the borg/mcenroe spoofers strike again!

First they spoofed Marc Jacobs; now, New York magazine.

What will this duo think of next?

(photo by Harrold R.)

mazel tov

Best of luck to Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker on their engagement.

I would link to the statement that’s currently on Andy’s site, but they’re experiencing some technical difficulties. Too much traffic, perhaps?

nole djokovic = fashion’s new love?

Save for his early round loss at this week’s Sony Ericsson Open, Novak Djokovic‘s goal to supplant Roger Federer at the top seems to be on track. First, he defeated the World No. 1 at the Australian Open, then captured last week’s Masters Series title at Indian Wells.

Even in fashion, Nole is looking up (we thought it was a hopeless cause). He cleans up for April’s issue of Men’s Vogue — the one with A-Rod on the cover. No, not that A-Rod. The other one.

The story by William Finnegan follows Nole in Belgrade in December 2007, when he was in town for that mixed doubles exo.

It gave a brief intro of the Serb (childhood during the war, tennis in a ski resort, knack for impersonations); talked about the increasing pressures of his celebrity (“People recognize me and — I don’t really want to say bother me — but they just come up. It’s not really relaxing. All eyes on you.”); and mentioned the Djokovics-run sports marketing firm, Family Sport, whose goal is do bring Nole to the world.

The company has already collaborated with adidas, his gear sponsor, to produce a line with his name and silhouettes of his groundstrokes. It’s plastered on shirts, keychains, balls, and even a yo-yo. We’re not talking high refined concepts here, but I assume $$$ and curbing counterfeiting are the main priorities.

Shop: Browse and buy all the goods, including his first memoir, My first Grand Slam, at his store.

One more: Aside from the photo of Nole above (shot in Monte Carlo, where he resides), there’s another one of him in spiffier clothes. Once I scan, I’ll link to it.

Getting its due: It’s refreshing to see that both Anna Wintour and Jay Fielden aren’t afraid to publish stories in Men’s Vogue which revolve around tennis. They’ve done a few stories on Roger (one cover, even), sponsored last month’s Sampras/Federer MSG exo, and even mentioned Francesca Schiavone in a piece. Francesca effin Schiavone. Who does that?! Only hardcore tennis fans, that’s who. Props to them. This month, along with the Nole piece, they also included a quick write-up on the history behind Nike‘s Air Zoom Mo GT Court — i.e., John McEnroe‘s kicks (pictured above).

(Nole photo via TIF; shirt photos via DTL)

fashion focus: nike’s miami kit for rafa

It was an all-blue battle between defending champion Rafael Nadal and German Benjamin Becker in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Nadal won the match 7-5, 6-2.

On track: With Novak Djokovic out of the way, top-ranked Federer still rusty, and a confident endorsement from Bjorn Borg (albeit for performance on grass), we expect to see Rafa as the last man standing next Friday.

BTW: My friends and I were chatting last week about which feat would be achieved first: Rafa winning Wimbledon or Roger winning the French. Like Borg, we think it’s the former.

Rafa wore his Global Power Sleeveless in New Blue. This time, the folks at Nike moved the graphic print to the side and upper back of the tee, leaving it clean on the front (a welcome change). I’m all about this Land of the Rising Sun motif on his headband. And the blue swirls on his white wristband are a nice touch.

Becker wore a similar shade from the Boris Becker line.

Buy: Nike Global Power Sleeveless, $55; 3/4 pants, $55.

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s sony ericsson open coverage continues…

fashion focus: seppi wears more green

Italian Andreas Seppi, the stylish male sheep of the Fila family — with the female being Akiko Morigami, of course — continues on his green streak with this crewneck accented with white lines. James Blake beat him in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open 7-5, 6-3.

This is a welcome burst of color from the paler greys and purples that are dominating the rest of the Fila collection.

One more: A photo of Seppi’s white/green Fila tee from Indian Wells

upping the ante with juan monaco

Rich: I’ll see your Nole and raise you a Juan Monaco.

