Great shot! The WTA has found the perfect mix between its “Strong is Beautiful” campaign and the ATP‘s creative sportraits for the year-end championships. It’s paintball. Yep, paintball! Here Sorana Cirstea and Bethanie Mattek-Sands take out some London frustration on two willing fellas in a back alley. Sure, there are a couple close ups we could do without, but the paint and music and fun of it makes it a great watch. The targets are Matthew Pritchard and Lee Dainton, two parts of a British comedy group (think of the Jackass boys) known as Dirty Sanchez. And yes, they get a little dirty here, too.
There’s no doubt that the British press has a heyday when Wimbledon comes around. From the Monica Seles-inspired Grunt-0-Meter to headlines screaming (desperately) for a British champ. It really is the people’s Slam. But Stateside, it’s always nice to see the mainstream folks picking up on the secret we’re all privy to: tennis is damn cool. Below a collection of week one’s rumblings across the non-tennis media.
The grunting! Doesn’t this happen every year? Sure, this was a British-inspired headline. But The Daily Beast kept with it for a solid morning on Wednesday, even putting together a gallery of grunters themselves. We think they left off a key founding mother: Monica Seles.
Forget about Roger Federer‘s records possibly being broken by Nole or Rafa — we’re in awe of Bethanie Mattek-Sands finally snapping Jelena Jankovic‘s record for worst gimmickyoutfit worn to a party. It only took three years to oust her shopping buddy. Congrats, BMS!
A scowl on Bethanie might have helped us all stomach this, uhm, dress, designed by the UK-based Alex Noble (who frequently works with Lady Gaga). But all the giddiness and excitement was too much to contain; she couldn’t help being the balls of the ball.
Browse: Check out Noble’s blog to see some his other work (including the main outfit worn by Gaga in the “Judas” music video).
Style lady. While she barely escaped unknown Frenchwoman Caroline Garzia today on the tennis court (3-6 6-4 6-0), Maria Sharapova is easy to find on any newsstand in New York: she’s plastered on the front of the New York Times Thursday Style section. The article, a lengthy feature, talks about the brand Maria has grown (herself) and her work in fashion — Cole Haan being the highlight. | Draw:Maria survives
Is that a black eye? While Sharapova’s quarter was blown wide open with Kim Clijsters’ loss, American Bethanie Mattek-Sands sits on the top half of the draw and next has to deal with the always-testy Jelena Jankovic. The talk, however, has been less about BMS’ play (it’s been rather good lately) and more about her ever-famous face make-up (seen above). Everyone seems to be chatting about BMS’ face, and less about her game. Though, after her hard-fought second round win, the Times gave her this headline: “A Rising American Now Has a Game as Bold as Her Style.” Touche, folks. But what about in a few weeks’ time when BMS dons her Wimbledon players’ party Gaga-inspired dress? There will be no talk of her tennis, we predict. Or can she have her cake and eat it too? Either way, she’s happy.
Soft core porn? And leave it to the eds at the Huffington Post to come up with this headline, teasing out the WTA‘s new “Strong is Beautiful” campaign: “Is This Ad Campaign ‘Soft Core Porn That Has Nothing To Do with Tennis’?” The headline itself was from a blog post from back in September, when the original Times photo shoot ran that inspired the campaign. The Post asked readers in a poll about the campaign, an overall response (through Thursday afternoon) is below:
(BMS image via the AP; Huffington Post screen grab)
Good to see an American presence deeper into a clay tournament, but it had to end at some point: Li Na beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of this week’s Mutua Madrid Open. (Video: See how Li has been training on the dirt)
Going forward: Li’s semifinal opponent will be either Kvitova or Cibulkova, both of who had huge scalps this week: Zvonareva for the former and Kuznetsova for the latter. (Draw: Mutua Madrid Open Women’s Draw)
UA: Bethanie — with her best lothario make-up — already showed off the purple version of this stripey Under Armour tank, and here it is in the black/white colorway.
