Nadal appearing in Shakira’s “Gypsy” video didn’t do it for you or you didn’t have any sort of interest in watching Jake Gyllenhall run around in short shorts in Vampire Weekend‘s “Giving Up the Gun”, there is now a third tennis-themed pop music video of the year to satisfy your taste.

Gael Monfils and Novak Djokovic guest star in French electro artist Martin Solveig‘s new video for his single “Hello”, part of his forthcoming album, Smash.

While tennis can say it’s increased its popularity over the last few years with interest in the Nadal-Roger Federer rivalry heating up, it’s pretty cool to see not one, not two, but three music videos released in one year that have tennis roots. This video, shot mainly in Court Philippe Chatrier involves both Monfils and Djokovic putting their acting chops to work.

Who is the antagonist and who is the romantic? Click the video above to see for yourself.

UDPATE: Thanks to a reader tip, we’ve got more tennis in the music video world (#4 and climbing!) after the jump.

street scene: vintage HEAD in nyc

A few months ago, my co-worker walked into the bookstore sporting a HEAD t-shirt, vintage style. Needless to say I dug her digs, and the small HEAD logo on the side of the tee caught my eye right away. The tee itself was purchased at Beacon’s Closet, one of my favorite New York second-hand stores, located in Williamsburg (and Park Slope). It also brought to mind the ’80s Tennis Fashion web site that we all at TSF hold dear to our hearts. A couple more shots of the HEAD wear after the cut!

davis cup: mostly quiet on the eastern front

The boisterous crowd who came to cheer the Croatian Davis Cuppers at the Spaladium Arena in Split could not boost their home team past the more experienced Serbian posse at this weekend’s Davis Cup quarterfinal tie. The decisive 4-1 rout puts the team of Djokovic, Tipsarevic, Troicki, and Zimonjic in the semifinals — a first for their country in Davis Cup history. (Scoreline: Tie details)

Still, props to Marin Cilic for wearing his checkered Fila tee and notching the one “W” for Croatia (the second singles rubber, against Troicki). The lanky 21-year-old was gracious in his post-match presser, picking Nole and his team to the take the Cup this year.

The Serbs — pampered in their digs — showed up in a variety of kits all showcasing their country’s colors. Nole picked a solid red polo from Sergio Tacchini while Nenad opted for a more playful version in Lacoste. Troicki sprinkled some blue in his Los tee while Janko and his bangs stayed safe with Fila. On the Croatian side, Ljubicic and Dodig‘s Li Ning kits were both as uninspired as their play.

(images via Getty Images)

davis cup: nalbandian moves argentina into the semis

Two clutch performances by David Nalbandian at this past weekend’s Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals in Moscow moves Argentina into the next round. Even though he’s been sidelined by injury for the past few months, the former World No. 3 won the opening singles rubber (vs. Davydenko) and the decisive fifth rubber (upsetting the unflappable Mikhail Youzhny), both of which contributed to their 3-2 victory against the Russians. (Read up: Tie Details)

Top clothing marks go to Leonardo Mayer in Lotto. Everyone else came predictably dressed (Eduardo Schwank in Topper‘s standard issue; Nalbandian in Yonex; Davydenko — with costume changes — in Dunlop; Kunitsyn and Youzhny in Fila and adidas whites, respectively).

Click on the pics below to see more.

(images via Getty Images)

defense spending at its finest

The Serbian Davis Cup team — that’s Nole Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, Nenad Zimonjic, and Viktor Troicki — headed to Split for this past weekend’s World Group Quarterfinal tie against Croatia. They took care of the home team with a 4-1 win (see the breakdown here).

And to make sure they got enough R&R to gear up for their rubbers, the Serbs stayed at the Le Méridien Lav in Podstrana, eight miles down the Dalmatian coast from Split.

(via daviscup.org)

sunday survey: halfway grades

Halfway through 2010 we have two players who have each won two Slams: Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal. Roger Federer started the year in strong fashion, winning the Australian Open and re-asserting himself into the top seat of men’s tennis. Since then it’s been a slippery slope for Fed, while no woman has had the consistent results to keep up with Queen Serena.

Andy Murray and Justine Henin both almost had big-time breakthroughs in Melbourne, but neither have proved themselves since, sending more question marks about what their futures hold. Sam Stosur and Francesca Schiavone made big names for themselves in Paris, while Venus Williams has lost to three B-list players in her three Slam outings this year (while going 22-3 otherwise).

