Andy Murray celebrates Madrid success with an ice bath

After a successful run at the Madrid Masters, Andy Murray made a short trip back to UK before heading off to another tournament at St Petersburg.

There was no glamourous celebration awaited him unless you think an ice bath is one.

Murray warned that the ice bath is not for the faint of heart.

He said with Neoprene boots or not, nothing quite prepares you for the moment when you have to put your body - up to your waist - into the water. Brrrrrrr..........

Here are some tips from Murray:

There's a few clearly identifiable phases in the ice bath. Somewhere after getting in (phase 1) and screaming things like "will someone please say something funny to take my mind off this (phase 2), comes phase 3, which can be best described as trying to look like it's not really a big deal.

So what do you get from an ice bath? Murray explained:

The science of it all is that the cold forces the blood vessels to constrict, draining away the blood. Likewise, when they get out, their legs fill up with 'fresh' blood, helping to invigorate the muscles.

The next thing you know, Murray's ready for his next tournament and is now at St Petersburg.

(Via andymurray.com)

Stanislas Wawrinka blogs about losing his driver's licence and his match in Basel

These are what Stanislas Wawrinka wrote in his blog recently in Basel.

Saturday (Oct 18, 2008)

• Drive his coach from his home town just 15 minutes north of Lausanne to Basel for the Davidoff Swiss Indoors.
• Recently lost his driver's licence for a month for driving a 'little' fast.
• Learned his lesson. There are lots of speed cameras and you'll get caught easily!
• Pheww! The tournament provides Mercedes-Benz transportation service.
• Go to the physio to do some massage.
• Go home and ask girlfriend to do the massage.
• Touristy talk about Lausanne.
• What is a blog without the Olympics gold medal topic!
• Still hoping to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup.
• Match against Benjamin Becker. Post again tomorrow.

Sunday (Oct 19, 2008)

• Lost to Benny Becker 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5).
• Losing before a home crowd that loves him when he won the gold medal.
• Need to stay positive and need a BIG result at Paris next week.
• Got a text message from a good friend. Friends are great whether you win or lose.
• Driving home midnight. Careful with the speed. 4 or 5 days at home before heading to Paris.
• No post tomorrow.

(Via ATP website)

Is Serena Williams ass-et the hottest?

In response to the photos of Serena and boyfriend Common surfing in Hawaii, she wrote in her blog:

Can u guys believe?!!! I'm back!!!

I've been so busy! But I wanted to write something real quick.

I'm in Hawaii surfing, and practicing and having fun!

What do u think of my technique?

Will I come back tonight! I promise to keep u updated!

Why do people always take pictures of my A$$??? Ughhh!

Until next time.

Well, c'mon Serena, people are not only interested in your ass, but also your sis Venus' and Rafael Nadal's.

Only I haven't found a great photo of someone staring on Nadal's nice ass yet :D (Updates: What am I talking about? We already have the most controversial photos here.)

(Via Serena William's website)

Birthdays of top 100 ATP & WTA tennis players

I've just added a list of October birthday babies on the sidebar.

From now onwards, every beginning of the month, I'll put up a list of tennis players who will be celebrating their birthday on that particular month.

Currently, I only have the database for ATP and WTA players in the top 100 rankings for men's singles, women's singles and men's doubles.

I'll update the women's doubles list very soon.

So hope you don't miss your favourite player's birthday anymore.

By the way, today is Jose Acasuco 26th birthday!

Oct 2, Cerretani, James(27)
Oct 2, Bartoli, Marion (24)
Oct 3, Meusburger, Yvonne (25)
Oct 4, Rybarikova, Magdalena (20)
Oct 6, Dushevina, Vera (22)
Oct 7, Ginepri, Robby (26)
Oct 7, Querrey, Sam (21)
Oct 8, Bolelli, Simone (23)
Oct 10, Massu, Nicolas (29)
Oct 20, Wickmayer, Yanina (19)
Oct 20, Cipolla, Flavio(25)
Oct 10, Mertinak, Michal(29)
Oct 12, Arnold Ker, Lucas(34)
Oct 15, Dementieva, Elena (27)
Oct 15, Levine, Jesse (21)
Oct 16, Kohlschreiber, Philipp (25)
Oct 19, Navarro, Ivan (27)
Oct 20, Acasuso, Jose (26)
Oct 26, Kerr, Jordan(29)