short balls: ladies in wanting

Aussie Open contributor Benjamin Snyder is back for more. Taking on the longest of tasks: short balls.

Back in the habit: Vera – circa USO 2009 – got the meltdown bug again last week in Thailand. (Getty Images)

Well, it looks like we’re back to some shaky form for the top women — and, man, you girls were all looking so sharp in Australia, according to Tennis.com’s Tom Perrotta. Check out how world no. 3 Vera Zvonareva allowed a line call and a swearing violation get the best of her big game. She lost it versus Daniela Hantuchova in the Pattaya Open semis, prompting this charged statement: “There is a big difference between being mentally tough and being emotional. It’s a huge difference. I will always be emotional. As long as I use those emotions to my advantage, that’s only a plus to me. If I need to break the racquet to pump myself up, then I will break the racquet. I don’t care.” | Watch the drama

At least Vera stayed on her feet. This week in Dubai, Anna Chakvetadze collapsed due to a stomach bug against Caroline Wozniacki. Déja vu? Good thing she chopped her pony or she really could have hurt herself.

Before you call Petra Kvitova the next big thing, waiting for her to win everything, Federer-style, get this: she choked in her first-round match in Dubai.

Speaking out. Former world no. 1 Amelie Mauresmo isn’t scared to voice her opinion, especially when it relates to her home Slam at Roland Garros. She recently lowered the boom on French officials who bid to keep the clay-court major in Paris. “We are the smallest of the four grand slams and I think it is important to have the chance to grow, and for the public to have more room,” she said.

Ana Ivanovic split with coach Antonio van Grichen (just what we were thinking… who?!) last week, saying she plans to keep the solo mojo going for longer. Maybe that’s not working too well, Ana. The ’08 FO champ lost to veteran Patty Schnyder in the first round of Dubai, just three short months after snacking on her in the final of Linz.

trophy watch: golubev propelled, chakvetadze returns, goerges’s first, fish extends streak

Andrey Golubev has made history by being the first player from Kazakhstan to win a title. He upset the 15th-ranked (and 2010 Roland Garros semifinalist) Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the German Open in Hamburg.

The thirty pounds Mardy Fish lost in the last year certainly came in handy in winning the Atlanta Tennis Championships final against marathon man John Isner. The score: 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). Props to him for upsetting top seed Andy Roddick in the semis and overcoming local fave Robby Ginepri in the second round. Fish also won last week’s HoF tourney in Newport — he’s looking good for the Open!

Chakky’s baaack! Former top-fiver Anna Chakvetadze bagged her first title since 2008 by taking out Sweden’s Johanna Larsson 6-1, 6-2 in the final of the Slovenia Open.

Julia Goerges beat Timea Bacsinszky 6-1, 6-4 to win her first career singles title at the Gastein Ladies in Austria. Goerges has had a good couple of weeks; she also made it to the semis of the Palermo tournament before losing to top seed Pennetta.

(ATP images via Getty; Chakvetadze photo by Ales Fevzer; Goerges photo by Matthias Hauer/GEPA Pictures)

the eye(let)s are the window into fila’s world

Fila chose to go with “zig zag mesh” as their theme for this year’s Wimbledon, putting the ladies in pieces from the Collezione line. They’ve got all the basics in simple silhouettes — cami, tank, polo, double layer tank, skort, dress — with eyelets, ruffling, and ric rac trim (on the skort) to add some flare. And props to Fila for coming up with a warm-up jacket that’s appropriate for covering up the ladies walk onto the court. (Nike didn’t fare so well with trying to dress Azarenka.)

Buy: Fila Collezione Dress, $65; Long Jacket, $75; Skort, $45; all at shop.fila.com.

Fila Draw: Clijsters, the eighth seed, is through to the third round after easy wins over Camerin and Sprem. Up next is Kirilenko before a fourth round match against Henin. The other ladies haven’t fared so well: Szavay lost in the first round to Makarova; Kuzie was upset in the second round by Rodionova. Browse: Ladies’ Singles Draw.

Bonus round: Sveta got her stylized monogram sewn onto the sides of her shoes. ❤ Last pic in the gallery above.

(images via Getty Images)

petrova: first comes dress, then comes game

Nadia Petrova‘s been trying to change a lot of things about her tennis life. First, she very recently started working with a coach — an arrangement she made with ITA. She expressed that the relationship was still young (they’ve only been working for a week or so), but comes at a very crucial time (it’s a week before The Open!).

At least Nadia can focus her energy solely on perfecting her technique, especially since it looks like she has found a good clothing sponsor in Ellesse after parting ways with Airness and flirting with EleVen.

