It’s not a full line-up of the Day 3 roster, but we thought we’d share some photos we snapped of Marat Safin, Kim Clijsters, Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Victoria Azarenka, a semi-shirtless David Ferrer and others from Wednesday at the US Open.

 

The attractive woman you might not recognize is Polona Hercog - an eighteen year old Slovenian player who partnered up with Roberta Vinci in doubles (they lost on Wednesday to Glatch/Gullickson.) She was in the singles draw, but lost to another American, Christina McHale, in the first round. Basically, FreakyFritters just thought she was cute. . .

Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer, Fernando Gonzalez, Vera Zvonareva, Aleksandra Wozniak, Sabine Lisicki and other tennis players attended the 10th annual Taste of Tennis event on Thursday night at the W Hotel in Manhattan. Proceeds from the event support the Food Bank for New York City. A description from the Taste of Tennis website:

The BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis presented by Rums of Puerto Rico is a feast for the senses. This is the only event in the world where you can sample sensational food prepared by world class chefs, enjoy interactive lounges, sip signature rum cocktails, groove to great music, mingle with celebrities and rub elbows with world’s greatest professional tennis players! This is not just a tasting event; the BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis is a once-in-a-lifetime food and tennis experience!

Food served included braised beef short ribs, lamb pie, heirloom tomato gazpacho  and “The Andy Roddick” rum cocktail devised by my personal fave “Real Housewife” Bethenny Frankel:

A good cause, yummy food and Jo-Wilfried in a rockin’ white suit? What’s not to love? Here are some photos from the evening:

And yes, Jo-Wilfried also looks delish in an apron!

This is Andy Roddick’s Brooklyn Decker impression:

And his evening baseball cap!

Fernando Gonzalez:

David Ferrer looking hot, maybe a little bothered:

Close up!

Nicolas Kiefer:

Onto the ladies! Both Aleksandra Wozniak and Sabine Lisicki looked FAB!

Okay, maybe Sabine’s dress is not the best, but she’s lovely, anyway:

Vera Zvonareva:

:

Whoops, almost forgot Brad Gilbert!

Okay, not everyone is shirtless while they practice for the US Open. But Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is! As is David Ferrer – who I’m hoping is recovering nicely from his knee tendinitis. Andy Roddick might as well be shirtless, due to his over-sweating. Whoo hoo! (Sorry, WTA fans, all I got is a shirt-wearing Jelena Jankovic.) Photos via USOpen.org.

 

Seriously, there are some great photos on the usopen.org website. Click here for more.

It’s a brave new era for Federer fandom. At least for me. Last week in Montreal, Roger lost his quarterfinal against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga after holding a 5-1 lead in the third set. Instead rolling on the floor moaning “Why, Roger why? What’s happening to you?” I just shrugged and said, “Better luck next time, buddy.”

I tuned into the third set of Roger’s Round of 16 match against David Ferrer today in Cincinnati and thought, “Oh, Roger might lose.” Then I saw him go down a break and muttered, “Yep, he’s definitely going to lose.” Even more bizarre, I kept watching the match. I was pleasantly surprised when Federer came back to win it: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

If I was in Fedophile therapy, my counselor would call this a breakthrough. It’s not that I’ve become a fair-weather fan, I’m just well-adjusted. Which is a re-adjustment!

But I’m a slow learner. It’s taken me about two years – ever since Federer lost to Canas in back-to-back Masters in the 2007 Indian Wells and Miami tournaments – to reach this state of Federer Fan Zen. Roger’s flame-out against Djokovic in Miami this year didn’t help. Of course, winning Madrid, Roland Garros and Wimbledon didn’t hurt, either.

Like Roger, are we Fed Fans feeling less pressure now that he’s beaten Pete’s record?

Brad Gilbert asked Federer after today’s match if he needed to win some matches before the U.S. Open:

It’s important. I don’t think it’s key. Because I’ve proven in the past that I don’t necessarily need matches prior to a big event. But it definitely helps it – gives you an idea of what shot to hit at what time during the match. Sometimes I still feel that I’m not taking the right decisions so that’s something I can work on in the next match.

Roger shouldn’t worry too much – with his win today, he’s already improved on last year’s pre-US Open performance. In 2008, he went out to Gilles Simon in the 2nd Rd. of Toronto and to Ivo Karlovic in the Cincy Rd. of 16. . .and then won his fifth US Open title a couple weeks later.

