4 days in the desert

I was in Indian Wells this year shooting for Tennis Panorama. (Thanks, Karen!) Four days in the desert with the two loves of my life, photography and tennis, I had a grand time. Obvs.

Laura Robson vs Sofia Arvidsson was the first match I went to. Laura ran across my frame and I caught this shot 3 minutes in. Not bad. Laura had a pretty good start, too, until…

Oh, well, next time.

Unhappy Pico. Maybe it was because the Argentine fans were on the wrong side of the court.

Rafa is totes judging.

It was great to see Petko back on a tennis court!

You know who else was great to see?

Clueless Pablo is the best Pablo, K?

YOU’RE WELCOME.

BYE.

Okay, Ivo, let’s refocus.

I’m pretty happy about this shot.

Rafa is late.

Masha showing off her shirt that says eternity, time with a circle and a line.
Is that, like, Geometry or what?!

ANYWAY. Some sort of Geometry obviously went into the making of this.

Totes.

Nole being Nole rolling around the grass for no reason.

Sveta being Sveta.

Benoit! Fans!

Petra’s not happy.

Muzz was not happy here either but he was using #sarcasmfont.

GUISE, WHY YOU ALL MAD?

Night time closing in during Masha’s match. She’s ready to sleep.

Rafa under the watchful eye of Mr. Ellison.

Empty practice courts at 11:00PM.

And that’s all I got from IW. I am quite pleased about how Finals Sunday unfolded in the desert. Let’s do it again next year!

NYFW x tennis

Last week I was watching some shows from the New York Fashion Week and noticed a few tennis-inspired looks. Kinda. Or maybe it’s just me seeing the tennis in everything.

Herve Leger and Caroline Wozniacki. Always.

And forever.

You know, I am not going to complain about this Caro-Herve thing as long as it spares us from this.

I have no doubt Catharine Malandrino is a Vika fan.

Lacoste says oversized is in. Surely inspired by their partnership with Andy.

Juan Carlos Obando took some style notes from Sharapova.
(This is still my favorite Masha on-court look, BTW.)

Only fitting that these next 2 were from the US Open:

I take it Anna Sui cannot forget this 2010 US Open moment?

Prabal Gurung was all about leather and bad ass a la Serena from the 2004 US Open.

And last but definitely not least:

Marc Jacobs is a Nole fan.

Bad timing

Vika’s history with pull outs and extreme injuredness did not help her last night. I won’t speculate how bad or not bad her breathing problem / panic attack / nerves (is she from LA?) were because no matter how much we ask and try to come up with answers, she’s the only who really knows. The timing of it all, however, merits all this outrage. According to Vika, her rib started to hurt and she had trouble breathing at 4-2 in the second, yet she didn’t call for the trainer until 5-4, which was 2 TV change overs later. At that time, Sloane was gaining life having just saved 5 match points. It was “bad timing,” she said. OH, REALLY?! You don’t say.

Vika isn’t the first tennis player to call a questionable MTO and probably won’t be the last. So much for that “gentleman’s game” reputation, huh? Not so noble moves are being made. Perhaps it’s time to throw that notion out the window.

Lena D sums up my feelings about Vikagate.

Image © Getty Images

Top 12 Style Moments of 2012

Leave your tennis shorts at home. It’s time for some tailored suits, couture dresses and, heck, even intimates! A look back at 12 of my favorite style moments (with a mishap or two) from 2012.

#12 A “good look” doesn’t always require clothes

Feli dares you to disagree.

#11 This is her.

More on clothes being optional in looking good, Caro also showed off her great bod when she modeled her new underwear line. Weeeell, atleast this was different from her off-court staple, Herve Leger, which I’m sure she wore on her way to the shoot.

#10 Nole goes tie-less

What’s so special about Nole wearing a suit? I’m not sure but for whatever reason he looks damn good in this one. Plus, I’m a total sucker for the glasses. And… well, yeah, it’s mostly the glasses.

#9 Kickin’ it in some Air Yeezy IIs

Everybody knows that Roger always looks great in a suit (see Suiterer link above) so seeing him walk around in these Kanye West-designed Air Yeezy IIs (with some non-blue jeans!) was a nice surprise. You gained some extra cool points with me on that one, Mr. RF. 

#8 Some chiffon lace and tape?

Masha’s the best dressed female athlete 90% of the time. This is Exhibit A of that other 10%. I gotta give her props for keeping it together the entire night  because that Alexander McQueen was begging for a malfunction.

#7 Bogo didn’t get the memo

Well, Bogo does seem like a jeans and sneakers kinda guy so why force him into some wool? Either that or nobody bothered to tell him that he was supposed to show up in atleast a two-piece. Whoops.

