Weekend Tennis Roundup

 

As we begin week two in Paris, it's still Rafael Nadal's to lose -- and any woman willing to hold her nerve to win. See my complete tennis report BELOW.

Tete a tete: Portuguese player Miguel Gomes and some other guy

I wish I'd made a gif of this old man bouncing up and down on Mikhail Youzhny, because even the Russian began to realize it didn't look good!

Diego Schwartzman has found his game and is into the fourth round

Dominik Koepfer ran Roger Federer so ragged that despite winning, the 39-year-old Swiss had to withdraw from the tournmanet. 

Frankly, I don't see how Fed concentrated at all with this distraction on the other side of the net.

It really sucks that No. 1 doubles team Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic tested postive for Covid-19 and had to withdraw from the French Open. But at least we got to see THIS hotel re-enactment.

While his surviving partner, Kevin Krawietz, prepares to play Farah/Cabal in the Paris quarters, Andreas Mies's rehab has gotten him in shape for some product endorsements

Look for the Colombian to pull out all the stops

Sexy Andy Bettles & friends

Stefano Travaglia confirms that Italians do it better (in bed)

I am becoming increasingly more comfortable admitting Denis Shapovalov is blossoming into quite a man

A nice run to the third round for Stevie Johnson and his magical mustache

Ditto for Reilly Opelka and his hideous Fila getup

While fellow American Tommy Paul lost in the second round, misfortunating drawing the No. 2 seed

Post-match

Sexy Serb Janko Tipsarevic

This bride must be very confident to allow herself to be photographed next to Filip Krajinovic and his pretty lips and hair

Everybody wants a piece of Matt Ebden

Tobias Simon is No. 425 on the computer, and No. 1 in my heart

Simone Bolelli and Máximo Gonzalez came up short but only in tennis ability

Franko Skugor is still big

Team Djokovic

Sam Groth looks relieved to be away from those infant twins of his

He oughta be in pictures: Mischa Zverev has finally found his calling as a TV host

Kyle Edmund is a nice boy

Matteo Berrettini is in to the quarterfinals thanks to Roger Federer's being an old fart. I wonder who would win at table tennis, though

A little UCLA reunion for Marcos Giron, who had a nice run to the third round before losing in to Cristian Garin in the Battle of the Lower Bodies

Jonny O'Mara and Cameron Norrie were unlucky to draw the sixth seeds in the first round in Paris, the latter continued his strong clay-court season by reaching the third round before falling to Rafael Nadal

Perhaps a "jab" might have been more effective?

Quentin Halys, just because

J.J. Wolf has good taste in jocks, too

Pat Cash is still looking good at 56; I turn 54 tomorrow!

Hot Chilean Alert: Nico Jarry

Sexy Serb Marko Andrejic with Jerome Cyrill Kym of Switzerland

Liam Broady's ass is grass

Working stiff Jan-Michael Gambill rewarded himself with a new toy for his birthday

Tommy Haas knows a tall drink of water when he sees one

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina right where I want him ... and into the quarterfinals in Paris

Daniel Masur looks good enough to eat

 

Albano Olivetti got beaten in the first round of doubles in Paris, but still looks ready to fight

Damir Dzumhur's winning smile

Corentin Moutet and his crew

Is Borna Coric trying to put Yugoslavia back together again?

Good day for Karen Khachanov to offset his lacklustre career

In Biella, Holger Rune captured his first Challenger title. Sadly, though, in frustration he called himself some anti-gay slurs in Danish that didn't go unnoticed, causing social media to go after the 18-year-old who took a while to understand what he did wrong. (For the record, I don't see how people are calling out the event for no punishing him -- how can anyone expect a lowly Challenger event in Italy to be aware of every slur in every language? 

This is what he wound up with, after taking various tacts including insisting he was the "least homophobic" person he knows(!) and defensively "apologizing" for not being as perfect as everyone else expects him to be(!). Here's hoping he unblocks those that asked for an apology and that he's learned from his unfortunate behavior, which rightfully sucked the joy out of his win.

David Vega Hernandez and Luis David looked good reaching the doubles final in Biella

Jack Sock won the singles title at the ATP Challenger stop in Little Rock, Ark.

And Ernesto Escobedo and Nicolas Barrientos surprised themselves by winning the doubles crown

Sexy Greek Ben Patael won the ITF in his nativeland

And last but not least: Bjorn Borg turned 65 yesterday, and longtime fans remembered that it was exactly 40 years ago that the 25-year-old version outlasted Ivan Lendl in five sets in his final match on Court Philippe Chatrier, -- the same court where 39-year-old Serena Williams fell in the round of 16 in straight sets to Elena Rybakina.