Maria Sharapova's Canon commercial photos; Rafael Nadal a potential brand ambassador too?

Maria Sharapova just added a total of 12 new photos of her Canon commercial shoot that was shot earlier of the year in California. Click here for the rest of the photos.


By the way, I'm totally into this photo of Rafael Nadal taking a snapshot with his fans (including a Hugo Boss ball girl) after winning the match against Richard Gasquet at the last sixteen match.

Don't you think digital imaging company should approach Nadal for possible endorsement deal?

Cameras love Nadal. Try ask paparazzis and fans. And his skills speak precision and speed. I thought his energy and passion in tennis can personifies a camera brand.

Oh my, am I too hard to sell Nadal here? :D

(Images via Maria Sharapova's website, Yahoo! Sport)

Zinedine Zidane and son Luca spotted at Rafael Nadal's match in Madrid

Former France soccer player Zinedine Zidane attended the quarterfinal match between Rafael Nadal and compatriot Feliciano Lopez at the Madrid Masters Series tennis tournament in Madrid yesterday.

Together with him is son Luca who is a footballer in the making.

Perhaps Luca will end up to be like his idol Nadal, who chose to switch from football to tennis when he was young too?

It's great to see the Zizou again showing the softer and father figure side of him after the ugly headbutt incident back in the World Cup 2006 final where he rammed his head into Marco Materazzi's chest who had verbally provoked him.

Wonder what the dad and son giggling about?

Perhaps they find Nadal's reaction here rather funny?

Nadal who won the match 6-4, 6-4 took time to meet the football legend and Luca and took a nice memorable picture together.


(Images via Yahoo! Sport, Reuters, Madrid Masters website)

An interview with Mathieu Montcourt at Tashkent Challenger

Giant killer Mathieu Montcourt of France has had a wonderful week so far at Tashkent Challenger recording two upsets in a row against 8th seed Go Soeda of Japan and against 2nd seed and 70th ranked Dudi Sela of Isreal.

Here's a piece of the interview with Montcourt after his win against Sela.

Q: How do you feel after today’s win?

Montcourt: I’m very proud of the way I played today, I played very well. It’s a good win for me. I told myself I had to fight hard and win today and I did it. I’m playing very well and feel nice. Also I’m liking the courts.

Q: Are you surprised with your performance?

Montcourt: Yes, I’m truly surprised, I was not expecting this results. I cam e here with a view to win a few matches. I had lost couple of matches in the last few weeks and feeling low on confidence.

Q: But you are playing relatively well this week?

Montcourt: Like I said, I have nothing to loose, I’m just trying to play fee as I can without expecting too much, that is why I’m probably playing better

Q: It’s believed that the French are essentially clay court players, but your game is much suited for the hard courts?

Montcourt: Very true, I practice at the Rolland Garros which has clay courts, so all of us practice on the clay courts, but if you see today many of the results of French players are coming on hard courts look at Tsonga, Gasquet they are winning on hard courts. Nowadays it doesn’t matter on which surface you practice, one has to learn to win on other surfaces like hard courts and grass too.

Q: How do you look at the future?

Montcourt: I have 2 more events still to go , I’m playing in Korea, I haven’t set any goals , this is the end of the season I want to end it with a high and make lot of points. I want to play well without putting pressure on myself. This way I’m preparing to play better tennis next year.

Q: Your views on the Tashkent Challenger?

Montcourt: It’s my first time in Uzbekistan, and I’m impressed with the organization of the event. I did not expect anything here, but I’m surprised at the way they are doing the event. The people are friendly and the hotel is good, so are the courts and playing conditions. I think it’s a very high and well organized event.

(Via Sunder Iyer on behalf of the media team at Tashkent Challenger)

My money's heading for a big mattress, jokes Federer

Roger Federer, the richest tennis player of all time, joked on yesterday that a "big mattress" could be his salvation from the current world financial meltdown.

The Swiss player revealed at the Madrid Masters that he keeps a close eye on the turbulence in the world money markets.

"I've followed closely to know what's going on. It seems like the markets may come back a bit now, but I think it will take a while for things to calm down."

"I'm not a big risk-taker off the court, I work so hard and travel so much that I don't want to lose money over problems that I cannot control."

Federer called the current upheaval a challenging time for everyone.

"Anyway, I have a big mattress," he joked.

Earlier this week, ATP announced that Federer has surpassed Pete Sampras to become the all-time leader in career prize money earnings in men’s tennis.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion took his career earnings to over $43.3 million at the Madrid Masters this week.

American Sampras earned $43,280,489 in a glittering career that included 14 grand slam titles.

“Obviously it’s nice to have records. I didn’t play tennis because of money, that was never my drive but I have been very successful,” said Federer.

“I’ve had an incredible run in slams lately that racks up the money and also the Masters Cup, there is a lot of money involved there."

“I guess this is also the moment when you can thank the all-time greats from back in the day when it was still amateur to have brought the game to where it is today. They have created the platform for us players today.”

Current world no. 1 Rafael Nadal is the only other active player on the top-10 career earnings list, but he has won less than half of Federer’s total.

Federer has been the season’s leading money winner for five straight seasons but could be displaced by Nadal.

Sampras and Ivan Lendl topped the list six times, but never five straight.

(Via AP and AFP, Image by Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images)