Rafa and Richard are still buddies

“Rafa has been by far the nicest to me during the case. He said a lot of very nice things. Moreover, he’s an exceptional champion. If we combined these two elements with my own level currently, there would’ve been a better draw… Physically I’m struggling because of those long weeks without training. I expect it to be really hard. And furthermore, it will be on live on Centre Court. It’s really unlucky.”

- Richard Gasquet on his showdown against Rafael Nadal in the 1st round of this year's US Open. Cool to see, that there's still some heart amongst the elite players. Kudos to Rafa!

~jachal

Mardy Fish out of US Open

Mardy Fish has pulled out of US Open with a rib injury. He reached the quarterfinals last year, so he won't be able to defend a lot of points. The American was seeded No.25 and was scheduled to play Daniel Koellerer.


The Austrian, known for his scandalicious behaviour on court, will now play another crazy man - Rui Machado from Portugal. We already feel for the chair umpire, who will be in charge of that match. There will be a lot of code violations...

~jachal

Dementieva wins US Open Series

World No.4 Elena Dementieva won this year's Olympus US Open Series. This means whatever the Russian will earn at the upcoming US Open - it will be doubled. Should the Olympic Gold medalist win her maiden Grand Slam, she would earn 2 Mio. Dollars. Dementieva is coming into the US Open as one of the favourites, but faces a difficult draw, with Maria Sharapova looming in the 3rd round as a potential opponent.


The series consisted of 6 events. Dementieva took part in 3 tournaments. She won the Premier Mandatory Toronto and reached semifinals in both Cincinnati and Stanford. The race for the top spot of the Olympus US Open Series lasted til almost the last day. Had Flavia Pennetta won the tournament in Hen Haven, she would claim the pole position. She was denied in semifinal stage by Caroline Wozniacki.

Sam Querrey won the men's Olympus US Open Series. more on that HERE.

The Standings you can find HERE.

~jachal

BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis

It's US Open time, so you know there are gonna be some fancy parties. This time US Open hits off with the 10th annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis.

~jachal

Serena Williams in Madame Tussauds

So here you go - now she'e offiacialy a legend. Serena Williams has her own wax figure at Madame Tussauds museum in New York. The replica "wears" Serena's US Open 2004 outfit. In the museum you can also find Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova.

~jachal

The head to head is in his head

"If there's one think people know, is that I'm in Roger Federer's head."

- Andy Roddick discussing his amazing 2-19 head to head record against Roger Federer on David Letterman Show. Good to see A-Rod at his best again. At least humour-wise...

~jachal

How could I lose to A-Chak?

"I don't know why she was 5-0 against me. I think I have everything to beat her. But something always happened."

- Elena Vesnina on her negative head to head against Anna Chakvetadze, showing signs of her new found selfconfidence in 2009 after finally beating her compatriot in New Haven yesterday.

~jachal

Big Mac against cancer

Tennis legend John McEnroe became a spokesman for a campaign promoting prostate cancer screening guidelines. A 100-foot high by 35-foot wide banner of the former world No.1 was unveiled Thursday on the side of Madison Square Garden.

~jachal

Weird Kuzy

Still, Sveta, you're only half as weird as your style ;)

"I am a weird person, when I have water here (pointing at neck) I start doing good."

- Svetlana Kuznetsova after clinching the 6/4 5/7 7/6(2) victory over Yanina Wickmayer. The Russian had 2 matchpoints in the second set, but somehow found herself down a break in the third set, while the Belgium was serving for the match in the decider. Kuzy is a headcase, but somehow she's got two Grand Slam titles to her name and the best third set TB winning record of all the top ten players. Weird, huh?

~jachal

I am Sam

Sam Querrey is really on the breakthrough this summer. Right after Wimbledon, the US boy reached three finals in a row, winning the title in Los Angeles. In Cincinnati he knocked out world No.5 Andy Roddick. Now, by virtue of reaching the quarterfinal stage in New Haven, he clinched the win in the US Open Series Championship. This means, whatever he earns at US Open, it will be doubled.

I am Sam - US Open Series 2009 champ - Querrey

The ranking of the Series is based on 10 tournaments, that are being played before the US Open. Querrey's win over Bjorn Phau leaves him with 145 points, equaling Andy Murray's result, but because the American has clinched 14 wins this summer, he'll get past the Brit in the standings.

