Make ’em run lines! Should Team Anna have re-thought this decision before agreeing? The former tennis star, often cited as the most famous player to have ever hit a ball without actually winning a title, is confirmed to have her hand in the upcoming season of NBC’s The Biggest Loser. Though we are pretty sure of folks out there that are excited about Anna K being back on their TVs on a weekly basis.
TSF Vault: Anna Kournikova
(Image by Music4Mix via Flickr)
By Jonathan Scott
It may not be tabloid fodder like every Taylor Swift dalliance, and it’s not nearly as insufferable as Brangelina, but the marriage between music and tennis is itself a storied love affair. It stretches across decades and genres, and it knows no bounds – well, none other than those pesky white lines.
Try to set aside the disappointment that the artist Sergey with the song “Tennis” on iTunes is actually not Vera Zvonareva‘s ridiculously good-looking model/coach. And, however possible, repress the memory of Justine Henin‘s song-and-dance scareoke on TV. Yes, Novak Djokovic and Ivo Karlovic have tried their tongues at rapping, as has Vince Spadea with amusingly deplorable results, but that doesn’t mean you should try it at home after perfecting your Djokovic-ian down-the-line backhand, does it?
As the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival just wrapped its annual song-a-thon in Austin, Texas – soon to be the site for a volatile USA vs. Spain Davis Cup tie in July – here’s the skinny on the latest hot shots in tennis-tinged music and an homage to some of the greats.
Best Newcomer: James Blake is a dub-step soulman and a veritable crooner. The British JB, that is. His American counterpart is a best-selling author and owner of a laser forehand whose best days are past, but Blake the Brit is taking the music world by slow-burning storm, releasing his rave-reviewed eponymous debut in February and – well before that – igniting the blogosphere with his faithful but quirky cover of Feist‘s “Limit to Your Love.” Let’s just pray that, when we hit up a James Blake concert sometime, his fans aren’t half as annoying (adorable?) as the American Blake’s J-Block can be in the tennis stands.
Dainty she is not. Our fave album cover from Blonde Readhead’s 23. (Image via band website)
Best Dressed: Sometimes it’s okay to judge a band by its cover. Oxymoronic indie rockers Blonde Redhead out of New York City put out the best, most elegant tennis-themed album art when they dropped 23 in 2007. But, no, the song “Top Ranking” has nothing to do with disputed no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.
Worst Dressed, but Best Sound: Yea, there is a band simply called Tennis, a married duo specializing in ’60s surf-pop for 2011. This act released its debut Cape Dory in January, and though the song “Marathon” doesn’t harbor the words “Isner,” “Mahut” or “Wimbledon” anywhere in the lyrics, it’s solid stuff. Consider it your soulful throwback soundtrack for this summer – but steer clear of wearing skintight aqua as with the album cover. It looks like leftover fabric from a hideous Nadia Petrova creation.
Best Tournament Run: This has to go to the ginger-haired heroine in the video for Vampire Weekend‘s “Giving Up the Gun.” She rips through a draw that includes Joe Jonas, a Daft Punk-helmeted doubles team, and even a flask-swilling Jake Gyllenhaal in tear-away pants. It’s a great song, and the immaculately-white indoor court is sharp – even if the choked-up strokes from the damsel look laughably bad in reality. Girl, who taught you to grip a racquet like that? Topping it off: RZA from Wu-Tang Clan serves as the chair umpire, and Lil Jon offers astute on-court coaching. Brill.
TSF Vault | The many lives of tennis-themed music vids
Best Clay-Court Match: French DJs Martin Solveig — oddly in tasteful Wimbledon whites — and Bob Sinclar, sporting some hot-magenta vintage-Agassi styles, squared off on Roland Garros‘ red dirt for the video for Solveig’s dance track “Hello” sung by Dragonette. The match and music video are both visceral, a veritable heartbreaker. Check out the cameo by that flashiest of the current French tennis stars as he comes on the scene and devastates the darling DJ.
