Off-court news

We've all obviously heard about the hype about Roger Federer. And when I say "we" I mean ESPN of course... and they've celebrated this by putting Fed's face on the cover with the tagline: Who's the world's greatest athlete? Roger Federer Looks The Part.

Yes... but I'm sorta scratching my head and I'm thinking; why are you saying this now? Is it because you've run out of things to say and you needed someone big to brace the cover...? Or have I missed something really really important like Roger Federer getting knighted by the Queen...?

Anywho, here's a nice picture of his face! Maestro-fans: ENJOY.

To other magazine/tabloid/front cover news: Robin Soderling decided that he couldn't stand the hubbub being all about the Swiss Maestro, so he decided to pull his own Roger;

Nice... yeup. Hot... I suppose? I'm not a big fan of the Sod to be honest so Imma just gonna leave it at that.

thetennishopper

A few little changes...

Oh deary me :(

The big change: Because of Murray's shock upset in Monte-Carlo, his ranking's slipped to No.5 now. Which isn't a bad ranking, it's just that del Potro hasn't played since January and yet still has enough points to overtake the Muzza. Disappointing. The Muzza better get back on track!!!

Another change: And a big, huge congrats [and hug] to Sam Stosur for winning her 2nd WTA tour title; the Family Circle Cup. Aw, you're awesome. And Australian. Win! Because of this awesomeness of hers, Sammy's leapfrogged Kim Clijsters and is now ranked at No.10 again.

And another: Verdasco's in top ten again. No big shocker, he did well in Monte-Carlo and should be pretttty proud about it ;)

ATP WORLD TOUR RANKINGS
1. Roger Federer (SUI)
2. Novak Djokovic (SRB)
3. Rafael Nadal (ESP)
4. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)
5. Andy Murray (GBR)
6. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
7. Andy Roddick (USA)
8. Robin Soderling (SWE)
9. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
10. Jo Wilfried-Tsonga (FRA)

SONY ERICSSON WTA TOUR RANKINGS
1. Serena Williams (USA)
2. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
3. Dinara Safina (RUS)
4. Venus Williams (USA)
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
6. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
7. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
8. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
9. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
10. Sam Stosur (AUS)

And that is all.
Good work, ladies and gentlemen.

Ouch.

Ouch. A picture tells a thousand words, literally --

Wozniacki had to retire from her semifinal match against Vera Zvonereva after she rolled her ankle. With a "pop" apparently. Now I'm not doctor, but any sort of "pop" heard from rolling your ankle does not sound too good to me.

Looks like Vera's been there too. I don't want to even know how much it hurts.

... You can only feel sorry for the poor girl. Sure, not everyone likes her and everything but she's seemed to put a lot out onto the court lately, securing a No.2 ranking and everything too, and heck yeah I think she deserved it.

An MRI will be processed and they'll try and see what the problem is. Hope it's not anything too serious but then again, thinking about that pop :(

GET WELL SOON, CARO xx

No.6

... And he wins. Number 6. Straight.

What. A. Freak.

He also did it 60 61, like it was totally easy and everything.

The 32nd consecutive win at Monte-Carlo.

Again, may I say: What. A. Freak.

And poor Nando. I know, make that 10 losses to the King.

But CONGRATS, RAFA! WE LOVE YOU :)

An all-spaniard finale!

RAFAEL NADAL [2]

vs.

FERNANDO VERDASCO [6]

Yep, that's right. Nando ousted top seed Djokovic (woo! go Nando; I'm proud of you), whereas the King... well... he defeated Ferrer, and as usual, will be defending his Monte-Carlo Championship!

Head2Head:

The King is leading 9-0. Ouch. These appearances include:

• Madrid (Masters) on clay - 2009
• Rome (Masters) on clay - 2009
• AO (Slam) on hard - 2009 [the epic 5-setter semi!]
• Roland Garros (Slam) on clay - 2008
• Indian Wells (Masters) on hard - 2007
• Queen's Club on grass - 2006
• Stuttgart on clay - 2005
• Miami (Masters) on hard - 2005
• Doha on hard - 2005

So yeah, the scorelines in all those matches were basically straight sets except for the Australian Open performance (which was a job well done for Nando, regardless of the loss). To find out more visit the Head2Head on the ATP World Tour site. Extremely extensive stuff.

My Prediction:

6th time lucky?
I think so.

As much as I'd like to think that the King is beatable... one day, right now he has been in top form and there's no reason why he can't go for Monte-Carlo Trophy No.6. Straight.