Here he is on Valentine’s Day hanging out at the courts of the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while recovering from the ankle injury that took him out of the running at the Movistar Open in Chile.

Bonus round: At this week’s Sony Ericsson Open, Juan went with Jesse Levine, Jonathan Erlich, Andy Ram, Flavia Pennetta, Katarina Srebotnik, Tamira Paszek, and Sabine Lisicki to the Miami Seaquarium where they enjoyed an afternoon with dolphins.

(Copa photo via La Nacion; dolphin photo via ATP)

mishit: are you trying to forget about jelena jankovic’s dress?

Jelena Jankovic‘s dress from the kick-off party has been seared into our minds. And just when we were getting ready to forget about it, we ran across a photo of the dress… taken from the back.

Enjoy!

(photo by SEWTA)

fashion focus: serena’s spring

Serena Williams began her title defense at the Sony Ericsson Open with an easy 6-1, 6-2 win over Edina Gallovits in the second round.

Serena continues the conservative and feminine look that Maria Sharapova started with her “librarian” from YEC 2007. The solid pastel separates are accented with thin contrasting colors at the hems, collars, and sleeves.

What do you think of the pieces? Tell us!

Buy: Nike Volley Top, short-sleeved, in Lilac Ice (shown), Blue Chill, and Dark Obsidian, $50; Rally Skirt, in black/white and white/black (shown), $50.

(photo by AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

if you’re planning marat’s retirement party…

…you can put your good china away — for now.

Although the former World No. 1 is hanging around at No. 90, and has won only one match in six so far this year (he lost to American Bobby Reynolds at this week’s Sony Ericsson Open), he’s not going anywhere:

“I’m trying, and it doesn’t come out my way. But (that) doesn’t mean that I have to stop because I’m not winning matches. I enjoy what I’m doing… I have plenty of cash to do what I want to do, so what I want to do is play tennis.”

I was going to write a post about how much longer Safin can sustain these kinds of losses before he conteplates retirement, but clearly it’s of no concern. Whew.

Safin also reminded reporters to look on the bright side, highlighting his determination to keep playing even after a severe left knee injury three years ago that forced him to change his style of play.

“It takes a lot of courage, you know, to try and still go on the court when you’re ranked 85 in the world… So I need to get some credit for that. I could have retired after I got injured with the knee, I could have retired right there, but I was trying. I’m trying already for three years, so I deserve some credit for that also.

Yep, we’ll give you the credit you deserve. Speaking of giving: adidas, can you give Marat some new clothes? Lime’s time is over.

(photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images; story via Reuters)

kick-off party photo: andy roddick in lacoste

Andy Roddick, the prominent face of Lacoste‘s spring campaign, looked delicious in his appearance at a Manhattan party last week. He showed up at Wednesday’s Sony Ericsson Open players’ party (in Lacoste, of course). See what he wore

trophy watch: wta tour’s 2007 player awards

The SEWTA Tour gave out their 2007 Players Awards in Miami on Thursday.

Comeback player of the year: Lindsay Davenport

Newcomer: Agnes Szavay

Most improved: Ana Ivanovic (who jumped from No. 14 to No. 4 within the season)

Player of the year: Justine Henin, wearing a grey cropped tuxedo jacket and a rhinstoned Armani tee

Doubles team of the year: Cara Black (short) and Liezel Huber (tall)

(photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

the breathing strip is back!

Janko Tipsarevic won his first round match at the Sony Ericsson Open against Taiwanese player Yen-Hsun Lu 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s sony ericsson open coverage

kick-off party photos: james blake and svetlana kuznetsova

I don’t care if Svetlana Kuznetsova looks like Ashton Kutcher in this photo — this is the best I’ve seen her look off-court!

Save for the slightly-too-long cuffs on that jacket, James Blake, as usual, looks pretty darn good.

