Fed Cup: Serbia bites!

Looks like Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is sending out a strong message to Spain when they meet in Fed Cup playoff this weekend.

The other 6 countries who will battle it for places in the 2010 World Group are France, Slovak Republic, Germany, China, Argentina and Ukraine.

The four losers will start in World Group II in 2010.

The matches will be played in the next two days on April 25 and 26.

(Image via tennisforum.com)

The Spanish Armada troops turn sunny beach boys

The Spanish Armada (Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro) has invaded and conquered our hearts again!

The shirtless, chest-baring poses...

In plain white, see through shirts

But one man is missing!

How can they pose for Elle without Captain Rafael Nadal?

(Via Forty Deuce, Images via abc.es)

Kei Nishikori trains hard but minus the racquet

Kei Nishikori recently blogged in his official website about training, getting treatment and rehabilitation, and his parents.

The Japanese tennis star said he has been training hard for a month now... but without a tennis racquet!

"Because it's been a considerable amount of time since I haven't played tennis at all, it feels pretty strange to me."

"I feel a bit uneasy that I won't be able to play like I used to before, because I have never experienced not holding a racket for such a long time."

Despite his elbow injury, Kei said his training is tough.

"My schedule is kind of tough. I train for one hour in the morning, get treatment and rehabilitation, and then train again for two more hours in the afternoon."

"Sometimes I focus on mental conditioning, depending on the day."

Then Kei joked about his parents who had stayed with him for about 5 weeks in Florida.

"Maybe they stayed for too long? Haha, I'm just kidding. We have a good time together."

"My mom's cooking made me gain a little weight. I wish I could gain muscle instead!"

Will he be able to recover on time for Roland Garros?

Chances seem to be very low.

(Images by IMG via Kei's official blog)

When two Spanish greats meet...

Former tennis great Manolo Santana and Rafael Nadal exchanged racquets during a promotional event for Nadal's Fundación Rafa Nadal.

Santana gave the foundation his heavy wooden Dunlop racquet used in the year when he won the Wimbledon Championships.

In exchange, Nadal gave Santana his modern Babolat racquet which helped him won the 5th consecutive Monte Carlo Open last week.

Nadal apologized to Santana and said, "This is not so much history (referring to his Babolat tennis racquet)."

Nadal who is a four-time defending champion here at the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell tennis tournament will debut tomorrow against Frederico Gil in the second round.

(Image via elmundo.es)

Andy Murray, David Beckham suit up and back malaria charity

Sports stars David Beckham, Andy Murray and Denise Lewis have been named as members of the leadership council of new campaign group Malaria No More UK and were helping to mark its launch.

Right after the meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Downing Street, they posed together for photographs.

Malaria No More UK wants to ensure the Government meets its promise in full as its share of a total of 100 million nets pledged by the world's eight richest state.

Britain's number one tennis star Murray said, "This is the first global charity I've been involved with in this capacity and it was an easy decision."

"Malaria is completely preventable and stoppable but yet it still kills more children in Africa than any other single disease."

(Via The Press Association; Images by AP/Getty Images via ATP Mens Tennis)

Finally, Roger Federer's wedding photos have surfaced!

Roger Federer doesn't want to lose out to Andy Roddick this time, so he released his wedding photos first!

Schweizer Illustrierte has the exclusive wedding photos of Roger Federer and Mirka Vavrinec!

The private photos in the Monday issue shows 12 pages full of lovely and intimate moments.

Any Swiss friends bought the magazine yet?

Updated: Lana of Great Tennis Photos just found a photo that shows a full spread of that magazine bearing the husband and wife team.

And according to Gototennis, a Basel paper reported that Roger sold the photos for "just the customary fee" which went to his foundation.

More photos and video updates!

(Via menstennisforums.com; Updated image from rogerfederer.com via Great Tennis Photos)

Rafael Nadal stands out among the crowd

Rafael Nadal who was spotted in a striking pink coloured Nike t-shirt.

The Monte Carlo Masters champion was on his way back to the players lounge after attending a press conference on day one of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis today in Barcelona, Spain.


(Images by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Europe)

Andy Roddick & Brooklyn Decker: The paparazzi photos exposed!

The paparazzi did indeed snag some photos of the wedding.

TMZ reported that "Andy Roddick took his mind off his lifelong commitment to just one smoking hot swimsuit model (Brooklyn Decker) with some premarital golf on Friday".

There are over 40 paparazzi photos posted on TMZ but so far none of them featured the couples in their wedding dress together in a single shot.

Hopefully we'll get to see the official wedding photos next!

(Via TMZ; Images by INFdaily.com)

Jose Acasuso: Thumbs up for going bald!

From the picture I don't think Jose Acasuso has a receding hairline problem that he needs to shave off his head.

Maybe it's just time for him to get rid of his unkempt long hair.

Old look

Perhaps the beard next?

(Images via Yahoo! Tennis)

Kei Nishikori, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also featured in EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis

Save up money from now on if you want to get hold of this game that features an impressive roster of current and legendary men's and women's players.

Check out this video that features some of the star players.

Also confirmed will be joining the list are Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Developed specifically for the Wii, EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis delivers the deepest and richest tennis experience ever developed for the platform with real life tennis strokes letting anyone quickly pick up a racket and use every shot type and inch of the court.

It is the exclusive home of Wimbledon and includes all four Grand Slams: the Australian Open, Roland Garros, the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.

(Via EA Sports, menstennisforums.com)

No, this is not China Open's new promo poster

See if you can name 6 pro tennis players in this photoshopped pic.

Now the picture below is an original poster of a very popular Hong Kong TVB drama called "War and Beauty".


(Via tennisforum.com)

Rafael Nadal celebrates 5th straight Monte Carlo Masters title

I was really pissed off with Astro, my local paid TV for not showing Rafael Nadal's historic win at the Monte Carlo Masters tournament yesterday because football is always their top priority.

It's totally absurb when they diligently covered the earlier rounds but when it comes to weekend's semifinals and finals they took away the live coverage just to pave ways for some unimportant football matches.

Enough of my rantings, I should be happy because Nadal managed to overcome Novak Djokovic, beating the third-ranked Serbian 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 for his fifth straight Monte Carlo Masters title after losing a set here for the first time since the 2006 final against Roger Federer.

“Everyone can improve in every surface, no? No one is perfect. Sure, I can improve,” Nadal said.

“I always work to improve because when you feel you can’t improve, is difficult to wake up and go on court and practice.”

Nadal is now favored to also collect a fifth straight French Open title.

He was unhappy with how he served, and plans to improve on it before heading to Roland Garros next month.

In the men's doubles final, second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-1 in just 48 minutes.

Meanwhile, Roberta Vinci won her second WTA Tour title at the Barcelona Open on Sunday, beating beat defending champion Maria Kirilenko 6-0, 6-4.

In another WTA tourney, Sabine Lisicki beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 to win the Family Circle Cup and her first tour title on Sunday.

The 19-year-old Lisicki, who is ranked No. 63 and bounced Venus Williams earlier in the tournament, consistently had serves around 120 mph at the tournament on the green clay at the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, S.C.

(Via AP; Images by Michael Steele/Getty Images Europe)

Danai Udomchoke earns law degree from the Bangkok University

Thailand no.1 pro tennis player Danai Udomchoke is joining players like Max Mirnyi and Mario Ancic who earned their law degrees last year.

Congrats to Danai for completing his Law degree from the Bangkok University recently.

According to Danai, he hopes to continue his studies in MBA in the near future.

Here are some photos taken on his graduation day.


(Via Danai Udomchoke official website)