Hello? Could Martin Solveig look any cooler? We think not. (YouTube screengrab)
Best Charity Hit: Andy Murray and Thom Yorke of Radiohead teamed up for charity single “Two Minute Silence” to benefit serving and former British troops and their families. Strangely enough, its title is no lie. “Hear” — but really just see — it here. British Prime Minister David Cameron and more also got in on this quiet riot. Truly the oddest not-quite-a-band lineup ever, but hey, can’t wait for their episode of “Behind the Music.” Finalist: Wozniacki put out a charity single called “Oxigent” (or “Oxygen”) to benefit Danish and Polish Paralympic athletes. Because, you know, she has oodles of free time.
Top Passing Shot: Meg Baird‘s lovely, lilting “Waltze of the Tennis Players.” It’s just pretty, and we do pretty.
More of Jonathan’s music musings (including “Best Grunt” and “Best Musical Ode to a Tennis Player”) after the cut. (more…)
Giving a damn: We made note of Ellen’s powerful words last week after the disturbing rash of suicides among LGBT youth. The nation has banded together in a variety of ways, including the We Give a Damn project that was launched by the True Colors Fund. This past Sunday night, activists held a candlelight vigil in Washington Square Park in New York City. Actor and blogger, Andrew Kennan Bolger, documented the evening on video. More to watch: We Give a Damn has a few of their own videos, featuring some of our favorite big and small screen faces – among others. Check them out. Plus: Zachary Quinto says (Tweets?) the right thing after 50 Cent runs his mouth again.
Commercial offerings: There’s plenty to see on YouTube if you go and type in ‘tennis’ in the search bar and sift through the many (dozens? hundreds?!) of homes for sale that happen to include tennis in their property in one way or another. One good find we had this week was an old Heineken commercial that hadn’t crossed our path before. Watch the video – camera tipping and all – here. Meanwhile, we found the newly-released Australian Open commercial (below), tagged “A Whole New Level” via the ladies over at OntheBaseline. None other than Ms. Sam Stosur makes five appearances in the 31-second clip. Joining Serena, Roger and Rafa as the faces to be seen at the AO 2011.
The injury diaries: The injured Justine Henin is set to test the competitive waters in an exhibition against Kim Clijsters in Antwerp on December 9th. Things aren’t as peachy for Robby Ginepri, who broke his arm in a biking accident and will be out of the game for the rest of the season. We’re hoping for a Sam Querrey kind of return for the current world no. 118… not a James Blake kind of return.
Tennis shavings: Things are feeling a bit more Blake than Querrey over at NYC-based Tennis magazine. The publication announced earlier this week that they would cut four of nine editorial positions and begin outsourcing most of its art and photo work, focusing more in-house on Tennis.com. The magazine recently shuffled Sarah Unke from her role on the print side to be online editor following the departure of Abigail Lorge. It’s unclear who is still calling Tennis his or her work home, though assistant online editor Ed McGrogan posted an ESPN blog item earlier today. 10tenmedia, a New York creative firm, will handle much of the mag’s print design.
Body games: Former Tennis cover girl Anna Kournikova made an appearance on the small screen on NBC’s “Biggest Loser” last night. Kournikova served up some motivation for the contestants, and they seemed to inspire her, too. ESPN the Magazine hits newsstands this week with their annual “The Body Issue.” The mag always chooses several different covers to print (six this year), and wheelchair tennis queen Esther Vergeer got the nod for one of those covers in this cover print. The US women’s water polo team also has a cover, as does golfer Camilo Villegas (yeah, we’ve never heard of him either).
More of short balls, including a giggling Roger and an all-inclusive short(er) balls, after the cut.
This is the first photo that matches the search term “short balls” on Flickr. Igor Andreev putting away a short one at Wimbledon, 2008. (Photo by Mark Brocklehurst via Flickr.)
While we’re plenty impressed by all the Davis Cupping that happened this past weekend, the tennis season is in a bit of a lull 10 days after the completion of the US Open and before the big-time fall tournaments get under way. The women are in Seoul and Tashkent this week, while the men are swinging their way through Bucharest and Metz. While we’ve been doing a little bit of swinging of our own, we’ve been making the non-tennis rounds of the internet and finding plenty of good, juicy bits to fill the short balls plate for this week. Nibble up, djya’ll!
