REMINDER: Rafael Nadal is the world no. 1 and he bites

Finally Rafael Nadal accepted his 2008 year-end no. 1 trophy.

He received the award right after the match against Fabrice 'The Magician, No More' Santoro at the Exxon Mobil Qatar Open Tennis in Doha.

Nadal sent Santoro packing after handed him a bagel and a stick in just 48 minutes.

Andy Murray's presence is alarming, but you know what, RAFA BITES, okay? :P


(Images by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Rising star Kei Nishikori gets Heineken wildcard, advances to second round

Japanese rising star Kei Nishikori who has been granted a wildcard entry for the Heineken Open in Auckland did not disappoint in the first round.

Nishikori defeated Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the second round where he will meet Tomas Berdych.


According to tournament director Richard Palmer earlier last month,

"It's very exciting to have a player like him (Kei) in the field, especially since he is rated so highly by players and tennis officials around the world as someone who could be in the top-20 by the end of 2009."

(Images by William WestAFP/Getty Images)

Chennai Open: From the catwalk to the court

Prakash Amritraj, Horia Tecau, Nikolay Davydenko and Mahesh Bhupathi

In keeping with tradition, Kingfisher Chennai Open Good Times Opening Party kicked off with a fashion show featuring the spring/summer collection of Manoviraj Khosla and Vivek Karunakaran’s uber-chic collection.

Players who did the catwalk were Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Prakash Amritraj, Nikolay Davydenko, Yves Allegaro and Horia Tecau.

Leander Paes

Mahesh Bhupathi

Here are more off court photos.

Leander Paes and dubs partner Lukas Dlouhy pose on elephant sculptures.

Alberto Martin and Pablo Andujar show us Spain's other favourite sport.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko advanced to the second round of the Chennai Open after beating Daniel Koellerer 6-2, 6-3.

A favourite to win at this tournament, Davydenko will next face Lukas Dlouhy, who needed three sets to beat Go Soeda of Japan.

Third-seed, Marin Cilic had little difficulty in making the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Alberto Martin in 91 minutes, while Bjorn Phau did not exert much in getting past Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-2, 7-5.

Indian player Prakash Amirtraj suffered a disappointing defeat to Rainer Schuettler 2-6, 6-4, 1-6 in 85 minutes, becoming the topic of criticism on continuing to falter despite getting the wild cards in succession in the event.

Rohan Bopanna who qualified for the event after beating Michael Berrer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 however lost in the first round to Denis Isomin 6-4, 7-6(3).

For more info and results, click here.

(Via chennaiopen.org, ptinews.com, timesofindia.indiatimes.com; Images viaatpworldtour.com)

Novak Djokovic's HEADache; could be HEADing to Sydney

Novak Djokovic’s preparations for the defence of his Australian Open title suffered an unexpected setback after being knocked out of the Brisbane International in the first round.

The world no. 3 who has made a switch over to Head from Wilson, lost his debut match at the brand new Pat Rafter Arena to Latvian Ernests Gulbis 6-4 6-4.

“I am not panicking,” he told reporters.

“The Australian Open is my highest goal for this part of the year and I really want to play well there.

“It’s not the end of the world. It’s the first match, so I’m not going to be pessimistic.

“I have a lot of time now to prepare for the Aussie Open.”

From a chat with Zara, Nole could be getting/accepting wild card entry to play at the Medibank International Sydney Tennis Tournament starting this weekend.

He has to accept it (if offered) or else he will begin the Australian Open with only one competitive match under his belt this season.

(Image via Yahoo! Sport)