Engaged!

Oh-ho; Masha Shriekapova is officially off-limits! Well... ever since she had a boyfriend, I guess she's been off the list... but anyway, they recently sealed the deal when Sasha Vuvuvuvujajac (don't really know his name, sorry LOL) proposed to her during their 1-year anniversary.

Cute!

But one's gotta wonder if she's gonna pull out for the rest of the season, to prepare for the wedding of course; with so many injuries floating around and whatnot, it's not like it'd make a difference anyway...

Good luck to the giants x

Bring it.

Hi. Just thought I'd tell you that I love Summer. Wanna know why? Because:

Summer = Summer Holidays.

Summer Holidays = 6 weeks of doing nothing.

Summer Holidays = no exams, no stress. And most importantly;

Summer Holidays = TENNIS.

My summer holidays just happen to fall in during the Hopman Cup, Medibank International, Kooyong Classic... and of course; THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN.

I'm also particularly excited for the HOPMAN CUP 2011.

Because there's gonna be this (again):

AND THIS:


HOMMEGOODNESS. I CAN'T WAIT.

And they're only 2 of the 8 competing couples that are gonna be there. *drools*

And what's better, is that since these tournaments are all held in Australia, all the TV channels scrap all their stupid, pointless soapies and show nothing but tennis. 23/7. Practically. Because they gotta show the news you know...

And the cherry on top? Summer Holidays = my birthday.

I LOVE SUMMER.

WTF-Spam

Yeppp... Robin Soderling qualified. Kinda late though, but meh. To be honest, I don't really like him anyways :D

And Andy Murray's social-awkwardness is so adorable in this vid:

It cracks me up so much. So, so much.

Fed-Express Mastered

Shanghai, 2010 - the place where Andy Murray pretty much annihilated Roger Federer, 63 62.

Sure, this is his 2nd consecutive Master's title this year - his first in Toronto (which was a hugeeee relief for me because I was almost worried that the Muzz would leave the season dry) - but I mean, this win only poses one question for me;

WHY CAN'T HE PLAY LIKE THIS IN THE SLAMS? :O

Champion!

Before I begin, I'd just like to say that I'm sorry for the lack of posting lately. It is seriously amazing how some teachers really want to clog up your life with assignments and assessments RIGHT before exams :(

Seriously insane stuff.

Anyway, even though it's late; Ana won her first title in 2 years!

In under 50 minutes (I believe?!), she absolutely demolished poor Patty Schnyder, 61 62, to take home the Linz title, which was one of her last titles before this one. WOOOOO GO ANA! :D

Seriously it makes me so genuinely happy to finally see a real smile on her face. She's been going through rough patches ever since her injury from the End-of-year Championships in 08, but to see that she's gradually climbing her way back up to the top is abso-freakin-lutely awesome.

The title win moved her up a few spots to no.29, and with a nice showing in Luxembourg (honestly, I don't keep up with the WTA well enough...), she now sits at no.26.

Would it be crazy to think of Ana getting a top 20 seeding in the Australian Open?

Sushi train!

Maybe I should get lessons.

For more photos, here. You'll see how high Agi Radwanska really is...

Juste

Well... she kinda deserves it.

Apparently Serena Williams could be losing $1M because she's been skipping so many of her commitment events. I mean, $1M isn't probably much to Serena, but it could also mean the loss of her no.1 ranking to either no.2 Caroline Wozniacki or no.4 Vera Zvonereva.

If you ask me, I kinda think they both don't deserve it that much;

• Caro is a great player and all but I think she's really young and she definitely can get better - maybe it's not exactly the time for her to be no.1 yet..
• And Vera, is just wildly inconsistent - she can get to slam finals but I think if she starts winning slams then maybe it's the time for her.

But then I guess right now Serena doesn't really deserve it either.

What do you guys think? Would love to hear from the rest of youse :)

thetennishopper x

Smile!

Okay, so Rafa Nadal finally got to the courts today, and... wow; he really is the king. He wasn't rusty at all, defeating Bemelmens 61 64 to cap his 60th win this year. And apparently he also got paid like $1.2M just to show up at Bangkok...?

And all with a smile! Seriously, sprained face not coming to mind? FREAK.

In other news, probably not a great day to be Fernando Verdasco. After showing off his tanned bod to most of the world in a boxing match with a Thai, he crashed out of the 1st round in Bangkok, 64 64 to Becker.

