Mesh Tennis

Rafa Nadal is certainly poised to be #1 this year, and many commentators already consider him to be #1 with his Wimbledon win. I found this great snippet on how it can happen over the next few weeks:

Update: Can Nadal become No. 1 in Cincinnati?
Yes, but he’ll need some help from Federer. The Swiss world No. 1 still controls his rankings fate – no matter how Nadal does, if Federer reaches the Cincinnati final, he will hold on to No. 1 till the Olympics.

To become No. 1 this week, Nadal must reach the final or win the title as well as have Federer lose three rounds earlier.

But Nadal has a better shot in two weeks because of schedule changes and their staggered effect on the rankings. If Federer reaches the Cincinnati semifinals, Nadal can become No. 1 in two weeks if he wins the title. If Federer loses before the semifinals, then Nadal can become No. 1 in two weeks if he reaches the final.

In any event, Nadal must outperform Federer by 300 points to become No. 1 this week, and by 175 points to become No. 1 after the end of next week. tennis.com

I really wanted to post a video of the US Open series commericial with Roger Federer and John McEnroe, but the USTA folks have thrown down the copyright hammer on all those youtubers I rely on. But I think I found something better.

Originally, all the commercials featured Justin Gimelstob, not McEnroe, until Mr. Gimelstob revealed himself to be a complete moron on a DC-based radio show by insulting Anna Kournikova and several other female tennis players. The video below details the problem this caused the USTA, and how they handled it. The end of the video shows the original Gimelstob-Federer commercial, then the re-done version. Both are funny and worth watching. I like the McEnroe one a bit better, but it could have been even funnier had the USTA had an opportunity to rewrite and then reshoot the spot.

There’s also a brief clip of Rafael Nadal’s commercial with McEnroe.

Rafael Nadal beat Andy Murray of Britain 7-6 (2), 6-3 to reach the final of the Rogers Cup on Saturday night and put himself in line for his seventh title of the year.

He’ll face Nicolas Kiefer, who reached the championship with a 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (5) win over Gilles Simon on Saturday.

Nadal, who won in Toronto in 2005, won the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this year. In three career meetings, he’s never a set to Kiefer.

Kiefer hasn’t won an ATP event since 2000 in Hong Kong and hasn’t appeared in a final since 2005 in St. Petersburg. tennis.com

Looks like Nadal could be #1 as soon as the Cincy tournament end - I’m not getting my hopes up too much, but I’m more than ready for the change.

I’m not looking forward to seeing Kiefer play anymore - ever since the Australian Open where he tossed his racquet at another player in mid point (and wasn’t penalized for it), he’s made my least favorite player list.

Venus Williams has a really nice cover on Shape magazine’s August 2008 issue:

The site also mentions her workout thoughts:

You’ve heard all about her Grand Slam titles and friendly competition with her sister Serena, but there’s a whole other side to Venus Williams. In the August issue of Shape, she reveals who, and what, inspires her most. In the process, Venus reveals the tools she uses every day to stay on top of her game.

As the Shape photo shoot is being set up Venus, 28, and her sister (and housemate) Serena, 26, stand with their arms draped around each other, laughing conspiratorially. After years of watching them compete on the court, seeing how close they are—not to mention witnessing the two giggling like schoolgirls over text messages—makes it clear there’s much more to the Williams sisters than just tennis. As Serena leaves for practice, Venus sits down to discuss where she is in her life and how she got there.

To kickoff Venus’ list, she recommends you practice and practice more! It’s the key to confidence, says Venus. “You have to practice to develop your talents-and learn to enjoy putting the effort in,” she explains. She doesn’t just practice on the court; her gym routine keeps her in the winner’s circle.

As far as motivation goes, Venus tells us who has inspired her the most. It’s Serena, no question. “Without her, I couldn’t have achieved anything. She’s helped me believe in myself.” Serena loves to give Venus little sayings to remember, such as, ‘If you take your opportunities, more opportunities will come.’ “That got me through one final at Wimbledon,” recalls Venus. “It was a ridiculously difficult match and I was behind until the last three minutes. I kept saying that line over and over in my head: ‘If I take the opportunities on the court, more will come.’ I was also thinking, ‘I want to be like Serena; I want to win like Serena.’ And I did.”

Check out the August issue of Shape for Venus’ workout. Do it two or three times a week and you’ll notice a stronger core and a boost in your performance in and out of the gym! Shape

Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the first players to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai in November, organisers said Thursday.

The trio have already earned enough points to book their berths in the eight-player circuit finale which will take place from November 9-19, organisers said on the tournament’s website.

“I have just been informed that I have qualified for the Masters in Shanghai,” Nadal, a semifinalist in his two Tennis Masters Cup appearances, was quoted as saying in the statement.

