short balls sunday

Did Sara Bareilles‘s Gravity really play at the end of tonight’s Brothers & Sisters? How exciting. Congrats to her!

Anyway, onto the short balls…

On Nole, Fed Cup, and her shoulder: Women’s Tennis Blog is on doodle patrol, and we get some Maria Sharapova questions answered by the player herself.

Nole gives back: Davis Cup hero Novak Djokovic understands how important he will be (along with fellow players Janko Tipsarevic, Ana Ivanovic, and Jelena Jankovic) in shaping the future of Serbian tennis. And he takes this role seriously. (via SMH)

Roger and Masha get ranked again: BusinessWee releases its Power 100, a list of the most influential people in the world of sports. Of course, Roger and Masha make the list (and are the only two tennis players to do so). (via TennisInfoBlog.com)

You can add this to Roger’s appearance in Time, and Masha’s many mentions in Forbes.

Match-fixing spills to WTA: Tennis Diary’s Nina Rota does some legwork to find out more about possible match-fixing on the WTA. This time, the match involved Tatiana Poutchek and Mariya Koryttseva in the quarterfinals of the Sunfeast Open two weeks ago.

Is there really no room for beer and pizza?: LTA juniors David Rice and Naomi Broady had their funding suspended after photos of them binging on alcohol and junk food surfaced on the internet. I guess it makes sense to work hard before you get to the top. But when you’re there… it’s a whole other story.

Slide show: The New York Times breaks down how clay king Rafael Nadal has been improving his hardcourt game.

He’s no square peg: Bonnie D. Ford tells us that the 6’9″ John Isner is fitting into the pro tennis world just fine.

focus: graphic designs for guga kuerten

I found some more graphic designs for Guga Kuerten. Not sure if they’re for t-shirts or ads. Either way, they are a perfect representation of the company’s laid back, surfer/skater attitude. These first three are from TavinhoCosta. (source)

This is a great take on a company crest.

On the left, using the famous Japanese woodblock print by Hokusai.

And a literal mixture of Guga Kuerten’s presence in tennis and skateboarding.

trophy watch: more asian fun

The Hansol Korea Open had two tennis fashionistas duking it out in the final: on one side was the EleVen-clad Venus Williams. On the other, Maria Kirilenko and her adidas by Stella McCartney outfits.

After it was over, both 2007 winner Venus and runner-up Kirilenko changed into hanboks (the country’s traditional dress) for the awards ceremony. Venus’ hanbok is worth approximately $3,200. The ladies received bouquets and these great vases — yet another welcome change to ho-hum silver cups and glass prisms we’re so used to seeing.

Other photos of Venus and Maria. The American beat the Russian 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, ending her eight-match winning streak. Good to see both of these women doing well. (FYI, this is Venus’ third title of the year out of 11 tournaments entered.)

The final in Luxembourg also went to three sets, with Ana Ivanovic taking her third title after her 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Daniela Hantuchova. The Slovak has lost no earlier than the semis of her last three tourneys; she’s found her form after a disappointing hardcourt summer.

Photoless: Virginie Razzano beat Tzipora Obziler 6-0, 6-3 to become the 2007 Guangzhou International Women’s Open Champion.

In Mumbai, Richard Gasquet redeems his disappointing summer (the highlight: getting flack for withdrawing from the U.S. Open because of a sore throat) with his 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Belgian Olivier Rochus. This is his first title of the year.

In doubles, Robert Lindstedt and Jarkko Nieminen are the champions.

Dmitry Tursunov took out Benjamin Becker in an easy, breezy, 6-2, 6-1 match at the Thailand Open. He makes a cute face for Josh! (Giving him the trophy is Thailand Tennis Association prez Suwat Liptapallop.)

As usual, Tursunov was wearing Fila and Becker was wearing clothes from his sponsor, Boris Becker.

(photos by AP and Getty Images)

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s trophy watch archive

fashion: monfils in Sport & Style

French ATPer and Hottie McHotterson Gael Monfils appears in the most recent issue of Sport & Style, the Bruno Danto-helmed insert in L’Equipe.

