Rafael Nadal & Xisca in Paris

Thanks to an anonymous reader for the latest photos of Rafael Nadal and Xisca in Paris.

Need I say more?


(Images via laineygossip.com, blogswow.com)

The Serbian players have a VIP fan

Serbia's President Boris Tadic showed up at Roland Garros to meet and support his Serbian tennis players.

Jelena Jankovic certainly knows how to stand out in front of the camera.

The other guys who stood behind President Boris were Novak Djokovic, Nenad Zimonjic and Victor Troicki.

Look at Djokovic's face. He seems like a big fan of Mr. President.

(Image by Tom Gandolfini/AFP/Getty Images)

Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun oozes boyish charm in Deuce magazine

Asia's no.1 player Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun is featured in the latest ATP's Deuce Magazine.

In a very touching article titled "Be Not Afraid Of Growing Slowly" written by Robert Davis, Rendy talked about fulfilling the dream of his late father to become Chinese Taipei's first Top 100 player.

“After my father passed away,” Lu begins, “I did not want to play tennis anymore."

"My family was supporting me to go back to the tennis court. But I could not; I did not have the spirit."

"And then one day I remembered that my father had a dream that his son can maybe play Wimbledon some day and become Top 100. So, I used this as my energy because I wanted to make my father’s dream come true.”

The article also mentioned about how Rendy's mother Hsu Su-Fen wrapped in a heavy coat sitting at the court side at a club in Hamburg making sketches of her son's practices with coach Dirk Hordoff so that Rendy can practice at home.

Well, it's not an entirely tear-jerking story.

You can click here to read the article.

I have to tell you how much I love the photos in this featured story.

Too bad they don't have a behind-the-scene video.

Honestly, Rendy looks better than Rafael Nadal's photos in Vogue magazine. LOL!


(Images by Getty Images via Deuce website)

Rafael Nadal: A Tennis & Fashion Icon

Back in March this year, the crews at Vogue went behind the scenes in Miami with Bruce Weber, a world-renowned photographer to capture the world no.1 for a series of images that appear in June issue of US Vogue magazine.

Here are the photos and behind-the-scene video.

You can also read the featured story titled "Waiting For Rafa" written by Gaby Wood online.

(Images by Bruce Weber)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will wear anything but G-string if he wins Roland Garros

Can you spot the tie?

To celebrate his first match win at the French Open, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came to his press conference wearing a tie.

"This is my first victory here. I celebrate this victory like this," he said, adding, "I told myself that in other sports when you come to a press conference, there is a dress code."

"For tennis, it's good also to show we have a certain ethic. I believe it's important. We have beautiful tournaments, and we should show respect."

Tsonga said that if he won the tournament, "No problem, I'll wear whatever you want -- but not a G-string."

I'm pretty sure there will be alternative to G-string.

(Via tennis.com)

2009 French Open Day 3: Slightly boring...

It was boring, rain-interrupted day at Roland Garros. Seriously.

I went to bed early and didn't bother to blog about until the next day.

Perhaps I didn't get enough sleep for the past couple of days.

So, Serena Williams needed 9 match points to win her first round match at the French Open? No kidding.

Serena who called her performance “horrendous" finally overcame 100th-ranked Klara Zakopalova 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

Jelena Jankovic had an easy win, defeating Petra Cetkovska 6-2, 6-3.

Nice nails to match your lovely dress, Jelena!

One of my favourite, Svetlana Kuznetsova also had an easy win. She beat Claire Feuerstein 6-1, 6-4.

Gael Monfils had seriously debated not playing at Roland Garros at all this year because of the chronic tendinitis in his left knee.

It had been also more than a month since he had played a match on tour.

However, in his first round match yesterday, Monfils showed he was not rusty on court as he rolled past Bobby Reynolds 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, in just 1 hour and 28 minutes.

Monfils fellow countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also picked up win against Julien Benneteau 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an all-French affair.

Fifth-seeded Juan Martin del Potro had little trouble in his first match at Roland Garros, beating another Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

According to James Blake, being an American his main goal of the year are Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

And because of that he was eliminated 7-6 (6), 7-5, 6-2 by Leonardo Mayer, a qualifier from Argentina.

Leonardo who was making his Grand Slam debut is currently ranked 93rd in the world.

Another American, Mardy Fish also failed to move to the second round.

He was defeated by Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

For more results, please click here.

(Images via Yahoo! Sport)

2009 French Open Day 2: What else but Pink?

Rafael Nadal beat Marcos Daniel 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 for his 29th straight win on the red clay at Roland Garros, breaking the French Open men’s record for consecutive wins.

The win surpassed the mark held by Bjorn Borg, who won 28 straight from 1978-81.

Nadal also equaled the overall tournament record, matching the 29 straight that Chris Evert won between 1974-75 and 1979-81.

Opening his first match at the tournament with a striking fashion statement, people however are more interested to talk about his pink Nike gear rather than his record wins.

Now seriously, if only Maria Sharapova wear the same colour as Nadal, then it would be great.