She and the Italian company have settled down since the circus left town back in January, putting her in a variety decent separates throughout the year (that navy blue French Open outfit comes to mind).

And at this week’s Pilot Pen Tennis tournament, which saw her ride into the sunset after a seesaw first-round match against compatriot Anna Chakvetadze, Nadia wore a loose, low-waisted periwinkle dress (complete with a bow on the waist) that flatters her body shape. It moved well while Anna moved her around the court.

On to New York: Nadia can reflect on being a victim of PPT’s no-bye draw as she heads to New York early to settle into her Long Island rental — with a jacuzzi, of course — and acclimate to the courts and conditions of the USTABJKNTC. Good luck with the last major of the year, Nadia!

Scoreline: Meanwhile, Chakvetadze faces Sybille Bammer in the second round today.

Up close: Some detail shots of Petrova’s PPT outfit

fashion focus: fila’s last stand

Stopping on a quarter: The dream run of Jelena Dokic at the 2009 Australian Open ended in the quarterfinals at the hands of No. 3 Dinara Safina. (By the way, TSF is picking Marat‘s younger sister to face Serena Williams in Saturday’s final.)

With Dokic’s amazing performance came a chance for Fila to showcase their spring women’s collection. We’re not going to lie — it’s taking us some time to warm up to it. The season’s loud print worked best as trim and accents on solid-colored pieces — this is no Cavalli runway show, after all — worn by Dokic and Anna Chakvetadze in their second-round match. Dokic won 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-3.

Up close: See pics of Fila girls Anna, Jelena, and Svetlana Kuznetsova

fila’s annatomy: the baseline collection

Fila sent out its official announcement earlier this week about signing Russian Anna Chakvetadze onto its roster. Anna was previously with adidas.

The 21-year-old is having a slow start to her 2009 so far, losing her matches at the JB Group Classic in Hong Kong, and her first round match in Hobart (to Carla Suarez Navarro).

Country club chic: Anna will wear pieces from the company’s Baseline collection (along with Alfa shoes) at next week’s Australian Open, where she is seeded 17th.

The sea-inpsired collection takes colorful prints from the country club to the pro courts. We weren’t quite ready for the return of this ladies-who-lunch aesthetic; I suspect it’ll take some time for our eyes to adjust. (We eventually did it for Steffi Graf, didn’t we?)

Buy: Skirt, $48; Cap Sleeve Top, $45; Jacket, $68, all at fila.com. Dress, cami tank, racerback tank, sleeveless tank, polo, and pants also available. Items will drop later this month.

(images courtesy of Fila)

it’s a wrap: adidas’ women’s competition line, s/s ’09

Not a surprise, but the spring/summer 2009 adidas women’s competition line keeps low-key, staying with that bumblebee shade that we’ve been trying to expunge from the tennis palette for two years (Yonex is keeping adidas company during this sit-in).

The bright yellow is broken up by black lines around the back of both the tank and the cap sleeve top, while the standard three-stripe detail makes an appearance on the sleeve of the latter.

There’s a diamond in the rough, though: continuing with the Asian-inspired Australian Open top, adidas has produced this red mock wrap cap sleeve tee to kick of its players’ 2009 campaign. (With Anna Chakvetadze defecting to Fila, Dinara Safina and Patty Schnyder will be the highest-ranked women playing in these pieces.)

Buy: adidas Competition Tank and Cap Sleeve Top, neon yellow/black, starting at $45; Competition Skort, white, $45; all items available at shopadidas.com in January 2009.

trophy watch: winners at Pilot Pen

Caroline Wozniacki defeated Anna Chakvetadze in the women’s singles final at Pilot Pen. The 18-year-old is currently the only Dane in the Top 400 of the SEWTA Tour.

Meanwhile, Brazilians Andre Sa and Marcelo Melo won their doubles final over Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 7-5, 6-2.

And Croat Marin Cilic downed Mardy Fish 6–4, 4–6, 6–2 to win his first ever ATP singles title. Congrats to him.

(photos by Getty Images)

trophy watch: keeping up with the agneses

Looks like Anna Chakvetadze has finally shaken off the jitters (and physical toll) of that home invasion robbery during the off-season. She defeated defeated the strped Agnes Szavay 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 at the Open Gaz de France on Sunday.

<3: Anna is looking good in the adidas Competition series. You can pick up this Competition 4 Jacket for $54.99.

And Agnieszka Radwanska eked out a win at the Pattaya Open over American Jill Craybas with a scoreline of 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (4). The Pole revived a Nike skirt (vintage!!!) from last spring’s Sphere line. Perhaps she just wasn’t into the skorts from the current season?

FYI, she had both knees taped white during the match.