Before we get to the non-tennis stuff there is a few tennis items to make mention of. David Rosenberg has an item on Tennis.com about Ana Ivanovic‘s strange relationship with the U.S. Backgammon Federation. The Federation has presented Ivanovic (a first-round loser in Seoul) with a lifetime honorary membership. Game, Set, Backgammon? | Kenneth in the 212 is giving us a peek of Gilles Simon‘s … well, just click the link. Meanwhile, Kenneth gives thumbs-up to the Chrissie & Martina documentary, Unmatched, that debuted last week. | Anna Kournikova is gracing the cover of the current issue of Maxim. The Russian is feeling rather American in the spread, no? | Amelia Island, which hosts a USTA event and used to be home to a much-loved WTA stop, has been sold to Omni, which has 45 luxury destinations throughout North American. (via TennisWire.org). | The ladies of Spain are boycotting the Fed Cup team in their country. Or, as Courtney put it, Ladycotting. Well chosen. | The USTA has donated 21,000 pounds of food left over from the USO to NYC agency City Harvest. | The Bryan Brothers are hosting a tennis-fun weekend near their hometown of Camarillo, northwest of LA this Saturday. Partnering with K-Swiss, the boys will be joined by Davis Cuppers Sam Querrey (another local talent) and Mardy Fish for an exhibition and wine tasting at Spanish Hills Country Club. Tickets here. | And no surprise here: Serena walks the catwalk at Fashion Week.
And some number crunching before we abandon our tennis roots for the rest of the web: at last week’s Bell Challenge in Quebec City, American women notched 12 match wins among 10 players (nearly one third the draw). Anchored mostly by Bethanie Mattek-Sands‘s final run and helped out by a semifinal appearance by our favorite Jersey girl Christina McHale and a quarterfinal result from Melanie Oudin. At the USO, there were also 10 American women in the draw, winning a total of 9 matches, three less than in Canada. All hail the Maple Leaf, we guess.
Now, the non-tennis-ing begins. We’re loving this children’s book Dad Dad Mom Mom that promotes same-sex couples as parents. It’s even got a video up on YouTube. Storks get us every time. | TSF contributer and everything-extraordinaire Tobin Addington has his re-vamped web site up, which features musings on his blog and links to his writing, which is downright fantastic. His stuff is available here on Amazon. Check it. | The New York Times has a fantastic slideshow up of the good stuff at Burlington Toys in New York. Toy geeks rejoice! | While the DADT fail was disappointing yesterday, it’s encouraging to see a pop star take such a stance, isn’t it? | The New Yorker Festival kicks off next weekend (Oct. 1-3). The event features a sit-down with famed sports writer Bill Simmons. Too bad said talk is already sold out, but nice to see the intellects of the world wanting to hear/ see Bill in action. | We’ll just steal Gawker‘s headline on this one: “Bristol’s Grody DWTS Debut“. | It’s NYC Climate Week. That is all.
And if you’re ever wondering who to turn to for all your tennis and sporting business news, it’s tough to beat this guy. (more…)
Husbands And Boyfriends, that is. With all the love for the Wives And Girlfriends out there, we figured it was about darn time to make sure that this game of payment equality was also about equality in and about the scouring of the player boxes for attractive looking people – of both sexes. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the HABs of the 2010 US Open.
We’re leading off the pack with a known entity: Tomas Berdych. You can find Berdych in the corner for longtime-GF Lucie Safarova. Both are Czech. Both are beautiful.
WTA looker Dominika Cibulkova – herself included in Urban Daddy’s list – has tattooed fella Miso Navara giving her thumbs up during her matches.
Are these two still together?! Mladjan Janovic with Jelena Jankovic. What a household the Janovic-Jankovic home would be, no?
More BAHs after the cut. (It’s worth the click.)
