Yes! The ATP World Tour Finals can’t start before the requisite Men in Suits photo session. Along with the British press, another overlooked benefit of hosting the ATP World Tour Finals in London is seeing Federer, Nadal and the rest of the top guys in bespoke tailoring (at least I’ll pretend it is.) Here are some photos from Class Picture Day – I mean ATP World Tour Media Day at the County Hall Marriot Hotel.

These school assemblies are always so boring. . .

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth via Daylife

Really, how lucky are we to have three ATP Top Models in the final 8?  Federer, Djokovic and Verdasco are obviously engaged in a heated pose-off in the photo below. While I love Roger’s masculine bearing, Nole takes it with his casual Gene Kelly elegance. Verdasco gets points for coaching del Po and Soderling has an honorable mention for his Swedish Sears catalogue look. Davydenko is obviously in character for the starving P.O.W. role he’s playing next week in the West End.

How the heck did Andy Murray get Dr. Ivo’s pants?

Who will be head of the class?

Nice trophy, right? It was made in England by expert silversmiths. You can check out the video on the ATP website.

Some year book photos:

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth via Daylife

Candids! This one’s begging for a caption:

And thanks to “Tem” for passing along the Bryan Bro’s snapshot:

I’m a little concerned about Rafa’s hair:

I think Roger is, too:

Yes, Roger is deep in thought about it.

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Rafa’s like “awkward!”

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

What ho! Is that Halley’s Comet or ATP CEO Adam Helfant? The players record this momentous occasion:

Photo via www.tennis-russia.ru

There are so many talented tennis players in Russia, that the country has its own awards ceremony to honor them. Last night’s Russian Cup awards, hosted by Anastasia Myskina at Moscow’s Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel, honored Nikolay Davydenko as Tennis Player of the Year (for being the top male Russian player for the 5th year in a row), Dinara Safina for “Achievement of the Year” (obtaining the No. 1 ranking) and Svetlana Kuznetsova for “Success of the Year” at Roland Garros.

The “main event” of the evening belonged to Marat Safin, who won an award for “contributions to the development of the world and Russian tennis.” I love this (google-translated) description of Marat’s special contributions (via www.championat.ru):

“12 years of tennis fans on all continents admire this guy. He was loved by almost all, even though everyone tried to see in him something of themselves, their dreams. The girls saw in him the ideal man, or, if you want, a sex symbol. Coaches thought he was a talented athlete with a unique physique. Opponents tried to guess the direction of his serve or backhand. Journalists of all countries noted his charisma, eccentricity and inimitable sense of humor. And, finally, for the audience it has always been a man-feast at all his tournaments which had full stadiums all these years, no matter at what ranking he was.”

(Yes, I know that the translation probably shouldn’t be “man-feast”, but it works for me. An alternate translation got “man-holiday” which also sounds appropriate.)

Speaking of man-feast:

Photo via Mens Tennis Forum

Notice in the photo, above, how packed the auditorium is. It looks like the Oscars! With Marat as the Clooney/Pitt/diCaprio stand-in, or course.

Marat has that post-retirement glow:

Photo via www.championat.ru. Click here to visit a photo gallery from the awards ceremony.

I love this video interview of Marat Safin, speaking in Paris after losing the last match of his career to Juan Martin del Potro. He says he realized during that match that he has a terrible forehand and maybe should have worked on it at some point during his career. I’m assuming he’s joking, but with Marat you never know:

Hey Marat – now that you have all this free time on your hands, how about working on the forehand. And coming out of retirement! Thanks to Judy for passing this along!

Here’s Marat’s terrible forehand in slow-mo (actually, it’s mostly just Marat in slo mo):

The backhand was always Marat’s glamour shot:

A nice rally form this year’s Shanghai tournament:

More nice shots:

I love this photo:

Thanks to the Safin fan at Mens Tennis Forum for finding/posting this.

So. . .anyone know if the now-retired Safin (wahhh!) and the Bercy-loser Federer (wahhh!) spent the night on the town together? Were you with them, by chance, doing body shots off Marat’s clavicle and cooing over photos of the Federer twins?  If so, I want the full report with photos and video! Thanks in advance.

AFP PHOTO JACQUES DEMARTHON

The ATP All Stars, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, paid tribute to the now-retired Marat Safin in this ATP video. It was shown after Marat lost to Juan Martin del Potro on Wednesday at the Paris Masters (click here for more on the ceremony.)

I was waiting for Radek Stepanek to add: “But I’ll always get more chicks than you!” Oh well, some things are better left for the lockerroom.

Love this class photo! What is Nole doing to Gilly?

JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

And some more scenes from this sad, sad day. (Why’s Marat have to look so dang happy – and hot?)

JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

All photos via Daylife

Kilchberg (Switzerland), October 29, 2009 – Premium chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli is partnering with Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer in a long term deal to serve as the global brand ambassador for his favorite LINDT chocolate.

Lindt & Sprüngli is delighted with this opportunity to associate with the most successful tennis player of all time. The contract details of the agreement will not be made public.