What do you think?

Well, that was a waste. I was kicking back on Wednesday evening, glass of wine in hand, ready to watch Rafael Nadal battle the feisty David Ferrer in his first ATP singles match since Roland Garros. Then Ferrer retired after the seventh game and all I got out of it was: Rafa looks good in blue and David has an adorable habit of licking his top lip from left to right and then from right to left while waiting to return serve. (And against Nadal, Ferrer’s tongue covered a lot of ground.)

Oh okay, I got more than that – like Rafa’s serve is screwy and his court sense and movement are still coming out of hibernation. To be expected. No big thang. But how strange that his first match back, Rafa gets a guy with a gimpy knee?

Nadal chose to accentuate the positive after his match:

Anything gonna be ‑‑ everything gonna be positive. Only bad thing can be is if I have another time problems with the knees, but the rest of the things, everything is positive, no?  Every match, every point.  Because everything is helping me to be ready as soon as possible when I return to my level.

The Comeback Kid speaks:

Nadal gets Phillipp Petzschner next.

I’m a huge fan of Jo-Dubya Tsonga. And he keeps driving me crazy with these close matches. Rainer Schuettler is a good player but Tonsga needs to start dominating these dudes, not scraping by 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round.

The guy who is playing like a top dog right now: the Mosquito a.k.a. Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat Gael Monfils in straight sets on Wednesday. How fitting that the Anti-Safin took out the guy who beat Marat Safin in the previous round. I’m going to start calling Marat the Anti-Ferrero from now on.

In other old guy news - when I saw that Tommy Haas retired against Fernando Gonzalez I thought, “Oh no, what bizarre, career-threatening calamity has befallen the resurgent German now?” Then I read it was a blister on his right hand that done him in. Getting cocky with the Tennis Gods, Tommy?

The Old Guys even have their own video:

I was hoping for a Marat Safin cameo at the end – toasting his contemporaries from a Moscow nightclub or amongst a colony of Penguins on the tip of Patagonia  or wherever it is he plans to go after Bercy. A missed opportunity, ATP.

Andy Roddick is not quite an old guy at (almost) 27, but he’s definitely a tour veteran. After beating Igor Andreev 6-1, 7-6(3) on Wednesday, he spoke about the surge of support he’s received after this year’s Wimbledon:

It’s been humbling, that’s for sure. I don’t know that I’ve ever had this level of support in my career so far, and that’s not saying I haven’t had support, but you know, there’s different support than kind of like at a tennis tournament, at a match, and support now where it’s kind of walking to put cream in your coffee at the coffee shop.

Tomorrow’s the best day of the tournament, with all the men in Round of 16 action. Here are the match-ups:

Youzhny vs. Djokovic, Del Potro vs. Hanescu, Roddick vs. Verdasco, Murray vs. Ferrero, Petzschner vs. Nadal, Gonzalez vs. Davydenko and two Davis Cup specials in Wawrinka vs. Federer and Simon (remember Gilly?) vs. Tsonga.

Of course, I can’t sign off without congratulating this week’s greatest Come Back Kid, Kim Clijsters, who beat Patty Schnyder in straight sets on Wednesday in Cincinnati. “Does it look easy?” she asked reporters after her match. Why yes, Kim, it does. It should get a little harder when she meets Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Rd. of 16, but then I thought Kimmie had no chance against Bartoli.

At post time, the WTA’s Kim Clijsters comeback video wasn’t embeddable – click here to check it out.

In other Cincy news Ana Ivanovic continues to make tennis look very, very hard, with a second round, straight-set loss to Melinda “who?” Czink. Serena Williams served 14 aces to breeze past Kateryna Bondarenko and Jelena Jankovic got past Maria Kirilenko.

Both men’s and women’s action will be televised on Thursday. Click here for the Montreal TV schedule and here for Cincy’s.

In a day of upsets at the French Open, the biggest by far was Venus Williams’s loss to Agnes Szavay in an unbelievable scoreline: 0-6, 4-6.

Venus couldn’t believe it, either: “You know, I’m used to beating people 6‑0. I’m not used to my shot not going in and losing a set 6‑0. So it completely was foreign ground for me.”