I wrote this post a couple weeks ago the day after attending the Bank of the West in Palo Alto. Please excuse its tardiness! -NM
Eight years ago I attended a professional sporting event for the very first time at the age of 16. It was the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford, and my dad and I took in two night session matches on the stadium court(s). Back then, the tennis facility at Stanford kept its two-courts-in-one-stadium format for the tournament, allowing fans to watch two high-quality matches going on at once. While part of that set up was maddening, the other part was refreshing and invigorating: two tennis matches happening side by side and one crowd to enjoy them at once.
The night that we went was a crowd-pleasing one: Anna Smashnova versus Anna Kournikova on one court and Lindsay Davenport versus Anne Kremer on the other. The crowd was highly entertained by the presence of Kournikova, and everyone split their watching time between her match and the Davenport drubbing of former Stanford player Kremer, who got encouraging calls from the bleachers.
Today marked somewhat of a full circle for me as I arrived back in Palo Alto for the first time to attend this tournament again, this time as a member of the media. I feel semi-adult, wearing an “M” media badge and sitting in the press room typing away at important documents (read: “a puppet’s ode to lynn welch“). The thrill is still child-like for me, though. Going from the stadium to the practice courts, I’m not necessarily analyzing ground strokes and checking out who is practicing with whom, but rather just watching the tennis take place, taking in the action like a giddy teenager.
There was plenty to be giddy about on this day: the walk through California-big trees from parking to the tournament grounds; watching Melanie Oudin practice the day after another harrowing win; finally seeing Kimiko Date Krumm in person; judging Christina McHale for her Jersey-ness; wondering what happened to Dominika Cibulkova; Palo Alto-perfect weather; and meeting fellow bloggers along the way.
More than anything, this tournament reminds me of watching my childhood hero, Monica Seles, battle through a tough three-set encounter with Tamarine Tanasugarn from the second row. I could see the sweat beads dripping off Monica’s forehead as she battled that night, and was impressed by the will and determination of Tanasugarn. Much of that was brought back in the Date Krumm-Dementieva battle that occurred Wednesday night, three sets of I-won’t-give-this-up tennis in which KDK fought with all her might to get Elena off balance for the win.
Spending the day at Stanford was an absolute joy, something I don’t think all media folk can say for another weekday at a WTA event. For us tennis geeks, there’s nothing better than a small-time tournament with big-time names that make us feel like we’re running into Madonna on her way to pick up some groceries or her morning coffee. Not much drama, just some pretty good match tennis to take in, and some practice court fun to be had and some players to cross paths with in between. Maybe the WTA should go with that as their new marketing campaign?
(photo by amorimur via flickr)
The first professional tennis tournament I ever went to – or professional sporting event of any kind – was the 2002 Bank of the West Classic at Stanford University in Palo Alto. My dad and I drove from my Grandma’s house in nearby San Jose for an evening session featuring Lindsay Davenport and Anna Kournikova, and my giddy 16-year-old self mistook all the well dressed 20-something guys in the crowd to be Bay Area gays. It wasn’t until later on in life that I realized they were all just metro straight guys there to watch Kournikova. A boy can dream.
The following night, I ventured to Stanford on my own, scoring a second-row ticket for the evening session that featured Monica Seles and Kim Clijsters on two separate courts. But before I went into the stadium, I took to the grounds, milling about and taking in the sights and the sounds of the tour that I had long dreamed of in my back alley as a kid.
While walking along the corridor of sponsor booths, I felt someone’s hand press against my side gently, and as I turned to see who it was, a large man pushed his way past be. I turned back around to try to understand why he had put his hand on my side, and realized he was escorting a well-known tennis gal through the crowd: Kournikova.
In the time that I realized what had happened, the moment was gone, and Kournikova – cap pulled tightly over her face – made her way through the crowd with little notice, thanks to the shadow the large bodyguard was casting over her.
My run-in with Marat Safin this week reminded me of my first tennis bump-in eight years ago. It also got me wondering: Which tennis player would you like to bump into in a casual setting the most? The least? Let us know in the comments section.
Oh, Anna, you’re like tennis gold! We’re confident about backing you when you say you’re retired, unlike some of the flip-flopping that’s been happening as of late. (What can ya do? It’s a different generation of “retirees”…)
Strut strut: Kournikova did her part as the face of K-Swiss by making a cameo at the company’s Spring/Summer 2010 fashion show last night in New York City.