Frustrated... Maybe Fer needs some smiling lessons from Rafael Nadal.

Mignon

Only like, the cutest dad ever! :O

Eh?

Davydenko. Qualified. For. World. Tour. Finals.

WTF.

I'm sorry, but I don't think I've heard that even Murray and Djokovic have qualified yet - although they should have already! But Davydenko? Qualified? Already? This honestly does not make sense to me.

Proof? Here.

Players that have qualified for the WTF do the whole paintball-art thingy. The only ones I've seen so far are Rafa and Roger - and I guess, now Davydenko - and I checked on the ATP World Tour website and the video only includes Rafa and Roger - no one else!

I mean, honestly? I have nothing against Davydenko whatsoever, but he lost in the first round of Kuala Lumpur - that title that he's supposed to be defending? And he lost to Andreev - who had to qualify for a 250 event?!

Plus, he's been harbouring a long-term injury for the majority of the year like Del Potro - and I honestly don't believe that he's in thatttt good shape to actually qualify before other players who I think deserve it more - like Murray and Djokovic.

*Sigh* There is something wrong with this world.

I see...

Hmm. The whole Masha-dork thing makes sense now, LOL.

But she still did a dork dance hehehe :D

Pictorial Essay?

Seriously. I swear Fernando Verdasco likes getting shirtless too much. With the amount of photos circulating around the internet - photos of him shirtless - I could compile a pictorial essay of his shirtless body in no time.

...But I seriously can't be stuffed.

Mr. Happy

So while in Bangkok, I'm assuming that Rafael Nadal played tennis, planted a tree and paid spiritual homage to Monks. And is it me, or does he smile... a lot? Like, a bit too much?

LOL, I read somewhere in another blog that he'd better not pull out of London with a sprained face :D Laugh of the day.

:D

*Sigh* I missed you!

Awww!

I'm sorry, but isn't this like the cutest twitpic ever?!

:)

I want a dog now.

Phew

"The most important thing today was the wrist, and it was perfect."

Del Potro lost in the first round of Bangkok to Olivier Rochus today - 76(7) 64. That's not bad. He lost in 2 tight sets, first match back. Considering that this is only his 2nd or 3rd tournament of the year (the last being the Aussie Open where he lost to Cilic), this is a pretty good result.

Hopefully he'll be able to climb his way back to the top and have an impressive showing at next year's Aussie Open. But let's not worry about that now; I'm just glad that he's back.

WELCOME BACK, ELFIE! :)

Dork!

Masha the dork. Nice :)

Prehistoric

Wow. It's been ages since I last went on this and I really do apologise.

When was the last time I blogged? I don't even remember now...

But yeah, some pretty awesome stuff has been happening, like the thing coming straight to my mind right now; the US Open - which I totally did not blog about, and also Andy Murray lifting this year's US Open Series trophy - total awesomeness :)

(Sorry for the crappy picture quality - it was kinda hard to find a good pic of this)

Also stuff like Gilles Simon hoisting a title this year - right after the birth of little Timothee... AWWW! :D And also the French Davis Cup team getting to the finals this year. Which I am surprisedly excited about.. hmm. I'm not sure I ever remember being this excited about Davis Cup before, LOLs.




Too cute.

Also, (once again) the re-emergence of Ana Ivanovic. I always liked her. And when she started dying, that killed me a bit on the inside. But after some impressive showings (for her, anyway) during and after the US Open swing, she's becoming more of that Ana that we used to know and love back in 2008 :D


DELPO. IS. BACK.


Rafael Nadal became the youngest person EVA to achieve the historic Career Grand Slam - and in conjunction with that 2008 Gold Medal in Beijing, he's also the youngest EVA to achieve the Golden Slam. Freak.

Oh, and these publicity stunts for the WTF? AWESOMEEEEEEEEE.

But some pretty crappy stuff has been happening as well, like Andy Murray totally crashing out of the 3rd round of the US Open, losing to Wawrinka. DUDE WTF HAPPENED THERE?! I mean, you were kinda half-scheduled into at least the quarters after winning the US Open Series this year!! D:


Hmm... Andy Murray losing any match just pretty much sums it up for me, LOL.

And no doubt some pretty weird stuff has been happening too. Like what on earth; Vera getting to her 2nd and consecutive slam final at the US Open? What... the... heck... I mean, sure she was playing strong, but heck I wasn't fooled. And then she comes to the final, losing in straight sets 61 62 or something? Weirdo.