(Image by Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images)
We won’t even bring up pre-match sex: Third seed Francesca Schiavone‘s prep for a defense of her French Open title continued to sputter as she was ousted by Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in the third round of this week’s Mutua Madrid Open. (Schiavone lost her first clay event — Stuttgart — to Radwanska.) Up next for Mattek, who also upset Ivanovic in the opening round, is eighth seed Li Na. With Zvonareva and Caro both out, we’re picking Cibulkova to come out of that half. What do you think? (Browse: Mutua Madrid Open Women’s Singles Draw)
Video: Bethanie took some time in Madrid to soak up some local color. Here’s a video of her and hubby Justin getting their caricatures drawn. She really wanted that dimple in there, eh? (What, no eyeblack?) Click on the image above to watch.
Clothes:Under Armour prints can get pretty busy, but we’re loving this one that’ll stay around through the summer. Buy: UA Summer Print Tank; white; $49.99; TW.
More: Two other photos from the Mattek/Schiavone match after the cut…
Bethanie Mattek-Sands needs to take her eyeblacking to the next level. Can we make a suggestion?
American on clay: At this week’s Mutua Madrid Open, she’s continuing her run into the single’s draw by beating qualifier Vania King 6-0, 6-2 in the second round. This, of course, after taking out Ana Ivanovic in three sets to start out the event. BMS’ll face the winner of the all-Italian battle between Schiavone and Errani. (Does Sara have the same Fed Cup beef as Vinci?)
We’d hit and wear that: Sure there’s tennis ball furniture, but how about some accessories, too? Simone Preuss of 1-800-recycling.com reveals some “creative uses” for worn-out tennis balls. Preuss writes, “Tennis balls are probably the most difficult of any kind of sports ball to recycle, as the rubber used is not biodegradable. However, about 300 million balls are produced each year, contributing to some 20,000 metric tons of rubber waste.”
Never quite imagined that more could be done than simply tossing those dead balls after an intense hitting sesh, did ya? Well, from bracelets (above) to jar holders to tripods and purses look no further than this post for ideas to glamify your world with a little more tennis love. The only problem, Simone, where’s the how-to guide to make these ballin’ beauties ourselves? Needing it.
We get hashtag fatigue sometimes, too: Looking to check up on the tweets of even more players than usual suspect Serena Williams (who BTW now has over 2 millions followers)? Check out Tennis Players on Twitter. The new website allows fans to check in on all players at all times – in real time! Links go directly to players official pages, just in case you want to further investigate on Twitter itself. Really, this is cool. Oops: #reallythisiscool.
Big game, but how about Playboy fame? Caroline Wozniacki apparently denied Playboy and Maxim, which both wanted the Dane to grace their pages naked, according to a report from Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet. She told reporters, “I’m not going to take off all my clothes,” while agent John Tobias continued, “She is still only 20 years [old]. That kind of photo series we’ll keep away from right now.” For more, click here.
Take us with you, BMS?
So maybe her attire is a little outrageous, but that’s why we love you, Bethanie. Well, girl can write, too.
Top 10-er, still: Besides fashion sense, American tennis in general seems to be on a bit of a decline up top with Serena Williams being the only top-ten ranked player after the latest rankings were revealed. Somehow, Serena managed to move up a couple spots despite having not played for months. Go figure. Then again with Serena, it’s better to stop trying and just roll with whatever story she headlines next, especially when it deals with the WTA ranking system.
Don’t you want tickets to the BNP Paribas Showdown at the Madison Square Garden in less than 10 days’ time. We sure do. I mean, come on: John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi? There is going to be more drama and cat fighting on this night in New York than even Jelena Jankovic could handle. | Buy here | Watch on ESPN
Jessica Simpson looks way to cool on the cover of New York Magazine right now. Seriously? We want that hair. At least to see it on… say, Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Let’s see if BMS is into such a suggestion, k? And if you’re wondering how JSimp got her hair so big, just read the article. It’s where she keeps all her money.
(bnpps msg screengrab; simpson photo by ruven afanador via nymag)
Sad that you haven’t seen more fashion coverage from us this year? Well here it is. In one post. For the entire year. Now we’re hanging up our measuring tape, magnifying glasses and red pen and watching The Devil Wears Prada in German over, and over, and over again. Click image to watch the video.
