Dmitry Tursunov wins at Eastbourne, Benjamin Becker wins 1st ATP title

Dmitry Tursunov became the first men’s champion at the Eastbourne International with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic.

However he suffered an ankle injury and that could crush his Wimbledon hopes.

Meanwhile, in Den Bosch, the Netherlands, German qualifier Benjamin Becker won his first ATP title after beating Dutch wild card Raemon Sluiter 7-5, 6-3 at the Ordina Open.

Becker had beaten top-seeded Fernando Verdasco and no. 4 seed Rainer Schuettler on his way to the final.

(Images by Leon Neal/Robert Vos/AFP/Getty Images)

Let's celebrate brotherhood!

Either you hate it or embrace it.

If you don't get it, let's just say that these are just funny photos ;-)

Andy Murray in pink.

Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon.

Marin Cilic and Mario Ancic.

Dmitry Tursunov and Grigor Dimitrov.

Marc Gicquel riding on Gilles Simon.

(All images via menstennisforums.com)

Defending champion Dmitry Tursunov at the official draw of Medibank International Sydney

Dmitry Tursunov and Svetlana Kuznetsova were at the Myer Department Store in Sydney's city centre.

They were getting some help from fans in conducting the official draw. There was an also autograph session with the players including Mario Ancic and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Check out the draws and OOP here.

Dima will be defending his title here. He's definitely an interesting player to watch out for, whether it's on court or off court. If you have missed his 'off court adventurous ride' recently in MTF or DtL, check it out here. Click for a larger version.


(Images via Medibank Sydney website, downthelinetennis)

Novak Djokovic's best Halloween costume

Novak Djokovic arrived on the court wearing a mask before his match against Dmitry Tursunov at the Paris Tennis Masters tournament.

Djokovic said: "I got this mask at dinner (three years ago). I asked them, Can I take it? They allowed me to take it. The next day I say for fun I'm going to get into the court like that. I did. That's a little tradition I have with the mask at Halloween."

In that match, Tursunov retired with a shoulder injury. Djokovic was ahead of the match with 6-2, 4-3.

(Via Yahoo! Sport)

A tea party with Dmitry Tursunov at St. Petersburg

Dmitry Tursunov and St. Petersburg Open organizers visited Children`s Crisis Center - a charitable public organization that supports children at risk and children from crisis families.

The meeting with the children from the centre went on in a very joyful and relaxed atmosphere.

Dmitry told the children about his childhood, his school years, and about the long time he spent in the USA away from his family.

The children had opportunity to ask him questions that concern them most at the moment - how to achieve success in life, how to choose the right profession.

They were interested in many other things as well, for instance, the attitude of the famous tennis player to bad habits.

Tursunov answered that the only thing he tried was smoking.

"Though I did not like smoking and I quit not even having started", Dmitry added.

It turned out that the kid`s main hobby is table tennis, and Dmitry played with the children with great pleasure.

Though, no one could beat Dmitry in the mini-table tennis tournament that they held after tea - his tennis skills showed up.

After the tournament Dmitry gave the children prizes with St. Petersburg Open logo, and invited them to the tournament and the master class for young players held by Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn.

Besides, the children will have an opportunity to take part in different competitions and games organized in the arena of the St. Petersburg Sports and Concert Hall within the framework of the Family Day.

Updates:
The bad news is veteran Dominik Hrbaty upset Dmitry Tursunov 6-1, 6-1 in the first round at St. Petersburg Open.

(Via St Petersburg official website)

Dmitry Tursunov beats Paul-Henri Mathieu for title in Metz

Dmitry Tursunov captured the Open de Moselle title on Sunday with a three-set victory over French crowd favorite Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The fifth-seeded Tursunov notched a 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-4 triumph for his fifth career title and second of 2008.

He also won in Sydney at the start of the season, and Sunday's win improved his career finals record to 5-2. One of those losses came in July at Indianapolis.

Mathieu, seeded fourth, was playing in his first final of the year and the seventh of his career. He fell to 4-3 in title matches, last winning a tournament last year in Gstaad.

The victory was worth $82,000 for Tursunov, who was born in Moscow and resides in California.

He improved to 2-0 lifetime against Mathieu, also winning a three-set match at the Queen's Club in 2007.

Frenchmen Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra retained their Open de Moselle title after defeating top seeded Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 in a repeat of the 2007 final.

(Via sportsnetwork.com, Image by Yahoo! Sport)

Argentina name David Nalbandian, Juan Martin Del Potro for singles; Marat Safin chooses Bangkok Open instead

Could Juan Martin del Potro and David Nalbandian be the perfect combination to win against the Russian team?

Argentina named David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro to play in the singles in their Davis Cup world group semi-final against Russia at the weekend.

"David and Juan Martin will be the singles players," team captain Alberto Mancini told a news conference.

Argentina's team captain Alberto Mancini gives instructions to players Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian during a training session.

"We haven't decided on the doubles, it depends on what happens in Friday's opening two rubbers."

"Naming them now is a lift for team morale as they don't have to live with any uncertainty about who's going to play. Everyone knows their role and that is very positive."

