short balls: around the world (wide web) in 60 seconds

There’s a routine I have every time I open my Safari browser that has probably raped me of dozens (hundreds?!) of hours in my life: I go through a handful of web sites and peruse from top to bottom, gathering every little bit of information I can along the way. Most often, it’s facebook and Twitter that trip me up, people posting links that I just have to click on and then one thing leads to another and it’s past midnight and I should have gone to bed at 10:30. The only good that really comes of this is for short balls, when I get to feel like I’m “working” while I’m browsing and clicking, thus digging for the goods that we like to share here at TSF.

First item to share is related to that picture above, captured by Suzy Allman for The Wall Street Journal. The WSJ put together a slideshow of Allman’s pictures, most of which I thought were jaw-dropping. Nice to see some high-quality artistic photography happening via the Open, even during qualifying, which has been interrupted by rain and is still operating on a delayed schedule.

Within the qualy draws themselves are several intriguing match-ups, including first rounders between Jelena Dokic and Laura Robson, Tamira Paszek and Michaella Krajicek and a second-round bout between Sania Mirza and Elena Bovina. Meanwhile, Nicolas Mahut just got out of a two-month post-match massage after his epic match with John Isner at Wimbledon in time for the qualies, and former top 100 players Kei Nishikori and Harel Levy are battling the rain and ruggeds for a spot in the main draw. (Qualy draws: Men | Women)

With the Legends Clinic happening this afternoon, Polo Ralph Lauren has taken out the big cash to advertise what they’re calling “a groundbreaking live web event.” Since yesterday evening, a large banner ad and two ads flanking the masthead of the New York Times homepage has been up.

More: after the cut, another shot of the Ralph Lauren ad and short(er) balls.

We’re not sure what the rate is for an ad like that on NYTimes.com, but we’re pretty sure they don’t accept Monopoly money.

short(er) balls: Gustavo Kuerten is planning some sort of benefit tourney in South America (any Portuguese speakers mind to translate his Tweets for us?!) happening this Saturday. | While New Haven churns out another stellar event at Yale this year, the tournament is fighting to stay alive with a new sponsor. Pilot Pen, the title sponsor is pulling the plug after years with the tourney. | Sabine Lisicki got her work out earlier this week at the US Open practice courts by drying them off during the persistent rains. | David Rosenberg put together a great “Pretty in Pink” slideshow on Tennis.com, lead off by none other than Serena herself.

(wsj photo by suzy allman for the wsj; screen grabs via nytimes.com)