“This rivalry is intense!” Roger Federer joked at Indian Wells on Friday night, after Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi engaged in some verbal (and in Pete’s case, non-verbal) crossfire during their Hit for Haiti charity doubles match. It was a valiant attempt to break the tension and a subtle reference to the more mellow relationship [...]

WTA stars continue to drop in the desert like beads of sweat from Rafa’s furrowed brow (or the deluge from Kleybanova’s ponytail). Sharapova, Henin, Ivanovic and Kuznetsova disappeared during the first week. On Monday 3rd-seeded Victoria Azarenka was bounced by 28-seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. No. 17 Shahar Peer took out No. 9 Flavia Pennetta.

No. [...]

Learning our lesson from Saturday’s standing room only Roddick/Blake vs. Murray/Hutchins doubles match, we camped out early on Stadium 2 on Sunday to catch wild card entrants Rafael Nadal/Marc Lopez vs. the third-seeded doubles team of Lukas Dlouhy/Leander Paes.  The wild cards won: 6-4, 3-6, 10-6. The result made me pity the doubles specialists of [...]

The buddy system was in play on Sunday at Indian Wells, when Rafael Nadal and his good pal/sometime doubles partner Marc Lopez beat the third seeded doubles team of Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes in the first round. Once again, the visiting martians hovering over the Indian Wells Tennis Garden would be forgiven for thinking [...]

We caught Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Monaco and Andy Murray going shirtless during practice on Sunday – perfect fodder for our final Tennis Hunks of Indian Wells post of the tournament.
If you missed some of our previous posts, click here for Nadal practice photos, here and here for Roger Federer, here for Djokovic practicing with Verdasco [...]

Here’s a nice video from the ATP showing Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick in action on the Indian Wells practice courts. It provides some insight into their autograph techniques as well.

Love the banner! (Click here for Roger Federer Banner-rama!)

Some nice behind the scenes photos from Hit for Haiti. I’m guessing that these were all taken before the guys played their match on Friday. I’m basing this on Rafa’s t-shirt, which he changed once he was on court. Also, everyone seems to be getting along!
“I know my fabrics, Rafa, and this is not 100% [...]

Saturday was a very busy day at Indian Wells – the sold out day session, the overflow parking situation and the epic bathroom lines were just the start of it. It felt like the entire population of Tennis Landia was trying to get inside Stadium 2 to watch Andy Murray/Ross Hutchins vs. James Blake/Andy Roddick [...]

Roger Federer talks to the ATP about Indian Wells. Interesting stuff from him on being “back on top” of the game and on Rafael Nadal’s recent struggles.

This puts me in the mood for a Nadal vs. Federer final next weekend! Am I going to get my wish?

Photo by Krist at rogerfederer.com
Federer Fan (and self-diagnosed “Rogerholic”), Kathy Woodward contributed this piece on the now-famous “Genius at Work” banner that follows her man around the world. Enjoy!
An Ingenious Idea
by Kathy Woodward
“Shhh!!! Quiet! Genius at Work”, has requested hush and silence over Federer matches for four years now. The slogan was inspired by a [...]

Don’t worry Rafanatics. After a couple days of near misses, we finally caught Rafael Nadal on the practice courts!
Rafa practiced twice on Friday. The first session (white cap) was in the late morning with Janko Tipsarevic. Flavia Pennetta, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nikolay Davydenko were around for a chat. I have no idea what Flavs was [...]

A great BIG juicy thank you to GTT reader Nilhenwen for sending us this amazing behind-the-scenes video from the Rafael Nadal/Shakira “Gypsy” shoot! I’m sure it will launch 1,000 film makeup careers. Enjoy!