Nicolas Mahut, the famous Frenchman who was on the losing end of the epic Wimbledon battle with John Isner last summer, made quite the ruckus at the Hopman Cup in Perth recently, donning matching outfits with mixed doubles partner Kristin Mladenovic. Even Bethanie Mattek Sands, the queen of quacky outfits was giving some giggles. And dang, isn’t Mahut looking good? We think so. | 28-year-old journeyman Mahut into round 2 of Aussie qualies
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 bookDad 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 writerBill 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…)
Venus was clad in a new number from Eleven. (photo by richard perry/nyt via nytimes.com)
Beyond the tennis world, the US Open takes on a life of its own in the New York media when it comes to town. Most impressive so far has been the UrbanDaddy scoop on the WAGs of tennis players (wives and girlfriends, just in case you weren’t sure). While we haven’t heard of half these ladies, it was nice to see someone talk positive about Nicole Vaidisova for once. The best line? This one about Brooklyn Decker: “The woman so beautiful they named not only one of the Five Boroughs after her, but also a popular and affordable line of power tools.” We’re still wondering, though: who wins a cage match, Mirka or Kim Sears?!
You’d be hard pressed to find more comprehensive coverage of the Open than the New York Times (full disclosure: I’m helping with said coverage). The paper even went as far as to send a food critic out to sample the food court. While the Times does have gargantuan coverage, SI.com has a new tennis blog, Open Source, that’s operating during the tournament. Meanwhile, our fellows bloggers are providing stand-up coverage. FortyDeuceTwits has us in fits of laughter daily, DowntheLine! is always quotable (and has a great post/video of the Azarenka collapse) and Kenneth in the 212 couldn’t provide better tennis shirtless pics (rivaling ours?!) on a weekly basis.
Oh, and before the cut, another look at the arm art, er, tattoo, from one, Bethanie Mattek-Sands. This time, it matches her top.
TSF got giddy on the train ride to New Haven upon realizing that hard-hitting fashionistas Nadia Petrova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands (yes, their dresses can literally push you around a court) had a second-round meet-up at this year’s Pilot Pen Tennis at Yale.
They didn’t disappoint.
We asked Nadia about her dress, and she thought it cool that she’s the only one wearing Ellesse for competition (no cookie cutters here). She also praised Bethanie’s style (that pink/black/white outfit is from Under Armour, of course), the creativity afforded to the sport by their on-court fashion, and hopes to have a hand in designing her clothes in the future. Will that mean more or less creamsicles? We’re not sure…
The inside of Bethanie Mattek-Sands‘ right arm has a colorful floral tattoo. Here she is during yesterday’s second-round match at the Pilot Pen Tennis at Yale against Nadia Petrova (Sands lost 6-3, 6-2.) Nads faces Sam Stosur in what has turned out to be a solid quarterfinal line-up at this year’s tourney: Wozniacki / Pennetta, Dementieva / Bartoli, Kirilenko / Safina, and Nads/Stosur. (Draw:Women’s event)
You probably would have ran this photo on the top of the post, too. (Getty Images via NYT.com)
The New York Timesran a story on Monday about Bethanie Mattek-Sands dressing herself up in soccer-like garb every four years for the World Cup, but we couldn’t help but notice how busted our favorite American funky gal looked in her photo from the first round. Pasty? Yes. Pudgy? A little? Is BMS sick? We hope not. But wow, the 2006 version of herself is looking light years better, don’t you think?
TSF’ll be spending some time at Indian Wells this weekend to watch some tennis and see Bethanie Mattek’s dye job up close and personal. Don’t worry, y’all, I’m bringing my sunglasses when I meet Tilda Swinton!
If there are any TSFers out there who want to meet up, send me an email. (Kat, I’ll call you.)
We have focused our TSF efforts on an online tennis hub called TSFTennis.com. Check it out for the latest news, blogs, and feature articles on everything tennis.
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Tennis Served Fresh covers fashion, style, media and culture surrounding the worlds of tennis and sport. (more)
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