TennisToday

Agnieszka Radwanska Goes Nude for ESPN Magazines 2013 Body Issue

TA-DA.

The 2013 Wimbledon Champions

Men's Singles Champion: Andy Murray

***

Ladies Singles Champion: Marion Bartoli

***

Men's Doubles: Bob & Mike Bryan

***

Ladies Doubles: Su-Wei Hsieh & Shuai Peng

***

Mixed Doubles: Kristina Mladenovic & Daniel Nestor

Marion Bartoli Wins Wimbledon

Wimbledon - Women's Final

15 Marion Bartoli d 22 Sabine Lisicki - 61 64

WOW.

Two weeks ago NOBODY saw this coming. But what a wonderful story.

And so gracious and humble in her win.

This felt like Schiavone winning the French a few weeks back.

47: The most Slams ever played before winning a 1st Slam.

Post match: Honestly I still can't believe it. I've dreamed about this

moment for so long. For me, winning Wimbledon is beyond my wildest

dreams, let alone with an ace - but I've been practicing my serve for

so long, I guess I saved it for the best moment!

I'm so happy to be holding this trophy.

This has been my dream since I was six years old.

***

A new sporting legend and been christened in France.

Congrats girl! Your life will never be the same.

Marion Bartoli & Sabine Lisicki to Meet in Wimbledon Final

Wimbledon - Women's Semifinals

15 Marion Bartoli d 20 Kirsten Flipkens - 61 62 (Above)

23 Sabine Lisicki (below) d 4 Agnieszka Radwanska - 64 26 9-7

15 Marion Bartoli VS 23 Sabine Lisicki - H2H: 3-1/Sabine

***

If you had these two as your finalists please report to the prize office.

There waits for you a million dollar payout!

***

Marion post match: I just enjoy my time this year so much at Wimby

obviously. [I'm] having a lot of fun outside the court as well and

really carry[ing] on this great spirit with a smile.

Such a great character. It's really hard for me not to like her. A lot.

I even told her so at Indian Wells a couple years ago. Long story.

***

Sabine post match: I am overwhelmed, so happy. Steffi Graf texted

me good luck before the match. She told me to go for it.

I fought my heart out for every single point, and believed I could

still win no matter what the score was. In the third set when I was

3-0 down I told myself I had come back against Serena and

I could do it again. It gave me so much confidence.

Well now it makes sense - she had Steffi blowin' up her phone!

***

Both gals have certainly earned their places in the final...

But my Breakfast at Wimbledon will find me cheering for Bartoli.

I sure hope Bond shows up Saturday.

Sloane Stephens Thru to Quarterfinals at Wimbledon

Wimbledon - Women's Fourth Round

17 Sloane Stephens d Monica Puig - 46 75 61

Sloane is the last American standing - in either singles draw.

Nobody saw that coming.

This is Sloane's 2nd Slam Qf (both this year): 1-0.

She will next face 15 Marion Baroli (a former finalist) - H2H: 1-0/Bartoli.

Post match: It will definitely be tough.

She [Bartoli] plays really well on grass. She made the finals here.

Obviously, she's a good player. I'm going to have to go out,

do my best, compete, give 100%, and see how it goes.

Sabine Lisicki Upsets Serena Williams at Wimbledon

Wimbledon - Women's Fourth Round

23 Sabine Lisicki d 1 Serena Williams - 62 16 64

Add another big upset victim to this 2013 version of Wimbledon.

I mean, it's been one big-ass shock after another.

Nobody on this planet thought Serena would not take this title.

BUT... Sabine owns reigning French Open champs at Wimby.

Make it 4 years running: Fran in '10, Li Na in '11, and Maria last year.

Post match: Of course it gave me a little more energy knowing she won

the French Open and I've beaten the French Open champion three times

in a row in my last three appearances. It was a good omen.

They always happen to be on the side of the draw I'm on.

ATP & WTA Winners at Eastbourne & 's-Hertogenbosch

's-Hertogenbosch ATP 250 - Men's Final

Q Nicolas Mahut d 2 Stanislas Wawrinka - 63 64

This is the feel good story of the weekend.

At 31 Nicolas is the oldest 1st time ATP winner since 2005.

Before this tourney he had a W/L of 1-2 for the 2013 season.

Post match: It's amazing. I cannot believe I won today.

