We’re lovin’ the Chinese characters for “Shanghai” painted on the courts at this week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Draw: Dutchman Thiemo De Bakker beat Fernando Verdasco in the first round. He next plays fellow adidas man Juan Monaco. (Draw: Singles.)
(image via Getty Images)
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Novak Djokovic won the Beijing Open this past week, beating David Ferrer in straight sets to defend his singles title. He’s also the third man to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London. (Super curious to see what Nole pose they’re using as a stencil. Maybe this?)
We hadn’t had a chance to mention how much we love his current kit from Sergio Tacchini. The dragon imagery’s all over — from the hat, to the polo, to the shorts — but not overwhelming. The graphic itself doesn’t look junior-high in its tattoo-esque aesthetic. And that night outfit, in navy and red, was the perfect combination of colors to wear under the lights in Flushing Meadows (think back to Roger‘s “Darth Federer”).
Even his camp because part of the buzz at the Open. Dad Srdjan wore the airbrushed Nole shirt while watching his son play. That falcon’s a symbol which Nole has used throughout the years, first in his short-lived collection with adidas, which then transferred over to the Tacchini drop this year (photo).
There’s also the “Novache” shirt, seen here on one of Nole’s team as he hit with Andy Murray before making his Arthur Ashe Kids Day appearance on the Sunday before the Open. Djokovic’s mom wore this tee for her son’s matches.
Buy: Merch Polo, $74.99; Crew, $67.99; Shorts, $49.99; Novache Tee, $25.00; polo, crew, shorts available in black/white or navy/red; all at TW.
Draw: With two titles in 2010 under his belt (the other one being Dubai), Nole goes into this week’s Shanghai Rolex Masters as the tournament’s second seed. In his opening match, he’ll face the winner of the first-rounder between Ivan Ljubicic and wildcard Zhang Ze. (Draw: Singles.)
More: See some other pictures of Nole’s kit — including the warm-up jacket, his wristbands, hat, the “Nole” printed on the back of his polo — all after the cut…
Nevermind the hair: Here’s a pic of Gael Monfils‘ sleeveless crew from K-Swiss in a black/green colorway. He’d been wearing another version — in white/black — for these last few tournaments of 2010.
Gael was the runner-up to Rafa Nadal at this past week’s Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo.
(image via Getty Images)
Frenchie Adrian Mannarino (Troy!) took out Steve Darcis in straight sets to take this little slice of the Ethias Tennis Trophy in Mons, Belgium.
At the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo, Rafael Nadal beat Gael Monfils 6-1, 7-5 to grab his first post-US Open title this year. (He lost to Gigi Lopez in the Bangkok semis last week.)
On the doubles side, Eric Butorac and former Bruin Jean-Julien Rojer won the final match against Fila boys Dmitry Tursunov and Andreas Seppi. Two snaps to Prince and Nike for coordinating the colors on the kits of the winning team.
And in Beijing, rain-delayed finals didn’t produce any upsets, with defending champ Djokovic and Wozniacki fending off Ferrer and Zvonareva. Caro takes her second trophy this week (the first for reaching the world No. 1 ranking by overcoming break advantages from Vera in the first set. (The Russian even won the second set.) Both ladies can take this performance as a confidence boost going into the women’s year-end championships, held in Doha.
(images via Getty Images)
Caroline Wozniacki reached the no. 1 spot in the world this week with her showing in Beijing. She become’s the 20th player to be ranked no. 1 in the history of the game. But does she belong there even though she hasn’t won a Slam? She joins Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina with this distinction.
What do you think? Should the WTA re-configure their ranking system again? Or is consistency more important than the big ‘uns??
(photo by getty images)
The description from the Big Fish Games website for the game “Venus: The Case of the Grand Slam Queen” –
“Step into Venus’s world and help her win another Grand Slam championship while she’s being hounded by an unknown stalker. Solve the mystery by unlocking clues and playing exciting Hidden Object games. Get an insider’s view on Venus’s life and passions, which include tennis, interior and fashion design, and dogs in Venus: The Case of the Grand Slam Queen. Help Venus win her championship, and put on a fantastic fashion show!”
Just when you think that Venus Williams‘ Oreos endorsement is odd, how about her starring in a video game where she gets stalked? Creeeeeeeeepy.
Buy: Venus: Case of the Grand Slam Queen; sample version free, full version is $6.99. (Bonus: if you’re thinking of sating your inner dork, pick up this $10 Tippr coupon that’ll get you $20 in computer games. At the time of posting, the coupon’s good for another 34 hours.
(image via Big Fish Games)
Quads are made for lunging: TSF saw Austrian Jurgen Melzer (we really need to stop thinking he’s German) work for his first round victory at the 2010 US Open. His pesky opponent? Dmitry Tursunov. Melzer needed five sets to advance and fell three rounds later to Roger Federer. (This week, in Japan, he lost in the second round to Troicki.)
