Just a quick note to Down the Line! readers: Posting may be slow to non-existent for the next few days as I prepare for my LP, Kalil's,4.0 Birthday Bash at our spot in Brooklyn, NY. It's a full-on black + white themed PAWTY with his BFF DJing out back. So, suffice it to say, I have my mitts full with preparations and set up.
I'm totally psyched for next week, though, and should be able to provide you guys some great coverage from a few of the major pre-US Open events as well as some from the qualies (I might pop in mid-week and maybe over the weekend.) So make sure to follow me on Twitter @RawUncutTennis by clicking here and/or follow on Facebookhere.
In the meantime I leave you an actually fully-clothed *sad face* Fernando Verdasco who seems more at home in this September GQ spread shot in the Madrid-Barajas' Terminal 4 than Andy Murray does in Vogue. Or maybe I'm just favoring the Spanish chorizo's thigh-busting beauty and then some in these high-fashion shots (no really, check out the total package in the very bottom right photo. Calvin Klein knows what's up.)
Thanks as always to the almighty @julesdc for the tip off!
Apparently Roger Federer is aiming to be the ATP World Tour's ultimate video vixen (find a new gig Nole) after recent wins including his Wilson blooper spot and the is-it-real-or-is-it-CGI Gillette wonderment (but really, who cares? And if you do, you're clearly bored.)
But he ups the ante with this giggle-fest but this time he's not alone: Rafael Nadal joins in the hilarity, which seems to be for a Zurich exo benefiting Fed's foundation featuring the two ballers.
Seriously if this video doesn't make you crack even a slight smile you may not be human. You might wanna check.
Ana Ivanovic a.k.a Pippy discusses her week in Cincinnati including her match wins and, of course, THAT injury in her latest blog.
Apparently the recovery is going well - so well, in fact she is still looking towards New Haven next week. She also confirms she was wielding a Yonex prototype last week that will be in stores soon.
UPDATE: Sorry. This one is not about NaturAna but Justine Henin. She has ended her 2010 season as the recovery from her injury has been slow according to her latest blog.
"'The stuff was really nice. Really, really nice.' I urge him to expand on 'nice'—like, what was nice about the tux he’d had on? He says it had a darker stripe down the side of the leg."
Andy Murray, looking hella handsome in Burberry, is featured in the September issue of Vogue.
Venus Williams will be taking part in a Legends Clinic to help celebrate Polo Ralph Lauren's sixth year as Official Apparel Sponsor for the US Open. It's a live interactive virtual tennis clinic produced in partnership with Mercedes-Benz and will feature the 7-time Grand Slammer answering questions, demonstrating techniques and offering tips during the 1-hour session. The premium lifestyle brand held its very first Legends Clinic featuring Boris Becker during Wimbledon earlier this summer.
During the clinic V will be wearing a limited-edition dress designed by Polo Ralph Lauren in partnership with her fashion label, EleVen. The dress will be accompanied by a limited-edition polo and sold on-site at the US Open Polo Ralph Lauren Shop, online at RalphLauren.com and at Macy's Herald Square in New York, with 15% of the proceeds going to the Women's Sports Foundation.
“It is truly exciting to partner with Polo Ralph Lauren in this unique endeavor and to bring my professional expertise and personal experiences to tennis fans around the world,” said V.
The Legends Clinic will take place on Thursday, August 26, at 2PM EST and can be streamed live at RalphLauren.com and accessible through mobile devices at m.ralphlauren.com/USOpen.
No, droolers, not that kind - Sara Foster is for real. Sorry, I wasn't looking to mislead you with that headline (read: give us all immense hope.)
Anyway, Tommy has been feeling a bit lazy with the razor and Sara kinda likes it. The beard, not the laziness I mean though I wouldn't know her feelings on that one either.
Personally, I like a good, trimmed beard espesh on someone with a full head of hair. Let's hope he doesn't go all Brad Pitt on us, though. HAWTNESS isn't a given - you still gotta work at it guys.
Venus Williams and her muffin top give an update on how they've been spending they're time while recovering from a knee injury in V's latest blog. Apparently she's back to training - herself and her niece's new puppy that is. She's also been working on the designs for the dresses she'll be wearing for her latest U.S. Open campaign. However, there's one dress she won't have to create: The winning design from the Tide plus Febreze Freshness Sport contest which she'll wear in Flushing Meadows.
Did anyone else know that Bethanie Mattek-Sands has been blogging for USA Today during the U.S. Open Series? Hell if I knew, but she is. And it's good. Real good.
BMS, who's in Montreal for the Rogers Cup this week, discusses her San Diego doubs play with her "little Chinese buddy" (that would be Yan Zi), the perils of packing for long travels and some juicy (though hardly surprising) insight into good friend JJ and momma Snezana's traveling circus ("I ran into them at the hotel in Madrid as they were checking in and thought they were going to be having a trunk sale in their room!") And, as any good girlfriend would do, she pimps out Aleksandra Wozniack to any single guys who might be reading. That's what friends are for, no?
You + me? We're good again. No, really. It's what I imagine the future Will & Grace reunion will feel like with you as the ginger-haired, flighty straight-as-an-arrow bestie to my neurotic, hard-ass-on-the-outside-with-mushy-insides raven-haired gaybie (though delete white boy and insert brown. That's just a fact. Deal.)
You know I always thought you had the goods to be the best yet somehow it just never came together. Maybe it was mental or maybe those others were finally onto you. But I was so thoroughly impressed and excited by the game you flaunted in Toronto which seems to have been given a shot of aggression and belief at the most opportune time.
I also wondered how you would deal without having a coach and all the talk and media attention surrounding your recent divorce from Coach Miles Maclagan (may his hawtness always be wet) and Alex Corretja (Spaniards are forever sexy - but how?) Then I saw Momma Judy a.k.a Coach for Now in your baller box being her usual stoic, tough-as-nails self, pumping you up and urging you on to one victory after another. She's the one constant in all of this change who probably knows your game better than anyone. I felt relieved.
And what about those victories over the likes of a resurgent David Nalbandian, whose 11-match winning streak you snapped by the way, top seed and the world's top baller Rafael Nadal and, in the final, Roger Federer, who won your last three battles? Fucking brilliant! Oh, and you didn't even drop a set. Crazy! It's like I don't even know you anymore, at least the Muzz of late who hadn't played any real tennis to speak of since the Australian Open in January when he got steamrolled by Fed in the final.
You seemed free this week. Free to play the game you kinda knew you could play but never believed in when it mattered. Free from too many coach's voices telling you this thing and that. Free to fail. That's right. You played like you weren't afraid to lose yet you showed such determination to win. And look - you even smiled that snaggle-toothed smile during the trophy ceremony (FYI - I hear Juan Martin del Potro has an awesome dentist.)
I'm glad we've come back together. It's giving me goose bumps just thinking about the great times ahead. Oh, and good luck on the rest of the U.S. Open Series and at Flushing Meadows, though by the looks of it you may not need luck. But it never hurts!
Yours,
RiCH
P.S. Ever think about giving your Coach for Now a raise? I think she may have earned at least a bonus for Toronto. And, she knows where you live. Just a thought.
