Maria Sharapova celebrates victory at Juan Carlos Ferrero's Equelite tennis academy in Villena

Instead of moving on straight to the grass court after her triumph at the French Open, Maria Sharapova spent some time at Juan Carlos Ferrero's Equelite tennis academy in Villena and stayed at Ferrero's luxury hotel in Bocairente.

The academy organised a dinner specially for her. Juan Carlos Ferrero and Nicolas Almagro also attended the event.

According to the academy's website, Sharapova has been training there since young and last year has trained under the guidance of Antonio Martínez Cascales, Juan Carlos Ferrero's coach.

In case you want to know, there was a rumour between Sharapova and Ferrero dated back in 2005 but it didn't get anywhere because Ferrero had a girlfriend back then.

Sharapova is heading to London to prepare for the next Grand Slam, the Wimbledon.

In another news, Sharapova has been chosen to be Russia's flag bearer at the opening of next month's London Olympics, she announced on Facebook.

(Via Equelite.com)

Rafael Nadal’s $370,000 watch goes missing in Paris

Updates: The watch was found in the surbubs of Paris today. The thief (hotel employee) has been arrested.

Rafael Nadal's luxury Richard Mille watch worth $370,000 has disappeared from the hotel room in Paris sometime on Monday night or early Tuesday, according to Reuters report.

The watch was last seen during the winner photo session

Nadal was seen wearing the Richard Mille watch after the rain-delayed French Open men’s final and winner photo session but couldn’t find it when he woke up on Tuesday, Nadal’s family told police.

Nadal was spotted wearing a different watch in Halle yesterday

“Nobody broke into the hotel room,” a police source told Reuters.

The watch is a special, limited edition. Richard Mille had lent Nadal the watch for the tournament.

However the good news is Nadal can afford a replacement as Nadal pocketed $1.6 million in prize money on Monday.

(Via Reuters UK; Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Andy Murray becomes Rado ambassador

I just realised I have not post anything about Andy Murray after coming back from a long blogging break.

Recently announced as the official timekeeper for the Aegon Queens tennis tournament, Swiss watch brand Rado also revealed that Murray is their newest ambassador.

Murray said, “I’m really excited about joining the Rado team. The brand is all about edgy style and performance. Timing, precision and accuracy are vitally important for me, whether that relates to fitness drills, measuring my performance or striking a tennis ball.”

(Image via Andy Murray's Facebook page)

Rafael Nadal arrives in Halle

Gerry Weber tournament director Ralf Weber welcomes Rafael Nadal to the tournament with a cake at the hotel where he will be staying for the week.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)