Just read this website and you'll think so too.

"The 23-year-old Spaniard has a 29-1 career mark at the Monte-Carlo Country Club with his only loss coming in the third round in his maiden appearance in 2003. Since then he's reeled off 27 straight match wins."

What a freak.
Need I say anymore?

Long live King Rafa; THE BULL!

Monte-Carlo Update

Whooo! Dude he's lookin' strong ;)

People say he's in a title drought, but the King of Clay is back and has been in stellar form! Even the ATP World Tour website has said "Rafa in scary form" LOL. Anyway, Thursday was no different as he used his wand-in-the-shape-of-a-racquet and zapped Michael Berrer 60 61.

In the QF the King will next face Juan Carlos Fererro - another Spaniard/pro clay courter - who killed Tsonga in a similar way 61 36 75, although he sorta had to grip the wand a bit tighter and shout the magical spell...

Aww... Tsonga is so cute in this picture.

Nalbandian raced to the QFs by straight sets through Tommy Robredo while Phillip Kohlschreiber whooshed past fellow German Phillip Petzschner 63 64. Wow I'm starting to feel Harry Pottery...

The No.1 Seed - the Djoker - prevailed 64 64 over Stanislas Wawrinka (newly crowned Casablanca Champ) in the 4th Round, but had a bit of a tough go too, pulling off a Patronus Charm in the end ;)

Albert Montanes (the guy I remember for being a little shorter than the others) upset Cilic 64 64 apparently, who I think is kinda awesome so I posted a pic of him... while David Ferrer, 60 76 (4), and Fernando Verdasco, 57 63 63, also won... meaning that the QFs are... 5-eighths Spanish! :D

Peace out.

thetennishopper

Let's get this party started!

A snap-shot of the Monte-Carlo Player's Party:

... Hmmmm. If only we could find out what mischief occurs during the ever-so exclusive-and-private ATP World Tour player parties!

Ahh, well, thank goodness we had a certain Mahesh Bhupathi to tweet and photo-document the happenings. Sounds like it got a little hectic over there, haha! Good job ;)

Next time, I dunno... maybe bring like a camera like this? Thanks. I like my pictures a little less blurry :D But I guess we can't blame you for using a Blackberry as quoted;

“Sorry about the quality but best I could do with my BB.. Of course there were acts on Wayne Odesnik and tiger woods..”

*Sigh* You gotta love the man for this.

thetennishopper

image courtesy of Forty Deuce

Vika, Vika, Vika...

Uh. Wow...


Victoria Azarenka had to retire from a recurring injury in her 2nd straight tournament or something like that. I'm not sure, I guess I don't keep a track of WTA stuff as well as ATP stuff to be honest.

Aww shucks, I guess we all know what it feels like to be in her situation...
Not. I spend far too much time in front of the internet ;)

Ah well. Vika, if you're out there; here's to a happy recovery!

thetennishopper

Looking for bloggers

Looking for all you tennis-lovin' bloggers out there!

Would you like to have a go?

I would really love some help with news posts, player profiles, discussions, equipment/apparel reviews, or just posts with anything funny or cool that you've seen related to tennis.

I do lead a bit of a busy life so it'd be great to have a group or team of awesome blog-writers behind me and helping me out. So if you'd like to have a go, please don't hesitate to contact me at coeurdetennis@live.com.au, and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

thetennishopper

Um...

Rafa Nadal's Post-Match Monte-Carlo Presser:


Okay, first of all -- how can you not stare at that... thigh?
It's a particularly interesting angle that they've decided to take this picture at...

Anyway, continuing on...

"I never felt I am invincible on one surface even on clay. Sure I'm not feeling the same now, no? For me, doesn't matter what the rest of the players think." -- Rafael Nadal, when asked whether his mentality has changed now that the other players think he's beatable on clay.

Well, for somebody that's never felt invicible on clay, the 5-time defending champion certainly got off to an explosive start, crushing Thiemo De Bakker 61 60 to advance to the 3rd Round, next facing Berrer of Germany.

But seriously, the reporters must be pretty blunt or something because I doubt that Rafa's confidence has "wavered on clay". Seriously, he's only lost 5 clay matches in 5 years (from 2005 to now). That's 5 losses in 163 matches on the surface! Dude that's like 3.07%! You know.. to be mathematical and everything.

And sure, he lost to the Maestro in Madrid, and to Soderling in Roland Garros, and hasn't won a title in 11 months or something... but come on! He's the KING OF CLAY! It'd be like saying that Federer isn't the GOAT because he lost a match against Tomas Berdych in Miami.