Looks from the show to come.
(photo by TSF)
Thanks to reader Richie Rich (of Heatherette?! Probably not, but we can dream…) for this tip:
“Former Russian tennis World Doubles No. 1 Anna Kournikova will be hosting a live chat with her fans tomorrow on her official website. Anna will be available to answer your questions on tennis, the WTA Tour, the French Open, her life, her recent travels overseas, her charity work, and any other questions you might have.
To participate, log on to www.kournikova.com from 3pm EST on Tuesday afternoon. A link will be posted on the homepage of the Kournikova.com website an hour before the event commences. Alternatively, you can click the “Chat Live” link as a registered member of Anna’s Official Community on SportsMates.com.”
If any of you fabulous TSF readers decide to participate, drop us a line and tell us how it went!
Pete Sampras has been going exo-crazy recently (perhaps the coffers are a little emptier around tax season?), making a brief cameo at last week’s SAP Open in San Jose, battling it out with Tommy Haas; the German won 7-6(4), 4-6, 12-10.
During the Sampras avoided any talk of coming out of retirement by talking about every relevant tennis player but himself.
On Roger Federer: “He’s young enough. He’s fresh enough. He’s not 30,” Sampras said. “Having a few years left, I see him doing it. But there are going to be a few guys that are going to push him. It’s just inevitable that he’s going to do it here in the next probably year.”
On Roddick‘s and Blake‘s not being “Rafa” or “Nole” enough to beat Roger: “Andy’s got the power but maybe doesn’t have the athletic ability, and someone like James, who has the athletic ability, but doesn’t have the power… It’s kind of a tough matchup for them, for both those guys.
“Seems like James can stay with Roger. I just think they play similar games and Roger is a little bit better than James at it. And Roddick can overpower Roger at times, but at the same time doesn’t move well enough from the back court to really get into these exchanges, that someone like Djokovic can.”
Video: See Sampras’ SAP Open here, courtesy of Doug Schwartz.
And Pete gave the San Jose crowd a little wardrobe malfunction during his match, ending with a loose shoe on the court. He gave fans one reminiscent moment when losing his shoe on court. This time the ball boy didn’t have to dig in his shorts to rescue the on-court necessity like at Wimbledon ’01.
Choo choo: Sampras went on to Boston and downed John McEnroe to take that city’s Champions Cup title, but not before participating in a mixed doubles match with Anna Kournikova, among others. And in this week’s Regions Morgan Keegan tourney in Memphis, he lost to Lleyton Hewitt 7-5, 6-4.
Chat with her online, follow her Twittering, and she might even give you a call
Anna Kournikova and SportsMates, Inc., a sports social network, today announced the relaunch of Kournikova.com, Anna’s official website.
The K-Swiss-sponsored project features Anna’s personal blog (she was in Tijuana recently), videos and photo galleries (including some from her personal collection).
The site also features an About Me section with a list of her current favorites, product recommendations, where she is, and status updates sent from her mobile phone.
“I am so excited to relaunch my new website,” said Kournikova. “I love communicating with my fans and I am looking forward to having a lot more personal interaction with them in the new Ask Anna community section of my site. It’s a great way for me to keep the relationship strong and I hope they enjoy the new site as much as I do!”
She might call you: To celebrate the relaunch of Kournikova.com, lead sponsor K-Swiss is giving fans the chance to win autographed memorabilia and a telephone call from Anna as part of the K-Swiss “Win a Call from AnnaK” Sweepstakes and Contest which begins on May 19, 2008. Click here for more info.
“We are excited to partner with Kournikova.com as Anna is a fantastic brand ambassador for K-Swiss with her tennis background as well as her unique perspective on women’s athletic footwear and apparel,” stated Jennifer Weiderman, Vice President of Marketing for K-Swiss.
Live chats: K-Swiss will be hosting live online chats with Anna for the members of SportsMates. The first will take place on May 31, 2008 at 3 p.m. Eastern.