Gael poses in clothes from Givenchy, Giorgio Armani, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, as well as his own sponsors, Nike and Head. And in the article, he talks about his non-tennis passions: music and breakdancing. “I often organize freestyle ‘battles’ with my group of friends. I’ve been brought up under the MTV culture. Music and dance are my life.”

Accessories: The house of Chanel, under Karl Lagerfeld, continues to top itself with the ball-as-necklace on the left. They’ve dabbled in tennis-themed accessories before, including racquets and the stiletto pump.

S&S is slowly making its way stateside, and we can’t wait to see it on the newsstands!

(via ATP; photos via MTF’s Monfils forum and ATP)

what’s in this week’s water?: justine henin cleans up

Can someone check the charts for me? Something weird is definitely going on.

First, Vince Spadea proved to the world that he could put together a decent outfit at the Thailand Open, and now the normally ho-hum Justine Henin follows in the fashion week footsteps of Roger Federer (at de la Renta), Maria Sharapova (at Peter Som and Michael Kors) and Serena Williams (at Tommy Hilfiger and Zac Posen) with her own front-row appearance at Milan Fashion Week.

Justine looked great as she sat front row at the Giorgio Armani Spring 2008 ready-to-wear show. She was decked out in a white pantsuit (which seems to be her glam staple), and two necklaces.

Bonus round: The collection, inspired by the “languid, sensual summers of Southern Italy”, saw its share of trousers tied at the knee, beaded scarves (glittering), and harem-pant gowns. See it all here. (via style.com)

Kudos, pt. 2: Justine, we love your red glasses, too.

Right sentiment, but…:” Did anyone else find it funny that in this list of Most Overrated/Underrated athletes, it’s the overrated ones who get the ink? Regardless, props to Mike Freeman for giving Justine credit for her achievements.

(Milan photo from Elle Belgium via the Justine Henin forums; red glasses photos via the forums)

RELATED POSTS
>> justine wears armani
>> serena at zac posen
>> fashion week: tennis bags and visors at michael kors
>> masha licks her wounds at peter som’s show
>> roger (with a g) at de la renta

at the korea open, more from eleven

Most of the women are taking a break this week except for World No. 9 Venus Williams, who is quietly working towards a title at the Hansol Korea Open.

She’s showing off some more pieces from her Steve & Barry’s collection, EleVen.

Venus wore a pink pleated skirt and a white sleeveless top (with pink shawl collar) in her 6-2, 6-1 defeat of fast-court specialist Tamarine Tanasugarn in the second round.

And she went all-white in her 6-2, 6-3 win over Marta Domachowska.

Into the weekend: Venus will next face Flavia Pennetta in the semis, while defending champion Eleni Daniilidou squares off against Russian Maria Kirilenko, who’s on a roll after taking the Sunfeast Open last week. I predict Maria and Venus will make the finals, and Venus will win the whole thing.

RELATED POSTS
>> see all of Venus’ EleVen tennis outfits here

davis cup: lest you thought we forgot…

The Davis Cup finals are now set — Russia and the U.S. will square off in the December at some venue (Rose Garden?) in Portland. I’ll be making a trip up and meeting with Pacific Northwestern TSF’ers. If you’re gonna be around — we should meet up! The Russians are looking to defend, but the American team seems as hungry and ready as they’ll ever be.

Some of you mentioned (ahem, Craig) that I made no mention of the semifinal tie between the U.S. and Sweden. It got lost in the fray — there were eight other ties going on last weekend, and two of them involved Roger Federer and Serbian ham Nole Djokovic — but it didn’t help that there was so much bland attire on the court. Thomas Johansson, Andy Roddick, and James Blake gave us nothing to talk about.

But then there was Joachim Johansson, who teamed up with Yonex to properly represent his country in flag colors. Roddick might beat him 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3, but the Swede wins ‘best dressed’ in our book. Cheers.

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s davis cup coverage…

shirtless: arnaud clement

Hey all — posting has been a little slow just because there’s not much going on (and I have lots of non-TSF things to deal with). Also, I’ve been working on some posts that require interviews, phone calls, etc. So hopefully it will turn into good reading for y’all.

Anyway, I’ve been mining discussion boards for an Aussie Open post, and I ran across this photo of Arnaud Clement. Enjoy!

