Venus: The Case of the Grand Slam Queen. Seriously?
The description from the Big Fish Games website for the game “Venus: The Case of the Grand Slam Queen” –
“Step into Venus’s world and help her win another Grand Slam championship while she’s being hounded by an unknown stalker. Solve the mystery by unlocking clues and playing exciting Hidden Object games. Get an insider’s view on Venus’s life and passions, which include tennis, interior and fashion design, and dogs in Venus: The Case of the Grand Slam Queen. Help Venus win her championship, and put on a fantastic fashion show!”
Just when you think that Venus Williams‘ Oreos endorsement is odd, how about her starring in a video game where she gets stalked? Creeeeeeeeepy.
Buy: Venus: Case of the Grand Slam Queen; sample version free, full version is $6.99. (Bonus: if you’re thinking of sating your inner dork, pick up this $10 Tippr coupon that’ll get you $20 in computer games. At the time of posting, the coupon’s good for another 34 hours.
(image via Big Fish Games)
Like we Needed More Reasons to Love Grigor Dimitrov
Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov has given us plenty of reasons to love him (we count six, maybe eight), but here’s the nail on the coffin: His favorite designer? Alexander McQueen. (See the Q&A here.)
BTW, congrats to Grigor for cracking the ATP Top 150 — he’s now at 136 — after winning back-to-back-to-back Challengers this year. (ATP: Grigor’s stats).
And speaking of McQueen, Sarah Burton, who’s succeeded Mr. McQueen (RIP) as creative director, presented the Spring 2011 men’s collection this past June in Milan. The women’s collection will show in Paris this week. One thing we’ll know not to expect from Burton are the fashion house’s infamous, over-the-top presentations. “That was very much [his] territory — the spectacular show,” Burton told Elle.
(photo from Wilson‘s FB)
The ATP’s Newest Art Project
As if they haven’t hustled enough to get to London — aka the site of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held Nov. 21-28, 2010 — each of the eight players who qualify is being asked to create a self-portrait to celebrate their achievement.
The set-up: the guys, during the Masters Series stop in Cincinnati, hit paint-covered tennis balls against stenciled canvases showing one of the player’s signature moves. The pieces will be exhibited in Central London in early November; it’ll move to The O2 for the duration of the actual event. And after, it’ll be auctioned off for charity.
We can’t wait to see what signature moves they’ve stenciled for Muzz, Nole (tearing off his shirt?), and Andy Roddick (adjusting his crotch?). Six more spots are up for grabs.
Rafa Nadal, who owns a portrait of Marilyn Monroe, said this about creating his painting:
“Making the artwork was fun and something I’ve never done before. It’s a great way to celebrate the World Tour Finals coming back to London. It was a little bit of a challenge to put the balls on the silhouette! Of course this is the least we can do for charity and for those who need it the most. It’s very important that people in our position help those who really need help. I’d like to thank everyone for the support they give us.”
He qualified for the year-ending tournament back in May 23, 2010. Jesus.
And Roger Federer said this:
“It was great fun being invited to create my self portrait and I’m excited to see how the finished piece looks. Raising money for charity is always a great thing so already I would like to thank people who will buy these pictures and it’s going to be for a good cause. I’m happy I can help a bit.”
Federer qualified in August 7, 2010. This will be the ninth time he’s participated in the year-end event.
Flashback: Of course, this isn’t the first time the boys have been asked to help out with some year-end art. Remember those terracotta statues created by Laury Dizengremel for the Shanghai Masters? And this isn’t the first time the pros have dabbled in ball-art either. Martina Navratilova‘s churned out a few pieces herself.
More info: Check out the details (including tickets) for the Year-End finals here and specifically about the Art of Tennis here.
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Jelena Jankovic Goes Yellow and Purple in Tokyo
Jelena Jankovic‘s purple ANTA dress from the 2010 US Open has given way to a yellow version, showing this week at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. She’s pariing them with white shoes with purple detail.
Bracket: In the singles draw, Jelena is still on track to defend her finals appearance last year (she lost to Maria Sharapova) with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Alona Bondarenko. She’ll play the winner of Kanepi vs. peer in the the quarters. Meanwhile, Masha, the defending champ, bowed out to Kimiko Date-Krumm 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in her first meeting against the Japanese veteran. (Draw: Singles)
BCR Open Romania: Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, eighth seed at this week’s BCR Open Romania in Bucharest, is through to the third round and faces top seed Albert Montanes in the quarters. (Andy Murray and Kim Sears at the Burberry s/s ’11 Show in London
Andy Murray, with gf Kim Sears, at the Burberry Prorsum show today at London Fashion week. (Serena was there, too.) Trench coats in python, studded, etc. Dee-lish! We’ll link to the pics from the show as soon as they’re up.
(image via Daily Mail)
Davis Cup: Colombian Color Coordination
Babolat and Li Ning did a wonderful job bringing together the Colombian Davis Cup as they host the USA at the World Group Play-offs this weekend in Bogota. Santiago Giraldo defeated Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-4, 7-5, in the second rubber and is now serving at 6-5 in the fifth set against Mardy Fish. (The Americans are up 2-1, so Giraldo needs a win to give Colombia a chance to advance.)
More: All the tie info available here.
Yellow, red, and blue: See another shot of Santiago’s crew (Babolat) and doubles player Carlos Salamanca in Li Ning:
We Really Need a New Davis Cup Logo
It’s too plain and generic (hmm… just like the guy wearing it?).
North and South: The American team (Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, John Isner, and Ryan Harrison) hopes to overcome the clay courts in Bogota as they go up against the Colombians (led by Santiago Giraldo and Alejandro Falla) in the Davis Cup World Group play-offs. Get more details about the tie here.
(image via Getty Images)
Shirtless + Tattoo Watch: Horacio Zeballos
Argentine Horacio Zeballos and doubles partner Eduardo Schwank couldn’t overcome the team of Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement at the Davis Cup semifinals in Lyon. Their decisive rubber, which Llodra and Clement won 6-4, 7-5, 6-3, sends France to their first Fed Cup final since 2002. We didn’t include it in our Fila Davis Cup post, but Zeballos wore a country-appropriate white polo with blue and yellow trim. (More: Read up on the tie details here.)
Meanwhile, we caught a little bit of Zeballos’ shirtless practice time on the Sunday before the 2010 US Open. He lost in the first round to Igor Andreev.
Tattoo watch: Looks like he has the Eye of Horus on his right shoulder.
Loup’s Fall Offerings
All of Loup‘s fall goods will be showing up on the site by next week, so make sure to give it a look! They’ve added some shades of grey and black along with some fun outerwear, including the Sweatshirt Jacket (left) and the Ruffle Sweatshirt (right). Could Erwin get away with wearing the ruffled one in a large? Hmm…
(image via Loup)