At least she got some revenge later in the day, when she and Serena took out Szavay and Gisela Dulko in the doubles.

What’s bigger news? That Maria Sharapova is into the fourth round of Roland Garros after yet another tough three setter or that the French crowd actually cheered for her? Maria’s take: “You’re ranked outside the top 100, so people like you.” Enjoy it while you can, Maria.

Grunting is really too soft a term for the sounds Michelle Larcher de Brito was emitting before, during and after every stroke in her match against French woman Aravane Rezai. More accurate descriptions include screeching, screaming and wailing like a banshee. The Telegraph, U.K. called the match “the loudest performance in the history of tennis” and ESPN quoted her coach, Nick Bollettieri, as saying Sharapova’s grunt is “no contest” for Larcher de Brito’s.

When Rezai complained to the umpire about the auditory racket, the sixteen-year-old defended herself: “Do you ask Sharapova to keep quiet?”

Here’s a sample of the noise (from last year’s Montreal event):

Rezai, who emerged the victor in two sets, had this to say afterward about Sharapova’s new rival:

ARAVANE REZAI: It’s different (than Sharapova’s grunt). She (Larcher de Brito) really shouts loud. Maybe it’s the way she tries to impress the opponent, but it really did upset me because it was really unpleasant. I did try to talk to the umpire about this. She kept shouting.

I think the umpire did not really do his job, and so I told the referee. You know, it’s a pity, because she really plays well. She’s talented. She fights, but she still has a lot to learn. She’s very young, and I think she’s just going through a phase.

Rezai’s complaints led to increased tension on both sides of the net – with glaring and cheering for the opponents’ misses. Since the tennis improved along with the cattiness, it made for some great entertainment. The final handshake was icy, and Larcher de Brito was reportedly booed and catcalled on her way off court.

“It wasn’t too much of a great feeling,” Larcher de Brito said after the match. Good, because my ears still hurt.

Speaking of drama, the Battle of the “Real No. 1s” rages on:

I found this amusing line in an “article” on Serena Williams’s website,  summarizing her three-set win over Zakopalova in the first round: “Eventually, the champion at the last two Grand Slam championships and the player so many, many people believe is the real world number one, stood her ground and closed it out 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in almost two and a half hours.”

Since Serena started it, I’ll add fuel to the fire: Dinara Safina has lost a total of 4 games in her first 3 matches of the tournament. Serena’s lost 14 games in just 2 matches.

We now interrupt this Day 6 Wrap for a photo of Roger Federer:

(Rog plays Paul Henri Mathieu tomorrow in his 3rd round match)

Speaking of Roger, nice props from oldster Lleyton Hewitt in his post match presser (after being demolished today by Rafael Nadal):

Q. If you look to this tournament you see some former No. 1 players like Safin, Ferrero, you. You’re not still in the 30s, but it seems like your generation cannot pick on anymore. How do you see that?

LLEYTON HEWITT: Roger is doing all right for our generation. We’ll just hang on to him at the moment.

After Rafael Nadal destroyed one buddy on the court, he defended another buddy off of it (via ESPN):

RAFAEL NADAL: “(Richard Gasquet) is most certainly not taking cocaine. You know what the world is like today. You know, when you go to a party, anything can happen these days. If you kiss a girl who’s taken cocaine, anything can happen, and that’s the truth. That’s reality, and this can destroy your life or your career, rather, and this is most unfair.”

As Rafa said, anything can happen these days. . .

We have a new contender for Dumbest Press Conference Question, this time asked to Ana Ivanovic after she beat Benesova in straights:

Q. Getting older and older, and I don’t remember where I read everything, but I think I read something about you, that you were playing or were offered a wildcard on a badminton tournament. Is that true, or have you ever been playing badminton?

ANA IVANOVIC: No, never.

In other results, Andy Murray is through to the 4th round for the first time in his career after his opponent, Janko Tipsarevic, retired with a leg injury. Robin Soderling upset David Ferrer,  Hanescu upset Simon, and Davydenko bested Stan Wawrinka in four. Verdasco (over Almagro), Gonzalez (over Ouanna), Djokovic, Cilic and Kohlschreiber (over Ferrero) are also through on the men’s side.

