for k-swiss’ fall, a potent purple

The second drop of clothes from K-Swiss for Fall/Winter 2010 includes a darker purple than the hyachinth worn by Kateryna Bondarenko earlier this fall. (Flashback: K-Swiss at the US Open.) This shade — called Potent Purple — appears in the line’s every offering, with each piece having its own special detail, like the thumbhole on the cuffs of the half-zip, the ribbon trim on the pleated skort, and the straps on the a-line dress, the tankini, and the tank. Take a gander below and you’ll see what we mean.

Draw: Meanwhile, Vera Zvonareva‘s great runs within the last calendar year have cemented her reign atop the Russian WTA rankings. Unfortunately, compatriot Elena Dementieva sent her down memory lane with straight-set upset in the quarterfinals of this week’s Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Dementieva next plays Schiavone. (Draw: Singles)

Browse: Check them the goods out — including product info —

elena dementieva reaches the semis in tokyo

Elena Dementieva is through to the semifinals at the Toray Pan Pacific Open after taking out second seed Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 6-2. Up next for Elena is Francesca Schiavone. On the other side, Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the semis after Agnieszka Radwanska retired with a left foot injury; the Dane’s slated to face Azarenka. (Draw: Singles)

Meanwhile, Dementieva’s shed that muumuu everyone groaned about (from the US Open), replacing it with separates in the same shade but with a shiny layer of fabric to help accentuate her shape.

Update: This set won’t be available for sale stateside. Our next Yonex option will be what Lena’s wearing for the 2011 Australian Open.

More: A few other pics of Dementieva

if a dress drops in the store but no pro is around to wear it, did it make a sound?

Reebok has been banging out some solid stuff for the pros as of late. It’s too bad that their ladies aren’t hanging around long enough to show case the goods.

To be fair, Shahar Peer did put on a good show as she clashed agianst former Reeboker Venus Williams in the fourth round of the 2010 US Open, giving the third seed a scare by taking that first set to a tiebreak. Fortunately for Venus, she overcame all that dress-tugging (so. much. tugging.) and ran away with the second. The scoreline: 7-6 (3), 6-3. At this week’s Toray Pan Pacific Open, Peer lost in the first round to Kaia Kanepi, who fell in three sets in the quarters to Francesca Schiavone. (Draw: Toray PPO Singles.)

As is Shahar’s style (we think of her kinda like Justine Henin sometimes), she chose the short-sleeved top with a three-buton collar and constrasting stripes (diagonal at the neck and horizontal at the torso). The rest of the goods from the company’s fall line add that feminine touch to athletic wear: the spaghetti-strapped tank, with the embossed design around the neck; the racerback dress with detailing on the skirt and the left strap.

Props: While we would never wear a sweater in the sweltering North American summer, honorable mention goes to the cable-knit design on Shahar’s red separates from earlier in the US Open series. Also, check out the super-crisscross design on the back of the Summer Radiant Tank (similar to adidas men’s crew from last summer).

And then there was the red outfit worn by Iveta Benesova. Simple, with the tank and a pleated skirt. Not much else you need to do on a body like hers, no? (In Tokyo this week, Benesova lost to Olga Govortsova in the first round.)

Buy: Reebok Fall Textured Top, $29.99; On the Move Tank, $33.99; Dress, $49.99; Skort, $33.99; most in Glacier Blue, Rose Red, and White; Summer Radiant Tank in Heroine Pink, Black, and White, $30; available at TW.

Pics: See our other Benesova pics — plus the Reebok On the Move goods from Fall 2010 —

sharapova launches tag heuer watch in vionnet

Maria Sharapova, before getting bounced out of this week’s Toray Pan Pacific Open by the renascent Kimiko Date, put on her endorsement hat by helping launch Tag Heuer‘s Formula 1 Steel & Ceramic Watch, which, as it sounds, has ceramic and steel both in the bracelet and on the studded bezel (count them: sixty diamonds!). More info here.

Meanwhile, Maria’s wearing burnt red and black checkered pieces (a billowy blouse, of course) from Vionnet and shoes from Cole Haan. Check out Vionnet’s site here.

