Here comes sexy Tsonga!

Andy Murray said Jonas Bjorkman catwalk was hysterically funny.

And I say Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is hysterically sexy! Don't you just love his pouty lips?

To watch the video of the catwalk, click here.


(Images via andymurray.com, fft.fr, zimbio.com, Tennis Masters Cup official website)

Quotes from the weekend winners

“I was playing with 15,000 people. Everybody was behind me today.
The crowd was magic."
~ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said after defeating David Nalbandian 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Paris Masters and becoming the 8th players to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai next week.

“Winning in Bastad and Stockholm and finishing off with Paris it’s nothing that I could have really expected. This is way beyond my goals at the end here so I just hope the good omen continues in Shanghai.”

~ Jonas Bjorkman said after he and Kevin Ullyett defeated Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

"It was really wonderful to win this event. To finish off the season like this is wonderful. Now I have a long journey ahead of me to Doha, but it'll definitely be worth it. And then it'll be really nice to put the racquets aside for a few weeks!"

~ Nadia Petrova beat Bethanie Mattek 4-6 6-4 6-1 to take the Quebec City title and qualify for WTA Championship in Doha.

In the doubles final, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Vania King dismissed Jill Craybas and Tamarine Tanasugarn in only two sets, 7-6(3), 6-4. No quotation was available.

(Via Yahoo! Sport, ATP website, Sony Ericsson WTA website)

Bryan Twins off-court; Dubs results at Madrid Masters

Top seeds and two-time defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan took time out from their first-match preparations at the Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid yesterday to sign autographs and copies of the new ATP Feel the Speed of Doubles book for fans.

The American twins, who have amassed a 60-14 doubles record and clinched five titles this year, will contest their first match since winning the US Open crown last month against Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa in Madrid on Thursday.

In second round action, fifth seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett—who are tied No. 5 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race—boosted their chances of qualifying for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai after beating Tomas Berdych and Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 3-6, 10-7 in 80 minutes.

Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, who are locked in a two-team battle with the Bryan brothers for year-end No. 1 honours, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win over Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.

Polish duo Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski also advanced to the quarterfinals on Wednesday, after edging past French duo and recent Metz titlists Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra 7-5, 7-6(14) in 91 minutes.

Rafael Nadal, who had been due to partner compatriot Carlos Moya in the second round against fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles on Wednesday afternoon, withdrew from that match due to slight pain in his lower back.

(Images by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

David Nalbandian wins Stockholm Open; Jonas Bjorkman & Kevin Ullyett take dubs title

Top-seeded David Nalbandian posted a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling to win the Stockholm Open final on Sunday.

“I think I played a very solid match today,” said Nalbandian.

“Robin is a tough opponent. All our matches are very tight and this time it wasn’t different. He hits the ball very hard all the time so I had to play my best to beat him.”

Nalbandian now has a 9-8 record in ATP finals by claiming his second title this year after clinching the Buenos Aires trophy in February. He also finished runner-up at Acapulco the following week.

Nalbandian, who claimed the $156,000 first prize, then held at love to lead 5-3 and wrapped up the match with another break after Soderling double-faulted on match point.

“Overall I’m happy with my performance this week,” said Nalbandian who claimed the $156,000 first prize.

“I think I’ve played well every time I stepped in the court and this gives me some confidence going into Madrid.”

In men's doubles, top seeds Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyett clinched their first team ATP title at the If Stockholm Open, after defeating Swedish wild cards Johan Brunstrom and Michael Ryderstedt 6-1, 6-3 in the dubs final, which lasted 55 minutes.

It was Bjorkman’s 700th doubles match win (700-302 lifetime). He was being carried around Centre Court in a wheelchair by Stockholm tournament staff.

"This is a perfect ending for me to win the doubles title in Stockholm, in my last match in Sweden, with my family and friends, old coaches, watching me. The only person was missing today was my son Max who is back at Monte-Carlo in school."

"We didn't want to ruin Jonas' farewell match in Sweden so we let them win [laughs]," said Ullyett the 23-year-old Stockholm resident Ryderstedt, who was appearing in the first doubles final of his career.

"They played incredible tennis and were just too good for us today."

Bjorkman and Ullyett, who started the week at No. 6 in the ATP 2008 Race with 386 points, collected €37,500 in prize money, while Brunstrom and Ryderstedt will split €22,300.

(Images via Yahoo! Sport, expressen.se)

Tennis players at the US Open Wilson Party

Here are more pictures from parties before the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open Wilson Party were taken place at Mansion, New York. Some of the players seen at the party are Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Novak Djokovic and Jonas Bjorkman.


(Via Yahoo! Sports)

Shirtless tennis players: It's hot right here in Beijing!

The Olympics 2008 will start in less than 12 hours! But before that...

It was hazy and it was definitely hot in Beijing yesterday!

With that kind of weather, there's only one things for the ladies, shirtless players. Novak Djokovic, Guillermo Canas, Nicolas Massu, Fernando Gonzalez, Jonas Bjorkman, Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal (pictures all in sequence) sure couldn't stand the heat and took their shirts off. Nadal's picture is a repeat from this post.

UPDATES: Checking the latest weather report, it's raining now in Beijing, which is good for the Opening Ceremony tonight.

(Images by BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

More photos from the Beijing Olympics training session

Many tennis players are already in Beijing practising at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre.

Samantha Stosur (Australia), Roger Federer (Switzerland), Ana Ivanovic (Serbia), Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden), Rafael Nadal (Spain), Fernando Gonzalez (Chile), Zheng Jie (China) and Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) are among the players spotted here. All pictures are in sequence. Latest updates: Andy Murray.

Here's a bonus picture; Nadal shirtless!


(Images by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Venus Williams: The Queen of Wimbledon

Now, my chance to win a trip to London under the ESPNStar.com's Thai Airways contest is brighter as I've predicted Venus Williams win at the Wimbledon women singles.

Venus proves she is really comfortable playing on grass court by winning her 5th Wimbledon women singles trophy! Not only that, it's a double celebration for Venus as she also won the women's doubles title!

“I’m definitely more in tune with my sister’s feelings because one of us has to win and one of us has to lose,” the No. 7-seeded Venus said. “You could never detract from winning a Wimbledon, so of course it doesn’t detract from that. But I’m definitely thinking about how my sister’s feeling.”

I think it's bullshit when people said the sisters will sit down together with their parents and discuss who's going to win at Wimbledon. Serena lost to her big sister Venus 5-7, 4-6, as though she had just finished losing to a stranger.

“It’s definitely not any easier,” Serena said. “I just look at her as another opponent at the end of the day.”

About 3.5 hours after the women singles final ended, the sisters returned to the same court, except now they were playing on the same side of the net, and they beat Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-2 to win the women’s doubles title.

On the men's doubles final, Daniel Nestor celebrates with Nenad Zimonjic after winning 7-6 (14-12), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3, in a match that lasted 2 hours, 39 minutes against Kevin Ullyett and Jonas Bjorkman.

(Images by AFP/POOL/Glyn Kirk/Ian Walton/Julian Finney/Getty Images)