to move up and down
If Rafael Nadal looks inexplicably calm to you considering there are about seven tennis balls heading for his face, relax. It’s not Nadal. It’s a wax figure in a London Park about to be placed in Madame Tussauds’ wax museum. But it does look frighteningly real.
The giants of men’s tennis are not happy about the Madrid Open’s blue court. No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic lost to Janko Tipsarevic on Friday, vowing never to return to the tournament unless they get rid of the controversial surface.
Rafael Nadal is not the first player to complain about the blue-clay court, but today he blamed it for his third-round exit from the Madrid Open. Is he being a sore loser?
The blue clay at the Madrid Open makes for a great photo, but a few tennis stars have complained about the swap.
“The only thing that is a little bit disappointing from a player’s standpoint is that this is decided without players agreeing on it,” Novak Djokovic said Monday. “If you don’t have, especially, top players testing the court and agreeing for this change, that should mean something. They should have value in what they say.”
After a few days of play, the main criticism has been that the surface is too slippery.
The ATP said it approved the move after all necessary tests were performed on the Madrid court, and that the surface’s future will be evaluated after it receives feedback from players this week. The ATP calls the change “innovative” and says the color makes it easier for players, fans and TV viewers to follow the ball.
Who DOESN’T bring their bird to the tennis match? A supporter of the French team holds up a cockerel, a symbol of France, in support of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during his Davis Cup quarter-final tennis match against Ryan Harrison of the U.S.. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic won his third Sony Ericsson Open title Sunday, holding every service game to beat Andy Murray 6-1, 7-6 (4).
The lone break point Djokovic faced came in the fifth game, and he erased that. In the tiebreaker he lost only one service point, went ahead to stay when Murray double-faulted to make it 3-2, and closed out the victory when the Scotsman sailed his final forehand long.
Photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images
This is like one of those slow motion wet dog photos. Rafael Nadal of Spain shakes the sweat off his hair after defeating compatriot Marcel Granollers in their match at the Indian Wells tennis tournament. (Photo: REUTERS/Danny Moloshok)
With Caroline Wozniacki a game away from losing 6-3, 6-4 to Maria Sharapova at an exhibition game at Madison Square Garden, she invited her boyfriend onto the court a day after the golfer won the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to ascend to No. 1 in the world for the first time.
“He wasn’t too pleased with me,” Wozniacki said later.
In jeans and a sweater, McIlroy showed off a one-handed backhand, and Sharapova hit his lob wide.
Asked if he was surprised to win the point, McIlroy said with a smile: “I’ve won a few off Caroline.”
(Source: nationalpost.com)
Your favourite tennis stars made an appearance at the Oscars last night.
Spanish King Juan Carlos jokes with tennis player Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer as he holds a replica of the Davis Cup trophy the Spanish team won in 2011 for the fifth time during a meeting at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid. (Photo: SUSANA VERA/AFP/Getty Images)
