stefan koubek retires

One less for Tattoo Watch to keep tabs on now that pseudo-tramp-stamped Austrian Stefan Koubek has announced his retirement.

The 34-year-old ATPer, ranked 261st, plans to finish his pro career off with an exhibition match on July 30. “I wanted to play Roland Garros and Wimbledon one more time but I won’t make it,” he told the press. “Once you’ve decided to quit, you lose your motivation.”

More: Here are pics we took of Koubek back in March. Yes, you saw that correctly: it’s a chinese character superimposed over a tribal pattern. He has his cake and eats it, too!

(photos by TSF)

shirtless: the rest of malibu novak

Nole‘s had more glamour shots pop up in the last few days, but we’re content with seeing these — the rest of the pap pics from his trip to Malibu right before the 2011 BNP Paribas Open.

(all images by X17 Online)

zvonareva’s bunnies

Sequined bunnies showed up for Vera Zvonareva‘s presser on the eve of the 2011 BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Buy: A similar Bad Bunny Sweatshirt, $59.99, from French Connection.

Fed Cup: Vera is on the Russian Fed Cup team that faces Italy in this weekend’s semi, to be played in Moscow. Others on the Russian squad: Kuznetsova, Pavlyuchenkova, and Makarova. On the Italian side, they’ll be without Fed Cup regulars Schiavone and Pennetta. Schiavone opted out in order to focus on defending her Roland Garros title; Pennetta’s nursing a shoulder injury. The roster’s made up of Vinci, Errani, Brianti, and Camerin. The Russians should take this, no prob. What do you think?

Read up: All the tie details are here.

(image via Getty Images)

flashback: novak treks through the socal desert

Denim on denim? Yesssss.

(via Nole’s tweet)

does melanie oudin still believe?

One of the highlights of our visit to the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells? Seeing this purple dress from Wilson hanging on a mannequin. The Chicago-based brand’s continued to up their game, starting with that lovely blank/pink motif at the 2010 US Open, and moving to brighter colors (white, teal, lavender) to work with the sunny backdrops of Spring ’11 tourneys. (BTW, we heard someone mention that Busted Racquet gave her a hard time about this dress in Melbourne. Is this true?)

And what of the Oudin slogans (“Believe” in 2009 and “Courage” in 2010) — will Melanie and Wilson drum one up in time for this year’s U.S. Open? “We will try to keep it going for sure,” said Melanie’s agent, Sam Duvall. They’re looking for the right time to bring it back, he added. I say that time is now, because missy needs a boost: she’s 5-7 so far this year. On the flip side, that’s enough to keep her ranking of 75th, making making her the fourth-best American on the tour(!). Perhaps the slogan should come back for all of U.S. women’s tennis?

Your thoughts: Will Melanie Oudin will stay ahead of Americans Coco Vandeweghe? Varvara Lepchenko? Christina McHale? Vania King? What do you think? Tell us!

Buy: La Divine Dress, in white or lavender, $72; La Divine Tank, in white or pool (teal), $48; the rest of Wilson’s women’s gear here.

(images via Getty Images)

oh, shahar!

It’s been a while since we’ve put up a fashion mishit — nay, a fashion shank — on TSF, but this one caught our eye. Too bad, because we were in the middle of writing a post praising Shahar Peer‘s current purple Reebok dress, and this had to pop up: a pic from last month’s BNP Paribas Open Players’ Party. That sock tan! And are those loafers?

TSF Archives: Previous mishits on and off the court — including Jankovic‘s pink bow, Spadea‘s leopard print backpack, and a lot of Mattek.

On the tour: Shahar’s done decently this year, ranked just outside the top 10 and with two quarterfinal appearances (Dubai, Indian Wells). She lost in her opening round match at this week’s Sony Ericsson Open to Anabel Medina Garrigues. As you may know, AMG gave Sharapova trouble in Masha’s opening match at Indian Wells.

(image via Getty Images)

how we survived in tursunov’s absence

TSF was heartbroken to find out that Dmitry Tursunov wasn’t going to play at Indian Wells and Miami this year. Tournaments just aren’t the same without his pastiness hanging out in the practice courts (exhibits A and B). So as we felt the withdrawal kick in during our first days in the desert, this man saved the day.

Ridic.

Anyway, Igor Andreev made it as far as the second round at this week’s Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, where he lost to John Isner 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (2). But that’s okay, Igor: winning isn’t why we keep you on our radar.

The tennis: Roger and Rafa play their quarterfinal matches today (vs. Simon and Berdych, respectively). The winner in that top half of the draw will play the winner of the Fish/Djokovic semi. We expect Nole to take this whole thing. Who’s your pick for the winner? (Browse: SEO Draws)

And in case you’re interested in seeing Igor clothed, some pics of his current Sergio Tacchini kit below.

(practice image by TSF; match images via Getty Images)

fashion focus: vania king in indian wells

Vania King wears a striped dress with that Tiffany blue/chocolate colorway that seems to be all the rage these days (my sister used it pretty well as a motif for her wedding). She played Anne Kremer in the first round of the Masters Series Indian Wells and won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

What’s the brand? Is that Prince? If so, then I take back what I said about their lackluster spring lookbook. Can anyone confirm?

(photo by Getty Images)