On the women’s side, Cibulkova beat Dulko and Na Li beat Govortsova. We have to wait to see who wins Azarenka vs. Suarez Navarro, which was suspended for darkness tied at two sets all. Go Carla!

My biggest question for the weekend? How badly will NBC fu*k up the tennis? Will an epic five-setter be cut short to fit the network’s three hour broadcast window? Click here for our French Open TV schedule.

Venus looking for her game: photo by LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Breaking news! Roger’s initials are RF:  photo by REUTERS/Regis Duvignau (FRANCE SPORT TENNIS) via Daylife

David Ferrer was asked at the Madrid Open about Federer’s chances against Rafa and had this to say (in Spanish):

“Roger Federer has sufficient tennis to beat Rafa Nadal.  He can do it, but it’s very complicated.  Rafa is the indisputable number one on clay and  in the world, but most of all on clay.  Also it was said that Roger was unbeatable on grass and Nadal beat him.  For me Rafa is the number one and is very difficult to beat him on clay and besides, he has a lot of mental strength.”

I find the middle sentence about Federer on grass particularly interesting. Does David mean to say “Rafa’s obviously the best because he beat the “unbeatable” Federer on grass” or does he mean “Roger was supposedly unbeatable on grass, just like Rafa on clay, so noone’s really ever invincible”?

Okay, maybe I’m reading too much into this. Either way, I love Ferru!

Random factoid: The easy-going Ferrer also mentioned that he doesn’t mind the idea of blue clay, saying that in Madrid it’s all about “the show.” I wonder if he and Nadal are going to stay up late arguing about that one. . .

Ferrer’s through to the second round in Madrid, where he’ll face another one of my faves, Juan Monaco.

Click here for the original article (in Spanish) via Marca. Please note that this is my own translation – so don’t expect perfection

“So David, I hear you think I can beat Rafa at Roland Garros. . .” Photo of Federer and Ferru by REUTERS via Daylife

Really, what more is there to say? Rafael Nadal is on auto-pilot, winning every match he plays. Here are the highlights from Rafa’s victory over David Ferrer in the final of the Barcelona Open:

Congrats, Rafa, for making it 5 in a row in Barcelona!

Here’s Rafa talking about his victory:

Rafa seems confident that he can keep his amazing winning streak going. He’s played non-stop since Monte Carlo and will be heading straight to Italy for this week’s Rome Masters. But last year he lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round of Rome with a case of killer blisters on his feet. Will we see a similar exit this time around, or can Nadal maintain his clay court surge?

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Ridiculous stat: Rafael Nadal has a 141-4 win record on clay since 2005.

Okay, back to business: here are some highlights from Saturday’s semi final matches at the Barcelona Open. Rafael Nadal defeated a back-from-injury Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 6-2, and David Ferrer took out Fernando Gonzalez in three:  2-6, 6-2, 7-6(5). David described his win as “a crazy match that could have gone either way.”

Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will face each other on Sunday in a rematch of the 2008 final, which Nadal won in three sets. Rafa’s going for his fifth straight title in Barcelona.

Ferrer’s take on the final: “Rafa is the World No. 1 and the best on clay, it’s very difficult to beat him. I’ll try to play good tennis, if not I’m dead, but I’m not thinking about whether or not I’ll beat him, I go on the court to play as well as possible.”

Rafa leads the head-to-head against Ferrer, 6 to 3.

Here’s another video from the ATP, where David Ferrer makes a half-hearted attempt to describe how to beat Nadal on clay:

141-4, people.

Source: ATP

Spaniards Rafael Nadal, Fernando Verdasco and Tommy Robredo all won their third round match ups Thursday at the Barcelona Open. Take a look at the highlights, above.

All four of the top seeds will advance, with Friday’s quarterfinals as follows:

Nikolay Davydenko (3) vs. Radek Stepanek (Czech leads head-to-head 4-3), David Ferrer (4) vs. Tommy Robredo (Ferrer leads 3-2), and Fernando Verdasco (2) vs. Fernando Gonzalez (tied 2-2 with last meeting 3 years ago). Rafa advances automatically to the semis, since David Nalbandian withdrew from the tournament due to a hip injury after beating Nicolas Almagro in the third round. So sad we won’t be getting that Nalby/Nadal match.

It is fun seeing the Spanish guys succeed on thier home turf. Vamos!

Click here to visit the Barcelona Open website.