Tennis Thoughts

“I can’t believe Li Ning didn’t anticipate this scenario.”

Image via AP Photo/Matthias Schrader

Moo, Masha

Top 3 reasons why Stuttgart was pretty awesome:

For the past year, I’ve associated the Stuttgart tournament with Gools. When the player list came out, I was kind of bummed the Top 8 entered. Yes, that’s how much confidence I have in her. There was no way she was going to defend the title.

But, as you all probably know by now, something else happened and I am no longer bummed. The cow bought some clay skates and the rest is history! Masha was so impressive all week that I can’t even recall a bad patch and she usually has several in a tournament. That said, I’m sure she’s exhausted her peak performance cap for the year so I’ll just enjoy this hangover while it lasts.

A Day In The Life

A day in the life of a tennis fan:

I tweeted this earlier (and it was totally in the wrong color mode!) but thought I should give it a more stable home. A big thank you to David for illustrating this. Go show him some love!

Happy birthday, dude!

In honor of Maria’s 25th birthday, here are 25 of my favorite Sharapova clips. Kidding. I have 50 bookmarked. Here are 5!

9 years ago. A 16-year-old slightly obnoxious kid in, I think, her first US talk show appearance.

(Please pardon “Wimbleton” and the excessive grunting discussion. And the talk show host.)

Craig Kilborn: “Where are you from originally?”
Maria Sharapova: “I’m from Russia, very big country. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.”

CK: While talking about tennis, “and you were very good from an early age.”
MS: “Well, I’m here, aren’t I?”

CK: “Anna Kournikova is from Russia— ”
MS: “That’s so old.”

Get outta here, child!

Team Russia totally leaves her hanging on the bench. *Aaaand dance* Oh, crap, it’s just me.

Best ping pong match ever. Duh. For those counting at home, Ellen had won it twice!

You know I can’t pass up a video of Maria imitating Andy Roddick.

And finally… there aren’t enough words to describe how amusing this is. Half the time, Maria had no idea what was happening.

I can keep going but I don’t want you to think that all I do is watch YouTube clips of her everyday.

It’s always something with you

While I was “away”, many things happened.

Pablo defended his Casablanca title. And needed a hug. From me, obvs.

Then everyone decided to freshen up their looks for spring. First came Muzz:

Followed by Masha who sent the whole world into hysterics with this:

But then said, LOL! JK, banana! However, Sveta’s totally not JK-ing.

This proves that tennis wants to keep me close at all times. I’m flattened flattered.

Images via AP & Sharapova’s Facebook

Indian Wells Outtakes

I was looking at my Indian Wells gallery last night before I archived them and found a few gems that I somehow missed the first time.

Tell your friends to calm down, Richie.

Naaah. I’m pretty sure I’m watching you.

#faces

“Giiiiiiiiirl.”

“You’re like the gravity that’s holding me, it’s pulling babe”

Yup, that’s your former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki trying to explore other talents. Whose idea was this? When someone says they like to sing karaoke for fun, it does not mean you put them in a recording booth.

This song, Oxygen, was recorded to benefit the Danish and Polish Paralympic teams. That’s nice but I’m, um, not exactly sure how. (Yes, I’m a horrible human being.)