Posted: May 19th, 2010 | Author: nmccarvel | Filed under: USTA, aravane rezai, fed cup, lacoste, mary pierce, new york magazine, short balls, sunglasses, tennis | Tags: Gabriela Sabitini, LeBron James, On the Baseline, Paula Vergara, Rostam Batmanglij, Towleroad, USGA, Vampire Weekend, Will Leitch | 1 Comment »
Is that Mary we see?! Upon closer inspection, no… no, it isn’t. Does this mean Troy can tell the future?? (TSF illustration by Troy Venechanos)
We wonder if Aravane Rezai could become this decade’s Mary Pierce at the French Open? It’s been a decade since Pierce, the on-again, off-again French citizen (according to tennis enthusiasts), won the title at Roland Garros much to her fans’ pleasure. Rezai has already allowed controversy to swirl around her young career, and her Iranian heritage runs parallel to Mary’s history with Canada. Both are bigger-built girls who belt off the baseline and use their hard, flat strokes to make up for less-than-best movement.
It will be interesting to see if this really could develop. Rezai has been steadily rising in the WTA ranks for the last three years, and might use 2010 as her breakthrough year after winning in Madrid last week. In what has mostly been a lackluster year, Rezai beat Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams to win the tournament. Rezai is a respectable 9-6 at Roland Garros, and this year is a guaranteed seed now that she is in the top 20. Could she be a week two contender? Guess we’ll see which Mary… we mean Aravane, shows up.
Looks like the USTA will have plenty of choices when it comes to this year’s Fed Cup final between the U.S. squad and the Italian team. 11 cities have entered bids to hold the November tie. Among the bidders are three cities in Texas (San Antonio, Dallas and Fort Worth) and two in California (Pacific Palisades and San Diego). Looks like Montgomery, Ala. decided to sit this one out (surprise!). Our guess: one of the Texas sites. No WTA event is held within a solid 1,000 miles of said state.
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Posted: April 28th, 2010 | Author: nmccarvel | Filed under: bruce jenkins, fed cup, jon wertheim, liezel huber, nick mccarvel, serena williams, short balls, tennis | Tags: Adult Ed, Andrew Feldman, Nick Clegg | No Comments »
British politician Nick Clegg, second from left, is pictured back in the day playing some prep school tennis in Westminster. He’s almost as pissed as Liezel Huber. Almost. (Photo via the AP.)
Is the Fed Cup Broken? There was plenty of debate early this week about how much attention was paid to the Fed Cup ties this past weekend. I’ve got to say I was a little surprised that overall coverage wasn’t happening a little more consistently across the board. Even on the Birmingham News‘s web site you had to seek out links for the U.S.-Russia tie, which was happening right there in town! The most complete coverage? That came on the Fed Cup web site itself. Which, as an international event, is not a good sign. Bruce Jenkins pointed out some major flaws in the system (playing for next year’s groups in April; a six month gap between the semis and finals) in a piece on CNNSI.com.
Fashion in Action. We showed you last week that Vince Spadea is designing his own tees, so you gotta love this number inspired by Rihanna‘s pop-tastic hit, “Rude Boy“. If that doesn’t do it for you, head over to Brooklyn’s Union Hall next week to hear USTA employee and fashion buff Andrew Feldman talk about “how (and why) professional tennis players attire themselves for competition at the US Open and other major tennis events” as part of the Adult Ed series. You know we’ll be there. But if you can’t make it to NYC, the NYT has this confusing (and low budget) shoot to give you your fashion fix for the day.
Serena Honored, Still Missing. The WTA is celebrating Serena Williams‘s 100th week at the helm of the rankings. She becomes just the seventh woman in tour history to complete such a feat. It doesn’t seem like Serena has played in 99 weeks, but I guess we should celebrate he Slam success instead of harping on a Hingis-Ivanovic-Safina #1 sitchu, right?
Liezel, The Angry. We’re not sure if Jon Wertheim finds all these gems on the web himself or if he gets a little help from his Mailbag faithful, but he posted this video of Liezel Huber freaking out at Wimbledon a few years back after being hit by a ball struck by Nadia Petrova. The ironic thing, Wertheim notes, is that Huber and Petrova have now partnered together on the dubs circuit.
Posted: April 24th, 2010 | Author: nmccarvel | Filed under: espn the magazine, fashion, fed cup, roger federer, tennis, video, video clips, vince spadea | 3 Comments »
Roger Federer is on the cover of ESPN The Magazine with tagline: Who’s the World’s Greatest Athlete? Roger Federer Looks the Part.
Click the image above to see a quality video of the photo shoot Fed did with the sports mag.
After the cut: Spadea shows us his t-shirt design skills and The Birmingham News captures some Fed Cup draw images you don’t want to miss. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: April 22nd, 2010 | Author: nmccarvel | Filed under: fed cup | Tags: Construction, Tennis stadiums | No Comments »
Thanks to media man Pete Holtermann for posting this updated picture of the construction happening in Cincinnati for this summer’s play there. Check out a full roll of pictures on the Western & Southern’s facebook page.
