Picspam: Practice makes perfect eyecandies.

All hail the photographers in Beijing, who are picspamming harder than me these days to provide a healthy stock of eyecandies to tennis followers worldwide. 
 
We have plenty of smiley, wrinkly Rafa …
 

 
… And of course, Safin.
Affectionally dubbed as “the Hippo” by Chinese fans, Marat practiced with Blake and flirted with the horde of Chinese fangirls who [...]

USO Day 4: BELIEVE.

Good day at the office for Americans, a day of bloodbaths for the WTA, as its own headlines read: “who let the underdogs out?”
 

 
For all her comforting results this summer, Jelena Jankovic fell second round to Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3 6-7(4) 7-6(6) after holding two match points. During the match, JJ lacked her usual vibrancy and sprint.
And [...]

LA Picspam: talk about a perfect tennis universe…

Let’s see? Slammin’ Sammy beat Ana Ivanovic, Masha Fierce survived a three-setter against ABond, Zheng Jie did my ancient ancestors proud and took down the Real World No 1. Not to mention – Zvonareva and both the Rads are still in the draw - just in time for live streaming.
Seriously, Tennis Gods, why are you being so good [...]

Picket Fence Picspam: the Baby Quiz

With so little tennis to inspire me, it’s time for a bit of fluff with some baby photos I’ve collected over the years of tennis players. Sorry about the size and quality of some of these, baby photos are hard to come by! 
Guess who these cuties grew up to be? Go on! You know you [...]

Wimblydondon Fashion Report: the rest on Day 1

I need a moment. I think I’m going to cry tears of joy, “it’s killing me … “
Maria Sharapova has finally worn an outfit that looks like tennis wear rather than a cocktail dress. Take a bow Shazza, you look faaaaab.
 
Seriously though, with the shoulder injury and comeback uncertainty shrouding her career, what better way [...]

Order and Chaos: Picking the Impossible.

I just can’t shake of this nasty feeling I have for Roger Federer this Wimbledon. Why? Roger Federer is majorly due for an early round upset, that’s why. That 20 consecutive semifinal streak is just a sitting duck, a gross statistical anomaly waiting to be snapped. It’s not rational of course for me to suppose [...]

Fashionistas in France

I’m never in the mood for much actual tennis in the first few days of a grand slam. And how can I be? I’m too busy checking out what everyone is wearing! In any case, I consider it a better use of time than meaningless analysis over early round matches. And here are some of [...]

Five Wimbledon Questions Answered

This came from the Wimbledon blog, thought I might give them a crack just for fun. What say you?
 
So here we go… Five Wimbledon Questions

Earliest Wimbledon memory? Oh dear, don’t actually remember … I have a series of vague impressions from 2001 onwards of Wimbledon finals, but can’t tell you much apart from those vague [...]

Freedom Fighters

Saw this on Yahoo Eurosport and thought I’d repost, as it is a topic close to my heart. China’s sporting system has long been criticised for the same reasons as its political system – it’s authoritarian, overtly controlling, and as much as we hate to admit it, it’s deadly efficient. Be it at talent scouting [...]

Serena Williams and the Three Golden Flowers

No, it’s not the latest J.K. Rowling book. I do believe Zheng Jie, Li Na and Peng Shuai are known as the “three golden flowers” in China, and it just so happens that Serena Williams got stuck with them consecutively in Miami this week.
 
Normally if it’s one of the Chinese girls against the top seed [...]