Hey Now!

Rafa Nadal is in Shakira's new video, Gypsy!

Ay dios mio!

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—Rafael Nadal will not defend his Wimbledon title.

The top-seeded Spaniard announced Friday he is withdrawing because of tendinitis in his knees.

He is the first reigning Wimbledon men’s champion to not defend the title since Goran Ivanisevic in 2002—and only the second in the last 35 years.

The grass-court Grand Slam tournament begins Monday.

Boooo indeed, Lady Lorelei, booooo.

BO-ring!

Roger Federer has never done it for me, but I guess congrats to him on just winning his first French Open against (surprise finalist and Nadal-slayer) Robin Soderling.

I was hoping for an upset...

Wha happen?

The tennis world was handed a huge shock today as defending champion Rafa Nadal was defeated by Robin Soderling in four sets in the 4th round of the French Open today!!!

WHA HAPPEN!?!?!?!?!

P.S. Booo to Tomas for your spoiler text!

LHK Sporting News

There's lots of action today:

1) The women's final of the Madrid Masters between Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki takes place today (at 4:30am PST on Tennis Channel). Vamos, Dinara!

2) The men's final follows (at 7am PST on Tennis Channel) between Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer; should be a cracker!

3) Chelsea takes on Blackburn (at 8am PST on FSC). COME ON, CHELSEA!

4) Game 7 between the LA Lakers and the Houston Rockets (on ABC at 12:30pm PST). GO, LAKERS!

4) The Wimbledon Centre Court Celebration airs on Tennis Channel at 4pm PST.

LHK Tennis News

1) Rafa Nadal continues his domination on clay, winning yet another title today. He beat Novak Djokovic in the final of the Rome Masters. Even though I miss his sleeveless shirts, I'm really looking forward to seeing if he can win the French Open title again (it's only three weeks away)!

2) My two favorite female players, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina, met in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart today, with Sveta ending up the victor. Congrats to them both!

3) My belovedEDs Jeremy Chardy and Marat Safin are also currently in Germany at the BMW Open in Munich.

i-Dub Highlights

Even though one of my favorite players, Robby Ginepri, wasn't at the tournament this year, I ended up seeing dozens and dozens of tennis pros and so much amazing tennis! Let me share the highlights in short-hand broken down by day:

FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2009

- Andy Murray playing dubz with fellow Brit, Ross Hutchins
- Jeremy Chardy's 1st round match versus Victor Hanescu (please see My Weekend with Jeremy Chardy post)

- The Ladies; Shahar Peer's fighting spirit and Dinara Safina's power were inspiring.

- Met up with my pals, the McCreary's!

- James Blake practicing with Leyton Hewitt

- DUBZ Eye-candy: Fernando Gonzalez teaming up with Tommy Robredo; Ay Mami!

- And, OF COURSE, I drank an infamous and delicious Indian Wells Bloody Mary


SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2009

- Tommy Robredo (sporting a really cute buzz cut)

- Fernando Verdasco; HIS hairstyle wins the LHK prize for the FOXIEST! I cannot resist a faux-hawk!
- Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. Potito Starace. This match lasted for 3 exciting sets, and I was pleasantly surprised by Potito's sexy machismo; very Italian!
- In honor of my sister-in-law's heritage, I got a front row seat to an all-Croatian match: Ivan Ljubicic vs. Mario Ancic. Talk about tall drinks of water! The powerful aces being served on tiny Court #4 were dangerous to be near. But, this match only lasted 6 games due to the fact that Mario Ancic was under the weather and retired at 3-3.

- Met fellow Chelsea FC super-fan and tennis aficionado, Ron (from Orange County)

- Ran into my pal, Christian, from grad school

- Got a pic with JC! (again, please see My Weekend with Jeremy Chardy post)


SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2009

- Got to the grounds early (10am) to score a good seat to the Jeremy Chardy versus Mardy Fish match (again, please see My Weekend with Jeremy Chardy post)

- More DUBZ Eye-candy: Feliciano Lopez teamed up with Fernando Verdasco; Ay Dios Mio!

- Marat Safin practicing shirtless! (please see The Legendary Marat post)

- Met up with my blog pal, Erwin (from TENNIS SERVED FRESH), and we inadvertently (no joke) ended up in VIP seats during the John Isner vs. Gael Monfils match

- Rafael Nadal hitting unbelievable shots versus Michael Berrer in the main stadium

- Marat's 2nd round match versus Nicolas Massu (from Chile); (again, please see The Legendary Marat post)

- Made it home, safe and sound at about 11:15pm

LHK Sporting News

1) Rafael Nadal takes on Roger Federer in the Men's Final of the Australian Open tonight (Feb. 1st on ESPN2 at 12:30am PST). Vamos, Rafa!

2) CHELSEA v. LIVERPOOL (Feb. 1st on FSC at 8am PST). Look out McFresh!

COME ON CHELSEA!

Not much sleep will be had tonight....

Are You Kidding Me?

Fernando Verdasco just lost a 5-set, 5-hour & 14 minute Australian Open semi-final match to Rafael Nadal on a double fault!!!

I WANT TO THROW-UP!

But, the Men's Final is now set between Rafa and Roger Federer. Vamos, Rafa!

The Re-Match!

Marat Safin and Roger Federer are set to meet in the third round of the Australia Open, a re-match of their EPIC 2005 semi-final! I can't wait! Vamos, Marat!

