A lot of interesting stories continue to develop in Tennis Land, so I thought I’d put them all down in one place:
Let’s start with some fun stuff. Reporter Matt Cronin via Twitter: “Sharapova recently began dating the Lakers’ Sasha Vujacic. Now if she can only help “The Machine” get his deadly jump shot back.”
Vujacic [...]

That Roger Federer is just so full of himself!
After winning his first round match against Olivier Rochus today at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, Roger Federer bragged to the hometown crowd about his deft hand-eye coordination – at changing diapers:
“I have an unbelievable technique,” he said to laughter – [...]

Too cute for words. And you really can try to pick up more tennis balls than Rafa – click here for the details.
I think there should be one of Roger running around for an hour and then showing off his camera ready-hair (yeah, no contest.)

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 [...]

I said I would refrain from reading Rafael Nadal’s tealeaves until next season, but Peter Bodo at tennis.com offered this provocative analysis after this weekend’s Shanghai final:
So the real issue, looking to Nadal’s future, is: To what degree can he recapture the form and aura he enjoyed until a few weeks after the Australian Open?  [...]

The ATP’s calendar was the hot topic in the Shanghai Masters press room last week, but there were plenty of other interesting exchanges, covering everything from sex, sports cars and when the heck a Frenchman will ever win a major. Before it’s old news, I thought I’d post some of my favorites:
Novak Djokovic on sex [...]

Nikolay Davydenko beat Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Sunday for the title at the Shanghai Masters. Here are the highlights :

I love listening to the crowd’s reactions to every winner!
And here’s Davydenko’s post-match interview:

“It was no plan, it just was fighting!”
And of course, this was another highlight of the match – his wife’s [...]

Nikolay Davydenko beat Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the final of the Shanghai Masters on Sunday.  This is Davydenko’s fourth title of the season and his third career Masters title. Watching him hit those crisp ground strokes and perform his soft-shoe scamper around the court, I remembered: I like watching Kolya play. [...]

We’ve been following the (never ending?) story of the tennis players vs. the tennis schedule this week, as both Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal have said that current scheduling commitments are hurting the players. Roddick, who retired from his second round match in Shanghai, offered some solutions to the problem via Twitter today (I cleaned [...]

The players partied on the helipad of the Shanghai Hilton to celebrate this week’s Masters tournament. They managed not to look too grumpy, and Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal even dressed up a little:

Marat, do you really want to wrap up your final season wearing plaid flannels? Come on now:

That’s more like it!

Are the top seeds staging a walk-out at the Shanghai Masters? Fourth-seeded Andy Roddick retired yesterday with a mysterious knee injury during his second round match against Stan Wawrinka. The 3rd and 7th seeds followed today, as Juan Martin del Potro retired with a wrist injury against Jurgen Melzer, and Ivan Ljubicic defeated Fernando Verdasco [...]

Rafael Nadal talks to the ATP in Shanghai about his health, his time in Asia and being the No. 1 seed. (I miss Roger, too, Rafa!)

Nadal plays James Blake in his first match of the tournament. He won their last meeting last week in Beijing: 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
For the States’ Shanghai TV schedule click [...]