For the first time in the company’s history dating back for more than 160 years, the Lindt & Sprüngli Group is linking its own name to that of a celebrity. The global fame of top sportsman Federer makes this partnership a highly promising opportunity for Lindt & Sprüngli to further enhance the global popularity of its premium chocolates and become still more firmly established in key global markets. With his likeable and down to earth image, Federer is the ideal brand ambassador for Lindt & Sprüngli. He uniquely embodies Lindt & Sprüngli’s fundamental values of “Swissness,” “Premiumness,” “Quality” and “Passion.” The association of these important attributes with the names of LINDT and Federer symbolizes the perfect “match” between the number 1 in premium chocolate and the number 1 in the world of tennis.

Ernst Tanner, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Lindt & Sprüngli, comments: “We are naturally delighted to be able to name Roger Federer, an exceptional and well-known Swiss icon, as our brand ambassador. Together with Roger Federer, we will become the foremost ambassadors for Swiss quality.”

And Roger Federer confirms this: “I am Swiss by birth, and since my childhood, I have always been a great fan of LINDT chocolate. I am very excited to partner with the global leader in premium chocolate and I enjoy their products and am very impressed with their plans for future growth.”

Alongside the proven and successful communication concept based on the universally popular Maîtres Chocolatiers, the cooperation with Roger Federer will be used as an additional communication instrument in Lindt’s global marketing efforts.

Check out some photos from the press event. Yum! All photos via 24 Heures:

 

And click here for a video with Roger from Lindt.

If Rafael Nadal is not playing tennis or sailing on a yacht, the next best place to look for him is on the golf course. Rafa was photographed today playing in the Castello Masters Pro-Am at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo in Castellon de la Plana, Spain. The tournament is hosted by Spanish golf star Sergio Garcia (pictured with Rafa above.) Garcia’s father is the resident pro at the club.

Rafa will be back on the tennis court on Thursday, when he is honored at the Barcelona Royal Tennis Club. Click here for more info on his website.

Another tournament, another excuse to play “tennis” somewhere where tennis should not be played. This time Fernando Verdasco and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga played the “tennis” on Shanghai’s maglev train, the world’s fastest commercial train, which reaches a top speed of 268 miles per hour.

We got video, folks. This is what I really love about Verdasco – give him a topic and he’ll just go with it.

Some silly quotes from Tsonga (via ATP):

“It was a very special experience. I made a few more errors than normal, but at least I was not driving the train because if I made errors then we would all be dead.”

“It was great for us to do this activity. It is very different than playing tennis in a normal court. The speed of the train is two times faster than my serve, so it was pretty fast.”

The story of the photo shoot: Verdasco knows how to pose. Tsonga’s more of a natural.

Nando, your Zoolander is showing:

Am I crazy, or does Verdasco look like Darren Cahill in this one?

Nando teaches Jo-Willie how to stare soulfully into the middle-distance:

Tsonga learns fast:

Tsonga practices his new smoldering skills on his own:

Tsonga and Verdasco are in the same half of the Shanghai draw. Tsonga could play Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarters and Verdasco could meet Rafael Nadal.

Marat Safin beat Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the China Open. And it’s a good thing he did, or the streets of Beijing would be flooded with tears and awash in heartbreak.  Marat Mania has hit Beijing. Big Time:

The one above is my favorite because of its hope that Marat will marry “us.” If you’re going to make a banner, why not reach for the impossible? Don’t just marry me, Marat – marry my best friend, my mom, my mom’s best friend and my gay uncle, too!

And this one’s great, for its fan-nerd reference to Marat’s mountaineering exploits:

Good thing the girls in white are so cute and happy, otherwise this one would be a little creepy-culty:

Some more examples of the Safin Sensation that’s sweeping the nation:

This is what Marat had to say about all the attention in his post match presser:

Q: For the first match in the morning, there were a lot of fans cheering for you. It’s not your first time to play in China, so when did you realize you are so popular in China? Are the fans in China different from the other part of the world?

SAFIN: I was surprised when I arrived at the airport. I was surprised; I didn’t realize until now. But it’s a nice feeling. It’s nice to see people coming so early with flags and cheering for you. Of course, they look very excited to see me, Nadal and a lot of other players. They are waiting at the hotel for us. I didn’t know I would be such a huge success. They are very loyal fans. They came with flags and signs, so it’s very nice.

He also had this funny-yet-insightful (and oh-so-Safin) comment on tennis retirement:

Q: Most people retire when they are in their 50s or 60s. Do you find it a little odd that someone is retiring at 29?

SAFIN: Well, I was 4 when I started, so it was still 25 years. So, it’s the same thing as other people when they retire at 50. They started when they’re 25 and retire when they’re 50. So basically, we do the same thing. It’s more than enough to just take a rest.

Marat confirmed his final schedule: Shanghai, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Paris. So now we have one reason to hope that this season drags on forever. . .

And in the spirit of enjoy-it-while-you-still-can, here are a few shots of the Safin Sensation himself:

 

Photos via OSports. Check out more Marat photos here.

Have you heard? ESPN The Magazine’s “The Body Issue” will feature nude or “semi nude” photographs of various athletes. (What is semi-nude, anyway? Is it the same as being semi-clothed? Like a glass half empty/half full kind of thing?)