David Nalbandian, his coach Martin Jaite and team's captain Alberto Mancini watch a flaw in the court's floor during a training session in Buenos Aires.

More complaints from David Nalbandian about the clay court.

Juan Martin del Potro looks relax and have no problem with the unpopular court surface.

Agustin Calleri and Guillermo Canas complete the Argentina team for the Sept 19-21 tie.

Nalbandian warned that Russia would not struggle as much on the clay surface at the Parque Roca as other visiting teams.

"Playing on clay makes a big difference for Argentina against a lot of countries, but I don't think it will be like that against Russia," he said.

"They have players who are very strong on this surface and it's going to be tough."

As for the Russian team, Nikolay Davydenko has started his practice along with Igor Andreev and Dmitry Tursunov.

Russian Davis Cup team captain Shamil Tarpischev and player Nikolay Davydenko
prepare for a training session.

Dmitry Tursunov looking cute.

Earlier on Marat Safin has decided to take part in the Thailand Open instead of helping his country in the Davis Cup.

The world number 39 has pulled out of the competition because of the distance between Argentina and Thailand.

This time Marat Safin is not wearing that Russian shirt.

Safin said on his website that he needed points to improve his world ranking so he decided to participate in the Thailand Open which is scheduled from September 21-28.

''I decided to pull out from the Russian Davis Cup team because I want to concentrate on the Thailand Open,'' said the former top-ranked player in the world.

He felt the trip from Buenos Aires to Bangkok would be very long and tiring and could make it difficult for him to play well in Bangkok in order to get points.

He asked Russia's captain Shamil Tarpischev to release him from the Davis Cup squad and Tarpischev agreed.

''My aim by the end of this season is to be in the top 20 again,'' he said.

Safin will fly to Bangkok on Sept 21. The tournament will also feature a number of world-class players including number three Novak Djokovic.

(Via Reuters UK, Bangkok Post, Images via Yahoo! Sport)

Argentine, Russian teams train for Davis Cup

Argentine and Russian teams trained on Monday in the central stadium of Roca Park in the city of Buenos Aires, where on Friday they will open the semifinals of the Davis Cup.

Argentine team formed by David Nalbandian (world no.7), Juan Martin Del Potro (13th), Agustin Calleri (51st) and Guillermo Canas (55th), trained in the morning under the supervision of their coaches and the captain Alberto Mancini.

The players complained about the conditions of the court.

On the same day, Russians Igor Andreev (19th) and Dmitry Tursunov (26th) arrived for training but Nicolay Davydenko (6th) is nowhere to be seen.

In Russian team, the main last-hour news was the confirmation that Marat Safin (38th) will not compete in the Davis Cup.

The other semi final will be played between Spain and U.S. in Madrid.

Here are some of their practice photos.

Argentina's Captain Alberto Mancini drinks a tradtional drink called "mate".

Russia's Dmitry Tursunov wishes he had some boobs.

Argentina's Guillermo Canas serves during a practice.

Argentina's David Nalbandian returns a ball during a practice.

Russia's Igor Andreev, says hi to Argentina's Alberto Mancini during a tennis practice.

Igor Andreev, the Russian PR guy greets Argentina's Agustin Calleri during a practice.

Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro getting some advice from Captain, Alberto Mancini.

(Via www.chinaview.cn, Images by Yahoo! Sports)

2009 ATP World Tour Player Calendar revealed

Tennis players never shy to practice shirtless.

But when it comes to photo shoot, some of them find unbuttoning their shirts for the 2009 ATP World Tour Player Calendar almost proved too much.

French photographer Corrine Dubreuil revealed, "Marcos Baghdatis (Mr April) was very shy at the beginning. He was not comfortable, so he told me he would only take off his shirt if everybody left the studio.

"When I started to take the photos, Marcos started to dance to the music and take off the shirt very slowly in a very sexy way, like a belly dance. When everybody returned, he did an Andrew Ilie or Pat Rafter by tearing his shirt to pieces!"

Baghdatis joined 13 other players from each region of the world for the shoot, from the camera savvy Tommy Robredo and Fernando Verdasco – who have both appeared naked in Cosmopolitan Magazine in support of the Everyman Male Cancer Campaign – to Tomas Berdych, Bob and Mike Bryan, Fernando Gonzalez, Tommy Haas, Ivan Ljubicic, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Juan Monaco, Paradorn Srichaphan, Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny.



Dubreuil shot the classic and striking monochrome photographs for the player calendar in Paris, during the ATP Masters Series event last year. Toutchai U-Bol was on hand to photograph Srichaphan in Bangkok.

"By far the most seductive player was Tursunov. He kept playing with my camera and flirting with the make-up artist Vinca! He was great and easy to shoot."

Check out Tursunov in the video! Sexy!

But Dubreuil's favourite is Verdasco. He said, "What a body! He got so involved in the shoot and knew exactly which photographs were the best."

Fans will be able to view the photographs at the W Hotel in Times Square, New York, during the US Open fortnight.

(Via ATP.com)