FYI: Originally launched in 2001, Kournikova.com has consistently ranked as one of the most popular official athlete websites. According to Lycos, Anna was the most searched-for athlete on the Internet in 2007, a title she’s held for the past eight years.
Anna Kournikova, spotted on the grounds of the BMW Tennis Championships in Sunrise, Fla.
Speaking of Anna, I think the new K-Swiss casual line — the same ones being sold at the pop-up store in Santa Monica — is also available at CO-OP (The Grove). So those who fear the water or anything west of La Cienega can still look fabulous. (I’ve been trying to find pictures of the clothing online (to no avail). I’m going to visit the store soon and let you know if I find anything to upload.)
(photo by sunrisetennis.com)
The Bondarenko sisters — that’s Alona (the blond) and Katerina (the brunette) — have taken the momentum from their 2008 Australian Open doubles title to make good runs at the Pacific Life Open.
Alona, who’s featured on the K-Swiss website along with fellow tennis players Tommy Haas, Michaella Krajicek, Black/Huber, and Mardy Fish, wore the Empire Seam Top during her three-set loss to Maria Sharapova in the fourth round.
Katerina lost early in singles and wore this dress with an asymmetrical racerback (how very Ukranian of her).
The sisters wore the black version during their doubles win over Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo. The duo will face Vesnina and Safina in the quarters.
Buy: Empire Seam Top, purple w/ gold hardware, $48; Racerback Dress, black and white, $90.
Browse: Look through the rest of this season’s collection.
Party pics: The K-Swiss pop-up store had its opening party on Thursday, March 13. The celebs on hand: Anna Kournikova, Workout‘s Jackie Warner, and Fred Durst. More photos here.
(singles photo by Getty Images, doubles photos by Antonio Bernal, party photos via omg!)
Everything is limited edition these days: Zac Posen mass-market threads for Target Australia, Ludovic Lefebvre‘s Breadbar, Roger Federer‘s top form — so it comes as no surprise to us (but much to our delight) that K-Swiss is setting up a temporary shop at Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade.
The store, the brand’s first retail “endeavor”, will be open to the public from March 14 through April 3, after which it’ll disappear before popping up in New York City. Alongside the already-popular K-Swiss shoes, the store will also feature performance and lifestyle clothes for both men and women.
Of course, Anna Kournikova will be there to baptize the store (if Tommy Haas weren’t commited to Indian Wells, I’m sure he’d be there, too!), and they’ve slated Samantha Ronson to spin.
Deets: K-Swiss Pop-up store, 1244 Third Street, Santa Monica; visit www.k-swiss.com for a listing of events.
(photo from K-Swiss.com)
I assure you I am capable of discussing things other than Djokovic‘s chones…
Stay tuned for Borg and Fila: I’ll have my hands on pics from the Bjorn Borg spring/summer ’08 collection (that’s underwear AND swimwear) very soon. Also, word about Fila‘s new clothing line (one that’s even better than their Settantatre collection, I’ve been told) should pop up at any time. I’ll let you know when it does.
Kournikova’s next move: First, can we stop talking about Anna Kournikova‘s lack of singles titles already? She’s still an accomplished tennis player with TWO Grand Slam doubles titles under her belt.
Ads: The Russian starlet — who’s currently the tennis face of K-Swiss, poses in these print ads for the SoCal-based sporting goods company. I love the Fila-esque play on red, white, and blue. (via RightFielders)
A new clothing line: Kournikova announced at the Rogers Cup this week (she’s there playing an exhibition) that her K-Swiss yoga/tennis/gym collection — “it will basically be stuff that you can be in the gym in and then go to a coffee shop in” — will drop in 2008. I can’t wait to see all the muffin tops at my local Coffee Bean!!! (via DTL)
Vintage vision: The folks at Nike continue to raid their archives for this season’s looks, and DTL continues to obsess.