“The most pressure I felt all summer was probably today, knowing that if I won it, I would win (the series) and if I didn’t it was third place. I don’t think if Federer is 15 points away from winning, or Nadal, I don’t think they’re going to take a wild card into this tournament and say, ‘Hey, if I get to the quarterfinals, I’m going to win that. But, I’m going to.” - he said

friends off-court, rivals on-court

Leading the woman's US Open Series championship is Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva, but she still hasn't sealed that victory. Should Flavia Pennetta win the New Haven title, she would overtake the Russian. The Italian is the in-form player of this summer, capturing two titles (Palermo, Los Angeles) and several huge wins over marquee players (Venus Williams, Sharapova, Zvonareva and Petrova) and finally breaking the Italian curse, by being the first Italian Woman to have ever reached the top 10.

~jachal

So no Juju comeback in sight?

"I don't think so. There is nothing, that tells me she shall come back. We haven't even talked about it."

- Carlos Rodriguez, the coach of Justine Henin on weather the Belgium superstar would start a comeback.

~jachal

Williams sisters 'own' Miami Dolphins

So now it's official - the Serena & Venus Williams are holding an ownership stake in an NFL fianchise.


The sisters visited the Miami Dolphins complex, where they got the chance to chat with some players and watch them practice. Later, at the press conference, both of them got their jersays - 11 for Venus (because her clothing line is called EleVen) and 89 for Serena (it's the birth date (8-9) of her Half sister Yetunde Price, who died in 2003).

~jachal

Gossip Girl - "Spotted: Serena and Maria partying together"

Gossip Girl star Blake Lively has been celebrating her bithday in style. I mean really - InStyle. The editor of InStyle magazine and tennis starlet Maria Sharapova have been congratulating the Actress on her 22 birthday. Presenting the cake (no, not Marion Bartoli) was Evan Altman of Cooper Square Hotel.

The presentation took place during a cocktail party honoring two greats at their game hosted by InStyle and Tiffany & Co. at The Cooper Square Hotel - Penthouse on August 25, 2009 in New York City.Funny though, that the name of Blake Lively's character on the Gossip Girl is Serena. You don't really see Maria partying together with Serena that often, do you? ;)

~jachal

Is Henin coming back?

Seems like Kim Clijsters' comeback had an ever greater impact on the Tour than earlier expected. We now may expect a waterfall of comebacks, as there some rumours, that fellow Belgium former world No.1 Justine Henin is preparing for a comeback herself. This speculation has been brought up by the Belgium newspaper Vers L'Avenir.


Acoording to Henin's entourage, the feisty 7 time Grand Slam champion has resumed training. She plans to play two exhibition matches at the end of the year - in Belgium and United Arab Emirates. Underlining , that there might be something in store, was Henin's coaches wife, who said there's "something" being prepared, but she's not allowed to talk about it.

I guess in that sense, this is the good thing about woman - they constantly make up their minds and seldom stick to their decisions.

~jachal

Cibulkova out of US Open

World No. 16, Dominika Cibulkova, bacame the biggest casuality at this year's US Open. The Slovak, who made it to the semifinal of Roland Garros earlier this year, withdraws with a rib injury. This withdrawal allows Italy's Alberta Brianti to move directly into the main draw. Cibulkova's very good friend, Agnes Szavay, will be seeded No.32.

~jachal

Wozniacki & Pennetta play football tennis

This is one of the most hilarious promo-films the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has ever done in its history. They took a impossibly big football pitch and made Caroline Wozniacki and Flavia Pennetta play tennis on it. But this isn't the best part! Our Two Top 10 players had not only to play tennis, but also roles in this 3 minutes film.



If it wasn't for them playing tennis in the middle of that film, you could have easily made porn out of this one, with the way they were acting. Such a cheap, cheap American porno film. Such bad actress'. The coaches facial expressions also killed me!


That's the way, WTA!!!

~jachal

Prince (of) Monaco

Juan Monaco appeared lately on the cover of WATT. He not only took a photoshoot, he also was talking about how the break-up with girlfriend, Luisana Lopilato, influenced his career.

Juan “Pico” Mónaco has decided: no more girlfriends for a while. After two years with Luisana Lopilato, who’s now with Canadian singer Michael Bublé, it seems the sportsman prefers to be alone.

“For now, instead of seeing a woman, I prefer to see a tennis raquet”, maintains the ATP world #40, who took a skiing trip to Chapelco, as published in the magazine Caras.

Mónaco acknowledges that, after the Bastad Open final, in Sweden, it was time to “enjoy the scenery, eat, have fun and relax life, calm my thoughts and give myself some new motivation”.

The tennis player considers himself “hypercalm” off the court, and maintains he’s a homebody who doesn’t go out a lot. “Today I’m single, enjoying this time and thinking of my career”, said Mónaco, who went to the ski center with two friends.

He didn’t say a single word about Lopilato, whose relationship with him ended in March, and he didn’t speak of any new female companion. He just said: “later I’ll have time to find a girlfriend”.

