On court: This week has been a good one for Tipsarevic, who is into the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, a hurting Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the China Open due to a bad back.
For all you fans of good legs, check out the Spanish Davis Cup team from a couple of weeks ago. No Nair needed here.
Run, boys, run! Some good natured (and good bodied) folks in Salt Lake City, Utah, took to the streets over the weekend in protest. And in little clothing, we might add. The first ever Undie Run was held to bring attention to what organizers called the state of Utah’s “uptight laws” and nearly 3,000 joggers and walkers participated. We’re just curious: Are there really this many tight-bodied guys in SLC? Or were the photogs wearing their TSF goggles while shooting? Video of the barely-clad, politically-minded guys and gals below.
Move over, Nole. And you too, Rafa… and Fernando. So Janko Tipsarevic made mention during the US Open that the reason for his recent success was that he had finally dedicated 100 percent of himself to tennis — and his body. The Serb isn’t joking around, appearing in a series of shots for the company Extreme Intimo, which makes underwear, nighties and other wear-at-home items. Janko and his total-toned bod can be seen on their Facebook page. Click the images below (or here) to visit the full gallery, which has 146 Facebook “Likes” and counting…
Oh right, and we couldn’t deprive you of the making-of vid, now could we? | TSF Vault:Shirtless
(via christopher phillips/photos from the extreme intimo facebook page)
No Fruit of the Loom? Lleyton Hewitt goes for Calvin Kleins under his Yonex garb, so it would seem. But the Aussie’s trendy undies and backcourt game were not enough to get him past no. 5 seed Robin Soderling, even after the veteran led two sets to none. The final in favor of the Swede 6-7 (5) 3-6 7-5 6-4 6-4.
Yes, lady and gents, we get it. This last week – as we’ve covered week one of the Aussie Open – we’ve lacked in one important (very, very important) arena: men. Sure, there was Milos Raonic, but all Milo has going for him is that Lacoste kit he’s sporting. Oh, and his six-match winning streak. But what’s winning if you can’t take your shirt off?!
Enter Rafael Nadal and Armani’s well-timed launch of their use of their latest athlete-turned-model. First there was Beckham and Ronaldo, but now we have Rafa. And aren’t we oh so happy? And there is an underwear shot, too. After the cut.More: Armani on TSF | Our shirtless vault
Elena Dementieva is waving good-bye to the WTA Tour after a dozen years on the tour, which saw her greatest moment in 2008, at the Beijing Olympics. But while Dementieva might be most well-known to tennis enthusiasts as the greatest chica never to nab a Slam, you can bet she will be a missed force on the tour. No one else played with such maturity and poise, and even the shaky serve was made up for by that blazing forehand. Can you remember an Elena diva moment? Neither can I. I got the chance to watch Elena in person this summer – and if you never had the chance to watch this girl up close, I’ll give you one descriptive word: athlete – and she was a joy to watch. The tennis may have been flawed at times, but the heart was always there. Can’t wait to see what comes next for the Muscovite. Survey study: Of the 158 folks that responded to our Sunday Survey, 38% said they thought Elena would announce she’s pregnant come Thanksgiving. OK, riiight.
Courier calls: A variety of responses sprung up from the naming of Jim Courier as the new US Davis Cup coach last week. Greg Garberwas questioning the call already over at ESPN.com, while L. Jon Wertheim was giving the nod to the Courier appointment in his Monday post this week. Our call? Well, we’re not so sure it matters who captains. Wertheim pointed out that four Americans sit inside the top 22 (Roddick, Isner, Fish and Querrey), and while the time may have passed for Roddick and his Davis Cup days, the Bryan Brothers look committed. The bigger question is: what will the Isner, Fish and Querrey era bring? Those are the boys that seem invested as Courier takes the reigns.
Retirement footnotes: While Elena’s announcement shocked a few and left others unsurprised, Serena Tweeted and blogged her well wishes to Dementieva, who had a 5-7 record against ReRe. Of course, retirement of one WTA veteran meant that the media was curious about her counterparts, namely Kim Clijsters. And here’s a curious fact for you: Lindsay Davenport, who shaved off Elena in her first big-bang match in the 2000 US Open semis still is not listed as retired on the WTA web site. Comeback likely? You never know with the mom next door.
Back on the winning (and publicity) track: Winning his first match in five tries, Fernando Verdasco found his winning form (most recently displayed in heroics at this year’s USO) in Valencia Monday. The Slice had some good shots of Fernando charming the masses at a Calvin Klein event last week in Madrid (with his pants on), before heading east to Valencia. He also appeared on the Spanish cooking show, El Hormiguero. Jealous of that cooking-show host? Yes, so are we.
Frame this: Ipek Senoglu is probably the most famous tennis player you (and I) have never heard of. Senoglu is Turkish and reached a career-high ranking of no. 293 back in 2004. While her career has mostly run its course, Senoglu has been instrumental in building tennis’s popularity in Turkey, which will host the WTA’s year-end event in both 2011 and 2012 in Istanbul. Oh, and she’s a looker, that Ipek, too. Above: Ipek in what we think is the Turkish/ Eastern European version of Bazaar. Can anyone help us out on translating?
After the cut: a barely-clad retired pro male struts his stuff in undies and injures a production assistant in the process? Plus, your weekly dose of short(er) balls. (more…)
There are so many things happening in this video: Novak Djokovic is mostly naked (like); he’s doing push-ups (okay); the necklace is giant (almost as weird as this); and is being Mr. Broski (as per usual).
