“Janko Tipsarevic Unplugged” says the ATP tour. Isn’t Janko Tipsarevic always unplugged?

Yes, he does say he hates Novak Djokovic – and says Rafael Nadal chokes. Watch the video and find out why.

Janko’s the guy you want to invite to your next dinner party, right?

And here’s a nice one of Tommy Robredo, his dad and his horses. Enjoy, Ignoramoose!

Oh, and here’s one with the Bryan Brothers and their new album. (no comment)

The ATP has been killing it with their videos lately. Good job, ATP!

Czech it out! Photographer: Paul Zimmer

Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek took care of business on Saturday, pairing up after their epic five setters the day before to beat  Marin Cilic/Lovro Zovko in the doubles: 6-1 6-3 6-4. The Czech team is now 3-0 over the Croatians, and is guaranteed a spot in the Davis Cup finals this December.

Czech mates! Photographer: Paul Zimmer

Though the Czechs were playing in Croatia, they still enjoyed significant support from the stands. Here’s the on-the-ground report via daviscup.com:

The Zatika Arena was reminiscent of a heavy metal rock concert. The cheering, chanting, and jumping up and down courtside would have been more at home at a Pearl Jam performance. An entire section of men with all body shapes removed their shirts and started to swing them in the air while singing. They were celebrating.

In Spain, the Defending Champions also pulled off the 3-0 lead against their semifinal rivals, with Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez taking out the slight favorites, Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel, in four sets: 7-6(6) 6-7(7) 6-4 6-2.

Team Spain. Photographer: Sergio Carmona

Both Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco were sidelined with injury, but were literally on the sidelines to support the team (they joined in the victory lap, above). The final against the Czech Republic will be played in Spain, and if Rafa and ‘Nando are both healthy, a couple members of the current team will likely be left out (no F-LO? Adios JCF?) Talk about a problem most teams would like to have.

WORLD GROUP PLAYOFFS

Roger is not amused. Photographer: Angelo Tonelli

There’s some drama in Italy, where the Italian team of Bolelli/Starace snagged the crucial doubles point from Wawrinka/Chiudinelli on Satuday, bringing things to 2-1, Switzerland. Roger Federer, who was taken out of the doubles rubber for a  rest, will try to wrap things up in the fourth rubber vs. Seppi on Sunday.

The (Nole-less) Serbs are the only playoff team already guranteed a spot in the World Group. They beat the Uzbeks 3-0.

The dreamy team. Photographer: Virginie Bouyer

Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra pulled France ahead, 2-1, vs. the Netherlands.

Click here for more World Group Playoff results.

In ZONAL TIE news, things are looking bad for team Britain, down 1-2 to Poland after Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg defeated Andy Murray and Ross Hutchins in the doubles on Saturday. It’s unlikely that Murray will play again on Sunday, due to wrist tendinitis that he says is not improving. Where’s Tiger Tim when you need him?

The men put in a good day’s work on Day Four of the US Open on Thursday, including some solid wins by Tommy Haas, Fernando Verdasco, Novak Djokovic and Tommy Robredo. Here are some of our snapshots.

*fellow bloggers are more than welcome to use our photos, please link us if you do.

 

I hate to be a Negative Nellie, but so far I’m unimpressed with this year’s US Open Players’ Party. Where is everyone? (And by everyone I mean Federer, Nadal, Sharapova, Roddick, etc.) Maybe we’ll get video of Nole pole dancing with the Bondarenko sisters tomorrow. . . until then, here are some photos of Venus, James Blake, Tommy Robredo and others. The event took place on Saturday evening at the Skyline Studios in NYC. So much for the rumors that Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek broke up.

Now this is a well-matched couple. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, with her husband, Justin Sands:

James Blake with someone named Olivia Palermo. Don’t think they’re dating, but they make a cute couple, no?

Wow, Tommy Robredo, flying solo:

Those jeans are really nice. And I like the watch. Good job, Tommy!

Venus Williams was there, too:

Yes, Venus can pull off a jump suit. A jumpsuit with ruffles:

Actress Emmy Rossum with a tennis ball:

The forecast calls for real rain at the start of the tournament, not tennis ball rain. Boo. . . .

I really hope we get to see some actual tennis!

Look out, Brooklyn Decker! Spanish ELLE did a photo shoot in Miami featuring the biological miracle that is Spanish tennis. Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Nicolas Almagro frolicked in the sun and sand like a team of professional Zoolanders. Photos will appear in the May issue of Elle. Click here and here to check it all out.

Forget the French Open, who’s winning the battle of Blue Steel?

David and Tommy, it’s time for a walk-off!

Ana Ivanovic showed off her own Top Model skills for this week’s Spanish Vanity Fair. According to her website, the writer wonders whether Ana will become “the most important marketing phenom in tennis.” A gal can always dream. . .

Here’s a little gallery – love Feru in his little polka dot mini skirt! And Almagro as his BFF!

Photos via Great Tennis Photos. Or check out abc.es, elle.es and anaivanovic.com for the originals.

**UPDATE** A big GRACIAS to Henry from Bogota for doing an excellent translation of the video – see the comments section to read about Manolo’s wisecrack and Rafa’s self-improvement motto.

Boy, I wish I knew Spanish (or had an audio version of Google translate), because this video is one great, big Rafa Bomb! Good thing he’s cute, so the language barrier doesn’t bother me too much. . .

