Much like Maria Sharapova’s post-U.S. Open behavior last year, which saw her hanging out at New York fashion week and in Nole’s player’s box, her early Wimbledon loss quickly turned into cameos at a few places in Paris and London.

She made a showing at the Valentino Fall 2008 couture show — the first one by young designer Alessandra Facchinetti (who replaced the recently retired Valentino Garavani himself). The hyper-embroiderized collection reinterpreted the fashion house’s classic silhouettes and included the requisite red dress.

And she took in a night at the Tiki-themed Mahiki Club in Dover Street. (src)

Stella McCartney courted this Maria (instead of her tennis muse, Maria Kirilenko) when she hosted a party at Harvey Nichols‘ Fifth Floor Restaurant to expand her organics collection, which currently includes make-up and lingerie.

Masha showed up in a white chiffon cocktail dress with friend Camilla Belle. Masses of pink peonies occupied the dining room, with each of the lucky guests receiving a bespoke napkin ring embossed with their name.

Eco-conscious: We are sick of green-movement marketing as much as writing off Roger, but Stella’s ahead of the pack. The collection will debut at Harvey Nichols and Stella’s flagship store on London’s Bruton Street in June. It’s will be a 20-piece collection made up of loose tunics, slouchy suits, knits and versatile coats — all exuding Stella’s signature, laid-back look, in her favorite color palette of muted tones, taupe, blush pink, grey and stone. (and FYI, Stella uses wind energy — from the grid — to power her studio and e-commerce site. She also has an option with her online store where you can decide to ship your order carbon neutral.)

LeSportsac: The Spring/Summer 2008 collaboration between McCartney and LeSportsac has been out for a while. If you haven’t had a chance to browse, look at detail shots here and the full collection (shop) here.

Mirka Vavrinec hangs out with besties Gavin Rossdale and the pregnant Gwen Stefani during her boyfriend’s semifinal match against Marat Safin on Friday.

Looking forward: Roger will overcome the mental hurdle that is his losing streak against Rafa Nadal and win his sixth Wimbledon title. This “Roger is over” talk is all bunk.

(photo source)

Arnaud Clement had too slow a start in the post-rain delay continuation of his Wimbledon quarterfinal match against Rainer Schuettler. Our favorite French munchkin lost 3-6, 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (9-7), 6-8. He could’ve been in the semis!!

Bless that Lacoste duffel of his. Notice the zip collar on his white polo.

More: See a few more pictures after the cut…

Nothing we haven’t seen before, but nothing we’ll ever get tired of seeing.

A congratulatory googly-eyed stare for Rainer after their match.

Clement’s girlfriend, Nolwenn Leroy.

Before being summarily dismissed by China’s Jie Zheng in the 3rd round of this year’s Wimbledon, soon-to-be-former-but-still-current No. 1 Ana Ivanovic’s claim to fame was the miraculous netcord that saved her while match point down against Natalie Dechy in the prior round.

Several ESPN pundits were all over the potentially perfect reference: the 2nd round of the 1989 US Open, when Boris Becker was down match point to Hollywood’s own Derrick Rostagno.

Up a match point in the fourth-set tiebreaker (the first of two match points), Rostagno served and volleyed; Becker’s passing shot — which Rostagno was well in place to knock off — hit the net cord and took a severely angled bounce well over Rostagno’s head. Becker went on to win the tiebreak, the match, and marched all the way to the championship over Lendl. Becker was 21 at the time, so we could give Ivanovic, at just 20, a bit longer to come into her own.

And what about Mr. Rostagno? He rode his VW bus around to tournaments in the West (an RV in the East), and wore puka-shell necklaces. Often referred to as a “free spirit,” he was perhaps lucky in that there wasn’t anywhere near as much dug up on players as there is today. But there is some additional lore with Rostagno that has lingered: in 1986, he was in Mexico City on a flight layover before returning back to the States. At the last minute, he decided to stay in Mexico and play in a satellite tournament there. The MEX to LAX leg of the flight crashed in Cerritos, Calif., killing everyone on board and then some.

Another recollection features Michael Joyce — now famed as Maria Sharapova’s coach — back when he was struggling to move up through the challenger circuit. Joyce had just taken the players’ bus to the event where he was entered, when who should pull up than none other than Mr. Rostagno, driving a Porsche no less; here’s a fellow American who’s made it, drawing Joyce’s admiration and envy.

Rostagno has since gone on to get an MBA, work in leveraged buyouts, gone to law school, and passed the California bar. The latest report mentions him following his father into litigation. No one said life after tennis is pretty.

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Michael Shaw writes about tennis and other subjects for the Los Angeles Times and is also an artist. He can be reached at michaelshaw_sar AT yahoo DOT com. Read his previous posts for TSF here.

Lotto takes advantage of the Italian flag palette for its Wimbledon men’s gear. Red and green stripes adorn the shirts, shorts, and wristbands of Simone Bolelli, David Ferrer, and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Same goes for the shoes.

Juanqui wears the crewneck version of the tee, and joins the land of the double-wide wristband with his own slapdash version…

Ferrer adds a bandana to his outfit.

Meanwhile, Simone went with the polo version. Look at his jewelry!