On the Challenger level, Matilde Johansson (left) defeated Canadian Ekaterina Shulaeva 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, at the Bionaire Tennis Cup Challenger in Colombia.

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>> TSF’s trophy watch

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szavay earning her stripes: fila collezione’s spring 2008 line

As Fila‘s new face, Hungarian Agnes Szavay is doing her best to get the most on-court time for her clothing. She tripped up in the season’s Australian swing (losing back-to-back first round matches at Gold Coast and Melbourne), but rebounded quite well this week, beating Hantuchova and Dementieva before losing to Anna Chakvetadze in the Open Gaz de France finals.

Dress like Agnes: The Collezione Jacket, $57.99; Spring Colezione Polo, $44.99; and the Cap Sleeve Top, $39.99.

More: Browse the rest of the line, including the Collezione Tank, Racer Tank, and Cami Tank, at TW.

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>> TSF’s agnes szavay archive

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on this cold court, it’s no halter skelter

The cold weather in Hong Kong has wreaked havoc on the ladies who participated at the JB Group Classic. Anna Chakvetadze (in adidas), Venus Williams, and a yoga panted Maria Sharapova all had contingency plans for the exhibition.

They were better prepared this time around, unlike last May’s Polish Open, when Venus ended up putting long sleeves under a halter. A halter.

Elena Dementieva keeps herself toasty, too.

(photos by Getty Images)

maria ends the year with some bangs

Sharapova in Singapore: The flurry of Asian post-season exhibitions continue with Maria Sharapova Live!, a Dec. 30 match in Singapore featuring the Russian and Anna Chakvetadze. Masha won 6-0, 7-6 (10) — so much for exo “gimme” games, eh?

Everything but the toilet seat: To help sate the Maria-mania sweeping the continent, organizer Entertainment Group Limited has arranged to auction off certain disposable items she uses during her one-night stay at the Fullerton Hotel‘s presidential suite; this includes bathrobes, towel slippers, bedsheets, and even a bathing suit. (While this all sounds twisted already, EGL did draw the line by refusing to auction toilet seat covers.)

The photo above (right) was taken at the hotel’s rooftop deck.

Her two cents: In press interviews, Maria gives the SEWTA Tour a clean bill of health (as far as match-fixing goes), and doesn’t give lip service to the New Paper during their six minutes with her.

Anna not yet 100%: Meanwhile, Anna has not yet recovered from last week’s home-invasion robbery. (WTB)

We’re loving the bangs: These pictures above are from her various appearances. The one on the right is from the exhibition (she reprises her Nike librarian look). And she makes yet another smart hair move by getting bangs — a far cry from this past July’s feral ‘do. Remember this?

More photos here.

(photos by AP and Getty Images)

yikes: chakvetadze tied up and robbed!

World No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze was the victim of a home invasion robbery in Moscow early Tuesday. Five to six men jumped a fence where she and her parents live, tied them, and made off with about $200,000 in money and valuables.

I hope she doesn’t get too unnerved by this…

(Reuters)

trophies: more haarhuis, plus a russian flashback

Paul Haarhuis was last man standing at the year-end tournament for the BlackRock Masters Tennis tour. (He also won an Outback Champions event two weeks ago.) Haarhuis took out Frenchman Guy Forget 6-1, 6-7, 10-8. In case you’re wondering what’s in the background, that’s the pipe organ (UK’s largest) at the Royal Albert Hall.

Russian fete: Russia honored Igor Andreev and Anna Chakvetadze as the best Russian tennis players of 2007. Anna clearly earned her award after winning four singles titles this year (most of her compatriots only snagged one). Andreev’s distinction, on the other hand, is a headscratcher: he had no singles titles in 2007 (while Tursunova got two, while Youzhny and Davydenko bagged one each). A possible reason is his great singles performance in the Davis Cup semis against Germany.

Anastasia Myskina added emceeing this event to her list of non-tennis work (along with other emcee gigs plus soccer commentating). And the Fed Cup ladies won the Team of the Year award.

(haarhuis photo by Getty Images; Russa photos and story via TIB)

blacks, metallics, and leopard print (!!) at the yec party

(My thoughts go out to those affected by the earthquake that hit Chile today…)

The SEWTA Tour hosted their Year-End Championships Players’ party in Madrid on Sunday night (after the longest three-set final which saw Justine Henin defend her title).

Black was the evening’s shade, found on LBDs, floor-length skirts, and a sexy halter bubble dress on Serena Williams. Metallics showed up on Ana Ivanovic and Sharapova (in Thakoon). There were lots of gold accessories, too: a belt on Ana, a brooch on Anna Chakvetadze, and chains adorning Serena’s Louis Vuitton bag. And Jelena Jankovic separated herself from the pack with a body-hugging leopard print dress that puts Bethanie Mattek to shame.