Weirdest, most interesting of all and probably the most awkward thing of this video is the (unplanned) cameo of one Jimmy Connors. It went like this:
JC: What’s up man? (Extends hand for handshake.) ND: (Giggling, doesn’t really respond. Shakes JC’s hand. Giggles some more.) Camera man: (Asks a meaningless question as fast as possible to avoid more awkwardness.)
Click here or the image above to see for yourself.
Over the past few years, TSF has closely followed the path of Stick It Wear?!, a California-based sports apparel company run by designer Joe Durica. And for good reason: SIW has continuously churned out trendy tennis-inspired tees that feature a myriad of former and current tennis stars in classy illustrated stick form, including our all-time fave, El Toro.
Recently, Durica has expanded his coverage to the lower regions, revealing the aptly-named Eroddickwomen’s underwear line. The bottoms come in black or white and can be donned with a pink or gray Nadal, Agassi, Safin or Ivanovic illustration for just $16.99 a pair.
“Orders are non stop on this,” Durica said of the Eroddick, whose shop at Indian Wells is shown above.
But butts aren’t the only thing SIW is covering these days. In addition to the new Eroddicks and already-established t-shirts, a new line of zip-up sweatshirts called Rivalries. The Rivalries line centerpieces great rivalries (Borg/Mac, Sampras/Agassi, Roger/Rafa) with two stick characters divided by the zipper itself. A true fashion battleground.
See shots of the Eroddicks (we know you want to!) after the cut. (more…)
While Fernando Verdasco keeps watch over the West Coast, Kellan Lutz is making sure all of SoHo, New York, stays safe with a new billboard at Houston and Lafayette Streets. No better way to ring in spring than with the Calvin Klein X Marks the Spot campaign.
Los Angeles catches the FeVer: Imagine our excitement upon seeing Fernando Verdasco‘s Calvin Klein X photos go up onto the company’s Sunset Boulevard billboard in West Hollywood, Calif. For those of you who aren’t familiar: this billboard is the first of many that drivers see if traveling west on Sunset.
Our morning commute just got a lot more interesting.
Bonus round: Speaking of billboards, make sure to check out the MAK Center’s How Many Billboards? project, which converted 21 ad spaces throughout the city into canvasses like these. Most of the installations will be up through March. (Read: Fast Company’s write-up.)
Where do we sign? You know that we here at TSF are split about our love for Fernando Verdasco (and after a recent trip to New Haven, I think I snapped Nick out of his, ahem, FeVer) — but consider us converts after seeing these preview pics of the Spaniard showing off his goods in Calvin Klein underwear.
Calvin Klein X is a new range of men’s briefs being marketed around the world, and they’ve signed on Kellan Lutz (one of them Twilight vampires), Mehcad Brooks (True Blood), and soccer player Hidetoshi Nakata along with Verdasco to promote the line.
Set your alarm: Our mice will be clicking over to xmarkyourspot.com to see more of these guys’ goods (shot by Mikael Jansson) on February 15. A belated Valentine’s Day present for everyone.
Instead of complaining that we don’t get the full range of men’s clothing from Bjorn Borg stateside (we just get undies… waaah!), we’ll drown our sorrows in a skivvies sale.
Take 20% any purchase of $100 or more at bjornborg.com with this promo code: KUriPceW. Sale goes through October 7, 2009.
Meanwhile, No Mas — reviver of Borg’s “BJ” logo — is giving you half off any purchases if you use promo code “2004”. You’re welcome.
PSA, folks: the Bjorn Borg store in Soho is having a sample sale — 5 pairs of undies for $30 (or 11 pairs for $60). There are styles for both men and women, all are mediums. Get ’em while they’re hot!
Bjorn Borg store, 89 Crosby b/w Prince and Spring.
Tommy Haas reached the third round of the 2009 French Open by defeating Leonardo Mayer in five sets: 6-3, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 4-6, 6-3. Up next is Jeremy Chardy, who also needed to go all the way with a 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Simone Bolelli.
Buy: Tommy played in the K-Swiss Summer Sublimated Crew, available in white/black and white/online lime for $44.99 at TW. (A polo version is available for $10 more.)
Meanwhile, I’d tell you where to buy Tommy’s underwear, but we’re not entirely sure he was wearing any.
For those of you making grand plans next Saturday (may I suggest Cliff’s Edge in Silver Lake, and a bouquet with hydrangea?), you can thank pimpsterBjorn Borg for giving you one less thing to worry about.
Behold the Lucky Trunk, a pair of skivvies printed with icons of luck and love — we’re talking fuzzy dice, the number eight, a silhouette of maker-outers, a coin (with Bjorn Borg’s bust, of course), and the company’s current motto: “Love for All” — all signs that point to yes after a night of wining and dining.
And as a just-in-case, they’ve include a lucky charm with every box.
Overkill? Not really — you shouldn’t leave things like this to chance!
Buy:Lucky Trunk, 20 euros, bjornborg.com. (Not available in the US.)
A recent video on the Bjorn Borg website shows a guy and a gal duking it out on the tennis court while wearing very little of the spring 09 skivvies and shorts.
An update on the U.S. presence of Bjorn Borg (the brand): men’s underwear from the f/w ’08 line is now available at Scandinavian goods importer [hus] in the West Village and at LASC in West Hollywood. BB will eventually expand into other menswear — sorry, ladies — when the SoHo store opens later this month.
More looks: I’ll have scans from the lookbook posted later this week.
(photo of [hus] window display for TSF by Matt/Ranting Details)
Bjorn Borg, the man whose eponymous label produces well-designed clothing (mainly for the Scandinavian market), shares his 10 essentials with men.style.com.
Included in this list are tennis gear (headbands and wooden racquets, of course), his own line of underwear, herring, a certain Principality, and portable booze (and why not?).
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