The tennis: The quarters are set with some “no-names” who have definitely earned their way this far into the tournament (if not the entirety of 2010): Caro Wozniacki vs. A. Radwanska, Coco Vandeweghe against Azarenka, Schiavone will play Kaia Kanepi, and Dementieva plays Zvonareva. To refresh: Coco came through from qualifying, and Kanepi reached the QFs of both Wimbledon and the US Open this year. (Draw: Singles)

(watch info via Luxist)

shirtless: fernando verdasco

Yep, the CK underwear billboard was clearly the anomaly, because every other picture of a shirtless Verdasco, including this one — taken at the PTT Thailand Open — isn’t doing anything for me. If it’s his hair that’s front and center, that’s another story.

spotted in the city: (late) open shots

Some of these are almost a month late, but we still have a few items from the US Open that we’ll roll through the TSF realm to make sure that nothing has fallen through our editorial cracks. Another few shots for our spotted in the city series, which we captured during a busy couple of weeks during the Open.

During the USO, Madison Square Park, in Manhattan’s Flatiron district, was turned into a tennis-viewing haven. I did a post about the two-week long viewing event on the New York Times‘s Straight Sets tennis blog. I took this shot on the first Friday night of the Open after grabbing some grub at Shake Shack with some friends.

A couple days after the USO was finished, workers at the adidas store in NoHo were already taking down the displays of Andy, Ana, Caroline and Jo-Wilfried and putting up some mannequins for an upcoming sale.

We were out on Randall’s Island at the SportimeNY fitness center for the Legends Clinic that was put on by Ralph Lauren and featured Venus Williams. On our way to the bathroom, this door label caught our eye:

(photos by tsf)

short balls: the geography edition

Fall is coming to fruition across the country. Well, that is if you don’t live in the Los Angeles area. Southern Cal was hit with quite the heat wave earlier this week – temperatures topping around 113 degrees around downtown. On this week’s short balls, we’re staying away from the heat and traveling around the country (and world!), region by region, to bring you tiny tidbits in URL-linked style.

The Midwest is losing one of its tennis gems, as the stadium that hosted the (formerly-named) RCA Championships – the Indianapolis ATP stop for 21 years – was put to the wrecking ball this past week. (via jon_wertheim) Remember: Better times in Indianapolis, which lost its tourney to Atlanta this past year.

The Southeast | The WTA celebrated the 40th anniversary of what it describes as a day of “rebellion” and “independence” last Thursday, September 23rd. In 1970, Billie Jean King and “The Original Nine” broke away from the tennis czars to form the WTA with help from a few business-savvy folks (and Virginia Slims cigarettes). The total purse at the 1970 Virginia Slims Invitational in Houston? $7,500. The winner took home $1,600, which is one about one tenth the money first-round losers are awarded at today’s majors.

Meanwhile, in the Southwest, Mirjana Lucic continued her winning ways this past week by capturing the title at the USTA Pro Circuit swing in Albuquerque. Lucic took out three Americans on her way to the championship. This week, she’s in action up north at the $50,000 event in Las Vegas.

Further west of Lucic’s success in Big Sur, California, Bob Bryan announced he was engaged to longtime girlfriend Michelle Alvarez. And west coast companies Diesel (Los Angeles) and Nike (Portland, Ore.) have new ad campaigns out. The Diesel campaign, “Kick Ass” takes a sarcastic approach to their shoes kicking ass (literally) and not being fitted for running. Nike’s “BOOM” campaign features several well shot (and edited) commercials. In all those split-second shots of different sports, your not missing a tennis moment. The sport didn’t make the cut for this promotional track, FYI. More FYI: Nike’s Q1 profits were up 9% overall. Maybe thanks to Rafa? Or the bed bugs? Probably Rafa…

More geographical adventures (including a dive into New York City!) after the cut…

the fierce 40s

Kimiko Date Krumm wowed us with a return in her late 30s, but her 40s are already looking that much better. A day after stunning top seed Maria Sharapova in the first round at Tokyo, KDK took down Daniela Hantuchova, 13 years her junior, 2-6 6-0 4-0, retired, to move into the third round. Oh, and did we mention it was her 40th birthday?!