(photos by Getty Images)

RELATED POSTS
>> meanwhile, a vegas showgirl’s costume went missing…
>> party photo: serena williams at the seo kick-off party

fashion focus: akiko morigami in fila japan s/s 08

You better believe we were excited to finally see the new Spring/Summer 2008 looks from Fila Japan as worn by their sponsored player, Akiko Morigami. Here she is playing on the third day of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne. She lost to Italian Sara Errani 2-6, 6-3, 4-6.

Ever since the winter we’d been dying to figure out what the Japanese arm will be doing for early 2008 (we already know what they’re doing for the rest of the world, with Tursunov and Kuznetsova showing off at Indian Wells last week). For the most part, thanks to Ichizo, all that we found were nibblets — a cryptic post on her own site talking about a photo shoot, and that picture on the right from the shoot’s stylist.

Until this week, of course. We’ll do another post about the rest of the men’s and women’s tennis collections soon.

More: For now, see more photos (and some close-ups) of Akiko’s outfit

meanwhile, a showgirl’s costume went missing…

Jelena Jankovic at the Sony Ericsson Open Kick-off party on Wednesday.

(photo by Getty Images)

party photo: serena at the SEO kick-off party

Serena Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open Kick-off party on Wednesday night at Opium in Miami.

(photo by Getty Images)

question of the week: offthebaseline.com

Here’s my question of the week:

Whatever happened to offthebaseline.com?

indian wells sightings: bud collins chats with charlie pasarell

Unfortunately giving fodder for the argument that we don’t care about our elders (or the old), there was a sparse crowd at this casual chat between Bud Collins and Charlie Pasarell on the first weekend of the Pacific Life Open. (Pasarell, a former pro, is the tournament’s ATP director.)

As expected, Bud was in full regalia: green polo under a pink knit sweater paired with a pair of coral blue pants with big teal polka dots. Yowza.

For my fellow triviaphiles: The newest edition of The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book will drop on June 1. You can pre-order if you wish.

(photo by Erwin)

fashion focus: a lotta props to lotto for spring

During our almost hourly powows at Indian Wells last week, my friends Chip and Charge both chimed in on their favorite outfits from the desert. Their unanimous choice? The looks from Lotto.

Former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero was wearing a the Kontact Print tee in a white/maroon colorway (with matching shorts). This is the style with the metallic graphic on the right torso. (FYI: After a strong start Down Under, Juanqui’s record has been dismal, with back-to-back first round losses in Rotterdam and Dubai, followed by a loss in the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open to David Nalbandian.)

Yep, that’s a mock mandarin collar. I still like v-necks better, but this is genius!

A training sleeveless tee and a warm-up jacket.

Meanwhile, Guillermo Garcia Lopez wore a red/white/black polo. Very clean, and stood out very nicely in the green and blue courts in the desert.

Gigi on the stretch.

The flip side: Lotto’s casual Leggenda collection looks pretty good for spring/summer 2008 — they’re all about fleur de lis, which I’m currently into. I might do a post on it later with pictures, if I have time. For now, you should check out the Lotto site and browse.

(All photos by BabyAngelB1 via MTF)

fila’s wimbledon shoe: a pic and some deets

There it is, folks! We’ve tracked down this wonderful photo of Fila‘s Alfa Wimbledon shoe, which will commemorate the beginning of Fila’s five-year partnership with Wimbledon as its official footwear licensee.

Some details about the partnership:

• The hard court shoes will be worn by the ball crew, the court covers, and all staffers of the Wimbledon Shop. Line judges are not included in this group.
• The grass court version of the shoe will be worn by all British players sponsored by Fila.
• Since this is only a footwear license, Polo Ralph Lauren will continue to outfit all the officials and staff. From the looks of the shoe, the two companies’ products will find a way to beautifully coexist for the fortnight.

(photo courtesy of Fila)

What do you think of the Alfa Wimbledon? Love it? Hate it? Tell us!