In other Aussie Open news:
1) Robby Ginepri unfortunately lost in the first round to Tomas Berdych. But, Gineps is still in the tourney on the dubz side, partnering with none other than Vince Spadea?!?

2) AND, what the hell is going on with Rafa Nadal's tennis ensemble?!?!? His shirt HAS SLEEVES! It's ungodly! Unless his guns are showing in a tight-fitting sleeveless shirt, I almost don't want to watch him play! Are you with me, Lady Lorelei?

LHK Sporting News Round-Up

1) Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 5-0 yesterday and are still at the top of the English Premier League! YAY! But, Liverpool is really close behind, and there are a lot of games to go...

2) The Madrid Masters final is currently taking place between Andy Murray and Gilles Simon (LIVE on Tennis Channel).

Both finalists had interesting roads to the final. Murray beat Roger Federer in the semis, and Simon beat Rafael Nadal in the other semi-final (in addition to my beloved Robby Ginperi in the third round).

3) Speaking of foxy Robby, he's going to be at the 2nd Annual Wailea Fantasy Camp in Maui from Nov. 12th to the 18th. OH, if only I were independently wealthy; a Lady Hooligan can dream...

4) After winning the Chinese Grand Prix, Englishman Lewis Hamilton, is on the brink of winning the Formula One title! Yeah sure, I follow the F1 a little...

New Music (&DVD) Tuesday

First off, there are some singles on iTunes that I want to recommend:

The Cure's "The Perfect Boy"

Keane's "Spiralling"

Franz Ferdinand's "Lucid Dreams"

LHK (catch-up) Sporting News

SO MUCH has been going on, but here are the biggies:

1) First and foremost, (as you all know) the supernatural Michael Phelps has finally reached legend status by winning 8 gold medals in Beijing! It was super-exciting to watch all of his races, and I can't thank all of the Olympic male swimmers enough for providing SO MUCH eye-candy this summer.

2) The English Premier League is back! Chelsea played their first game against Portsmouth this past Sunday and won 4-0, playing with such great style! They're on top of the league, where they should stay. Come on, Chelsea!

3) Speaking of Chelsea, my beloved John Terry has been named captain of England (again) ahead of their game against the Czech Republic this Wednesday. Fabio Capello has made a wise and excellent choice in picking JT; actually THE ONLY choice in my book.

4) In tennis news, Rafa Nadal won the gold medal in men's tennis in Beijing and now is also #1 in the ATP rankings! Bravo, Rafa, you deserve it! Check Rafa out in the current New York Magazine too (thanks to Kennethinthe212 for the link).

Ooh-OOH!

Rafa Nadal is guaranteed to become the World's #1 with his win today at the Cincinatti Masters, kicking Roger Federer to the curb. BRAVO, RAFA!

LHK Tennis Update

The U.S. Open Series continues... On tap today:

1) The final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto; Rafa Nadal versus Nicolas Kiefer (on ESPN2 at noon PST). Not a bad eye-candy match-up here!

2) The final of the East West Bank Classic; Dinara Safina versus Flavia Pennetta (on ESPN2 at 2pm PST).

BRAVO, RAFA!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing!! Rafa Nadal just beat Roger Federer to win his first Wimbledon title (stopping Federer from winning his 6th straight title there)!!!

Rafa is so inspirational. This calls for some SANGRIA!

Oh, Marat!

Well, my beloved Marat Safin had a few chances, but Roger Federer ended up beating him in 3 sets in today's semi-final Wimbledon match-up. Well, at least Marat can NOW say that he's made it to the semi-finals of all fours slams.

Marat, it was a wonderful Wimbledon run, and you know that I'm available for hugs anytime...

Federer will be taking on Rafa Nadal next in the championship match on Sunday. VAMOS, RAFA!

LHK Sporting News

Some major sporting events are taking place tomorrow to kick off the long 4th of July holiday weekend:

1) The Wimbledon Men's Semi-Finals; Marat Safin versus Roger Federer AND Rafa Nadal versus Rainer Shuettler (coverage starts at 4am PST on ESPN2). Lady Lorelei and I concur that a Marat-Rafa sandwich would make an IDEAL (and delicious) FINAL!

2) Then, at 8pm on ABC, tune into the Olympic Swimming trials. I only got three words for you: 1)Michael 2)Phelps 3)Speedo!

LHK Tennis Update

1) In first round Wimbledon news,

- Robby Ginepri lost (boo!)
- Marat Safin won (yay!)
- Canadian Frank Dancevic (rocking a headband) stuns David Nalbandian (bravo!)

2) the British press has apparently just(?) found out about Rafa Nadal's not-so-secret girlfriend...

Random LHK News

1) The Audio Bullys' new single "Gimme That Punk" is now available in the iTunes US store!! Check it out; it's an ARSE-shaker!



2) In LHK sporting news,

- The final of the Artois Championships between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic will air on Tennis Channel tomorrow (June 15th) at 5:30am PST.


- There's a pretty big EURO 2008 game tomorrow too: Turkey vs. Czech Republic (June 15th on ESPN CLASSIC at 11:30 am PST)

- Check out Spanish tennis player Fernando Verdasco in the buff in support of a cancer charity. Hey now! Thanks to Down the Line! for the heads-up on this eye-catching ATP news posting.

3) Speaking of yummy Spain, I found a new favorite flavor of gum today at Target: Orbit's SANGRIA FRESCA!