Rafa's other ball game.

Fanatic Omes:

Per marca.com Rafa will supposedly be playing football for a third division Manacor team. He will play for the team when time permits and will be sporting the no. 9 shirt.

Wait, what?

(Info courtesy of onthegotennis on Twitter; Vid: ksyuzi on YouTube)

 

Upon my word, this is cute.

Fanatic Omes:

Uterus is happy.

(Pic: Tiurong Huatrust)

Marat Ma-wrong!

Fanatic Omes:

Marat Safin has been running his big mouth of late, claiming that little sis Dinara's career had all but come to an end due to the back problems she's sustained for the past two years. 

While Dinara's made no secret of her injury woes telling ESPN:

"Right now when I have this back pain, I don't think [of returning] at all. I'm sick of this pain." 

She also made this clear: "But I don't want to say officially that I'm going to retire."

Which is why Marat isn't helping matters by gobbing all over the place. Dinara's a big girl, she'll retire when she wants to retire and she'll say she's retiring when she wants to say she's retiring. And she seems to reiterate that sentiment somewhat passive aggressively. (Ok not passive aggressively at all - very nicely):

It takes a lot for an attractive man to incur the wrath of women, believe you me, but Marat's managed to do it. Well done Marat, as punishment there will be no watching of YouTube videos of you for two days.

What's that? You look like this?

...Ok I forgive you.

(Pic: asava-newflavours.blogspot.com)

 

Henri and Gael - a match made in crazy.

Henri watching Gael at Roland Garros

Fanatic Omes:

Hold on to your butts people. It's just been announced that former tennis pro Henri Leconte will be coaching none other than Gael Monfils for Valencia and Paris. What's the significance of this event I hear you ask? Well, allow me to introduce the man himself. Ladies and gents, Henri Leconte:

And just in case you needed your memory refreshed, here's our favourite head case, Monfils:

Simple maths suggests this can and will cause galactic shift in the space time continuum. I don't think any of us can honestly say we're ready for this jelly.
  
(Pic: Getty)
 

Wozz up with that?

Fanatic Omes:

So it's official. They are hereby deemed: Wozzilroy. And the 2nd Z? Well that just makes it gangsta.

(Pic: Caroline's Twitter)

 

Readme

 Fanatic Omes:

• Ok I sympathise with the players and everything re all the strike and schedule talk, but all I'm hearing from them is whine whine whine.
• Again, whine whine whine.
• Argentina and the essence of the Davis Cup.
• Rafa will bounce back - like a tennis ball that's hit a wall. AmIright?
• Cool piece from a photographer at the US Open.
• If the players do decide to strike, they'll need replacements right...? It could be more fun this way.
• So what you're saying is you can sit on bum watching tennis and still be training.
  
• Nice Q&A with Martina Hingis.
• Rafa and Quely - the perfect pair. My favourite is how many different camera angles they managed to find to film him eating the biscuits. 
• Tipsy wants his share of underwear action too. To be honest, I'm surprised it's taken him this long.
• I heart Momo Chan.
• WHAT COULD THIS MEAN???!!!

(Pic: christinefeehan.com)

The Real Winners of the Davis Cup

Fanatic Omes:

Sure Spain beat France and Argentina beat Serbia to set up a nice Hispanic-y clash in the final. Sure Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Italy, Croatia, Canada, Russia and the Czech Republic all came through in the world group playoffs. These countries may have won their ties, but nobody won over our hearts, LOLZ and WTFs like this lot:

Rafa Nadal: For playing 3 days after losing that grueling US Open final, which must have felt like assault. Rafa had just 45 minutes to practice transitioning from hard to clay and disclosed that he was "close to the end of his energy". And he still PWNED poor Gasquet and Jo-Willy, reminding us that he is no doubt the GOATOC. (Greatest of all time on clay).

Córdoba: For making that the killer poster above (click to enlarge and read). Unless it was the thing responsible for spurring on Fer's jacket.

Nalbandian: For being the anchor of the Argentina. Nobody does a Davis like Daveed. He brings out his best for it and it brings out the best in him. You'd have to smile thinking about how much making this final must mean to him. But then you'd soon frown knowing that Spain will probably kick their asses. And then you'd smile again because: vamos.

That Judy fan: For that t-shirt. Andy, this is what you get for having a cool mum.

Hewitt and Guccione: For upsetting Olympic Gold pair Stanislas and Roger, having teamed up for just the second time ever. Did you LOL? I did.

Sela: For not letting a little thing like height keep him from making his voice heard.

Popsicle (Vasek Pospisil): For leading Canada to victory in a stand out performance, complete with a 5 set epic against Sela, a doubles shocker with Nestor and a straight sets final over Weintraub. The 21 year old moved up a couple of ranking spots with the performance declaring it "the best moment of [his] career". And those rosy cheeks!

Nole: For going out there with a failing back and trying the best he could. It must have been tough to come crashing down on the same stage that was so integral to his unbelievable success this year. I'm sure if all his ligaments etc. had snapped so that his skeleton was only being held by his skin, and there was a way he could still play, he would have. Also a couple of points for the tears. Grown men crying gets me every time.

Del Potro: Again the crying thing - every time. 

Roger: For being the tournie's class clown.  

Fer: For being brave enough to don that jacket. And also for redeeming himself after his shocktastic performance with Feli in the doubles match against Tsonga and Llodra.

(Pics: AP, Getty, Reuters, SMP Images, Yahoo)