Small court, big results. Before Andy Murray‘s London hopes got muddled because of injury, the Scot took to a British warehouse to play some Road Tennis. Not sure what that is? Nor were we. adidas explains:
[We invited the] Road Tennis Association of Barbados to London, to teach Murray how to play Road Tennis. A cross between traditional tennis and table tennis, Road Tennis is played on the street, with participants chalking out their own courts. Murray had never played the game before, and was given just one hour to pick up his wooden bat and attempt to master the game’s ins and outs, before we put him up against Barbados’ finest.
In the video above, Murray gets a “warm-up” with storied English boxer David Haye, who is now retired, and British rapper Example.
adidas noted that the Murray vid was the first of many to come for the brand over the next year: “The event marked the start of our new campaign, where we’ll be challenging some of the world’s best tennis players, around the biggest tournaments next year.” Excited? You bet we are!
As for who Murray gets a lesson from on the Road Tennis pavement? That’d be Sylvain “Lama” Barnett, a legend in Barbados and one of the Pro Road Tennis Association’s greatest players of all time.
KP or JT? If you paid any attention to the ESPYs last week, Justin Timberlake (what isn’t he doing these days?!) did a comedic short for the show titled “I Love Sports,” put on by Capital One. But K-Swiss has a good series featuring a character named Kenny Powers that takes on the similar tone of Timbo’s vid, which Ad Agerecommends checking out. While Justin’s spot logged in 2.7 million views, one of Kenny’s new spot had 1.6 million hits. Also on their vid chart for the week? Those classy Old Spice spots. We can’t quit em.
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.
Reebok‘sEasyTone shoe is coming with an easy-on-the-eyes ad campaign that the company has rolled out over the last year. The ads feature backsides of women (and their calves and their thighs and their… ) in a variety of outfits, settings and backdrops. Reebok has a couple of ads circulating on TV and the web for the shoe, which has “balance-ball inspired technology” on the soles to “tone and shape.”
Buy it: From $49.99-$139.98, the EasyTone selection includes athletic wear, sandals, and boots for both men and women. Our fave? The EasyTone Reeinspire in lime green. Just in time for the Aussie Open to get under way…
More commercials: Another spot from Oreo to introduce their new “Heads or Tails” cookie with the help from Venus and company. (See a previous one here.)
It’s a little beyond me why athletes like Eli Manning, Apolo Ohno, Shaq and Venus are part of endorsements deals like the ad campaign for Nabisco’s Oreo cookies. Laundry detergent? OK. Watches? Sure. Deodorant? Fine.
But for these athletes who pride themselves on being healthy, active individuals, why a cookie that’s made up of pure sugar? And to boot, this commercial is dismal. I don’t quite understand the Team DSRL angle, but it looks like they’re encouraging the youngsters to be somewhat active? If so, kudos.
Oh, and Oreo: ‘stuff’ is spelled with two Fs, FYI. Just putting it out there.
The USTA put out a press release today, along with this ad (click image above to see video) detailing the changes in the youth game, particularly with kids 10 and under. Along with its new teaching system, QuickStart, the USTA is pushing a more accessible and ready-to-use kit for tennis teaches and enthusiasts to get youngsters out on the court called 10 & Under Tennis.
This ad focuses on the fact that tennis – separate from most other sports – has its young players play the game from the get-go on big-time courts, just like the ones the pros play on. Now, coupled with QuickStart, the USTA will implement that 10-and-under sanctioned tournaments (beginning in 2012) will be on smaller courts, and different teaching techniques, systems and equipment will be available to get kids on the court.
Along with the change in court size, balls will be lighter and not as bouncy (so as to develop hand-eye coordination) and racquets will be lighter and shorter (a better fit to the youngsters’ body sizes).
And if you aren’t interested in this issue whatsoever, just watch the ad… we love the cinematography. Kudos!
For artistic sake, a couple more screen grabs of the commercial after the jump, along with the full text of the press release from the USTA. (more…)
Gatorade has put out the first post-Wimbledon win ad featuring Serena Williams, and we’re liking it okay. We wish she would’ve kept a little bit more of a retro look in costuming, but the girl can smile, twirl, swing (and serve!) and we gotta give her props for smashing 89 aces in seven matches, a tournament record on her way to the title. Click the image above to watch the commercial!
5:39 PM 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 Game, set, match, Nadal I’m pretty happy for Rafa and that win. He definitely deserved it. Congrats, big guy.
5:24 PM 6-4, 6-2, 5-3 Nadal Time for the Robin Soderling to pull out the gladiator armor. He’s neeeeeeeeding it.
5:07 PM 6-4, 6-2, 3-1 Nadal No, we have no idea who the junior champions are, either. And so much for Bode Miller‘s U.S. Open bid. Kind of rough for the USTA‘s number one story line to flame out in the first round. McEnroe is really doing his best to verbally route for Sod to take this to four or five.
The Nike ad for the upcoming World Cup is getting plenty of buzz around the net. But there have been few mentions of Roger Federer‘s cameo in the 3-plus minute shot. Fed battles in ping pong against England’s Wayne Rooney, who is apparently (in the ad) on a red-hot streak (Just Roo It!). No Rafa appearance?! Even Kobe takes part in the action. See the clip by clicking the image above.
PeTA recently launched an ad campaign using John McEnroe as a spokesman (‘yellsman’?) in this commercial. CNNSI.com columnist L. Jon Wertheimis wondering just how much more of the “YCBS?!” our culture can take.
Meanwhile, tennis splashed onto the pages of the Village Voice this week in the form of a foot fungus ad (ew!).