Eastbourne ATP 250 at - Men's Final

Feliciano Lopez d 2 Gilles Simon - 76(2) 67(5) 60

Feli wins his 3rd title and 1st on grass - and 1st in 3 years.

Post match: I think grass is my best surface,

and to have at least one title on grass is very nice feeling.

***

Interesting to note: both men's winners this weekend are over 30.

WTA Eastbourne - Women's Final

Elena Vesnina d Q Jamie Hampton - 62 61

Elena picks up her 2nd title (both 2013) - Jamie will wait for her 1st.

Post match: But I kept believing in myself. I knew I would win this title.

I knew it was going to happen. It's not self-confidence - I knew if I kept

working hard and believing in myself, it would come. And it did.

WTA 's-Hertogenbosch - Women's Final

Simona Halep d 4 Kirsten Flipkens - 64 62

2 weeks - 2 titles. Last week she won at Nurnberg.

So she's on a nice little 10 match winning streak.

Will she be too tired to do much at Wimbledon?

Post match: I'm really happy. I want to enjoy this evening.

It's a special moment for me.

Caroline Wozniacki into Semifinals at Eastbourne

WTA Eastbourne - Women's Quarterfinals

5 Caroline Wozniacki d Ekaterina Makarova - 46 60 63

The '09 champ is still in the hunt for her 1st title of the year.

She will face American Jamie Hampton for the 1st time.

Well 2nd, they played against one another in the 2005 US Open juniors.

Hampton won that one. Caro doesn't even remember it. LOL

Caro: I'm not sure - I mean, I've played so many matches before,

so I don't remember.

I don't know why that really strikes me as funny. But it does.

Prolly cuz you know Jamie tells anyone who'll listen.

I would.

2013 French Open Champions

Rafael Nadal

Serena Williams

The Bryan Brothers

Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina

Frantisek Cermak & Lucie Hradecka

Serena Williams Wins 2013 French Open Title

French Open - Women's Final

1 Serena Williams d 2 maria Sharapova - 64 64

It took her 11 years to win a 2nd French Open title - but she's done it.

That is the longest gap between Slam (any Slam) titles in the Open Era.

She now has 16 Slams and at least 2 of each: AO 5, FO 2, W 5, USO 4.

She has a ways to go to catch Steffi Graf who has at least 4 of each.

Post match about her Slams:

I'm just trying to go up and up. Today when I won I was trying to win

the French Open; I wasn't trying to get to No.16. I think it was

Fabrice Santoro who told me that on court, 16, and I thought,

"Wow, I forgot about that.' I think it's really special. I feel like I definitely

want to continue my journey. If It means I stop at 16 or if it means I have

more, I definitely want to continue my journey to get a few more.

***

I doubt she will ever catch Margaret Court with 24 Slams but...

Serena is 2 away from Chris Evert & Martina Navratilova.

Their count is definitely in jeopardy.

Serena Williams Thru to Final at French Open

French Open - Women's Semifinal

1 Serena Williams d 5 Sara Errani - 60 61

This is Serena's 20th Slam final - she has only lost 4 times at this stage.

One of them was to Maria in the '04 Wimbledon final.

In fact the only 2 times Maria beat Serena was in '04.

Since then Maria has gotten a whole series of beatdowns.

Also, this is Serena's 2nd French Open final - she won in '02.

It was the beginning of her 'Serena Slam' if you'll recall.

Post match on winning another French Open title:

It would be awesome for me. I don't think there's anything that can

describe how happy I would be. But right now it's still a dream -

I still have another match to play, hopefully to win.

It's still two people fighting for the championship.

Maria Sharapova Thru to French Open Final

French Open - Women's Semifinal

2 Maria Sharapova d 3 Victoria Azarenka - 61 26 64

The defending champion is into her 2nd (straight) French Open final.

This is also her 8th Slam final: 4-3.

And she'll be facing Serena who really does nothing but kick her butt.

Post match: I had a tremendous year last year. Obviously to come back

as defending champion, it's extremely special to get back on that stage

where it comes down to the last two players of the tournament. It's

certainly a nice feeling. I hope I can bring my best tennis for the last one.

Serena Williams Thru to Semifinals at the French Open

French Open - Women's Quarterfinal

1 Serena Williams d Svetlana Kuznetsova - 61 36 63

Look at that - Serena wobbled in the middle of that match.

Coming into this match she only dropped 9 games.

But she was facing the '09 champion.

Odd but true: this Serena's 1st trip to the Sf's at RG since 2003.