Most of the footage is of Tuesday’s promotional event at the Barcelona Open for Nadal’s charitable foundation: Fundación Rafa Nadal. He and fellow Spanish Wimbledon Champ, Manolo Santana, exchanged racquets for the cameras, with Manolo’s historic 1966 stick likely going to Rafa’s next charity auction.  Here’s the scoop from HCFoo:

Santana gave the foundation his heavy wooden Dunlop racquet used in the year when he won the Wimbledon Championships. In exchange, Nadal gave Santana his modern Babolat racquet which helped him win the 5th consecutive Monte Carlo Masters last week. Nadal apologized to Santana and said, “This is not so much history (referring to his Babolat tennis racquet).”

Nadal’s foundation focuses on “promoting the sport as an integration tool for those who need it the most, such as handicapped, immigrant and socially excluded people.” Click here to learn more about Rafa’s foundation.

Cute photo bonus! Rafa hit the Barcelona practice courts in his foundation’s cap:

Nadal plays Frederico Gil of Portugal in the second round of the Barcelona Open on Wednesday.

Also cool: Tommy Robredo also stopped by the press room to launch the first Open Memorial Santi Silvas, a new wheelchair tennis event organized by Robredo’s foundation in honor of his good friend and wheelchair player Santi Silvas. The event will become the premier wheelchair tennis event in Spain. (Click here for more.)

Great work, guys!

Thumbnail: Getty Images via Daylife

Nadal cap: REUTERS/Albert Gea (SPAIN SPORT TENNIS) via Daylife

Yeah, taking photos hunky players at an ATP tournament is not a challenge. Talk about point and shoot! Make sure to check out the gallery to find your favorites. (And our apologies for not getting everyone!)

Hot Potito! Yeah, I was surprised, too. Potito Starache was until recently a UHO – Unidentified Hunky Object – until these photos pulled him out of obscurity. A GTT exclusive!

David Ferrer – modestly hot.

Gonzo – he looks sweet and hot! Like a freshly fried doughnut. Yum.

A hottie Hall of Famer.

 

Fellow bloggers: Thanks to everyone who asked to use our photos! Please feel free to use them – we would appreciate a link back to our post, if you do.

ANB AMRO ROTTERDAM:

Andy Murray beat Rafael Nadal in the final of the ANB AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam this weekend, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0. I didn’t see the match, but I heard it was painful for all involved: for Rafa, it was his bum knee, for Murray, it was the confusion of playing a gimp, for the fans, it was watching eight straight breaks of serve in the second set. Hardly a classic, but Murray ended it with a soon-to-be classic quote: ”Obviously it’s not the way you want to win as I could see Rafa had an injury. . .He made it difficult as he was hitting the ball so hard and being aggressive on every shot to try and keep the points short. It just shows how good he is that he can beat me on one leg!“”

I give Rafa props for fighting through the entire tournament and hanging tough in the final, but geeze, why the HELL did he schedule himself to play this week in the first place?

The doubles was another top seeded match-up, with the No. 1 team of Nestor/Zimonjic beating No. 2 pair Dlouhy/Paes.

SAP OPEN:

Radek Stepanek beat American-hope Mardy Fish in the final of the SAP Open in San Jose this weekend, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Radek says he’s feeling fit and confident this season, with a 12-2 match record and two titles (the other being in Brisbane.) He scored a big confidence booster in the semis, when he beat Andy Roddick for the first time in five tries. I want to spare a thought for Roddick here – the guy has had some impressive losses, and this was right up there (thanks to Forty Deuce for spelling it out): 19 aces, 1 double fault, 78% first serve, 81% first serve points won, 103 to 101 total points won and 1 0f 11 break points converted. Ouch, sounds like Roger’s stats when he plays Rafa.

Oh, and another thought spared for underachiever Mardy Fish, who now has a dismal 2-10 record in finals. Here’s how he explained the pain the tenth time ’round:

“Everything went – starting with my leg, my feet. You stop moving, you get a little tight. You get so close to winning this. To say it doesn’t creep in your mind that you remember some of those losses you have in all those finals – I have 10 losses in all those finals – that’s a lot.”

Let’s hope Mardy has a sports psychologist on speed dial.

Radek scored another victory in doubles, when he and partner Tommy Haas beat Rohan Bopanna and Jarkko Nieminen in straights.

BRASIL OPEN:

Tommy Robredo beat home-crowd favorite Thomaz Bellucci in the final of the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe this weekend, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. This was his 8th career title out of 15 finals (for shame, Mardy!) and his 7th on clay. Nice win for him, sad for the folks in the crowd – Bellucci said fans were crying in the stands when he lost. The Brazilian can take comfort in this: No one’s ever cried for Tommy Robredo.

Eh, I’m too hard on him – let me congratulate Tommy for scooping up the doubles title with partner Marcel Granollers, taking out my cutie pie Juan Monaco and partner Lucas Arnold Ker.

Does anyone else find it spooky that both Tommy and Stepanek scored the singles/doubles sweep this weekend?

NEXT UP:

The big one (ATP 500) is on indoor hard courts in Memphis,  at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship (the WTA will be playing simultaneously at the same venue – their tournament is called the Cellular South Cup.) It’s many of the same players for SAP, with Roddick and del Potro taking the top seedings. There are also two ATP 250 tournaments: the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires (outdoor clay) and the Open 13 in Marseille (indoor hard) where Novak Djokovic will make his post-Aussie debut (Andy Murray’s withdrawn from his title defense with a foot injury.)

Side note: As the injury report piles up, I find it very sensible of Roger Federer to be hiding out in Dubai or wherever he is. The Dubai/Davis Cup/Indian Wells/Miami grind is almost upon us!!! (Yeah, that’s insane.)

Andy photo: Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Robredo photo: Andre Penner/AP Photo