Posted by CronicaSportiva in Andy Murray,Justine Henin,Rafael Nadal,Serena Williams,Sports,Tennis,Venus Williams,adidas,ana ivanovic,fashion,nick mccarvel
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28Aug
Kim Clijsters threw out the first pitch after meeting the Mets team in Queens on Friday in New York. A day earlier, she was the USTA’s guest of honor at the draw ceremony (AP photo via Yahoo! Sports).
RalphLauren.com pulled out all the stops on Thursday afternoon for an event featuring Venus Williams, in which Venus took questions from online submissions from around the world in a live clinic. At the Sportime Randall’s Island tennis center in New York, Venus was on court for the first time in a public setting since her eyebrow-raising loss to Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. But instead of thwacking errors and a look of confusion, Venus was all smiles and tennis knowledge in the clinic, which was hosted by the British TV personality (and former player) Annabel Croft.
Venus, who is the no. 3 seed at the US Open and one of the favorites though she hasn’t been on tour in two months, talked fitness, forehands and gave plenty of tennis tips from her 26 years of experience on the court. The event was hosted by Ralph Lauren and Mercedes Benz, based on RL’s homepage for viewers to log in and watch live while Venus answered questions relayed by Croft. (Watch a full replay of the clinic here or click on the image after the jump.)
“It’s good for me to remember the basics when I’m about to play a big tournament,” Venus said, referring to the Open. Venus partnered with Ralph Lauren in the design of the dress she wore, a white number emblazoned with the logo of Eleven, Venus’s clothing line.
Guests were greeted with sweet mint tea, pistachio ice cream sandwiches and caramelized popcorn on the upper deck at Randall’s Island, which hosts the New York Sportimes during the World Team Tennis seasons. Male models clad in red Ralph Lauren polos dished out the goods as Venus strode through the crowd on her way to hair and make up (this was a live, online clinic, after all).
The clinic was a part of a myriad of events happening in New York this week, which all lead up to the big show at Flushing Meadows starting on Monday.
Events have been held every day this week and are hosted by a variety of brands that associate themselves with the Open, like Ralph Lauren, which supplies apparel for ball persons, line judges and chair umpires during the tournament.
Earlier in the week, Evian hosted an event celebrating youth in which Maria Sharapova was present, and parties were put on by Nike (where Serena Williams was in attendance, her controversial boot in tow) and Babolat, the racket maker, which featured one of its stars, Andy Roddick. adidas had stars Andy Murray, Ana Ivanovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Justine Henin in downtown Manhattan Friday night to cut the birthday cake of the Barricade shoe, which turned 10 this year.
While Venus was busy instructing, defending champion Kim Clijsters was the guest star for the US Open draw ceremony inside a media room at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The ceremony has become something of a March Madness-themed event for the USTA, which reveals the draws (brackets) and TV analysts break them down in a one-hour special.
Over the weekend, parties will be hosted by Dunlop and the USTA itself, which is highlighted by the Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day that will be attended by the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, not to mention kid-famous pop stars Demi Novato and the Jonas Brothers.
“Obviously the US Open is most desirable for Maria’s sponsors,” said Sharapova’s agent, Max Eisenbud at a Cole Haan event Thursday night at the New Museum in the Lower East Side. “The sponsors get one hour, which always has to be in the evenings since she’s doing something during the day. She has practice and treatment, so we’re lucky to have these partners to be flexible with us.”
But for the players, striking a balance between living the New York life for a week and preparing for the year’s final slam can be a delicate situation.
“You know, balance with practice for the event,” Venus concluded. “It’s fun to have opportunities like this.”
Eisenbud agrees, but thinks that only a few players – Sharapova and Venus included – have to deal with such a crazy pre-Slam schedule.
“When you become that successful, it’s part of it,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad, whether or not it helps the players take their minds off the court or what. But only a handful of them actually have to deal with it.”
Click on the image to watch the full Venus clinic, or select exactly what you want to see via the options once on the RL page.
23Aug
Caroline Wozniacki might be adidas‘ choice to sport the much-coveted Stella McCartney line on the court, but her predecessor, Ana Ivanovic, still books the corner spot when it comes to ad space.
The adidas Soho store in New York has a bank of windows full of tennis players and gear (Wozniacki, Ivanovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Murray) in anticipation for the US Open, but while Wozy might have the most square footage of any subject with her McCartney display, it’s Ivanovic and Murray who get one of Manhattan’s busiest street corners (Broadway and Houston) to peer over all day long.
There’s no Maria Kirilenko (the former Stella gal) in sight in the window display (full photos after the jump), nor does 2009 US Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin make an appearance.
Full window display shots of all four players after the cut.
Murray swings for the corner and hits it. Below: from left to right, Caro, Jo-Wilfried, Ana and Andy hold down the adidas fort in SoHo.
Both Tsonga (above) and Wozniacki (below) play to the reflection of the windows. adidas chose Wozy to be sporting the white over charcoal gray in the display.