(from MTF’s Arnaud Forum)

fashion hit: spadea sparkles

As much as we rag on Vince Spadea for his prosti-totes, bedazzled trucker hats, or wearing basketball shorts on the court, we have to give credit where it’s due.

See how well this eccentric American cleans up? It’s like an episode of Extreme Makeover all up in hurrrr. Here he is playing a first round match at the Thailand Open (losing to Tommy Haas 6-4, 4-6, 1-6 in the first round). Put a non-obnoxious shirt on him (from his own line, of course) and he looks great. That hair is another story…

But we should enjoy this while it lasts. Back in May, Bethanie Mattek had the crazy notion that she’d tone down her on-court fashion style. It got her a title, but it didn’t last long. She was back to her old ways by the 2007 U.S. Open.

Buy?: You can check out some of Vince’s goods at his Pro Shop.

ukranian fashion show

Striking a pose (left to right): Katerina Bondarenko, unknown, Alona Bondarenko, Tatiana Perebiynis, Oksana Teplyakova, unknown.

The $100k Kharkov tourney from earlier this month hosted a fashion show for the ladies.

Because of the bright blue and yellow pastels (read: Ukrainian flag), some fans are speculating that these were designed for upcoming Fed Cup ties. How fun — we’re all about it!

Whodunit?: does anyone know who designed these outfits?

Our faves: Teplyakova in a spaghetti strap top, Perebiynis in an empire waist dress and in a tiered ruffle skirt, and Alona in assymetrical blue.

Bondarenkos wear the mishits: Alona in a purple dress which takes the tennis theme too far; Katerina wears a cutaway dress. That’s gonna make for some horrible tan lines.

What do you think of the dresses? Tell us!

One more photo

andy roddick: something old, something new…

I loooooooove this new ‘do on Andy Roddick. It’s been a while since we’ve seen him with (relatively) close-cropped hair.

And kudos to mixing up his Lacoste gear by wearing a white polo shirt with green detail on the button stand.

This photo was snapped at a Thailand Open press conference, where Roddick announced his withdrawal after sustaining a foot injury during practice. Andy’s is probably the only withdrawal that legitimately shocked the tourney organizers; even though Novak Djokovic‘s and Rafael Nadal‘s absences weren’t written about until this past weekend, it’s clear that the no-shows have been in the works for a while.

While we’re at it, perhaps Andy’s fan club can pool together some money to buy him some new jeans. They’re falling apart!

RELATED POSTS
>> fashion: lacoste’s spring 2008 RTW collection
>> lacoste and roddick vs. nike and darth federer
>> with clement, lacoste sticks to solids
>> TSF’s andy roddick archives

short balls tuesday

Woodforde’s back: Novak Djokovic‘s not quite done paying Aussie doubles specialist Mark Woodforde to help with the Serb’s serve-and-volley game. (SMH)

adidas will sponsor the 2012 Olympics: Now that Kim Clijsters and her Fila kit are off the map (or are they?), the Belgian Team won’t have to worry about clothing conflicts arising from adidas‘ sponsorship of the 2012 London Olympics. (SGB)

Serra Zanetti retires: Adriana Serra Zanetti announced her retirement from pro tennis, citing a foot injury from October 2005 that never healed. Career highlights include the round of 16 at the 1995 French Open and the quarters of the 2002 Australian. You’ll be missed! (AGI)

Heaven on earth: At the Thailand Open, Carlos Moya dons an apron (over us Nike U.S. Open t-shirt) and whips up some pad thai. Can he bring some to me? Oh yeah, Feliciano Lopez was there, too. (Bangkok Post, Getty Images)

Babolat’s dumb luck: See this story in NYT‘s Play magazine about how Babolat captured its share of the racquet market by being at the right place at the right time.

On the Federer brand: Roger Federer is a cash cow. And IMG knows it. Tony Godsick‘s his agent over there, but his primary manager is still Mirka. FYI. (IWtbaSA)

Sharapova gets crafty: See what Maria Sharapova considers her favorite restaurants all over the world. Included on the list is one of my personal loves, Craft Los Angeles, in Century City. (foodea.com)

Sloppy seconds: AmEx drops its partnership with Tiger Woods but the golfer shed nary a tear, I’m sure. And for good reason: he picked up a 5-year deal with Gatorade that’ll net him $100 mil. This arrangement is for selling at least three products, including a new proposed drink that’ll be named after him. (via The Austin American-Statesman)

Deuce questions for Federer: See this light Q&A.