History lesson: KDK has taken down the likes of Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Lindsay Davenport, Iva Majoli and Conchita Martinez at her home tourney. The latter three wins came in 1995, when she was crowned Princess with a win, and the last time she advanced this far. She meets the resurgent Francesca Schiavone in the third round.

More: American Coco Vandeweghe won her fourth match in a row Tokyo with a second-round win over Aravane Rezai. She takes on Julie Goerges, who took down a sputtering Sam Stosur in a second-round clash. Prior to Tokyo, Vandeweghe had lost four straight matches after a quarterfinal run in San Diego.

(ap photo)

like we needed more reasons to love grigor dimitrov

Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov has given us plenty of reasons to love him (we count six, maybe eight), but here’s the nail on the coffin: His favorite designer? Alexander McQueen. (See the Q&A here.)

BTW, congrats to Grigor for cracking the ATP Top 150 — he’s now at 136 — after winning back-to-back-to-back Challengers this year. (ATP: Grigor’s stats).

And speaking of McQueen, Sarah Burton, who’s succeeded Mr. McQueen (RIP) as creative director, presented the Spring 2011 men’s collection this past June in Milan. The women’s collection will show in Paris this week. One thing we’ll know not to expect from Burton are the fashion house’s infamous, over-the-top presentations. “That was very much [his] territory — the spectacular show,” Burton told Elle.

(photo from Wilson‘s FB)

greta arn: let’s get clinical

Greta Arn had the distinction (at least around these parts) as the player who took out Laura Robson in the first round of this week’s Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She lost in the following round to top seed Caroline Wozniacki. Check out the tourney draw here.

Arn wore Reebok (with some fun eyelet detailing) in her first-rounder against Kim Clijsters at the 2010 US Open. She brought back the skirt for Tokyo, but that top — with nude-colored straps reminiscent of athletic taping — could be from somewhere else (unless she’s covered the logo with that SEWTA patch). Anyone out there with more info?

(image via Getty Images)

gargyle relaunches (in nyc and online)

One of TSF’s favorite NYC shopping hubs, Gargyle, has finally opened their store in the LES. Beyond our soft spot for the company’s crest (with four tennis racquets in it!), there’s also the fact that they stock items from Fred Perry (here), Raf Simons x Fred Perry (here), Surface to Air (here), Shipley & Halmos (here), and pieces from the Common Projects x Robert Geller collaboration.

Open your wallets: Gargyle’s site.

(screengrab via gargyle.com)

kolya the kokopelli

Tucked away in one of those pics of Roger and Rafa‘s creating paintball art — designed to fete the upcoming ATP year-end tournament in London — was this one of Nikolay Davydenko‘s piece. And since the artwork’s stencils were based on each player’s signature move, we couldn’t help but wonder: does Kolya really look like a lanky kokopelli when he serves? Yikes. Oh well, it doesn’t matter; a man who serves us tequila can do no wrong.

(image via ATP)

she’s killing me, larry!

I don’t even know what to say about that layering job. Whatever gets the job done, I guess? Marion Bartoli, 11th seed at this week’s Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, made quick work of Ana Ivanovic, beating the Serb 6-2, 6-1. Up next is Vika Azarenka. (Draw: Singles)

Buy: Nike Fall Challenge Glow Tank, Voltage Cherry, $50, TW.

(image via Getty Images)

the ATP’s newest art project

As if they haven’t hustled enough to get to London — aka the site of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held Nov. 21-28, 2010 — each of the eight players who qualify is being asked to create a self-portrait to celebrate their achievement.

The set-up: the guys, during the Masters Series stop in Cincinnati, hit paint-covered tennis balls against stenciled canvases showing one of the player’s signature moves. The pieces will be exhibited in Central London in early November; it’ll move to The O2 for the duration of the actual event. And after, it’ll be auctioned off for charity.

We can’t wait to see what signature moves they’ve stenciled for Muzz, Nole (tearing off his shirt?), and Andy Roddick (adjusting his crotch?). Six more spots are up for grabs.

Rafa Nadal, who owns a portrait of Marilyn Monroe, said this about creating his painting:

“Making the artwork was fun and something I’ve never done before. It’s a great way to celebrate the World Tour Finals coming back to London. It was a little bit of a challenge to put the balls on the silhouette! Of course this is the least we can do for charity and for those who need it the most. It’s very important that people in our position help those who really need help. I’d like to thank everyone for the support they give us.”