My next mission: Former Vogue Hommes International EIC Bruno Danto is hard at work to bring his Sport & Style magazine to New York. The book, currently distributed in France, Dubai, and China, is “a lifestyle title that harmoniously blends fashion with athletics.” If someone sees an issue, please let me know. (via DTL)
Racqonteur’s dirty work: Editrix (and tennis fan) Anna Wintour gives the sport its fair share of ink in the September issue of Vogue. Sister (brother?) publication Men’s Vogue does the same. (Racqonteur)
Speaking of magazines: Portfolio, Condé Nast’s new business mag, profiles François-Henri Pinault aka Salma Hayek’s baby daddy and the newest owner of Puma. Also, as head of the Gucci Group, Pinault rocked the fashion world by booting Tom Ford from Gucci and proved naysayers wrong by growing that brand (along with YSL and Bottega Venetta) even without a celebrity designer.
I don’t know about you, but the Portfolio website reminds me of Monocle‘s.
A Roger of superhuman proportions: The Nike Pro figures of Roger Federer, Ronaldino, and Kobe Bryant (all designed by Michael Lau) are on sale. Each set of three will set you back 3,500 euros, but all the proceeds will go to charity. Check out Sold Out to purchase. (via Hypebeast)
Le sigh: Kolya Davydenko crashes out of the first round in Croatia, his third first-round defeat in three weeks. Like Chris and I were saying, if he doesn’t rack up the points now, he’ll be out of the picture by November (since he likely won’t defend Paris)…
A blog to watch: I just ran across commentator Ted Robinson‘s blog at MediaZone. Add it to your bookmarks.
A fresh take: Los Angeles (and semifinal Saturday at the Countrywide Classic) as described to TennisWorld readers by a South Bay resident (and a Trojan). I must defend the geographic placement of UCLA (“located smack-dab in the middle of some of the most expensive real estate in LA”): the university was built even before the ‘hoods got expensive. And really, you should see what our bum situation is like — we can’t ignore grit even if we wanted to (it stares us right in the face). One more thing: it’s not like USC is one with the masses. Their whole campus is gated off, which doesn’t say much for being “connected” to the working poor. That, and all the kids who attend USC live in the Palazzo complex or those 2,500-a-month lofts downtown. /rant
I guess I’m not the only one fired up: One of Tennis.com’s summer interns, Nick McCarvel, laments the loss of tennis on YouTube and wants it back now. He even brings John Mayer into the picture.
Lindsay checks in about her hibernation: Lindsay Davenport‘s return is generating some good buzz. Read up on what she was up to while pregnant. Fun facts: she’s friends with Gwen Stefani, and she won’t put a racquet in son Jagger’s hands. (via TennisWorld)
Enrique on Anna: After months of publicity for charity, K-Swiss, and exhibition matches wherein Anna Kournikova had to answer questions about her boyfriend Enrique Iglesias, the tables have turned: the mole-less songbird talks to CNN/SI’s Richard Dietsch about his thoughts on her career. (via DTL)
SEWTA catches up: You know it’s a slow time for the tour as they finally get around to gloating about Serena and Masha making the Forbes Celebrity 100 list published a month ago. (SEWTA via DTL)
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From the sidelines: Yep, that’s German Tommy Haas at last night’s match between Safin and Bastl at UCLA. Haas isn’t defending his Countrywide Classic title due to a shoulder injury. He’s nursing it with some lovin’ from…Sandy Woelden? …Sara Foster? Who is it? (Thanks for the photo, Chris.)
Glowing shuttlecocks!: While night tennis might have failed, everyone’s a-ravin’ about Blackminton.
Bollietteri’s New York outpost: He’s joining the staff at CityView Racquet Club, the newest addition to NYC’s tennis scene. Now accepting applications, the club will have valet parking, limo service, and a tiny membership — which’ll guarantee you a court when you want one. (via UrbanDaddy NYC)
Tursunov rallies for support: At a tournament overshadowed by the arrival of Becks, Norcal-based Dmitry Tursunov makes a plea to his fellow players: promote the sport any way they can, be a little friendlier with the fans, and do things to keep them coming back.
Revealing the secrets of celebrity: You want to become the next Anna Kournikova? Follow this L.A.-based agent’s instructions.