On the last time he played a match that no one watched: “For a tournament match you’d probably have to go back to the juniors. It was only a practice set, but when I played Pete Sampras [at his house, before the Pacific Life Open in March] there were probably only three people watching.”

The last time he showed his badge at a tournament: “It happens all the time because they want to scan your badge. They go after plastic, not faces.”

And the last time he flew coach: “[Long pause] Yeah, it’s been a few years now.” Bless.

masha as a eurotrash hooker, nyt shoe review, tennis and track produce a lovechild, etc.

Have you ever seen Stardoll? It’s this bopper “paper doll dress-up community”, and they have a section where users can dress up their favorite celebrities. The website seems to get “looks” right: a post-Jordan Catalano Jared Leto is all eyelinered out (and dresses like a rocker), Amanda Bynes is girly, and the Olsen twins are total fashionistas.

But poor Maria Sharapova got the short shrift when they put her outfits together.

What I assembled (from left to right): next year’s U.S. Open evening dress (watch out for the press conference for this one), her track suit for walking Dolce in Manhattan Beach, and her as a eurotrash hooker.

First TSF contest?: Wanna take a stab at being Masha’s Stardoll stylist? Visit the site and give it a shot. E-mail us what you come up with. I have a Roger Federer tumbler from Wilson for the best outfit (with caption).

(from Fashion Week Daily)

Shoes: Journalist Stephen Krcmar reviews tennis shoes in the latest issue of Play, the NYT sports magazine. Performance-wise, top marks go to Nike‘s Air Max Breathe Cage. And TSF throws our support to the adidas Climacool Divine (above), with its Swarovski-trimmed eyelets.

Fashion contagion’s next victim?: Track and field athlete Tasha Danvers-Smith showed up for this week’s IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart dressed in a Polo Ralph Lauren tennis dress which she bought at Queen’s Club for £50. She also came to the competition with a gold strand in her hair, green spiked shoes, and lots of jewelry: earrings, a stud in her lower lip, rings, and anklets on both her ankles.

While the dress might have been a detriment to her performance (Danvers finished seventh in the Hurdles), there was no question about whether she was allowed to wear this not-so-aerodynamic outfit. “I am not sponsored so I could go out there in an Eskimo suit if I wanted to… As I don’t have the restriction of having to wear a specific uniform, I can do what I want, so why not do this?”

When designers tire of making outfits for tennis players, now they know the track stars are waiting…

(via IAAF)

(photos via Stardoll, NYT)

trophy watch: sunfeast is in the running

Congrats to the Sunfeast Open for being in the running for Most Innovative Trophy of 2007. Winner Maria Kirilenko received this traditional Indian painting (unveiled last week by Sania Mirza). Runner-up Mariya Koryttseva received her doorstop. The scoreline: 6-0, 6-2.

But the cabal behind all these stuffed tournament mascots needs to take a break. Don’t overdo it, people. Calcutta had the yellow sun, and Beijing had its own lime green version below…

In doubles, Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva beat Koryttseva and Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-4.

At the China Open, Jelena Jankovic got a little karmic lecture when she lost in the finals to current hot potato Agnes Szavay (again dressed in her cute Marta Makany outfit). Szavay came from behind to defeat Jankovic 5-7(7), 7-5, 6-2.

As you may remember, Jankovic took out Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-5 in the semis and accidentally hit her with a ball. How funny that it was Lindsay who bore the brunt, since she channeled her fair share of Eeyore back in the day.

And on the other side of the world, Tatiana Golovin gets back to being match tough by winning against Katarina Srebotnik 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in Slovenia. I love the orange Lacoste skirt!

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s trophy watch

sa watch: harshin’ my melo

Bah. Marcelo Melo received a two-month doping ban after the ITF determined he tested positive for isometheptene at Queen’s Club earlier this spring.

The ban is usually two years long, but was reduced because Melo didn’t take the substance to enhance his sporting performance.