The men have welcomed Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling into the circle of current greats after their respective Slam runs, while Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic have underperformed in many peoples’ eyes. The same can go for Elena Dementieva, Kim Clijsters and Jelena Jankovic, all who have had opportunities to make big runs and stumbled in one fashion or another.

So we ask: Who gets the best first-half grade for the season from you? Choose from the big guns, or let us know a player or two (perhaps Dustin Brown?!) who you think might be knocking on the door as the next big thing in tennis?

(photo by ratsj via flickr)

belgian sweets

Fila created this yellow dress especially for Kim Clijsters to play in at her recent (formerly known as) “Best of Belgium” exhibition. Gotta look good for a homecoming, right? Too bad it won’t be available for sale…

If you like this dress on Kim as much as we do, you’ll be happy to know that she’s wearing more of these figure-flattering pieces (i.e., less separates) in the future.

P.S. Francesca Schiavone, please do not tease me with that jock hair of yours. I was ready to replace you with one of my Italian HOATs!

wimbledon final: the aftermath

We thought these post-final pictures were pretty telling: Nadal with an unassuming, understated look on his face after winning the Wimbledon title and a few adoring fans taking pictures from courtside.

(photos by getty images)

serena the GOAT? SI thinks so

In case you missed it, Serena Williams was on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated where acclaimed writer L. Jon Wertheim called her the best of all time. Regardless of your opinion, and people have an opinion on this issue (!), the sport of tennis gets a big thumbs-up from SI, which hadn’t had a tennis cover since last June, when Roger Federer won the French Open. The discussion then? Is Fed the best ever? We’re sensing a theme…

More: Serena was shot for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar for their August issue, due out July 20th.

(screengrab via si.com)

35,681 strong

Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams set a world record on Thursday, playing an exhbition before 35,681 fans at King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.  Serena was a replacement for Justine Henin, who pulled out of the match because an elbow injury sustained at Wimbledon.

The match was originally titled the “Best of Belgium” but didn’t turn out that way as Serena replaced Justine. Martina Navratilova was honorary chair judge, while French Open champ Francesca Schiavone was also in attendance. This was the first meeting between Kim and Serena since their infamous 2009 US Open encounter.

The previous record was set when Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes in 1973 at the Astrodome. 30,472 people were in attendance for that brawl.

Two more shots from the record-setting exo after the cut.

short balls: the epic edition

Brooklyn gets wind-swept on the Bravo TV show Double Exposure. See more of Brooklyn, and what hubby Andy thinks of LiLo’s jailing in this week’s short balls. (screen grab via BravoTV.com)

Who said the week after Wimbledon was a dead one on the tennis news front? There is plenty of stuff going on, from the on-court happenings at Newport and beyond to plenty (and we mean plenty) of off court news. Here’s TSF‘s edition of short balls for the week.

If you are a Pam Shriver fan and still a little miffed by all the negative press the ESPN analyst got for her run-in with James Blake in the first round of Wimbledon a couple of weeks ago, we thought we would cheer you up by digging out this video clip of one of Pam’s big-time wins on the WTA singles circuit. The victim? Steffi Graf at the 1988 Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden. It was one of only three wins Shriver notched against Graf in 12 career meetings, and it’s a pretty good look at old-school, serve-and-volley tennis from PS herself.

Perhaps you miss Wimbledon mightily and have watched the many replays available on the official web site and on YouTube. Hopefully you’ve also had the chance to check out the “Off Court” section of the Wimby web site, which was sponsored by the bottled water company Evian. A trendy British gal roams the grounds in search of the good, bad and quirky in respects to fan fashion at this year’s tournament. I enjoyed every clip.

Andy Roddick’s wife, Brooklyn Decker (top) was on the Bravo TV show Double Exposure this last week and dang, girl looked good! We were digging the wind-blown hair. See a clip of the video by clicking the image above or here. Just to be clear, Brooklyn is the second girl, not the first who is, well, a little frightening. Recently, celeb Lindsay Lohan was on Double Exposure as well, though her shoot didn’t go as well as Brooklyn’s did. If you didn’t think Brooklyn’s hubby, Andy Roddick, had any opinion on Lohan’s recent court saga (she’s been sentenced for 90 days in jail for violating probation), think again:

Not to be outdone, Andy Murray also made the TV cut this week, appearing on the James Corden show in Britain. Murray chatted tennis and soccer, if a “Hawkeye” system should be used in soccer, and hit some tennis balls at fancy, over-sized cones. Not to be outdone by Brooklyn (or Lindsay!), Andy also slow danced with an adoring fan. Awkward picture after the cut.

wimbledon’s sartorialist

Much props to GQ for sending Gordon Von Steiner to wander the hallowed grounds of the AELTC during the Wimbledon fortnight. While the resulting slideshow didn’t showcase the fashion as much as TSF’d like, we see this as a step in the right direction. Next year, try to snap a pic of Bud Collins‘ fancy pants, mmk?