Instead Sharapova's opponent Anastasiya Yakimova was the one in pink.

Although Sharapova had a shaky start, she eventually won 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Earlier of the day, poor Anne Keothavong was bageled twice by the world no.1. Dinara Safina.

Venus Williams also advanced into the second round after defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.

Asia enjoyed a successful day at the expense of French hopes.

World no.15 and Asian hope, Zheng Jie of China had an easy win over Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-1, 6-3.

Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn also made it through when she overcame Camille Pin 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

Another Frenchwoman who was sent packing was Stephanie Foretz.

She lost to Kirsten Flipkens 1-6, 6-4, 4-6. I guess those cool looking shades didn't help.

Roger Federer cruises into the second round after beating Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Here's an interesting read on CNN. It's fresh from the oven.

I bet Federer can't wait to meet Nadal to prove how 'human' his rival is on clay.

Let's wrap up the day with a shirtless Nikolay Davydenko.

Davydenko admitted that he was not in the best shape.

But still he won his first round match 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 against Stefan Koubek.

Since we already have shirtless photo, let's add another one: Nadal's sexy shoulder.

For more results, you go check it out here.

I'm off to bed now.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Updates on Kei Nishikori: The good news and the bad news

Which one do you prefer to read first?

Alright the good news is Kei Nishikori was recently featured in a TV commercial for the first time.

The commercial for Gatorade is called "If you wish to win" was aired in Japan last week.

Commercial Overview
Title: Gatorade new TV Commercial “If you wish to win” version (60 sec/30 sec/15 sec)
Featuring: Kei Nishikori
Music: The Blue Herb 「One Step」
This special tune was written for this commercial by the Blue Herb.
Air date: Tuesday May 19, 2009
Air Coverage: Japan

Now, the bad news...

According to bunny in menstennisforums, Kei's injury seems to be getting from bad to worse.

Here's what he said:

Nishikori has returned to Japan and held a press conference today (May 25), revealing that a recent MRI scan at an elbow specialist in New York found a small stress fracture deep in his elbow.

He will stay at his parents' house in Shimane for a while and aim at returning to tour at USO.

He said it really let him down when he learned about the fracture after going through eight weeks of intensive rehabs. He also felt really bad and angry but all he can do now is rest.

It's going to be awhile before we can see Kei on court again.

Hopefully he'll recover fast and not to be plagued with such serious injuries in the future.

Yes, it's PINK!

Go watch the match between Rafael Nadal and Marcos Daniel now.

(Image by Jacques Demarthon/AFP/Getty Images)

2009 French Open Day 1: This is just the beginning...

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic was made to sweat before concluded a 7-6, 6-3 victory over Italian Sara Errani to reach the second round of the French Open.

Errani was not very happy with the umpire during the match with Ivanovic.

Li Na, who missed last year's tournament due to injury, had the honour of becoming the first player to reach the second round thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Marta Domachowska.

Eighteen-year-old Russian qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko, the world no.151, can't bear to see a tearful Mathilde Johansson whom she beat 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.

Diatchenko, making her Grand Slam debut, will face either world number one Dinara Safina or Britain's Anne Keothavong for a place in the third round.

Ivo Karlovic had set a record of 55 aces in a tour-level match but still he lost to former world no.1 Lleyton Hewitt who will move on to the second round after winning 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3.

Marat Safin made sure there would be at least one more date on his French Open farewell tour when he eased past French wildcard Alexandre Sidorenko 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Smoking hot Fernando Verdasco had an easy first round win over Florent Serra after beating the Frenchman 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.

Nicolas Almagro gave Agustin Calleri a brotherly hug after defeating the Argentine 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.

Andy Murray is another player who had an easy win. He defeated Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

Gilles Simon survived a five-setter against American Wayne Odesnik. Simon was forced to work hard before winning 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Hottie Robert Kendrick also survived a five set match after beating Daniel Brands 6-7 (7), 7-5, 7-6 (13), 4-6, 6-3.

For further results, click here.

TV is not showing Ernests Gulbis vs Sam Querrey match. I better go catch my beauty sleep now. Good night!

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Weekend winners... who are not in Paris yet

Aravane Rezai won her first WTA title when she beat Lucie Hradecka 7-6, 6-1 in the Strasbourg International final.

Alexandra Dulgheru, a Romanian qualifier ranked no. 201, won the Warsaw Open (gulp!) in her WTA Tour debut by beating Alona Bondarenko 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-0. Lucky girl!

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez won his first ATP Tour title, rallying past Julien Benneteau 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3 in the Austrian Open final.

Serbia defeated Germany to win the World Team Cup, becoming only the second team in the tournament’s 32-year history to lift the trophy on its debut.

Viktor Troicki claimed a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Rainer Schuettler and Janko Tipsarevic sealed the victory by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2, 6-4.

Nicolas Kiefer and Mischa Zverev took a point for Germany, beating Troicki and Nenad Zimonjic 7-5 4-6 10-7.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)