(tsf photos)
2Jul
BY MAD PROFESSAHHere are my predictions for
the men's semifinals at
the Wimbledon Championships for 2010.
I previously made predictions for
the men's quarterfinals (1 of 4 correct) and
the women's quarterfinals (2 of 4 correct).
(I have now
arrived in London and I have tickets for the
men's final on Sunday.)
Roger Federer SUI (1) Tomas Berdych CZE (12) vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3). For the first time since 2002(!), Roger Federer will not be playing in the Wimbledon Men's Final. (Of course, this is the year I travelled to Wimbledon after getting lucky to get tickets to the men's final.
Did I bring him my favorite player bad luck?) Anyway, After winning 23 consecutive major quarterfinals, the 16-time major champion has now lost the last two he has played in a row, to two somewhat similar opponents, the hard-hitting giants
Robin Soderling (
in Paris) and
Tomas Berdych (
in London). Unlike at Roland Garros, where Federer clearly did not play his best and was blasted off the court, at Wimbledon Federer was defeated while still playing about as well as he's played most of the year. (Which is to say, not his best ever, but possibly the best he can do right now.) His failure to defend his two major titles from last year (and the fact he has won only won tournament all year,
the 2010 Australian Open) means that the former World #1 will fall to World #3 in the rankings on Monday. This means that Federer will remain
stuck one heartbreaking week behind matching Pete Sampras' record of 286 weeks at #1 for the foreseeable future. Will he ever get there? I believe so. And it may just be what keeps the Swiss master in the game until the 2010 London Olympics
as he has promised before. Berdych has started a streak of his own; for the second consecutive major the Czech player has made the semifinals. Berdych played
an astonishing match against Federer, hitting 51 winners to Federer's 44 and only making 23 unforced errors to Federer's 18 (and 6 of those were double faults by Berdych going for second serves). Although I predicted a different match-up, I am not unduly upset by what transpired today, I do believe the better player on the day won the match. As expected, with
the shock defeat of
Andy Roddick by
Yen-Hsun Lu in the previous round, World #3
Novak Djokovic had an easy time of it to reach his second Wimbledon semifinal. Berdych and Djokovic have only played twice (a curiously low number for active players) with Djokovic having never lost. Can Berdych come back from the greatest victory of his career to date to reach his first major final? The Czech has suffered from mental frailty in the past, but is clearly playing some of his best tennis ever. Djokovic, too, is playing some excellent tennis and definitely has the game to make the most of this rare opportunity to reach his third major final (
2007 US Open,
2008 Australian Open) without having to face a higher ranked player. However, he, too, has had some notably poor performances in massively important matches (the 2010 Roland Garros quarterfinal loss to Jurgen Melzer from two sets up comes to mind, as well as injury retirements at Wimbledon.) The real question is whether Berdych is on an unstoppable
Juan Martin del Potro run to his first major, or will he come back to earth after beating the Greatest of all time on his best surface?
PREDICTION: Djokovic (in 4 sets).
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (10) Andy Murray GBR (4) vs. Robin Soderling SWE(6) Rafael Nadal ESP (2). The bottom half of the draw is where I bravely (foolishly?)
predicted that upsets would happen.
The mouth-watering Friday tea-time match-up between World #1
Rafael Nadal and World #1
Andy Murray was predicted at the beginning of the tournament by many. But they both had to go through some excellent players to get there. Murray lost his first set of the
tournament in a tiebreak to the excessively talented
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and was two points away at 5-all from losing the second set tie-break when The Frenchman inexplicably let a floating Murray service return sail past him at the net only to watch with horror and disbelief as the ball kissed the back of the line to give Murray set point instead. The rest of the match was not pretty, with Murray dominating to a
6-7(5) 7-6)5) 6-2 6-2 win. I didn't see much of the Soderling-Nadal match (since in London all eyes were geared towards their countryman's match) but from all reports Nadal started very slowly (down 0-5) in the first set but managed to break back early in the second set. Despite serving for the second set (after Soderling was treated for a blister on his left foot) at 5-4 Nadal only barely managed to eke out the third set tiebreak and then rolled past a demoralized Soderling to win
3-6 6-3 7-6(4) 6-1. With Federer out, Nadal has an excellent chance to win the tournament, as he has winning records against all the remaining players in the draw (7-3 versus both Murray and Berdych, 14-7 versus Djokovic--which happens to be the identical record he has against Federer). However, Murray is probably the toughest opponent for Nadal at this stage of the tournament.
There's no question that Murray was on his way to demolishing Nadal earlier this year in
the 2010 Australian Open quarterfinals when the Spaniard retired down 2 sets and 0-3. The two haven't played since, with Nadal having his best clay court season to date, and Murray his worst. Happily Wimbledon is played on grass. Additionally, the fact that Murray beat Nadal the last time they played and that this is a semifinal, not a final should help the Brit play his best tennis this year,
something Murray did not do against an inspired Andy Roddick last year. Nadal has already lost the most amount of sets that he ever has on his way to winning (or defending) a major title.