Restraining order be damned, we’re not quite done with our Jurgenmania: he’s made us drinks, we’ve shared moments in the loo, and now we’re looking at his shoes. As we watched that US Open match against Dima, we noticed these all-white sneakers. What’s brewin’ over at adidas R&D? (By the way, Melzer’s since gone back to the CC Genius II Synthetic.)
More: All our US Open pics (including more of this white shoe) after the cut…
Are you following any tennis tumblrs? Any that you’d recommend? If so, leave us a comment with the URL(s).
(screengrab from Dashing Bastards)
Gael Monfils upset No. 2 seed Andy Roddick at the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo this week. The 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (6) victory puts Monfils’s head-to-head with the top American 5-3.
Gael will face Stepanek in the semis. The top-half match-up is Nadal vs. Trocki. (Draw: Singles)
(Monfils image via Getty Images; Jimbo image src)
We’re hoping that this year’s cover of the If Stockholm Open magazine will be as sizzlin’ as it was when Delpo was on the cover.
More info: If Stockholm Open, October 16-24, 2010. Tourney site; ATP tourney site.
(img via mentennisforums)
Svetlana Kuznetsova gave us a little peep show before her early exit at this week’s China Open in Beijing. The Russian, seeded tenth at the event, lost to qualifier Roberta Vinci in three sets.
Can’t wait to see the site (or possibly another tattoo)!
China Open: The final four on the women’s side of this combined event: Caro vs. Peer and Li Na vs. Zvonareva. (Draw: here.)
More: Pic of the tattoo up close (but blurry, le sigh) after the cut…
The same color-blocking that appeared during Davis Cup (on the Colombians) has made its way to Beijing this week as Li Ning mascot Ivan Ljubicic vies for the China Open title. He upset Andy Murray 6-3, 6-2 and will next face David Ferrer (who took out Soderling). The other semi will feature Isner — who beat Kolya — and Djokovic (d. Simon). See the scorelines here.
(images via Getty Images)
Qualifier Anastasija Sevastova is through to the quarterfinals of this week’s China Open after Nadia Petrova withdrew because of injury. Must be a welcome respite for the Latvian — she played three-setters both in upsets of both Sam Stosur and Dominika Cibulkova. Unfortunately, her next opponent is hometown fave Li Na. See the rest of the draw here.
Teachable moment: We first saw Sevastova at the 2010 US Open, where she lost in the first round to Regina Kulikova, and snapped these pics of her dress. Can anyone out there ID the brand for us?
More: A few more pics after the cut…
No melamine here: Congratulations to Caroline Wozniacki, who’ll replace Serena Williams as the top WTAer when the rankings are released on Monday; she’s the first Dane (man or woman) to hold the number one ranking. Caro’s 6-3, 6-2 win over Petra Kvitova in the third round of the China Open put her ahead of Serena, who’s scheduled to return to the tour at the Generali Open in Linz, Austria next week. (Draw: See how the China Open quarters are stacking up.)
Although Wozniacki still doesn’t have a Grand Slam title to her name, we think that there isn’t a question about whether this top ranking is deserved. Five titles in 2010, a consistent performance throughout the year, and a game that’s still growing. It should only be a matter of time before she bags one. (Even before Jankovic, no?)
And while we still think that Kirilenko‘s bod would do better in these adidas by Stella McCartney outfits, you can’t fault adi for the switch; Caro’s already given these clothes more camera time than Makiri ever did.
(images via Getty Images)
For TSF readers in Miami, a little tip: if you’re into the clothes of Etiqueta Negra — a favorite of both Juan Monaco and David Nalbandian — it’ll pay to visit their outpost at the Aventura Mall in the near future. UrbanDaddy’s letting folks leverage $50 into $100′s worth of clothes from the Argentina-based label, putting you that much closer to picking up Pico’s style. Us non-Floridians can browse the full-priced goods at the company’s site.
Act soon: The offer’s good until Wednesday next week. More info here.
(screengrab via etiquetanegra.us)
Giving a damn: We made note of Ellen’s powerful words last week after the disturbing rash of suicides among LGBT youth. The nation has banded together in a variety of ways, including the We Give a Damn project that was launched by the True Colors Fund. This past Sunday night, activists held a candlelight vigil in Washington Square Park in New York City. Actor and blogger, Andrew Kennan Bolger, documented the evening on video. More to watch: We Give a Damn has a few of their own videos, featuring some of our favorite big and small screen faces – among others. Check them out. Plus: Zachary Quinto says (Tweets?) the right thing after 50 Cent runs his mouth again.