Browse: This Wimbledon collection isn’t available for sale yet, but you can check out the rest of Lotto’s goods (including the fleur de lis-branded Leggenda collection) here.

(images by Getty Images)

Venus Williams and her less-than-$20 shoes have a place in the finals tomorrow. The four-time (and defending champ) took out the grumpy (and possibly misinterpreted) Elena Dementieva in the semis.

No chances for a mix-up over at Fila, who marked Sveta Kuznetsova and Dmitry Tursunov’s shoes this week.

And here’s a look at those Alfas designed by Fila especially for Wimbledon court staff.

While Nike gets top honors for its design of Roger Federer’s shoes, we have to point out these Lotto kicks customized for Simone Bolelli. Notice the “Bole” (his nickname) incorporated into the shoe. The designers at Fila need to go in this direction…

Shahar Peer and Reebok bring back the Israeli flag, seen here in her match against Dinara Safina.

Andy Murray playing in Nike against Ricky Gasquet of France.

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Much ado about Nike: Our buddy Darren Rovell at CNBC wrote about Novak Djokovic’s silent switch in tennis shoes from adidas to Nike Air Max Breathe Cage IIs at this year’s Championships. Nole did a fine job white out the swooshes on his shoe.

Here’s a photo of the grass court shoe he wore the week prior at The Artois Championships in London (he lost to Rafa Nadal in the finals). He apparently slipped and slid too much and decided to give Nike a try…

Butter’s Bubble

Marat Safin found his game while playing on his most despised surface — grass! This morning, the big Russian battled Feliciano Lopez, brushing aside his 1-4 record against the Spaniard to win one of his most important matches ever.

During the first set, Safin seemed to be really uneasy playing against Lopez. He (Safin) got frustrated and he was not trying to hide it. He banged his racket on the court a couple of times and hit the ball up high towards the stands. Well, he’s been well-behaved since the first round, so it was about time he showed emotions.

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Thank goodness for that rain delay, which turned things around for Marat. He eventually won 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 6-3.

This is the Russian’s first appearance in a semifinal at Wimbledon. And it wouldn’t be a great semifinal without facing the guy who’s trying to win his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title: Roger Federer. Are we going to see a sequel as good as the 2005 Australian Open semi? I’m really excited for this match-up, whether or not Marat wins. I’m very happy that his mentality towards the game seems to be improving, including his fitness. I hope to see a five or four setter match.

BTW, these two have played a final before, at the Gerry Weber Open in 2005.

Good Luck Marat! (Sorry, Roger, but I’m for RAFA ALL THE WAY!)

Browse: The Joma Sport Feliciano collection here. adidas Competition 7 Crew in white, rave blue, navy, and yellow, $37.99.

(images by Getty Images)

Unlike last year’s discordant showing at Wimbledon (gold on Jelena Jankovic and Nicole Vaidisova, and Amelie Mauresmo with her own line), Reebok decided to rein it in with a white and teal combo on all its ladies.

Jelena’s dress had teal detail on the bust and a wraparound hem. She hobbled with this all the way to her fourth round loss to grass court perrenial Tamarine Tanasugarn 3-6, 2-6. It didn’t help Jelena (but no less credit to Tamarine) that she’d hyperextended her knee in her previous match against 31st seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Amelie wore separates in her match against Serena Williams in the third round. Mauresmo fell 6-7 (5), 1-6.

And Nikki Vaidisova wore the cutaway version. The 18th seed upset the 8th seed Anna Chakvetadze 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-3, booking her a berth in the quarters for the second year in a row. Last year, the Czech lost in the finaleight to Ana Ivanovic.

Speaking of, did you get a chance to see Nicole’s pre-Wimby outfits?

A black Reebok dress contrasted the red clay of the French Open. Notice the bifurcating straps on the back of her dress…

…and the frilly hem! The way it was cut made it look like grandma’s nightgown.

She wore the white version (and the separates) at Birmingham.

(images by Getty Images)

With Serena and Venus still playing, how is Elena Dementieva the highest seed left in the final eight of this year’s ladies’ singles draw at Wimbledon?

I root for Lleyton Hewitt during the grass court season because he’s pretty darn good on that surface. Another reason is that his wife, Bec Hewitt, looks pretty darn good sitting in the stands!

Lleyton’s Yonex kit, though, needs a makeover, stat. Those mini-rays of color bursting from the torso has had its run…

Now that the Australian has dropped out of the draw (a noble effort against Roger Federer), let’s review Bec’s ensembles from the grass season.

Bec watching Lleyton play at The Artois Championships in the Queen’s Club in London, where her husband is a four-time champion. (That “L” necklace is deelish!)

She wears a baby doll dress (with keyhole) during Lleyton’s marathon first-round match against Robin Haase: 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-2.

She switches to a jumper dress for the second round win against Albert Montanes: 7-6 (4), 6-0, 6-2.

And horizontal texture makes a showing in Lleyton’s 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over Bolelli in the third round.

And finally, Bec wears red during Lleyton’s final match of Wimbledon 2008 — the fourth round loss to R-Fed: 6-7 (7), 2-6, 4-6.

(photos by Getty Images)