Sightings in the stands: We always forget that New Balance is in the tennis business. Their novelty tee for the season is this one, worn by a fan watching yesterday’s Fish/Harrison semi at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. Props to the layout and color choices — it’s white/blue for the summer and red/white/black for the fall — but a play on “playahs” (having “game”)? Give us something fresher and wittier next year, ok?
Buy: New Balance Summer Playah Tee, $16.99. Browse the rest of the NB line (including threads for Fall ’11) here.
Ryan’s rise: We noted last week that Ryan Harrison‘s run in Atlanta might mean something in the bigger picture and the Louisiana native continued his impressive streak by making his second straight ATP semifinal in Los Angeles this week. Mardy Fish stopped the 19-year-old both times, winning at the Farmers Classic yesterday in a tight 6-0 4-6 7-6 (3) semi. Fish noted both on court and in his press conference that is he could, he’d “buy stock” in Harrison. Which makes us curious: How high can this kid’s stock climb? Weigh in below.
And by doubles, we mean a two-for-one: shirtless AND tattooed.
Farmers Classic semifinalist Alex Bogomolov, Jr. showed TSF some love before his match-up against Ernests Gulbis yesterday. Alex was on the Grandstand court playing points with a decent-hittin’ tween. BTW: Gulbis won that match 6-2, 7-6 (4).
We already logged his right shoulder tat, and this is our first the Chinese characters on his left shoulder.
Remember when? Way back when it was called the Infinity Open (and then the Mercedes Benz Cup), an American named Michael Chang snatched the Los Angeles title twice — in 1996 and 2000. 1996 was quite the summer for Chang, who shrugged off a first-round loss to Albert Costa at Wimbledon and take titles in both DC and LA before making a run to the US Open final where he lost to Pete Sampras. Including Flushing Meadows, Chang would rack up a 22-3 record that summer, helping boost him to his career-high no. 2 in September. 2000 was somewhat of a different story for the 1989 French Open winner, taking the LA title with a surprise run that saw him beat Jan-Michael Gambill in the final (remember him?!). Chang also downed Justin Gimelstob in the semis to win what would be the last of 34 career titles.
Facing Fish:Ernie Gulbis hits with Canas a few hours before his final match against Mardy Fish at the Farmers Classic, being contested this week at UCLA. This is Gulbis’ second appearance in an ATP World Tour final; his first was at Delray Beach last year, where he won his first career title. Bracket: See how the men fared in Los Angeles.
What a trooper: Browse the goods from the Fall/Winter 2011 adidas Originals x Star Wars collaboration here (and grab the goods here. Our fave? The Flight Jacket and the AT-AT sweatshirt.
So are we the only ones seeing more and more men wear their long hair in buns these days? Kinda loving it as a summer look…
Speaking of bun (and buns) Guillermo Canas has been popping in and out of our line of sight at this week’s Farmer’s Classic, where he’s been working with semifinalist Ernests Gulbis. The lanky Latvian booked his spot in the final four with that upset of second seed Juan Martin Del Potro 6-4, 7-6 (3), making this his first semi appearance since January in Sydney. Gulbis will play Alex Bogomolov, who staged his own upset in the Grandstand court in his quarterfinal against Thomaz Bellucci.
The Farmers Classic — the ATP’s tour stop in Los Angeles — will have a different sched for 2011: the early rounds (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) will start at 2 p.m., allowing more fans to go about their days before heading to UCLA for the tennis. The tourney organizers have also combined the day/evening sessions for those three days, which means you only pay once. Loves.
TSF’s very curious to see how this’ll pan out.
More info: The Farmers Classic site. FYI, Delpo‘s already committed to playing the event.
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