And, the sport was spotted in the trendy East Village nabe of NYC, where foodie movement EatFreely.org was combining the never-failing combo of breaded cheesy goodness and tennis balls. Loves it.
Has anyone ever seen this Nike commercial? It looks rather ’90s, but I couldn’t quite tell when it was from. And though the tennis character has both Agassi and Sampras qualities, I’m pretty sure he’s a Joe Schmoe, right?
In any case, we thought we could give you your daily dose of vampire this morning… enjoy!
Andy Murray seems to have every single fan, journalist, mother, child, son, father, tube driver and bobby counting on him to win Wimbledon this year. Just check this post over at Straight Sets. The journalists aren’t just counting on Murray, they’re telling his this is it. Do or die.
So far Andy has taken the pressure much better than Tim Henman ever did, and last week his new commercial with EA Sports came out. The spot features Andy with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and a surprise cameo from John McEnroe for “Grand Slam Tennis” a new game for the Nintendo Wii.
Andy Roddick can rest assured that he’ll have a spot in front of the camera once he’s hung up his pro racquet for good. Andy’s acting is waaaaaaaaaay better than most of the tennis players who’ve taken a stab at it (they will all remain nameless).
Here he is doing a spot for AT&T‘s Laptop Connect Wi-Fi service.
While we’re not entirely endorsing the use of private planes (hey, if Rafa Nadal can fly commercial, then so can all the other top pros…), TSF wants to give a shoutout to the cute commercial NetJets used to congratulate one of its clients, Roger Federer, after his record-tying 14th major title — the 2009 French Open.
Sit back: Click on the image above (or this link) to view.
Well, I’m not sure exactly how much Jelena Jankovic is getting paid by Orbit for her new commercial with them, but the Serb is flashing her purly whites for some of the green stuff. The commercial debuted in Serbia this month.
See for yourself if Jelena’s off-court smile is as electric as her on-court one after the cut.
Here’s another Nike commercial featuring Roger Federer and his “coach” (Flight of the Conchords‘s Rhys Darby).
The ads were supposed to make light of Roger’s inexplicable greatness — i.e., he was kept sharp and brilliant by this secret coach that popped up when least expected. In light of recent events, though, the coach’s lack of talent underscores Roger’s current state.
Gillette recently released a holiday commercial as part of their Gillette Champions campaign. (Remember the original spot? The one where Tiger gets weirded out when Roger touches him on the cheek?)
This time, ad shop BBDO chose to go sentimental by showing Tiger, Roger, and Thierry Henry each playing their respective sports as kids. Roger loved the concept and himself provided the a clip from his family’s home movies.
Tiger did some decent voiceover work for this spot, too. When his golfing career is over….
A random surf session the other day turned up another Roland Garros 2007 Laundry RoomKaraoke session, this time by Arnaud Clement, who sang the theme from The Love Boat. Watch it here…
…which led me to a commercial for Lacoste featuring a song by Natasha Thomas. And Arnaud in a towel…
Finally, it used to be that too much idle time left houses TPed and walls tagged. These days it just churns odd odes to favorite clothing brands. Perhaps an exercise in FinalCut?
Nike in print: A recent issue of Arena Homme Plus goes behind the scenes of Terry Richardson‘s photo shoot for this Nike campaign by W+K Studio. Tennis players included in the shoot were Maria Sharapova and (I believe) Roger Federer.
Bonus round: The issue also has a great editorial based on John Galliano‘s fall 2007 show. Some NSFW photos here. (via Made in Brazil)
Nike on video: The newest ad that opens the Nike website is a tribute to 11-time Grand Slam titleist Federer. A surprisingly humorous Tiger Woods voices the piece. I guess the stone-cold best friends are finally showing a range of emotions, eh?
Roger? Emoting?: None of you missed the post-victory sobfest, but you might have missed Federer falling apart in the hands of Hawk-Eye during Sunday’s match. Mark Hodgkinson of the Telegraphrecaps:
Federer, a tennis conservative, has always been against the introduction of Hawk-Eye, and he was as angry as he had ever been on Centre Court when an ‘out’ call on one of Nadal‘s shots was successfully challenged by the Spaniard in the fourth set. The Hawk-Eye replay suggested that the ball had hit the baseline; Federer thought otherwise. It was then that Federer asked umpire Carlos Ramos whether the machine could be turned off. Ramos declined but also seemed to suggest that he had thought the ball had landed long.
The Hawk-Eye review gave Nadal a break point, which he converted for a 3-0 lead, and Federer continued to complain during the change of ends. “How in the world was that ball in? S***. Look at the score now. It’s killing me, Hawk-Eye is killing me,” the Swiss said. So, a system which was introduced to prevent McEnroe-style rants at officialdom actually left one of the sport’s gentlest champions fuming.
Have you tasted Bud?: For those of you unfamiliar with the print work of journalist and former (le sigh) NBC Sports member Bud Collins, here’s his latest article in The Boston Globe.
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live blogging the FO (men’s) final
June 6, 20105:39 PM 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 Game, set, match, Nadal I’m pretty happy for Rafa and that win. He definitely deserved it. Congrats, big guy.
5:24 PM 6-4, 6-2, 5-3 Nadal Time for the Robin Soderling to pull out the gladiator armor. He’s neeeeeeeeding it.
5:07 PM 6-4, 6-2, 3-1 Nadal No, we have no idea who the junior champions are, either. And so much for Bode Miller‘s U.S. Open bid. Kind of rough for the USTA‘s number one story line to flame out in the first round. McEnroe is really doing his best to verbally route for Sod to take this to four or five.
(more…)
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