Alright, Novak, we get it. Just because we gave Santiago Giraldo some air time doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about you, so you don’t need to try and win us back. We must admit it’s tough; now that we’ve been relegated to third fiddle (after your gf Jelena and now that shadow over Ashe), sometimes we have to get our fix somewhere else.
xoxoxo,
TSF
p.s. It’s smoggy over there in Beijing, so we hope the extra rest you get from that Fish walkover (hope your ankle recovers well, Mardy!) gives you a leg up in your quarterfinal against Gilles Simon. Pro: Simon had a tough three-setter against Berrer. Con: he’s probably more tennis-focused now that he’s had a chance to meet his newborn son. (Brackets: China Open Draws)
While most of us tennis folks have known of Serena Williams‘ manicurist aspirations for a little while now, she gave the rest of the world a whiff of her moonlighting by giving Oprah a pedicure on national TV two weeks ago. Not missing a beat, it’s now confirmed that Serena’s inked a deal with nail giant OPI. Nope, it’s not just “major news” — it’s “mayjor.” And judging by what we’ve seen of Ms. Williams’ nail work (exhibits A, B, and C), we can’t help but agree!
Jelena Jankovic got booted from this week’s China Open in the second round. She lost to qualifer and fellow Serbian Bojana Jovanovski in three sets: 6-4 2-6 2-6. As the de facto third seed, Jovanovski will face Shahar Peer in the next round. Other notable third round matches: Dementieva vs. Ivanovic, Zvonareva plays Kirilenko, and Li Na squares off against the weight of the Chinese hometown crowd. (Brackets: See them all here.)
Seesaw in sea foam: Jankovic continues her sloppy second half of 2010 (after running deep into events up until Wimbledon, including a title at Indian Wells), losing to Kanepi twice, to Yakimova, Kleybanova, Benesova, and Akgul. Jelena wore a sea foam Anta dress with a flora print at the neck. It reminded us of the Maria Sharapova skyline-inspired day dress from the 2007 US Open.
Up close: See a few more pics of the dress after the cut…
Hey, Andy: Ernests wants his hair back. (Take him up on it, please. We don’t want a repeat of Aussie Open ’08!)
Andy Murray, vying for a title at this week’s China Open — along with top seed Nole Djokovic, Soderling, and Kolya — is wearing a polo and shorts from adidas‘ Barricade line. This was the same outfit he wore at the 2010 US Open, where, as the tournament’s fourth seed, he got upset by Stan Wawrinka in the third round. In Beijing, Muzz beat qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-2, 6-3. Draw: The China Open men’s second round schedule’s been set. See the match-ups here.
Buy: adidas Fall Barricade Polo, in white/Blue Beauty, $39; Competition 9″ Short, $32; TW.
Reebok‘sEasyTone shoe is coming with an easy-on-the-eyes ad campaign that the company has rolled out over the last year. The ads feature backsides of women (and their calves and their thighs and their… ) in a variety of outfits, settings and backdrops. Reebok has a couple of ads circulating on TV and the web for the shoe, which has “balance-ball inspired technology” on the soles to “tone and shape.”
Buy it: From $49.99-$139.98, the EasyTone selection includes athletic wear, sandals, and boots for both men and women. Our fave? The EasyTone Reeinspire in lime green. Just in time for the Aussie Open to get under way…
More commercials: Another spot from Oreo to introduce their new “Heads or Tails” cookie with the help from Venus and company. (See a previous one here.)
This is me – well, my POV – driving away from the USTA headquarters in White Plains, N.Y., last week after a morning tour of the facility and all of its office wonderfulness. We’ll have a post up in the near future about my day at the USTA, but I had to escape for lunch with TSF contributor and illustrator extraordinaire, Troy Venechanos. Where did we snack at? Well, let’s just say Janko Tipsarevicwould approve…
Malaysian Open: Fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny bagged his second title of the year by taking out Andrey Golubev 6-7 (7), 6-2, 7-6 (3) in Kuala Lumpur. “I cannot say I showed by best tennis here,” shared Youzhny, “but, although it’s good when you show your best tennis and win the tournament, it’s probably better sometimes when you don’t show your really best game but you have a really good result.” The Russian also won the BMW Open, on clay, back in May.
PTT Thailand Open: All the big players bit the dust — including Rafael Nadal and the rusty Juan Martin Del Potro, Verdasco, Melzer — leaving Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to square off against Jarkko Nieminen in the finals. The scoreline, in Gigi’s favor: 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. This was the Spaniard’s second final of 2010 and the first title. “It has been an unbelievable week for me, from the first round to the final. Every match is different. I think I played relaxed, enjoyed my game and everything was perfect. It’s hard to express what it means, I’m really happy inside.”
Toray Pan-Pacific Open: Over in Tokyo, top seed Caroline Wozniacki fended off an upset by Elena Dementieva with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
Exo: And Nole won an exo over Andy Roddick in Seoul. The blooper reel’s here.