Tennis non-whites: The New York Times Book Review wrote up James Blake‘s Breaking Back and Charging the Net by Cecil Harris and Larryette Kyle-DeBose. While Blake doesn’t reveal much dirt in his own book — likely because he still needs to show his face on the tour — he makes comments about the racial battles being fought on the courts in Charging the Net. On the brouhaha surrounding his ’01 U.S. Open match against Lleyton Hewitt:
“(Lleyton and I) talked about it in the locker room, and he did apologize. … He said he didn’t mean for it to come out the way it did. … I knew we would both be on the tour for a long time, and I told him that if he said anything like that again, I wouldn’t be so kind.”
(via NYT)
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The original Anna — Anna Kournikova — left her South Beach digs last Thursday to host a benefit for The Nature Conservancy at Ultra in NYC.
She wore a cute white dress to the event. In black, she attended the Boys & Girls Clubs of America gala at the Waldorf on June 6. They honored her with the group’s Champion of Youth Award for her charity work.
And while wearing that little red dress she presented an award at Cedars-Sinai’s 22nd Annual Sports Spectacular at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza on June 3.
Nadal’s made it: A four-page spread in this month’s GQ followed by his very own article in The Onion. To Americans, Rafa Nadal is no longer just that “tennis player with the massive biceps”.
Guillermo Coria sues over suspension: Another esteemed member of the Argentina Drug Suspension Corral is back in the news. Guillermo Coria is accusing Universal Nutrition of contaminating its multivitamin, which Coria was taking, with steroids. Coria is suing for $10 million in lost prize and endorsement money. (via Sporting News)
She’s a tall drink of Russian…water?: Smirnoff’s new Smirnoff Source comes in what looks like a water bottle, but it’s still 3.5 percent alcohol by volume — a godsend to those underage celebrities, I’m sure. Anyway, Anna Kournikova heads to NYC tonight to host a fundraiser sponsored by this new drink to benefit the Nature Conservancy. (via Business Wire)
Dubai, still: Along with acquiring the season-ending Outback Champions Series event, Dubai might also add Barneys New York to its asset portfolio. (via Tennis Served Fresh and NYT)
NYC tennis, good idea: This event will coincide with Wimbledon. (There are two i’s — get it?)
NYC tennis, bad idea: Can someone explain to me how this relates to the sport at all?
If it ain’t broke, then make it better: Line-calling technology Hawkeye makes its ATP debut in the UK. This time, each player gets three line challenges, plus the extra one if the set goes to a tiebreak. (via BBC)
If the British want champions, the LTA should stop sponsoring them: Uhh, what? (via the Guardian)
Andy Murray’s just a kid: Sidelined Scot Andy Murray says he’d be a student if he wasn’t playing tennis. Fitting, since he doesn’t cook, doesn’t drive, and the most expensive thing he’s ever bought is his PS2. (via Daily Express)
Johnny Mac wants in: John McEnroe is still in the doghouse. It’s been twenty years since he had his honorary membership at Queen’s Club taken away for insulting the then chairman’s wife. Letters of apology have not helped resolve the issue. (via Telegraph)
A blog to watch: If you’re not reading Tennis Country, you might want to give it a shot.
Iva on Ivanovic The Sun-Sentinel tells us what Croatian (and ’97 French Open champ) Iva Majoli‘s been up to: she’s raising a kid, running a tennis academy, and is social SEWTA mentor to Ana Ivanovic.
Ana should make room for Anna: Interviews promoting her exhibition coinciding with TMS Canada reveal that Ms. Kournikova misses being center stage. She also admits not realizing how much attention was being thrown her way during her teenage pro years. (via The Toronto Star)
More on the Henin saga: SI.com’s S.L. Price gives us more details about Justine‘s past year.
Congrats to Nole and Kolya: The post-RG ATP rankings have been released, and Nikolay Davydenko is No. 3 (taking over Roddick‘s spot) and Novak Djokovic jumped up two places to No. 4. (via Fox Sports)
Yep, we have those pictures of Serena’s day at the beach: Click at your own risk! (via Daily Mail)
tennis served fresh 