 #6 Milos does prep

I normally don’t care for the preppy look. (It reminds me of A&F and I’m not that brand’s biggest fan.) But it’s Milos! Not in a hoodie! But in a cardi! Looking adorbs!

#5 Love Him 2 Times

Rafa’s a hipster? The low v-neck graphic tee, red shorts and undone hair totally says so. Who knew?! Hipster!Rafa just might be my favorite off-court style Rafa.

#4 Winning looks good on you

Vika looked great in this little ensemble she wore for her official Australian Open trophy pictures. She looked fresh and young and the blue/green combo worked well with that new, large, shiny accessory.

#3 The wig that shook the tennis world

The amount of buzz this wig generated was ridiculous. I wish the actual photoshoot it was used for was talked about as much because it’s a great spread. There was some really bold styling and we’ve never seen Masha in anything like it before. (Menswear on a woman? Where do I sign up?)

#2 Serena covers US Vogue

Serena’s the first tennis player to ever grace the cover of US Vogue. She often talks about her love for fashion so I can only imagine how excited she was to be on the cover of the biggest fashion magazine in the world. This is only the second time US Vogue has featured athletes on the cover. I may have fist pumped for Serena when this came out.

#1 Wintour throws RF a birthday party

Being on the cover of Vogue is pretty hard to top but Roger, style maestro of the entire tennis world, can do it. How? By being thrown a birthday soiree by US Vogue’s editor-in-chief and tennis fan, Anna Wintour, herself. Some of the guests were the who’s who of the fashion world—Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta, Vera Wang and David Lauren.

Was there ever a doubt that Roger would be at the top of this list? I think not. I’m sure I missed a look or 10 here and there. Feel free to refresh my memory.

via Just Jared, freshness, The Slice, More Than Stats, 10sworld, Guest of a Guest

IIWAPE

Let us (me) play a game called: If I Were A Photo Editor. Here are some of the photos I’d use to wrap the London 2012 Games.

A typical tennis audience size. Juuuuuuuust kidding.

Pins are apparently all the craze at the Olympics. I’m assuming Vee received the coveted RF pin.

A glitch in the system! This rare hair moment during the semifinals should have set off alarms that things were going to be very messy.

See photo. Use photo.

“Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka shared a laugh together.” Nobody would have believed me if there wasn’t photographic evidence.

Sisters.

My new life goal is to smack an Olympic gold medalist’s face with a flag. Because why not?

Goodnight.

Images via AP, Getty

La Terre Battue

Are you ready for the second slam of the year? I’m not. But maybe you are. The draws come out tomorrow and for us who are not in Paris, we will mindlessly stare at our Twitter timelines and pretend to understand what’s happening as they pick out and place the players’ names.

Roger is in Nole’s half again… duh.

First round is… Rafa vs Nalby. WOT? Why do the tennis gods do this?

Hold on, nevermind. It’s actually Nalby vs Qualifier, I get confused which lines play each other.

Milos vs Murray third round. LOL. I think. I don’t know anymore!!!!

Every. Damn. Slam. I get quite the kick out of it.

Here are some must-reads/sees (according to me) as we look ahead to Roland Garros:

• Brian Baker. Keep an eye out for him.
  I hope he’s not too tired from Nice to make a mini run in Paris.
• The parallels of Rafael Nadal and Bjorn Borg’s clay court dominance.
• Great interviews with Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic on CNN
• Sport Illustrated writers preview the men’s field. Their pick for the title? Some guy whose name rhymes with Nafa.
• Richard Pagliaro’s 5 contenders for the women’s title. Hard to disagree with this list. I initially thought of Kvitova instead of Stosur but Petra limped out of Rome so her level is a big question mark right now.
• The floaters who might (or might not) shake it up for the top seeds.

In not really RG-related but kinda…

• Nole signs with Uniqlo. He’s not wearing all-white while rolling around the RG dirt, is he?
  Full disclosure: I wrote this.
• Pablo is on Twitter. That’s all. Move along.

Image via Roland-Garros

Tennis has jokes… kinda

© REUTERS/Michael Fiala

These are mostly videos I missed (or have bookmarked and forgot to share) while I was having too much fun in Indian Wells.

Who knew Rafa was a prankster?! Also, Muzz, JOHNNY BRAVO??? Really?

Best. Video. Ever.

Grisha and Dolly both want to “hit” the same racket. It’s hilarious…ly awkward.

Caro pulled a (fail) prank on Masha. I think after their quality time in MSG, Caro thought they were buds. Yikes. Sorry, high fives are not available at this time.

Speaking of Masha, do you ever wonder what goes on in her head when she’s posing for photos at her $ponsors’ events? Creep, wonder no more.

Guys, meet Andy Rocket. He says things like, “blah blah blah,” to be funny. I think.