(image by Gordon Von Steiner for GQ)

trans-atlantic flight shorter than his match, mahut delivers tee to the hof

Nicolas Mahut is in Newport, R.I., this week for the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships along with Americans Sam Querrey, Taylor Dent, Ryan Harrison and Mardy Fish and stopped by the Hall to deliver a piece of tennis history.

Mahut, who lost his record-setting five-set match with John Isner in the first round of Wimbledon, signed one of the many shirts he wore during the match and handed it off to HOF CEO Mark Stenning. Hopefully he washed it once or twice before the flight, no?

One more shot of Mahut and his historic polo after the cut.

double(s) duty: an interview with novelist nic brown

One of the upsides to working at a bookstore is stumbling across hidden gems of the literary world. The gem I happened upon a couple of weeks ago, Nic Brown‘s new novel, Doubles, isn’t exactly hidden: the acclaimed author of Floodmarkers takes his sophomore swing with a story entrenched in the world of tennis. I got my hands on a copy of an uncorrected proof a customer was buying just long enough to jot down the title and author, and found that Brown had the thumbs up of many a folk, including The New York Times Book Review (from his prior work): “What Brown does so expertly is to summon the brief, intimate moments—the single word shared between two characters, the simple gesture that quietly reveals hope.”

Doubles was released last week, and TSF got the chance to interview the tennis-loving author via email. Check out our revealing and candid exchange from this bright writer below.

TSF: First and foremost, why name your main character “Slow Smith?” We’re obsessed with it, but there’s gotta be some calculations behind such a name. Explain.
Nic Brown: Slow is almost seven feet tall and has a ridiculously long service routine. His doubles partner, Kaz – who started playing with him when they were five years old – coined the nickname when they were kids. At the time, Kaz didn’t know much English, but he did know the word “slow” and would yell it at Smith when he took too long between serves. Hence, the nickname. It stuck. Also, because of Slow’s height, he just sort of lopes around the court in these big floppy steps.

TSF: Golden. And sure as heck better than “Bepa.” Did you take into consideration the name of famous American tennis player Stan Smith? There’s some similarity there…
NB: Yeah, the name is a nod towards Stan Smith. I mean, I knew Slow was going to be the character’s first name, so I figured I’d make it alliterative and give him a last name that echoed Stan Smith. Also, Stan Smith’s kids played college tennis in the area [Brown is a North Carolina native] – his daughter played at UNC and his son at Duke. It seemed a fitting allusion, albeit one that is totally unrelated to the actual narrative.

We’re digging the Doubles cover, photographed by Michael Rolph.

TSF: Before we dive too far into your narrative work in Doubles, tell us a little about yourself.
NB: I grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina. I spent most of my time playing drums and skateboarding, but – barring skating – the only sport I played or was even remotely into was tennis. I did play quite a bit of it – losing 100% of my matches against my primary foil, Ralph Brabham from down the street – but was never on any teams or leagues or anything. I was a fan, but it wasn’t until later, when I became very close friends with the tennis player Tripp Phillips, that I started to become really obsessed with the sport, both as a spectator and player.

Read more about Doubles, and Brown’s adventuring in the world of Challenger tennis, his thoughts on tennis relationships, who his favorite players are and how he discovered John Isner 10 years before his 11 hours of fame-making.

with tennis, nike chugs along

adidas has the FIFA World Cup in a lock but we’re pretty sure Nike‘s not losing any sleep. They can rest comfortably in the fact that they clothed some of the biggest stories at this year’s Wimbledon, including both singles champs (Rafa, Serena) and the marathon match with Isner.

(images by Nike via The Slice.)

(OT) <3: gucci spring 2010

While no one can possibly think about layering in this sweltering heat, we’re still gonna show you what we liked from Gucci‘s Spring 2010 runway shows. Click on the images above to see the slideshows from style.com.

Posts about the men’s stuff from Paris (plus this week’s couture) coming soon!

(images via style.com)