He’ll forfeit prize money and rankings points. Which is sad, since he and partner Andre Sa had a decent run, making the doubles semis at Wimbledon and the quarters at the U.S. Open.

(AP via ESPN)

davis cup: russia downs germany

The Davis Cup tie between Russia and Germany (in Moscow) ended up 3-2 in favor of the home team. (See full results here.)

Davydenko wore Airness in his straight-set loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber. Kolya’s probably still distracted by the match-fixing scandal that emerged at the Polish Open. (Investigators were scheduled to talk to him next week.)

That’s a photo of Kohlschreiber and his gorgeous lips; German team captain Patrik Kuhnen wears the German-themed wristband that we love. Awesome.

Mikhail Youzhny, in adidas, does his traditional post-win salute after beatng Davis Cup rookie Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Youzhny redeemed his loss in the doubles rubber (with teammate Dmitry Tursunov). Look at that… Fila and the three stripes of adidas sync up for a nice doubles look.

Igor Andreev, in his new style from Under Armour, clinched the win by beating Kohlschreiber 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

“It’s an amazing feeling playing here in Moscow and it’s the second time I won the deciding point … it’s great,” said Andreev. “I like this feeling of adrenaline in your body before going on the court, it’s so exciting to play here and it’s great for our country to reach the Davis Cup Final for the second year in a row.” (source)

The final will be played against the U.S. on American soil.

And here’s Marat Safin, fresh (stale?) from his trek up the mountain, knowing how important it is to cheer on his teammates.

davis cup: nole cracks me up again

I thought I’d already seen the best picture from this weekend’s Davis Cup ties. Apparently, I spoke too soon.

At Janko Tipsarevic‘s singles rubber against Lleyton Hewitt, this photo of Nole.

“Janko, this’ll be your treat if you help us win!”

Of course he got distracted instead, losing 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 1-6. It was good to see Lleyton pull out that win, though. (Unfortunately, the Aussie withdrew from the tie because of a viral infection.)

Full results here.

More pics of Janko and Nole

dc: great britain vs. croatia

Tim Henman put icing on his retirement cake this weekend by helping lead Great Britain to a 4-1 win over Croatia in Davis Cup. This victory puts them in the World Group for 2008. (Results.)

Hey, at least Henman got a chance to have a glorious moment on the surface (and the venue — the All-England Club) that haunted his career the most; Tim was burdened with the pressure of being a hometown Wimbledon winner. Unfortunately, even his great serve-and-volley game crumbled under this expectation.

The threads: Henman’s never wacky with his clothes anyway, so the adidas kit (with the country name on the shirt’s back) was as expected. And Andy Murray continued the color theme with his muted black and white Fred Perry kit. (Mourning the loss of his 2007, I imagine?) The Scot won both his singles rubbers, and his brother Jamie teamed with Tim to win the doubles rubber — and clinch the tie.

The perfect accessory: Little Rosie Henman was also on hand to help celebrate her dad’s win.

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s davis cup coverage

dc: switzerland vs. czech republic

Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych are hometown heroes after taking down the Swiss team (including Roger Federer) 3-2 in this weekend’s World Group Play-offs.

See full results here.

But while the Czech Republic might have won a spot in next year’s World Group, they lost the fashion tie. Berdych wore his usual Nike kit while Stepanek came out as a flag. And in case you were’nt sure which country he was playing for, he wrote it on the back.

And Roger Federer didn’t miss a style beat, dressing in a Nike kit themed to Swiss colors (red, white) — everything down to his shoes.

The Swiss warm-up jackets were pretty cute, too.

And even their fans dressed well. See the pics

davis cup: sa watch + guga watch

It’s nice to see Guga Kuerten taken out of reserve to play the doubles rubber with Andre Sa at this week’s Davis Cup.

These Brazilians faced Austria in a Word Group Play-off tie. Jurgen Melzer and Julian Knowle won the match 6-1, 6-1, 6-4, which put the Austrians in next year’s World Group (aka the main Davis Cup draw).

I love the yellow socks. Nice touch!

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s davis cup coverage
>> sa watch 2007
>> guga watch
>> learn more about guga kuerten’s clothing line