Tattoo watch: A ho-hum tattoo from Belarus’ Olga Govortsova, who lost to Li Na in the third round of the 2009 French Open.
We were suprised to see Li as the only Chinese woman left in the draw, expecting that Zheng Jie would go deeper.
Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka, another Belarusian, is going into a third set against Carla Suarez Navarro. They have a set a piece (7-5 for both) and will continue their suspended match tomorrow.
See a picture of Olga’s cute K-Swiss skort after the cut…
Double barrel: Janko Tipsarevic retired from his third round match against Andy Murray because of a hamstring injury (grr, he gets injured too often!). The Serb only had praise for the Scot, saying that while Murray’s game isn’t quite suited for clay, his high confidence and playing style makes him a definite contender for the title. “In my opinion,” Janko shares, “he is the best defender and has the best passing shot on tour.”
But before Janko ended the match — he was trailing 6-7, 3-6 — he got his fans “tipsy” with a little gun show. What was covered up by the Fila Center Court Crew from his second round victory over Feli Lopez was now for all to see in the Sleeveless top.
Buy: Fila Center Court Sleeveless Top, $33.99; Colorblocked Crew, $37.99; in Parisian Blue/white.
More: See more of Janko lunging around the court after the cut…
Venus, out! Third seed Venus Williams dropped out of the French Open in the third round for the third year in a row, losing to Agnes Szavay 6-0, 6-4.
Bracket: Szavay faces fellow blonde Dominika Cibulkova in the fourth round.
Buy: Agnes is wearing the dress from Fila‘s Spring Center Court line. It offers SPF 30 protection, and is available in black or white with pink/gold accents for $54.99.
(image via Getty Images)
Devoted wife Bec Cartwright showed up to see Lleyton Hewitt crash out of the third round against Rafael Nadal in straight sets: 1-6, 3-6, 1-6.
On track: Up next for Rafa is the winner of the Soderling/Ferrer match. Soderling is currently up a break in the third after splitting the first two sets with Ferrer.
(image via Getty Images)
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TSF’s french open coverage
This should be required for all the majors.
Roland Garros stringer Laurent Lucas tapped French design outfit 5.5 Designers to reinterpret the clay major in “3 Sets”. And what they came up with is now up for sale online: the Break Stool, a wooden racquet transformed into a side table (~$450); the Ace carafe (~$80) and four glasses (~$100), inspired by empty tennis ball cans; and the 15/30 chalkboard (~$125), modeled after the tournament bracket.
What do you think of these pieces? Tell us!
More: Buy the goods here and read the release, in French, on the 5.5 website.
(img via apartment therapy)
TSF’s clay hope Juan Monaco — he once had the goods to back this up — did his unseeded duty by going taut-belly up against ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. We expect Tsonga to easily beat Christophe Rochus (who won the battle of the munchkins against Arnaud Clement), but to fall to Juan Martin Del Potro in the round of 16.
Three stripes times two: Pico’s steady baseline game was accented by the adidas Spring Edge Print Crew, while Tsonga’s all-attacking style was covered in the season’s Zip Crew.
Buy: adidas Spring Edge Print Crew, $35.99, phantom/pool blue and white/blank; Spring Competition Zip Crew, cyan/black/white and neon yellow/white, $43.99.
More: A few more pics of Monaco’s French Open play after the cut…
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.
Spaniard Tommy Robredo is through to the third round after straight-set wins over Adrian Mannarino and countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver. Robredo’s keeping things simple this week, playing in plain Sergio Tacchini polos (accessorized with a TW Steel watch). He next faces Maximo Gonzalez and will likely fall in the fourth round to the winner of Djokovic/JC Ferrero.
Buy: All the latest Sergio Tacchini goods available here.
More: Two more pics of Robredo after the cut…
Jose Acasuso and his buzzed hair (pic: before) took a stab at defeating Roger Federer in the second round of the French Open. While the Argentinian put up a fight, he could not upset Federer, who’s riding his soon-to-be-pop high and is fresh from his clay title win against Rafa at the Madrid Masters earlier this month. Federer won in four: 7-6 (8), 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Big leagues: Roger needs to step it up — no more losing seven straight games like he did in the second and third sets against Acasuso — if he wants to make his fourth straight French Open final. Up next for Roger is the winner of the Pablo Andujar/Paul-Henri Mathieu second-rounder.
(photo by Getty Images)
Venus Williams and her EleVen line continue to run around like headless chickens, showing off outfits — one prettier than the next — even after their backer, Steve & Barry, declared bankruptcy a while back.
And for the 2009 French Open, Venus follows up her Hypercolor spring dress with this abstract take on animal print, which reminds us of Matthew Williamson‘s recent collection for H&M. (If you haven’t seen the latter, click here for the tiger/butterfly dress and here for the peacock-themed goods.)
Scoreline: Venus beat former fashion great Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round, and faces Lucie Safarova (sigh, that once would have been a juicy contest) in the second round. Venus will likely run into Li Na in the fourth; TSF predicts that the Chinese player will take out Sharapova in the round prior — you heard it here first!
Up close: This Venus dress is the same as the one she wore from Miami through Warsaw. See some more pics of the outfit in action after the cut…
You know, we’ve been really impressed by a lot of the clothes debuting at this French Open — especially with the ladies. They’ve been been hitting out of the park, haven’t they? (And we’re not even done posting yet!)
So we’re officially ready to let our guard down with Jelena Jankovic. She was flip-flopping for a while there, mixing great fashion choices with some couture catastrophes, forcing us to withhold our applause and love for one of tennis’ biggest draws. But after that gorgeous dress she wore to Cannes, this pink one at a reception for Serbian prez Boris Tadic, and now her French Open ANTA outfit, we’re ready to leave the love faucet on full blast for Jelena.
