A sneak peak inside Nicolas Kiefer's pants

Nicolas Kiefer retired with an abdominal muscle tear in the second round after down 1-6 against Jurgen Melzer at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle.

(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)

Merry X'mas & Happy Holiday wishes from the ATP & Sony Ericsson WTA Tour players

The star players at ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour send out a very cute Christmas message to fans.



Lead by world no. 3 Novak Djokovic, the players came up with a hilarious rendition of the "12 Days of Christmas'.

Some of the players include Andy Murray, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Jo-WIlfried Tsonga, Vera Zvonareva, Nikolay Davydenko, Dinara Safina, Nicolas Kiefer and many more. Do check out Sam Querrey singing too!

At the end of the video, ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour invite tennis fans to check out the brand new TennisTV.com, which will live stream more than 700 matches, highlights, exclusive interviews and behind the scenes features from more than 40 tournaments around the world in 2009.

Rafael Nadal keeps closing in on No. 1

Rafael Nadal saw off Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday to win the Rogers Cup, his fifth straight tournament victory.

Nadal has won a total of 29 consecutive matches and seven tournaments so far—including the French Open and Wimbledon—this year! This was his first win on hard court this season.

“I win on every surface, no? I win on grass, on hard, on indoor, and on clay, too,” Nadal said. “So if I am playing my best tennis I can win on every surface, no?”

Kiefer was unseeded and ranks 37th in the world. He has been playing magnificent tennis for the past week beating Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Youzhny and Gilles Simon. However his chance to beat Nadal in the final fell short.

“I don’t know—I mean, if I would have the solution, I would change it, but so far I didn’t find a little thing,” Kiefer said.

When the men’s tennis rankings are updated, Federer will still retain his No. 1 spot, which he has held since February 2004. With the win at Toronto Masters, Nadal is now only 275 points behind Federer, with a chance to claim the top spot next week in Cincinnati.

For that to happen, Nadal would have to win and Federer would have to lose before the semifinals, according to the ATP Tour Web site. Whatever happens, it could set up a potentially dramatic showdown at the United States Open in August, right after the Beijing Olympics.

(Image by AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

Have a good weekend!

I'll be going back to hometown tonight. So, no blogging during this weekend.

Before I knock off for my weekend rest, here's a picture (or two) of Nicolas Kiefer. Finally he got himself a haircut (and clean shaven)! Look so much better now.

Handsome and confident (Sorry but he's out from Gstaad Open anyway due to foot problem).

Ugly and depressing, eh? No more.

And lastly, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have confirmed their place at the prestigious Tennis Masters Cup, to be held for the fourth year at Shanghai’s Qi Zhong Stadium from November 9-16.

(Images by Getty Images/AFP/File/Glyn Kirk)