She may be the '02 champ but this is by far her worst Slam.

She's won at least 4 titles at each of the others and only 1 here.

Post match: I was so determined to get through that match, and

I really, really, really wanted it more than anyone, I think.

I was really just fighting, giving it everything I had out there.

Sara Errani Thru to Semifinals at the French Open

French Open - Women's Quarterfinals

5 Sara Errani d 4 Agnieszka Radwanska - 64 76(6)

It took her 29 tries as she finally notched her 1st win over a top 5 player.

Deja vu: This is the second straight year that Sara has made the Sf's at RG.

Post match: There is no pressure from last year because I'm not

thinking about last year. That was then, this is now.

They are completely separate. Playing Serena will be very difficult

because she is so strong. Physically she's an incredible athlete and

she has a lot of power. It will be tough, although maybe better

on clay than any other surface.

H2H: 5-0/Serena - and that nil isn't going to change on Thursday.

Serena Williams Thru to Quarterfinals at French Open

French Open - Women's 4th Round

1 Serena Williams d 15 Roberta Vinci - 61 63

Serena has lost 10 games thru her first 4 matches.

I'm gonna say she doesn't double that number on her way to the trophy lift.

No doubt in my mind that she's taking her 2nd French title.

None.

Francesca Schiavone Thru to 4th Round at French Open

French Open - Women's Third Round

Francesca Schiavone d 13 Marion Bartoli - 62 61

The 2010 champion is thru to her 6th RG 4th round: 2-3.

She'll next play Vika who is famously uncomfortable on the clay in Paris.

Am I calling an upset alert. Mmmm. Maybe I am.

Marion on Fran's chances moving forward:

Francesca, when she starts winning matches and gets more confident,

she's very dangerous. Maybe she can trouble Azarenka.

And if she makes the quarterfinals, who knows?

My thoughts exactly. Well except that 'who knows?' part.

I think we all do know. It's spelled S-E-R-E-N-A.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands Thru to 4th Round at French Open

French Open - Women's Third Round

Bethanie Mattek-Sands d Paula Ormaechea - 46 61 63

Girlfriend is winning and having fun in Paris. That's a good combo.

This is her 2nd Slam 4th R following Wimby '08 where she lost that match.

She'll play Kirilenko next who's not the worst seed she could have faced.

So a 1st Slam Qf is not out of the question.

After all her injury woes it's nice to see Bethanie on a decent roll.

Ana Ivanovic Thru to 4th Round at French Open

French Open - Women's Third Round

14 Ana Ivanovic d Virginie Razzano - 63 62

The '08 champ is thru to the 4th round for the first time since '09.

Of note: Ana has only been to the Qf's once since her French Open win.

Oh and she agrees with Rafa that his scheduling was a 'joke':

When he has to play day after day, I think he’s right. They should play early.

I think it’s fair that they play first so they can get more time to recover.

And that's a true story.

Maria Sharapova Thru to 3rd Round at French Open

French Open - Women's Second Round

2 Maria Sharapova d Eugenia Bouchard - 62 64

It took two days but the defending champ is thru to the 3rd round.

They stopped the match owing to rain at 4-2 in the 2nd set yesterday.

Post match: It was a pretty long day on Thursday. But we all knew the

weather wasn't going to be good. On Thursday at 8.45pm when it was

raining, it was pretty tough to continue. I was happy to play part of

the match and get myself into a good position to finish it.

She'll have a quick turn-around and play Zheng tomorrow.

Hmmmm. Maria fans shouldn't be too worried about that one.

Sloane Stephens Thru to 3rd Round at French Open

French Open - Women's Second Round

17 Sloane Stephens d Vania King - 61 63

Here a fact that you may not realize - this is her 6th 3rd round in 8 Slams.

That's pretty darned inpressive.

Remember in her last Slam she beat Serena to gain the Sf's at the Aussie.

She can't meet Serena at the French until the final.

And well... she on a path to see Maria in the 4th round.

That Serena/Sloane rematch smackdown will have to wait.

On the rain delays: I haven't done too well with the delays.

During the first wait I played on my phone, in the second I went to sleep.

You literally have nothing to do. Should I eat? Do cartwheels?

You have no idea. Last week in Brussels I had my nails done,

and went and made chocolate. Then I played a match on the same day - a

losing match. Obviously the nails & chocolate weren't a good combination.