Rome-ancing the clay court season

If Rafael Nadal wins his fifth consecutive French Open later this month, probably 2009 will be the best clay court season he ever had.

Fresh from winning his fourth Rome Masters title on Sunday, beating reigning champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in the final, Nadal looks confident for Madrid Masters and the French Open.

Now Nadal owns 15th Masters Series title and only Andre Agassi has won more with a whopping 17 titles!

"I would love to have more than 17."

"Right now I have 15, I'm very happy for that (but) I'm going to try my best in the next tournaments," said Nadal.

In the men's doubles final, Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor continued their European clay court domination by defeating defending champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(5), 6-3.

While in Stuttgart, Germany, Svetlana Kuznetsova stunned world no.1 Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Sunday.

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Russian Nadia Petrova won the doubles title with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 victory over Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.

(Images Ryan Pierse/Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Not that I don't prefer women's tennis of late...

Too bogged down with work recently, I didn't have much time left to spend on women's tennis for the past weeks, missing the Fed Cup and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

At Stuttgart, looks like the new world no.1 Dinara Safina will play against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final match tomorrow, after defeated Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Earlier, Kuznetsova easily overcame compatriot Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic are already in Rome for a promotional event at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Someone in tennis forum suggested that Vika was flipping off Ana.

Okay, they are friends again :P

(Images via Quotidiano.net)

Kei Nishikori visits EA Sports studio

Recently, Kei Nishikori, the cover athlete for EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis (Japanese edition) visited the EA Sports studio in Orlando.

"I am really excited to featured in EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis," Kei said.

"I enjoy representing Japan on the court and the fact that I am now included along with both current and past players in the game is really great."

"The Grand Slams are tournaments that every tennis professional wants to win and now through the game everyone will be able to put themselves on the court and experience the excitement and joy of playing as a pro."

Kei tried his hand on the game.

He chose to play his own character and played against Pete Sampras and Rafael Nadal.

The results?

Look at Kei's reaction here. He won without breaking a sweat!

Kei has the potential to beat those big guys in real tennis matches. But he has to recover completely from the current arm injury first.

Thanks to Olivier of IMG for the photos.

(Images by Carlos Navarro/EA SPORTS)

The Djoke continues...

After his 'infamous' HEAD viral video, Novak Djokovic continues to crack us up at the Rome Masters.

First it was the Djoker turned Mary Poppins on court during an exhibition match.

Then, Nole must have thought he had imitated so many tennis players like Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal in the past, he decided to imitate his new friend, Italian showman Fiorelli instead.

Nole was a special guest on Fiorelli show last weekend.

So what happened was, before his second round match against Albert Montanes, Nole came out to the court imitating Fiorello, wearing a wig and limping along.

Of course Montanes lost 6-7 (5-7), 0-6 because he was having a hard time staying focus on court with Nole around.

Guess what, he even wear that freaking wig when meeting the kids during an off-court event!

He didn't scare off any of the kids, I hope.


(Images via menstennisforums)