There was a Marat Safin sighting over the weekend, as the former-pro-turned-Russian-sports-exec played in an exhibition tournament in Moscow (click here for an update on Safin’s new career.) Enjoy! Marat with Captain Shamil, who I suspect is Marat’s mentor in his new role as tennis bureaucrat. The man with Marat is Prince Bruno Gomez Acebo [...]

France took out defending champ Spain in Davis Cup action on Saturday. The team of Llodra/Benneteau beat Lopez/Verdasco 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 7-6(5), posting an insurmountable 3-0 lead for Team France. “Even if I am 30 years, I like this kind of match,” said Llodra, who also upset Verdasco in Monday’s singles rubber. “Amazing. We play [...]

Friday was an exciting and surprising first day of Davis Cup quarterfinal action. Let’s take a look. France leads Spain: 2-0 in France Wha? Michael Llodra, bluntly described as France’s “oldest and lowest ranked player” on the Davis Cup website, took out World No. 10 Fernando Verdasco on Friday in four sets. It was the [...]

Russia is hosting Argentina at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium this weekend for the Davis Cup quarterfinals. Alas, DC stalwart and recent ATP retiree, Marat Safin, isn’t part of the line up. (Though you never know what tricks ol’ Captain Shamil has up his sleeve!) Like the Russian squad, I, too, am missing the team’s hero, so [...]

photo via WorldTennisMagazine.com Sorry, I know this isn’t breaking news, but it’s never too late for a Safin fix, is it? When I saw the above photo posted up on Tennis.com I thought – wow, the seniors tour suddenly got a whole lot sexier (not talking about you, Scud). Marat Safin played his first Seniors [...]

How about a mid-week Marat Safin pick-me-up? This photo was just too cute not to post. Marat Safin and Anastasia Myskina were photographed at the Novinsky Passazh shopping arcade in Moscow on Friday for the draw of the Tennis Legends in Moscow event. Last weekend’s exhibition tournament featured “the brightest tennis stars of the 90s” [...]

Photo via Spletnik.ru In the doldrums of the post-Australian Open tennis season, why not take a Marat Safin break? Marat was interviewed late last last year by Russian HELLO! and photographed hanging out in his Moscow penthouse, where he will be spending more time now that he’s retired. It’s a thrill to see the super-private [...]

It was love-all for tennis in 2009, with nuptials, hookups, and enough juicy rumors to keep us bloggers chattering like overworked yentas. Here’s a review of some of the year’s juiciest love matches. TENNIS HOOKUPS: Ana Ivanovic and her Australian golfing beau, Adam Scott, inspired this post. She’s been in Australia for over a month [...]

Photo of the then-engaged 1971 Wimbledon Champions by: Tony Triolo/SI “Mixed doubles are always starting divorces. If you play with your wife, you fight with her. If you play with somebody else, she fights with you.” – Sidney B.Wood Jr. , 1931 Wimbledon champion. I don’t know, Mirka and Roger seemed to do all right [...]

Enough turkey, it’s back to tennis! Too bad the 2009 season is over. Here are a few of the loose threads begging to be tugged or tied: All hail Nikolay Davydenko, King of Tennis! (At least for a month or two. . .) Yes, round robin makes for a different tennis ball game and the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]