~jachal

Minar denies doping

It seems like not only the Argentinians are able to provide as with doping scandals. Czech tennis player Ivo Minar was tested positive for a banned substance after a Davis Cup match against... (surprise, surprise) ... Argentine!


Czech Tennis Association president Ivo Kaderka said the sample was taken after the Davis Cup quarterfinal against Argentine on July 10-12. He also added that Minar was taking an unspecified food supplement that apparently contained a derivative of the banned stimulant pseudoephedrine.

The 25-year-old Minar, who is ranked 66th, denied deliberate doping.

"I have never consciously taken a banned substance. This is why I rejected the accusation of doping in my reaction sent to the ITF." - he said in a statement sent to the CTK news agency.

Minar cited an injury when he pulled out of the upcoming U.S. Open on Friday. Kaderka said he interpreted Minar's decision to withdraw as an "offer to deal with the matter in a professional way," not an admission of guilt.

We'll see how this one unravels. Until then it's still unclear, if Minar will participate in the Davis Cup semifinal tie.

~jachal

AA - Agassi's Autobiography

Former World No.1 Andre Agassi will release in November his first autobiography. The book will contain the American's start in tennis as a child, his relationship with his father and his failed marriage with actress Brooke Shields.


Agassi writes: "No one ever asked me if I wanted to play tennis, let alone make it my life."

Knowing Agassi's rollercoaster life and tennis career, we'll be looking forward to this lecture.

~jachal

Hingis will dance

Former world No.1 Martina Hingis will be one of the stars on Stricktly Come Dancing. The show starts in September and will be aired on BBC. The Swiss Miss will earn £50,000.


Hingis isn't the first tennis player to join a TV show. Martina Navratilova, Jennifer Capriati, Anastasia Myskina and Alicia Molik were also cast of TV shows.

~jachal

Double standard

"When Chris (Evert) and I were dominating people, (we would hear) it's always Chris and Martina in the finals. It's like we always know who's going to be there whereas with men, (we would hear) they have so much depth; you never know who's going to win. Now you have Nadal and Federer winning everything for five years, and women have been going back and forth, different No. 1s. Then it's: 'Well, with men we have Federer and Nadal. They're so great. But with women, nobody's dominating. It's like you can't have it both ways. So I find this double standard really annoying."

- Martina Navratilova responding to the WTA critics.

~jachal

Srichaphan postpones his comeback

Former world No. 9 Paradorn Srichaphan made it perfectly clear, that he isn't ready to give hung up his racquet yet. The Thai, who was the first ever Asia-born player to make it to the top 10, plans to be fully back on the tour in 2010.


Srichaphan, who hasn't played on the ATP Tour since March 2007 due to a wrist injury, originaly wanted to come back last year, but the rehab didn't go as quickly as planned. He then, was scheduled to play at Thailand Open, but the 33 year old said it is more likely, that he'll start his comeback in the 2010 season.

"I'm not going to quit. I just want to be back when I'm really ready. My wrist is getting better but not good enough to let me hit like I used to. I wanted to come back in the Thailand Open but at this stage the chance to play any match this year is 50 per cent."

Being asked, if it will be possible for him to play again at the top 100 level at the age of 30, Srichaphan wasn't in doubt, he could once again make it happen.

"Age is nothing but a number. I have a protected ranking (top 80) and can use it anytime."

Good luck, Paradorn. Seriously!

~jachal

53 strokes can win U a match

So there we got the ultimate proof, that one rally can seriously turn the whole match around. Julien Benneteau was leading Andy Murray 6/4; 2/0 and than this happened...



After that, the Frenchman managed to win only one more game in the whole match. Funny, how one point can win U a whole match...

~jachal

Williams' Dolphins

Serena and Venus Williams decided to get themselves some new pets - the choice fell on dolphins, the Miami Dolphins. The deal isn't done yet, but it is believed, that next week, they will be announced as limited ownership partners.

"Well, you know, Serena, we could use this as an excuse, why we weren't totally focused on tennis this summer..."

"There have been talks, [preliminary] talks and hopefully it will work out. I mean, that would be a great opportunity for both of us. We'll see what happens. You never know. We'll see.''
- Serena said during the tournament in Toronto.

On Monday, in a meeting with Miami Herald editors and reporters, Dolphins majority owner Stephen Ross said three limited partners would be announced next Tuesday and indicated at least one would be African-American. Ross has said he wants the ownership group to reflect South Florida's ethnic diversity and glamour. This summer, Ross has brought in longtime Miami residents Emilio and Gloria Estefan and singer Marc Anthony, music stars with Hispanic backgrounds, as limited partners.

~jachal