He qualified for the year-ending tournament back in May 23, 2010. Jesus.

And Roger Federer said this:

“It was great fun being invited to create my self portrait and I’m excited to see how the finished piece looks. Raising money for charity is always a great thing so already I would like to thank people who will buy these pictures and it’s going to be for a good cause. I’m happy I can help a bit.”

Federer qualified in August 7, 2010. This will be the ninth time he’s participated in the year-end event.

Flashback: Of course, this isn’t the first time the boys have been asked to help out with some year-end art. Remember those terracotta statues created by Laury Dizengremel for the Shanghai Masters? And this isn’t the first time the pros have dabbled in ball-art either. Martina Navratilova‘s churned out a few pieces herself.

More info: Check out the details (including tickets) for the Year-End finals here and specifically about the Art of Tennis here.

More pics: And more images of Nadal and Roger smackin’ the painted balls

in our next life, can we come back as graphite?

Maria Kirilenko notched a first round win versus Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She beat the tough Spaniard 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, and I’m seriously hoping for a good end-of-the-season run to close out a moderately successful season: two doubles titles — San Diego with Zheng Jie; Cincy with Vika — plus that singles QF appearance at the Australian Open. (Draw: Toray PPO Singles)

Buy: adidas Fall Barricade Tank, Collegiate Purple/Radiant Red, $32, TW.

(image via Getty Images)

jelena jankovic goes yellow and purple in tokyo

Jelena Jankovic‘s purple ANTA dress from the 2010 US Open has given way to a yellow version, showing this week at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She’s pariing them with white shoes with purple detail.

Bracket: In the singles draw, Jelena is still on track to defend her finals appearance last year (she lost to Maria Sharapova) with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Alona Bondarenko. She’ll play the winner of Kanepi vs. peer in the the quarters. Meanwhile, Masha, the defending champ, bowed out to Kimiko Date-Krumm 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in her first meeting against the Japanese veteran. (Draw: Singles)

(images via Getty Images)

joma makes a move with zakopalova

In case you missed it, we’d like to point out this simple-yet-sexy Joma dress on Hansol Korea Open finalist Klara Zakopalova. The Czech lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6-1, 6-3.

(images via Getty Images)

trophy watch: simon’s egg, kleybanova’s unveiling, etc.

It doesn’t really matter to us who ends up winning that trophy from the Open de Moselle in Metz, as long as it gets a photograph taken once a year. Of course it doesn’t hurt that daddy Gilles Simon, who took out Mischa Zverev 6-3, 6-2, is the one in the picture.

More: Winners in Bucharest, Seoul, and Tashkent — all

spotted in the city: pink is the new black

Which way will the plinko chip fall? A few weeks after we were wowed by Wilson‘s Fall 2010 dress, displayed at the US Open by Mandy Minella and Anne Keothavong, we ran across this picture snapped last week of a Wilson racquet. The BLX Blade, perhaps?.

If that’s where Wilson’s headed (i.e., more shades of pink in their offerings), TSF’s on board — even for the guys. (Hey, if Roger and Rafa can pull it off, so can we!) And in case the fellas out there need more convincing, the Spring 2011 collections of Duckie Brown, Loden Dager, and Robert Geller are all spiced up with a little pink.

flashback: gael monfil’s quarterfinal run

Ana Ivanovic wasn’t the only one flirting with backgammon at the 2010 US Open. While she was being toasted by the US Backgammon Federation, Gael Monfils had points detailing his white/black kit from K-Swiss.

Results: At the Open, Monfils made his way to the quarterfinals with wins over Tipsarevic (who’d downed Roddick) and Gasquet before losing to Djokovic. And in the Davis Cup World Group semifinal against Argentina, he did his part to send the French team to the finals against Serbia with a singles rubber victory over David Nalbandian. (Of course, Gael whipped out his breakdancing moves in the post-tie celebration.)

Buy: See that Fall Checkprint Short — along with the rest of K-Swiss’ fall items — at TW.

More: Few other pictures we took of Gael