According to USA Today, James Blake and Serena Williams will represent for tennis. (*UPDATE* -  James Blake is not on the ESPN press release list of naked athletes – so consider the photo below as a bonus.)

Eh. Been there, seen that:

I should come clean and admit that I have a major bone to pick with ESPN The Magazine. It published one of the single most ridiculous tennis articles ever written. Here’s how it started:

“If I guaranteed you that the 2008 Wimbledon men’s final would be the best tennis match of the past 20 years, would you watch it?

Amazingly, many sports fans would say no. Maybe they’d flick over to NBC a few times to “monitor the action.” Maybe they’d swing by for the fifth set. Maybe they’d watch a few games and get bored, then allow themselves to be sucked in by Under Siege or a Tila Tequila marathon. But I don’t have a single friend who’d watch four hours of tennis on a Sunday morning and, I’m guessing, neither do you.“

Note that this article was written before Wimbledon. We all know what happened two weeks later. HA!

So here’s The Body Issue, GTT Edition for you.

(Note: this is an all-male edition. I figure there are enough naked/semi-naked lady photos on the internet. I’m sure you know where to find them. . .)

An entire Naked Tennis Player Magazine could be devoted to the Spanish Armada:

Here’s Marat Safin doing the “semi-nude” thing:

“You’ve seen one, you’ve seen ‘em all!” Yeah, right, Marat.

And here’s a classic for all you Pat Rafter fans:

Are you still curious about that *other* Body Issue?Here’s some info from the ESPN presser:

ESPN The Magazine’s inaugural “Body Issue,” on newsstands Friday, Oct. 9, will feature nearly 80 athletes from a variety of sports in a celebration and exploration of the athletic form. The issue honors athletes of diverse shapes, sizes, genders and races within the boundaries of taste and frontiers of creativity upon which ESPN The Magazine and ESPN have built their reputations. It is a testament to the work the athletes do, the effort they exert and the price they sometimes pay in reliance on their most important asset – their bodies.

Features in the Body Issue explore the athletic form, inside and out – literally. Body Issue editorial topics include: the largest genetic test of current and former athletes to examine their genetic mapping, athletes’ use of sexuality to promote themselves, a first-hand look at an athlete’s ACL surgery, insuring the athletic body and what video game companies know about the athletic body and the process they go through to create the video game representation of star athletes.

And here is the list:

·          Adam Nelson / TRACK & FIELD / SHOT PUT
·          Adrian Peterson / NFL / VIKINGS
·          Alex Solis / JOCKEY
·          Bryan Clay / TRACK & FIELD / DECATHLETE
·          Byamba / SUMO
·          Carl Edwards / NASCAR
·          Casey Hampton / NFL / STEELERS
·          Cheryl Haworth / WOMEN’S WEIGHTLIFTER
·          Claire Bevilacqua / SURFER
·          D.C. United: Chris Pontius, Bryan Namoff, Clyde Simms, Jaime Moreno, Santino Quaranta, Ben Olsen / SOCCER / MLS
·          Dwight Howard / NBA / MAGIC
·          Edmonton Oilers: Sheldon Souray, Ethan Moreau, Andrew Cogliano / NHL
·          Gina Carano / MMA
·          Ivan Rodriguez / MLB / RANGERS
·          Jenn Stuczynski / TRACK & FIELD / POLE VAULT
·          Johnny Weir / ICE SKATER
·          Ken Schrader / NASCAR
·          Kevin Robinson / BMX
·          Kristi Leskinen / FREESTYLE SKIER
·          Laird Hamilton / SURFER
·          Lolo Jones / TRACK & FIELD / HURDLER
·          LPGA: Sandra Gal, Anna Grzebien, Christina Kim / GOLF
·          Malliciah Goodman / COLLEGE FOOTBALL / CLEMSON
·          Manny Pacquiao / BOXER
·          Mark Martin / NASCAR
·          Metal Mulisha: Todd Potter, Colin Morrison, Ronnie Faisst, Brian Deegan, Beau Manley, Nixey Danielson / MOTOCROSS
·          Michelle Carter / TRACK & FIELD / SHOT PUT
·          Natasha Kai / USA SOCCER
·          Nelson Cruz / MLB / RANGERS
·          Oguchi Onyewu / USA SOCCER
·          Patrick Kerney / NFL / SEAHAWKS
·          Poker: Daniel Negreanu, Scotty Nguyen, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth
·          Randy Couture / MMA
·          Ryan Guettler / BMX
·          Ryan Lochte / SWIMMER
·          Sarah Reinertsen / TRIATHLETE
·          Scott Jurek / ULTRAMARATHONER
·          Serena Williams / TENNIS
·          Shane Proctor / BULL RIDER
·          Steph Davis / ROCK CLIMBER / BASE JUMPER
·          Stephane Robidas / NHL /  STARS
·          Susan Francia / ROWER
·          Torry Holt / NFL / JAGUARS
·          USA Softball: Natasha Watley, Cat Osterman, Jessica Mendoza, Lauren Lappin
·          Zdeno Chara / NHL / BRUINS

For some preview images, click here.