Here are some photos from the shindig. Make sure to check out the entire gallery on the WTA website.

Anna punctuated her black half turtleneck knit top with a gold brooch at the bust and toted classic quilted leather purse. Meanwhile, her oft-braided hair got some air.

Ana went Victorian with her lacy silk top, gold belt, and floor-length skirt (is that a key around her neck?); and Jelena pulled off a leopard print ensemble.

Momma long-legs Daniela Hantuchova let her hair down and wore a fur caplet over her little black mini dress.

See Serena, Sveta, Justine, and Marion

filling in the gaps: trophy watch

I planted the seed for TSF once the calendar turned to 2007, but of course it took a while for the blog to germinate. This meant that most of January, tennis-wise, was a wash; we have no posts of fashions and trophies from the Aussie Open and its warm-ups tournaments. So in this series I’ll attempt to fill in the gaps in my OCD-induced catalog one tennis season.

First, a trophy post:

Trophy watch: Russian Anna Chakvetadze took home her third singles career title by beating Vasilisa Bardina 6-3, 7-6 (3) in Hobart in January of this year. She’s since racked up three more titles — ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Cincinnati, and Stanford — for a total of seven.

Bonus round: You can read up on Chakvetadze here, and on runner-up Bardina here.

RELATED POSTS
>> TSF’s trophy watch

masha might have gotten the cold shoulder…

…but she looked good while it was happening.

As was reported in the Guardian and other papers, the 2004 Wimbledon champ’s Fed Cup teammates saw right through her cameo at the final tie, chalking it up as a self-serving publicity stunt and part of the Siberian’s master plan to make a go for next year’s Beijing Olympics.

Maria dutifully hung out courtside in her Bosco Sport outfit, cheering on teammates Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze, Nadia Petrova, and Elena Vesnina in their victory over Italy in the finals. But she also made sure to get in some autograph sessions. (And of course she did it in style, accesorizing the white mandarin collar blazer with pearl drop earrings).

She seemed genuinely engaged in what was going on this past weekend, but you know she got some “A-frame” hugs from Sveta and Chakvetadze, neither of whom wanted Masha around.

“To be honest, I don’t know why she came,” [Kuznetsova], who has never been the best of friends with Sharapova, told Russian media on the eve of the tie.

“What’s the point of coming here all the way from America if you can’t play? She said she wanted to help our preparation and be our practice partner but, to me, if you can’t play how then can you practise? It just doesn’t make sense.”

After clinching victory for Russia on Sunday, Kuznetsova again was asked about Sharapova’s presence. “Oh please, don’t ask me that question again,” she snapped back. “I had enough already.”

oh snap. And Chakvetadze adds her two cents:

“If you haven’t played Fed Cup all year, it wouldn’t be fair just to show up for the final,” she said. “It’s not fair to all the other girls who committed themselves to the team’s cause.”

Aww, they look like such a happy family.

(photos by Getty Images)

fed up with fed cup

It really pisses me off when conflicting clothing sponsorships reduce tennis players to slapping on these white “country name” patches and expect them to pass as “uniforms”.

Meanwhile, Bosco Sport continues to churn out awesome team uniforms for the Russians. (Here’s how they dressed the Russian men.) They were also involved with outfitting the Russian Olympic contingents who participated in the Winter Games in Torino and the Summer Games in Athens.

Browse: See some Bosco Sport goods here.

Can’t Fed Cup do better? (Davis Cup suffers from similar problems.) Or are the clothing sponsors to blame? I don’t care who’s at fault — someone just needs to fix this ASAP. The white patch looked awful with the rest of Chakvetadze‘s adidas outfit!

P.S. Sveta looked good in this all-white version of her Fila Collezione outfit. (She wore the red tank for the U.S. Open.)

/rant

trophies: indianapolis, umag, austria, stanford, rio, etc.

The trophy gods worked hard to give us some good ones this week:

In the hotfest over at the Austrian Open in Kitzbuehel, Argentinian Juan Monaco (in adidas) got taken to three sets by Potito Starace (wearing Le Coq Sportif). Bonnie was right: Juan should have been in my top 5. Really, I’ve never noticed a six pack bursting out of a shirt like that…

Pictureless: Italian Francesca Schiavone won her first career title in Bad Gastein, but we are without pictures. Congrats, Francesca!

In Umag, veteran Carlos Moya tells us not to write him off just yet with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Andrei Pavel. Gap-toothed or not, he’s still hot. And kudos to the tourney organizers for coming up with that offbeat blue trophy.

trophy watch: pan-am games, mercedes cup, countrywide, etc.

This week’s trophy watch.