What do you think?

thetennishopper

Serena to play in Rome

Yep, apparently she's scheduled to play in Rome.


How nice of you to come back and join us in reality, Serena! I've heard that you've been getting back into hard-core and vigorous practice, and have left no time for anything like jet skiing, frolicing on the beach with celebrities or attending Green Day Concerts.

Best of luck to you!

thetennishopper

Disappointed.

His facial expression just says it all.


62 61 to Kohlschreiber.
*Sigh...*

And now, because of his failure to defend his SF points, the Muzza will lose his No.4 ranking to the Tower of Tandil, despite the fact that he hasn't played any tennis since the AO [because of his wrist tendenitis or whatever happens to be the case there].

I'm even sadder now than I was at the start.

Well I only have one thing to say to you; GET YOSELF BACK ON TRACK, BRUDDA!

To other tennis news

So to keep it short and simple... SANIA GOT HITCHED!
To the former Pakistani Cricket Captain or something? Congrats


And... Andy Murray/the Muzza was a walking fashion disaster once again at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Player's Party. *Sigh* Deja vu, anyone? I am instantly reminded of Indian Wells when I see this:

But how could you NOT love the Muzza? *swoons* haha.
Aww. He seems like such a sweet fellow; would love to meet him someday.
Regardless of how badly he dresses or stuffs up in his lifetime ;)

And if you haven't seen this video with Andy Murray and Smithy (James Corden, from the BBC TV series Gavin and Stacey I think...) for Sport Relief, you really should. Aww it's sweet. And nicely done. And it sorta cracks me up.

PLUS: Off-court injury woes don’t seem to be stopping the Sharapova-Screaming-Machine from doing her biz; advertising stuff. Here she is in the awesome commercial/prank thing by Nike. And I know this video is half-old now, but it's absolutely awesome! Love it :)

Anyway if you're looking for more images from the Monte-Carlo Player's Party try the ATP World Tour Website [I've directed you to the photos section already]. So have a blast!

thetennishopper

Bring on the dirt.

Mhmm.
This can only mean one thing... BRING ON THE CLAY COURTERS, BABY!
Mmm nothing like the orange of the dust and dirt on a slowwwww clay court.

*Sigh* Oh Gas-gay... Why is there so much to laugh at in this picture...

Well kicking things off on the ATP World Tour, we had our awesome dose of Monte-Carlo goodness. Basically, nothing too surprising I guess.

Unfortunately though, Jo Wilfried-Tsonga had it sorta tough playing against Nicolas Almagro - 76(5) 75. You know, it was a good win considering Almagro is a pretty good clay-courter.

Nando also breezed past, no fuss, no muss. I mean mess. Except for the dirt of course :) 62 61. Hope he does well in the next round too. Wow, what a great... menacing... pose you got there...

Marin Cilic - the dark horse of the AO of course, had it a little tough as well, edging past Igor Andreev in 3 sets 67 61 64. Ouch. But it's all good. You know Cilic; he's the endurance type i.e. defeating JMdP and A-Rod in 5 sets at the AO, and still having the energy to take the Muzza to 4 sets.

So that's a mild taste of what happened in Monte-Carlo. There are a many more great matches to look forward to though; I, myself, am particularly looking forward to No.3 Seed+WC Andy Murray vs. Phillip Kohlscreiber of Germany. Man is that hard to spell.

I'm a bit of a Muzza fan myself but sadly have been a touch disappointed with him since that sad upset in Dubai. From then on it sorta went downhill ;( But let's hope he does better; he+Rosco ousted the No.9 Doubles' Seed in the first round so I'm hoping his singles campaign will go well!

Anyway, would love to hear what you think! As for me, I'll be signing off for now.

thetennishopper

Hey there :)

Hey, all you tennis fanatics out there!

Welcome to a new tennis blog on the net; A Slice of Tennis.
I know, it's a really tacky name and everything but I reckon tennis is like a good ol' slice of cheesecake... it should be savoured one slice at a time... mmmm.

I'm also new to the whole blogging business but it's just for a little bit of fun and it's not like totally serious or hardcore or anything, haha. But hopefully I'll be able to bring you the most of what I love :D

So yeah, any improvements you would like to implement that would be great, and if you'd like to have a bit of a go at blogging too you can email me at coeurdetennis@live.com.au, or just comment or something. (and I'd appreciate it too if you weren't rude or anything).

Cheers!
From thetennishopper.