Ms. Jankovic opened her 2009 French Open campaign in a bright blue dress accented with an asian floral print down the side and back panels. We’re all about that frilly skirt, too. What do you think of this dress? Tell us!
Scoreline: Jelena got lumped in the bottom half of the draw, and we don’t foresee any hiccups until her quarterfinal vs. Serena Williams (though our friend Chris’ bracket has Wozniacki beating Jelena in the round of 16).
More: See detail shots of her blue, blue (did we say “blue”?) outfit — including fingernails, hairpins, shoes, and maybe mascara (one can only hope) — all after the cut…
If Argentina and Andy Roddick had a love child, qualifier Leonardo Mayer would be it. The 22-year-old upset James Blake in the first round of the 2009 French Open with a 7-6 (6), 7-5, 6-2 win.
Someone get him in touch with the Roland Garros barber and he’ll be golden.
Scoreline: Leonardo will face Tommy Haas in the second round, and then the winner of the hotfest that is Simone Bolelli vs. Jeremy Chardy.
More: A few more pics of Mayer — who’s wearing Olympikus — after the cut…
We here at TSF are all smiles that Maria Sharapova and Nike are back at it with a well-calculated outfit for the Russian (when in Paris…). They went with a layered dress in varying textures of fabric and in two hues of blue. The tiers fall nicely on Maria’s frame, looking like like enormous fish scales. Unfortunately, it didn’t look so good when she moved around. What do you think of this dress? Tell us!
Scoreline: In this, her first major since Wimbledon of 2008, Maria beat Belarusian Anastasiya Yakimova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 and next faces 11th seed Nadia Petrova.
Round it out: Maria walked onto the court with a cropped jacket, a large white tote, and of course her aquamarine and diamond drop earrings — in 18 karats of white gold — from Tiffany. (Buy: Drop Earrings; $2,100; Tiffany.com.) What, you say? You want to see the bag and jacket? Feast your eyes on a few pictures — all after the cut…
Zheng Jie became the highest-ranked female Chinese player recently by reaching the No. 15 spot (beating Li Na‘s No. 16 back in 2007). Zheng’s had a so-so year so far, making it to the fourth round of the Australian (ret. Kuznetsova) and Miami (l. S. Williams), the semis at Monterrey (l. Bartoli), and the third round in Roma (a third-set tiebreak loss against Safina).
But she’s still in this year’s French, brushing aside Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-1, 6-3 in the first round. As the 15th seed, she’ll next face Michelle Larcher De Brito and will likely end up falling to Safina in the round of 16.
<3: We’re continually impressed with the different designs that Chinese companies Li Ning and ANTA — the latter now Zheng’s sponsor — are bringing to the table. Zheng is currently in a lavender/purple blouse trimmed with pleats and a cloud-like print on the mandarin collar.
What do you think of it? Tell us!
More: A few more shots of Zheng’s outfit after the cut…
As expected, there are some fun towels at this year’s Roland Garros e-store (we already showed you our faves from the rest of their inventory). Clockwise, from top left: Men’s player towel, Pictogram towel, Monogram towel, and Coloring towel.
Flashback: See last year’s towels here.
(screengrabs via RG)
Some detail shots of Zheng Jie‘s monogrammed kit at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she lost to Serena Williams in the fourth round 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 (Zheng led 2-0 in that third set).
While she’s been logo-less for a while, the print detail on her white tank makes me think that she was with ANTA all along (but perhaps with a deal not yet inked). Seems like everything’s set for the French, though, where Zheng’s shown up in beautiful blue separates. More on that later.
(images via Getty Images)
The June issue of Vogue features a profile of Rafa Nadal accompanied by photos shot by Bruce Weber. The interview and shoot happened at this year’s Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Things we learned from the interview:
Travel: The man and his entourage are without a private jet. He flies commercial.
His pre-match rituals: “He’ll sleep between seven and nine hours, then have a plate of pasta for breakfast. If he’s eating three hours or more before a match, he’ll add some chicken or fish. Just beforehand, he always has a cold shower; then his physio, Rafael Maymo, helps him put on all his tape (at the moment his fingers are taped as well as his knees). After Nadal prepares the handles of his rackets, he listens to music on his iPod—everything from Julio Iglesias to Bon Jovi—and keeps to himself. ”
On Fed’s Aussie Open meltdown: ‘”Well, a bit odd, no? I didn’t really know what to do. I felt sad for him. Those are difficult moments when you’re living through them, but over the years they become moments that both he and I will be able to look back on fondly—they’re emotional moments.”‘
His vulnerabilities: ‘”Being home alone at night makes me a bit nervous. If I’m at home alone I have to sleep on the sofa—I can’t face going to bed. I’m there with the TV on and all the lights on. I’m not very brave about anything in life… In tennis, yes. In everything else, not very.”‘
More pics: View a short slideshow here. The full interview is available in the June issue of Vogue (with covergirl Cameron Diaz). It’s currently in newsstands.
The summer styles from the Bjorn Borg underwear line are now available online. We’re big fans of the plaid and the bright, bold color palette. For those of you with a penchant for peekaboo-ing, consider adding some rainbow waistbands to your arsenal. The women get gingham, too (sadly, the guys don’t get to join in on that fun…).
Buy: Drop (money for) your drawers here.
Where do I sign up?
Frenchman Romain Jouan had the unfortunate privilege of drawing Andy Roddick in the first round of the French. The American hadn’t gotten past the first round of the tourney since ’05, but this was Jouan’s third ATP match ever (and his Slam debut). Roddick won 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
More: The full image after the cut…
Please take a moment today to think about the men and women who have given their lives to serve our country.
(Virginia Military Institute image from the Library of Virginia)
tennis served fresh 