Commercial offerings: There’s plenty to see on YouTube if you go and type in ‘tennis’ in the search bar and sift through the many (dozens? hundreds?!) of homes for sale that happen to include tennis in their property in one way or another. One good find we had this week was an old Heineken commercial that hadn’t crossed our path before. Watch the video – camera tipping and all – here. Meanwhile, we found the newly-released Australian Open commercial (below), tagged “A Whole New Level” via the ladies over at OntheBaseline. None other than Ms. Sam Stosur makes five appearances in the 31-second clip. Joining Serena, Roger and Rafa as the faces to be seen at the AO 2011.
The injury diaries: The injured Justine Henin is set to test the competitive waters in an exhibition against Kim Clijsters in Antwerp on December 9th. Things aren’t as peachy for Robby Ginepri, who broke his arm in a biking accident and will be out of the game for the rest of the season. We’re hoping for a Sam Querrey kind of return for the current world no. 118… not a James Blake kind of return.
Tennis shavings: Things are feeling a bit more Blake than Querrey over at NYC-based Tennis magazine. The publication announced earlier this week that they would cut four of nine editorial positions and begin outsourcing most of its art and photo work, focusing more in-house on Tennis.com. The magazine recently shuffled Sarah Unke from her role on the print side to be online editor following the departure of Abigail Lorge. It’s unclear who is still calling Tennis his or her work home, though assistant online editor Ed McGrogan posted an ESPN blog item earlier today. 10tenmedia, a New York creative firm, will handle much of the mag’s print design.
Body games: Former Tennis cover girl Anna Kournikova made an appearance on the small screen on NBC’s “Biggest Loser” last night. Kournikova served up some motivation for the contestants, and they seemed to inspire her, too. ESPN the Magazine hits newsstands this week with their annual “The Body Issue.” The mag always chooses several different covers to print (six this year), and wheelchair tennis queen Esther Vergeer got the nod for one of those covers in this cover print. The US women’s water polo team also has a cover, as does golfer Camilo Villegas (yeah, we’ve never heard of him either).
More of short balls, including a giggling Roger and an all-inclusive short(er) balls, after the cut.
Novak Djokovic might be getting all the buzz for his avian- and dragon-themed polos from Tacchini, but let’s not forget about veteran Radek Stepanek in Alea. Save for a little bland hiccup for the 2010 US Open Series — where he wore mostly white with some gold detail — the Czech’s been playing in eye-popping kits, including his patriotic Davis Cup uniform, his purples from earlier this year, and now this orange/black scaley polo that’s giving Nole’s current take on reptilia a run for its money.
Tourney time: Stepanek’s playing at this week’s Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo. He goes up against Jarkko Nieminen in the quarters. (Deets: Visit the tourney site.)
More: A few other shots from Radek’s match against Marco Chiudinelli after the cut…
Wilson needs to hustle in order to bring their men’s line up to par with the terrific women’s Fall 2010 collection. At this week’s Rakuten Japan Open, Jarkko Nieminen wears a blue/white/grew crew, the same shirt he wore for the year’s final major. Note the dotted line that gives more definition to the Finn’s back.
Draw: In Tokyo, Jarkko faces Radek Stepanek in the final eight. He shares the same half of the draw as Gael Monfils and Andy Roddick. Meanwhile, Nadal, Gigi Lopez, and Melzer are still alive in the top half. (More: See all the stats here.)
I guess all that pressure to win the hometown tournament is making Li Na go for some miiltary-grade suport. At this week’s China Open in Beijing, is she wearing a camouflage-print sports bra under that blue Nike tank?
Looking forward: After dispatching of Alisa Kleybanova 6-1, 6-4 (no slouch — Kleybs won Seoul last month), Li will next face Angelique Kerber, and likely Nadia Petrova in the quarters. Nads is 6-0 lifetime against Li, but the last time they played was in 2008. Draw: See the China Open draws here.
Nike: Not much to write home about for the Nike women’s post-US Open goods. The most notable detail comes in the contrast collar on this top. Buy: Accuracy Top, in black, mega blue, and white/red plum, TW. Browse: The rest of the Nike women’s offerings.
(image via Getty Images)
Two snaps to Nikolay Davydenko for joining a small group of active ATP players who’ve hit the 400 match win mark in their careers — a list that includes Moya, Federer, Nadal, and Hewitt, among others. This achievement has to be a welcome boost for the Russian, who’s slated to defend title wins at the Shanghai Masters and the ATP Tour finals. (On the flip side, keep in mind that Kolya’s finished strong at year-ends prior; in 2008, making the semis of Bercy and the finals of the men’s YEC.)
Draw: As the fourth seed at this week’s China Open in Beijing, Davydenko beat Cilic for that 400th win and will face Isner in the quarters. See the rest of the match-ups here.
Crew: For Beijing, Dunlop switches from the white/blue 2010 US Open polo to this bright blue crew, a shade that works well to give Davydenko’s anemic features some pop. (And earlier in the North American summer, there was a blue polo but had a white right sleeve.) For now, the kits are still not for sale as far as we know.
More: Two other pics of Kolya (more…)