After the cut: who’s out of Fed Cup (other than Venus!) and what the (completed) construction looks like at the Italian Open. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 20th, 2010 | Author: nmccarvel | Filed under: fed cup, nick mccarvel, sunday survey, tennis | Tags: Ala., birmingham | No Comments »
This last week, the USTA announced that Birmingham, Ala., will host the Fed Cup semifinal tie between the U.S. and Russia in late April. While I’ve never been to Birmingham, I’m sure it’s got plenty of Southern charm and warmth – exhibited first-hand by this caboose downtown in the historic district. But does a town of 220,000 people deserve such a tie one year after hosting the Davis Cup? It seems peculiar.
What do you think of Birmingham hosting Fed Cup this spring? Is it fair to the rest of U.S. tennis? Do you have an inside scoop as to why a site like Birmingham was awarded another big U.S. tennis event? Let us know what you think.
(photo by Southernpixel via flickr.)
Posted: February 9th, 2010 | Author: Erwin | Filed under: anta, anta sports, fashion, fed cup, jelena jankovic, sports, tennis | Comments Off
Our hats are off to Jelena Jankovic and the folks at ANTA for producing one of the better Fed Cup outfits of 2010 so far. (I know Nick wasn’t really a fan, but I will stick to my guns!) She and the rest of the Serbian gals couldn’t fight off the hard-hitting Russians in this first round tie of the World Group I bracket.
Especially with all the talk of Venus‘ skin-colored undies at the Australian Open, it’s refreshing to see someone take a step back and go with sheer instead. (See the panels on the chest and the side of her dress.) We could have lived without those awkward slits that made Jelena’s dress look like it got caught in an escalator, though.
FYI, she wore a white version during her doubles match with Ana Ivanovic.
Again, the details: We love the red nails, the red and gold in her bracelet and necklace, and the same color motif in her shoes. See ‘em all after the cut…
Posted: February 8th, 2010 | Author: Erwin | Filed under: eyewear, fashion, fed cup, lacoste, oakley, samantha stosur, sports, sunglasses, tennis | No Comments »
We’re all about Samantha Stosur‘s patriotic Oakley glasses, which show off Australia’s national sporting colors. Sam helped her country defeat Spain 3-2 in the 2010 Fed Cup World Group II first round by winning both her singles rubbers and the doubles with partner Renae Stubbs. Further reading: Read the Fed Cup write-up about the tie here.
Lacoste: This dress is part of the same spring collection that includes the orange separates Alize Cornet wore during the 2010 Australian Open last month.
(image via Getty Images)
Posted: February 8th, 2010 | Author: Erwin | Filed under: adidas, ana ivanovic, fashion, fed cup, sponsorships, sports, sports business, tennis | No Comments »
I know it’s turning out to be a heavy flow day from adidas, but we have one more bit…
Silver lining: In the wake of her dismal Fed Cup performance against Russia (which saw her lose both singles rubbers and the doubles rubber), Ana Ivanovic can take a breather after an announcement today that she’ll extended her partnership with adidas to last for her whole career — and she’ll even become a brand ambassador once she retires. “I feel thrilled to be a member of the adidas family and I am very much looking forward to working with adidas on many projects in the future,” she shared through a press release.
Here’s hoping Ana will find her game soon. Otherwise, she’ll be a brand ambassador before she knows it!
See-through: We’re all about that ton-sur-ton jacquard white top that she wore for her doubles match (alongside Jelena Jankovic), though we were hoping she’d have picked a different, bolder color for her singles rubbers.
(image via Getty)
Posted: February 8th, 2010 | Author: Erwin | Filed under: adidas, australian by l'alpina, fashion, fed cup, flavia pennetta, sports, tennis | No Comments »
Flavia Pennetta and the rest of the Italian girls swept past Fed Cup Team Ukraine at this weekend’s tie in Kharkiv. (The only point to the Ukranians came during Alona Bondarenko‘s win over Francesca Schiavone.)
After a logo-less January, which saw Flavia wearing purple and white at the Australian Open, she emerged for the Fed Cup tie in adidas‘ adilibria line, which is the one headlined by Ana Ivanovic.
Pennetta, who was previously with Sergio Tacchini, has a partnership with adidas through 2012.
More: See two more pics — the back of Flavia’s shirt and her warmup suit (by Australian by L’Alpina) — both after the cut…
Posted: February 7th, 2010 | Author: nmccarvel | Filed under: fed cup, melanie oudin | No Comments »
It was a wild weekend on the Fed Cup front as Melanie Oudin led the American charge in a 4-1 upset over France. Bethanie Mattek Sands contributed the biggest W for team USA, charging back from a first-set deficit to defeat the tough Alize Cornet in the opening rubber.
The US will now take on Russia, which withstood a spirited challenge from Jelena Jankovic. Luckily for the Russians, Serbia was bogged down by a error-ridden Ana Ivanovic (surprise!).
Belgium rode the talents of two youngsters in World Group II, and China’s Aussie bliss couldn’t carry over into the Fed Cup weekend. For full results, visit the Fed Cup web site.
We’re wondering: What did you think was the most compelling story of the Fed Cup weekend? Oudin’s double victory? Ivanovic’s implosion? Jankovic’s win over Sveta? Italy’s overwhelming of Ukraine? World Group II’s rowdy results? Wickmayer’s incredible upset?
Check out Daniela Hantuchova‘s wild hair and a couple other Fed Cup shots after the break.
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