“I have never managed to win it, so I am really looking forward for this year’s event and as always I’ll try my best knowing it won’t be easy,” the site quoted Nadal as saying. AFP

By the time this event happens, I already feel like players are far from their best form - November is so close to vacation time.

Attention is really turning to Nadal now!

Here’s a few more Celebrity Gossip photos of Nadal and Xisca.

There are additional photos if you follow the link.

Here’s some more info about Xisca and her relationship with Nadal:

Both have been a pair for three years, but are determined not to become a “celebrity” couple.

Xisca, a student, has always sought to keep Rafa grounded, though he has won four French Open titles and Wimbledon this year.

The Daily Star quoted a pal, as saying: “She likes to keep a low profile – so low that until recently many of Rafa’s pals didn’t even know who she was. Xisca is a quiet girl who likes dinner with her girlfriends, Hollywood movies and just spending tender moments with Rafael. She knows there is a lot of hype surrounding him but won’t let it go to their heads.”

Nadal, 22, said recently of Xisca, whose full name is Maria Francisca: “She is ­perfect for me, because she is very relaxed and easy-going.” MSN

Note- follow links to X17 at your own risk - I had to pull this from an RSS feed because X17 seems to have some ads that prevent me from getting to the actual content for this article.

To see the rest of this photos, hopefully this link will work for you - links from any other sources - news sites, search engines - and refreshing the page did not work for me.

Another link with a photo - Celebrity Gossip

And TMZ jumped in on the coverage:

L. Jon Wertheim, who wrote a cover story about the match for this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated, has signed to deliver Strokes of Genius for 2009. According to Wertheim’s editor, Susan Canavan, the book came out of “one of those rare moments” when you have a writer who’s very much in the right place at the right time.

…

The idea, hatched by Canavan, Wertheim and his agent Scott Waxman, was to examine a single match played Federer in order to get at, as Canavan put it, “the science, the art, the psychology, technology and personality” that come together on the court.

Strokes of Genius will be very similar, but with more space devoted to the Nadal-Federer rivalry and the culmination of it at the Wimbledon final. Canavan said Wertheim will “get inside” the players’ heads and examine their different styles of play. “We were always hoping [the match he covered] would be against Nadal” she said. “But this just lines up perfectly.” Publisher’s Weekly

Werheim has a collection of interesting books he’s been involved in, including authoring books about martial arts and pool hustling.

I think we’re only waiting for Sports Illustrated to make a statement now…I don’t get the feeling that will be happening.

Television commercials featuring Gimelstob promoting the U.S. Open Series are being scrapped by the U.S. Tennis Association because of what he said about Anna Kournikova and other women last month.

“Justin Gimelstob’s recent comments on a Washington, D.C., radio program were derogatory and demeaning to female tennis players and to women in general. The USTA has long championed integrity, inclusiveness, diversity, and equality, and cannot ignore such harmful remarks. More than any other sport, tennis has benefited from the pioneering role and achievements of so many women,” the USTA said in a statement released to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

“As a result of his remarks, the USTA is discontinuing its planned use of Justin Gimelstob in the 2008 Olympus U.S. Open Series television ad campaign. The USTA has met with Justin, who has expressed deep remorse and has issued his sincere apology. We anticipate that he will learn from this experience and that he will be able to contribute to the game of tennis in the future,” the statement said. MSNBC

Andrea Jaeger, now a nun, apparently felt it is time to come clean about her performance in the 1983 women’s Wimledon final. The former tennis player apparently intentionally lost her match to Nartina Navratilova because she had interrupted Martina’s pre-final preparation in order to call a taxi.

Jaeger said she got into an argument with her father the afternoon before the final and fled the home she was renting. She was only 18 in 1983, and she said she went next door to where Navratilova was staying in order to call a taxi. After realizing she interrupted Navratilova’s preparation, she thought, “I can’t go out and try in the final now.” Chicago Tribune

I’m not sure how or why she came to that conclusion, but this was the result:

“During the match I missed balls on purpose. I hit right to Martina and when I was getting whipped in the first set 6-0, I tried to look upset about it,” said Jaeger, who lost 6-0, 6-3. “I glanced at my dad. He knew something was wrong.”

Why bring this up now?

I’m pretty suspicious of the admission overall - she waits this long and then uses this to make it sound as though Martina didn’t deserve the win she got. Realistically, I suspect that she never had a chance of winning, probably in part because she couldn’t get a handle on her fight with her father. Anyone who makes it to that level in tennis seems unlikely to just give up so easily, and with such poor reasoning.

Even if it is true, she should go back to being a nun and stop trying to stir up controversy.