The 2008 Wimbledon champion has been
uncharacteristically irritable and complained of pain his knees. On the other hand, Murray has lost the fewest amount of sets of any of the Top 4 players at Wimbledon this year and has been advancing later and later into the draw at Wimbledon every time he has played it. I expect that trend to continue all the way to the final, and possibly the title this year.
PREDICTION:
Murray in 3 or 4 sets (or Nadal in 5 sets).
30Jun
Here are my predictions for
the men's quarterfinals at
the Wimbledon Championships for 2010.
(By the time you read this I will be in the air from LAX to London Heathrow on my way to Wimbledon. Depending on the vagaries (and expenses) of internet access, I may or may not have semifinals predictions for the men's and women's draws tomorrow.)
Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Tomas Berdych CZE (12). The 6-time champion had started off his quest for a record 7th title weakly but in his last two matches his game has looked strong. Berdych is a very talented, huge serving, huge hitting 6'5" Czech player who has already beaten Federer once this year (
even though he needed 5 match points to do it). He is a very similar player to
Robin Soderling who beat Federer at this same stage of the tournament at the French Open a month ago, although possibly Berdych is not as good a mover as Soderling (which he demonstrated by beating Berdych in Paris). Before beating Federer earlier this year in Miami, Berdych had lost 8 straight times to Federer, including once at the 2006 Wimbledon. The Mighty Fed will find a way to win.
PREDICTION: Federer in 4 sets.
Andy Roddick USA (5) Yen-Hsun Lu TPE vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3). This is Novak Djokovic's dream draw and Andy Roddick's nightmare. Roddick lost to the unseeded player from Taipei despite losing his serve only once, a repeat of what happened in his loss last year in
the thrilling final against Federer. This time, however, Roddick was much less aggressive at attacking his opponent's serve and mentally was only able to hold his serve until the 16th game of the 5th set, not the thirtieth game like last year, nowhere near
the amazing 138th game that
Nicolas Mahut was able to do in his jaw-dropping performance against
John Isner. Some wags were flogging
Lleyton Hewitt's chances of penetrating deep into the draw, since the Aussie had finally ended his 16-match drought against Federer last week
by winning the grass court title in Halle. I was not one of them. Djokovic is the #3 best player in the world, and made sure that Hewitt knew it. By the end of this match, Lu will know it as well.
PREDICTION: Djokovic in 3 sets.Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (10) vs. Andy Murray GBR (4). This match should be the highlight of the 2010 Men's Quarterfinals. Tsonga and Murray have only played three times, with Murray leading 2-1. That one loss came at the 2008 Australian Open, where Tsonga
made his breakthrough to his first major final, eventually losing to Djokovic. There's no question that Tsonga has the weapons to beat Murray. This match should come down to the intangibles, which for Murray at Wimbledon are always difficult to evaluate. Does the fact that the British crowd will be overwhelmingly in his favor help him over the hump to victory, or will their outsize expectations smother his chances? I think it is no coincidence that the two places that Murray has reached major finals (
Melbourne 2010 and
New York 2008) were in cities where he does not carry the weight of a nation on his shoulders. Last year, he was curiously flat against Andy Roddick in
the Wimbledon semifinals. I had picked him to win that match last year but this time I think if the match gets "complicated" it will be the Frenchman who will come out on top. Murray is the only player in the draw not to drop a set and it's
possible (but unlikely) that this will happen again.
PREDICTION:
Murray in 3 sets or Tsonga in 4 or 5 sets.
Robin Soderling SWE(6) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). This is a repeat of
the 2010 Men's Final at Roland Garros where Nadal did not lose a set for the entire
tournament. There's no question in my mind that the Spaniard is the greatest clay court player of all time. But this match-up is on grass, and of course, these two have a troubled history at Wimbledon. In 2007 the two played a much-delayed 5-set match over 5 days where Soderling made a fool of himself by mocking Nadal's quirks. He has since apologized. Up until his previous round's 5-set match against
David Ferrer, Soderling had not dropped a single set in this tournament, the only top player (besides Murray) to have done so. Another problem for Nadal is that he has been troubled this tournament by two youthful, big servers in
Robin Haase of the Netherlands and
Philipp Petzschner of Germany. Soderling can not only serve
regularly in the 130 mph range but he can back it up with power on both wings. But then again, if Ferrer gave Soderling that much trouble and his game is really a weak imitation of Nadal's then surely Nadal will give Soderling trouble as well. Out of the Top 4, I think Soderling (and Tsonga if he can stay healthy) are the most likely to break through to a major title in the near term. Here is where Sodelring will need to show if he can get through Nadal (and later, possibly Federer) to do it. I think he has a fairly decent chance of succeeding.
PREDICTION: Soderling in 3 or 4 sets, Nadal in 5 sets.