And Andy Murray dropping longtime coach Miles Maclagan? .... Weirddddd.

Oh, and also, the thought of Andy Murray ever sitting through a fashion show, then becoming a fan of Burberry on Twitter and Facebook... WEIRDDD! (Believe me, it's true; I checked!) ...But you gotta give the man some credit. He did something that even I probably wouldn't be able to do - sit through hours looking at clothes...


Plus: the rankings. I mean, Roddick falling out of the top 8 and the top 10 in, I dunno, a million years? And then having Youzhny in the top 8 after the US Open? And Tomas Berdych still in, what, the top 7 even after his first round loss or something? Weird. It's amazing what some events can do to some people.


Anyway, they were just some of the thoughts that came to mind while I was thinking about the tennis world. I'd obviously love to talk about it all but if I did, by the time I'm done I'd be 152 :D

Once again, sorry about the lack of blogging over the past couple of months - but I'm sure that not a lot of people read this blog, so it's not like it'd make a difference anyway, haha :D

Talk to you guys soon,
thetennishopper x

You sure did

"I had a Britney Spears moment after Wimbledon."

-- Andy Roddick, at the Atlanta Tennis Championships.

Hitched

Yep. The Worm got hitched.

Tut tut

It's pretty official now that Serena Williams has sustained a foot injury after her awesome win at Wimbledon and will even receive foot surgery because it's that bad...

Reports confirm that she'll miss the three events leading up to the US Open Series, and according to new reports surfacing from her spokesman, she might also actually have a chance of even missing the US Open.

My main problem is... even though she had that injury, Rere still played in that Exo match with Kim Clijsters, losing, and then she held a party for some fashion label; Burberry, a while ago, and then she held a party for the ESPYs too... which included... jousting?

Seriously, I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure that heels are not good for your feet!

*Sigh* Too many parties makes one injured Rere.
Smart, yes you are.

Isnut and Decker work it!

SORRYSORRYSORRY. I know. After the whole RG-Wimby swing finished I just decided to wallow in despair... but here's what you missed.

John Isner was at the 2010 ESPYS to receive an award - Best Record-Breaking Performance - for playing the longest match in tennis history, defeating Mahut. Woot. Yeah... unfortunately Mahut wasn't there to accept the award with Isner but that's okay; instead, we're left with this picture of Isner smiling his ass off.

Wow. He's excited...

The pair also beat out Roger Federer, who was nominated in the same category for breaking Pete Sampras' all-time Grand Slam record at Wimbledon last season. But in my opinion I reckon Isnut totally deserved it more than the Fed. Sorry. No offence.


Oh, and Brooklyn Decker was also there.

Umm... Where was A-Rod?

Captain Spain!

Is it me, or is Rafa Nadal's costume just the bomb?

Yeah, so as you would've been aware, instead of playing for Spain in his Davis Cup tie, Rafa Nadal instead spent his weekend all the way in South Africa, cheering for Spain in the World Cup Final against The Netherlands.

Apparently he was also auditioning for the role of Captain Spain or something, according to a post I read on TennisToday. LOL. Well he's got my vote for sure... that's a pretty convincing outfit.

The Best of Both Worlds

Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters recently made tennis history at the "Best of World" exhibition after Rere was defeated (though with a foot injury?) in front of a crowd of 35 681, beating a previous record for the largest attendance at a tennis match during 1973.

Mind you, the match was probably so popular because it was originally supposed to be the "Best of Belgium" with Clijsters and Henin... but Justine Henin had an elbow injury so she had to pull out. Good thing for Rere to be there to help out! :) ... But then I think I would've preferred to see Henin vs. Clijsters to be honest.

During the match, Martina Navratilova was the chair umpire and Francesca Schiavone made a surprise appearance. Apparently there were fireworks and a concert too held after the match. Woo! Good job to the both of them.

Bored.com

Don't blame me for getting distracted. I just get bored easily, okay?

Well since Wimbledon is over, and there's sorta nothing to really blog about except Davis Cup and Newport which frankly don't interest me as much, I recently typed into google "Cool Tennis Stuff" and look at what came up:

Tennis Ball Bracelets

Tennis Shoe Phone!!
"Hello chief. Agent 86 here, yes, it's Maxwell Smart..."

And last, but not least:

Tennis towel holder! So cute :O

*Sigh* Wake me up again when it's time for the US Open.

Awesome, much?

Look at this.

:O