Sharapova, Isner, Raonic, Lu: Walkabout in Paris

It's always nice to see players outside the tennis courts.

Let's take a look at what some of the players do when they are not playing or practicing.

Maria Sharapova wears sweatpants and tennis shoes as she arrives back to the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome hotel.

John Isner enjoys a day off with a visit to the Eiffel Tower.

Milos Raonic found the Canadian consulate in Paris.

 

Rendy Lu Yen-hsun was at the Japanese street in Paris.

(Images via Facebook pages, Zimbio.com)

John Isner appears on David Letterman

John Isner who became famous overnight because of his record-breaking match against Nicolas Mahut was on The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday to present Letterman's Top 10.

Here's a recap of the top 10 again.

"Thoughts That Went Through John Isner's Mind During the 11-Hour Tennis Match."

10. "I'm exhausted."
9. "We've been playing so long, I've forgotten - am I Isner or Mahut?"
8. "Remember when I said I was exhausted? That was 8 hours ago!"
7. "Wonder if I'll be sore tomorrow."
6. "I'm gonna lay back until 51-50, then make my move."
5. "I'm asleep."
4. "Why couldn't I have played Federer? It would've been over in 15 minutes."
3. "Cramp!"
2. "Honestly, I don't care if I win or lose - I just don't want to die."
1. "Larry King has had marriages that didn't last this long."

Simon, Ginepri, Isner go barefoot & shirtless for Muay Thai fun

I've been neglecting other tournaments lately to provide exclusive coverage on the Malaysian Open.

So here's a little bit of updates regarding the PTT Thailand Open.

Gilles Simon, Robby Ginepri and John Isner attended a promotional/traditional event for the tournament yesterday.

They did a Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) demonstration guided by Thai Olympian Somjit Jongjorhor.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did the same thing last year.

I hope the other guys take good care of Simon. He and his 'chicken legs' look too fragile for this sport :P

Here are more pictures at the event.

By the way, if you haven't know yet, Sam Querrey had a freak accident earlier this week while practicing for the Thailand Open.

Querrey was said to have sat on a glass table after practice on Monday and fell through, cutting his right forearm. The injury required immediate emergency surgery.

(Photo by Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)

US Open Week 1 Wrap-up: Bizarre weekend as Roddick, Sharapova, Safina oust in the third round

It seems like a bizarre day at Flushing Meadows as Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina were sent off by lesser known players, John Isner, Melanie Oudin and Petra Kvitova respectively.

Big-serving Roddick was defeated by the 6-foot-9 and countryman Isner who won 7-6, 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6.

Another American who delivers one of the biggest shock is Oudin who sent off Sharapova in a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory, followed up her win over another Russian Elena Dementieva in the earlier round.

In a late night match moment ago, top seed and world no. 1 Dinara Safina blowed a chance at the season ending Grand Slam after she was defeated 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 by little-known Petra Kvitova.

Earlier, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic led a parade of seeds — Nikolay Davydenko (8), Fernando Verdasco (10), Robin Soderling (12) and Radek Stepanek (15)—into the second week of the hardcourt major.

Kudos to American Jessie Witten who battled for almost 3 and a 1/2 hours before succumbing 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 to Djokovic.

That was hell of an entertaining match as we saw Djokovic's racquet slipped off his hand several times.

I truly enjoyed this match although the LIVE coverage on TV kept hopping from court to court.

Since I did not post any updates on Saturday, here's the complete results for Day 5 and Day 6.

US Open men's singles third round results from New York on Sunday (prefix denotes seeding)

14-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat 21-James Blake (U.S.) 7-6(2) 6-4 6-4
John Isner (U.S.) beat 5-Andy Roddick (U.S.) 7-6(3) 6-3 3-6 5-7 7-6(5)
10-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat 20-Tommy Haas (Germany) 3-6 7-5 7-6(8) 1-6 6-4
12-Robin Soderling (Sweden) beat 22-Sam Querrey (U.S.) 6-2 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1
8-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Marco Chiudinelli (Switzerland) 6-4 7-5 7-5
4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Jesse Witten (U.S.) 6-7(2) 6-3 7-6(2) 6-4
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 31-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-4
15-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat 23-Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3

US Open women's singles third round results from New York on Sunday (prefix denotes seeding)

Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat 1-Dinara Safina (Russia) 6-4 2-6 7-6(5)
9-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat 24-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 6-3 6-2
Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) 7-6(4) 6-4
6-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Shahar Peer (Israel) 7-5 6-1
Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) beat Sara Errani (Italy) 6-3 6-4
Gisela Dulko (Argentina) beat Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 6-3 6-4
Melanie Oudin (U.S.) beat 29-Maria Sharapova (Russia) 3-6 6-4 7-5
13-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat 21-Zheng Jie (China) 6-4 6-1


US Open men's singles second round results from New York on Saturday (prefix denotes seeding)

3-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-0 3-6 6-3 6-4
Taylor Dent (US) beat Ivan Navarro (Spain) 6-4 5-7 6-7(1) 7-5 7-6(9)
Jose Acasuso (Argentina) beat 18-David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3 3-6 1-6 6-3 6-2
11-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Josselin Ouanna (France) 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4
13-Gael Monfils (France) beat Andreas Beck (Germany) 6-3 7-5 6-3
32-Nicolas Almagro (Spain) beat Robby Ginepri (US) 6-7(7) 6-2 6-3 4-6 6-4
Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) beat Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 2-6 6-4 4-6 7-5 7-6(4)
2-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Paul Capdeville (Chile) 6-2 3-6 6-0 6-2
Daniel Koellerer (Austria) beat Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) 3-6 6-2 6-1 6-4
17-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) 6-3 6-7(3) 7-6(2) 6-2
9-Gilles Simon (France) beat Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 6-3 6-2 6-4
6-Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) beat Juergen Melzer (Austria) 7-6(6) 6-3 6-3
24-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) beat Philipp Petzschner (Germany) 1-6 3-6 6-4 6-2 6-4
16-Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Jesse Levine (US) 4-6 2-6 6-0 6-3 6-0
Julien Benneteau (France) beat 30-Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 6-1 3-6 6-1 6-0
7-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 7-5 6-3 6-4

US Open women's singles third round results from New York on Saturday (prefix number denotes seeding)

3-Venus Williams (US) beat Magdalena Rybarikova (Slovakia) 6-2 7-5
Kim Clijsters (Belgium) beat Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) 6-0 6-2
18-Li Na (China) beat Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-4 6-2
7-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) beat 31-Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-2 6-4
26-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat 8-Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 4-6 6-2 6-2
2-Serena Williams (US) beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Spain) 6-3 7-5
22-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Vania King (US) 6-2 6-2
10-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) beat Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) 6-1 6-1

(Via AP, Reuters, TVNZ, US Open website)