K-Swiss is the latest collaborator working with Undefeated on footwear, having their “Deuce” shoe re-imagined in five new colorways for the fall. It’s a pretty simple shoe; note the placement of that gum toebox, covering a larger surface area than what we’re used to. TSF’s pick, btw, is the bright blue one in the back!
The shoe’s now for sale at the Tokyo Undefeated store; eveyrone else gets ‘em on October 29.
A Vera good year: Meanwhile, K-Swiss workhorse Vera Zvonareva has booked her berth in the WTA Year-End Championships, joining Caroline Wozniacki, Serena Williams, and Kim Clijsters in this 8-woman field held in Doha. (Info: Tournament site.)
That’s why the lady’s on a tramp: NYC-based Loup threw some of their Spring/Summer 2011 pieces on a trampoline, playing with shadows and wind to showcase the designs dropping next year. Expect a lot more tennis-ready goods, but rest assured that the girly, non-athletic wear will also leave you with wallets wide open.
Buy: Loup’s fall/winter 2010 collection is for sale here; and these were our faves.
Thanks to reader migi for pointing out this picture of Miyu Kato taken at the 2010 US Open by Neal Trousdale. She’s in Ellesse (from their fall/winter 2010 goods).
Kato qualified for the Junior Girls’ tournament but lost in the first round to Gabriela Dabrowski.
A scene from the 2008 WTA Championships. The ladies are still racing to Doha this year before the tourney heads to Istanbul for a three-year stint in 2011. (Photo by elatawiec62 via flickr.)
The respective races are heating up to the tours’ year-end championships, with the women vying for a spot in Doha while the men aim for London. The inactive Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams joined the over-playing Vera Zvonareva and Caroline Wozniacki as the four players who have qualified for the year’s final tournament.
On the men’s side of things, Rafael Nadal sealed the year-end deal way back in May, but continues to play a full hardcourt schedule this fall. Roger Federer, the only other player to win a Slam this year, has also qualified. Nipping to join the two-some are Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Andy Roddick and Fernando Verdasco.
David Ferrer, Mikhail Youzhny, Jurgen Melzer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are all floating outside the Top 8, with Ferrer having a great shot at displacing Roddick or Verdasco with a good showing over the next few weeks.
All contenders are in action this week with the exception of father Federer. Nadal, Roddick, Melzer and Tsonga spending their time in Tokyo, while Djokovic, Murray, Soderling, Berdych, Verdasco, Ferrer and Youzhny are hitting the courts in Beijing alongside the ladies. Tsonga, who has a semifinal showing at the Australian and a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon on his 2010 resume, is playing for the first time since making aforementioned run at the All England Club.
While Samantha Stosur, Venus Williams, Francesca Schiavone and Jelena Jankovic fill out the rest of the WTA line-up on the current Race to the Championships rankings, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na and Elena Dementieva are all knocking on the door. Dementieva has played in 10 of the last 11 tour championships, winning just 6 of 24 matches.
So we’re wondering: who do you think the Top 8 on each tour will be? Can one of the outsiders slip in during the final weeks? Or will the tours’ top players hold strong to their positions?
Le sigh. A week after being shut out of the Open de Moselle’s website for not knowing any French, we’re left clicking randomly (uhm, what’s the surfing equivalent of grasping at straws?) to browse the japanese Ellese website.
Anywho, above is a snapshot of their fall/winter 2010 offerings for the ladies, keeping on with the frilly/girly aesthetic we expect from the brand. Note the stripey dress Nadia Petrova wore for competition at the 2010 US Open.
Meanwhile, she might have been able to get away with the print had it been reduced to a skirt and paired with a quieter top, seen here above. We hope you’ll get to mix and match before the season’s over, Nadia!
To those who geek out over this stuff, what the chair umps and ballgirls are wearing at this week’s Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. By Ellesse, of course. (Under that track jacket is a polo in the same shade. On the chest is just the Ellesse logo with no fancy crest.)
More: Another few pics — including the ballgirl outfit — after the cut…
Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev is through to the semis of the Malaysian Open after upsetting top seed Robin Soderling. Golubev next faces David Ferrer. (Draw: Malaysian Open Singles)
Victor/Victoria: That contrast on his Australian by L’Alpina bowling shirt is a little much, no? Browse: Australian’s Fall/Winter 2010 lookbook, include tennis pieces, here.
At the very least, you’ll wanna be around to see what Venus Williams will wear at the US Open next year!
But seriously, a lot of us have been through this. I know plenty of people who’ve felt ridiculed, shunned, bullied, and tormented for being gay — and felt like they had no other choice but to end their lives. It’s a tough situation to be in, but you really have to believe that things will get better. And like Ellen says, there’s help out there.
Resources: At least for LGBTQ youth who feel like they’ve got nowhere to turn, you can check out these orgs.
[...Which makes me wonder what we have in place for older people who are dealing with coming out (like, anyone older than a teenager all the way through the 65+ set) . I'm not saying there's nothing out there; I just realized I don't know who/what those services are. If you know of any, I'm all ears!]
