17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, who faces Stan Wawrinka in the semifinal of the Australian Open, wears the NIKECOURT RF ADVANTAGE polo and the NikeCourt 7″ Flex Tennis Short:
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Garbine Muguruza, Belinda Bencic, Kei Nishikori and a few other players attended the traditional IMG party prior to the Australian Open. Enjoy some few pictures:
Day 1 – first round
– Defending champion Angelique Kerber struggles but gets past Lesia Tsurenko in three sets.
– Number 4 seed Simona Halep is ousted by world number 52 Shelby Rogers 6-3 6-1.
– Playing in his first Grand Slam match since he became world number one, Andy Murray defeats Illya Marchenko in straight sets.
– Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic survive five-set scare against respectively Martin Klizan and Jerzy Janowicz
– In his return to competition, Federer loses a set, but wins his first match since Wimbledon last year.
– Aussie teen Alex De Minaur, making is Grand Slam debut, fought back from a match point down to beat Gerald Melzer in a five-set marathon.
Day 2 – first round
– World number 2 Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are safely through to second round despite challenging first round matches -on paper. 6-4 6-3 for Serena over Belinda Bencic, 6-1 7-6 6-2 for Djokovic over Fernando Verdasco.
– No trouble for Rafael Nadal who cruises past Florian Mayer 6-3 6-4 6-4. He next faces 2006 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis.
– Big troubles on the contrary for David Goffin who needs five sets to defeat young American Reilly Opelka.
– Playing in his 60th consecutive Grand Slam tournament, number 28 seed Feliciano Lopez lost to Fabio Fognini in straight sets.
– 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic fired 75 aces! to overcome Horacio Zeballos in a five-set marathon 6-7 3-6 7-5 6-2 22-20.
Day 3 – second round
– Another hard-fought win for world number one Angelique Kerber who defeats fellow German Carine Witthoeft 6-2 6-7 6-2. She’s turning 29 today.
– Garbine Muguruza booked her place in the third round with a clean 7-5 6-4 win over Samantha Crawford.
– Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka cruise into the third round with straight sets wins over Andrey Rublev and Steve Johnson.
– Andreas Seppi rallies from 2 sets down, saves a match point and downs Kyrgios 1-6 6-7 6-4 6-2 10-8.
– Like Seppi, Mischa Zverev came back from the dead to defeat John Isner 6-7 6-7 6-4 7-6 9-7.
– Sydney runner-up Dan Evans registers the biggest win of his career so far with a four-set victor over Marin Cilic.
– Matches to follow on day 4:
Naomi Osaka – Johanna Konta
Lucie Safarova – Serena Williams
Marcos Baghdatis – Rafael Nadal
Radek Stepanek -David Goffin
Benoît Paire – Fabio Fognini
Caroline Wozniacki and Garbine Muguruza will debut the adidas by Stella McCartney Barricade SS17 collection on the Melbourne courts.
Caroline Wozniacki will wear the adidas by Stella McCartney Barricade tank in vibrant hypergreen and bold blue alongside the matching skirt in bold blue and white. She will also be wearing the adidas by Stella McCartney Barricade Boost 2017 shoe, which features BOOST technology to help athletes unleash energy on the court.
As the new tennis season begins with the Australian Open 2017, adidas Tennis revealed the latest performance wear to be worn by the best in the game. Players including Angelique Kerber, Dominic Thiem and Sascha Zverev will be equipped with brand new Melbourne and Barricade performance wear, designed to maximise performance at the first Grand Slam of 2017.
The Melbourne collection has been re-imagined with a fresh new look inspired by the city of the first Grand Slam of the year. The blue of the ocean combines with pops of bright orange to deliver a look matching the heat and environment of Melbourne. Wearing the new Melbourne men’s collection will be Sascha Zverev, current world number 24 and the youngest player in the ATP top 50. Performing in the women’s collection will be defending champion, Angelique Kerber.
Early New Year’s resolution for me, as I decided to play tennis again after a long long long … very long time.
First step: to buy a brand new racquet.
My first ever racquet was a blue Slazenger racquet, looking like this one but with blue grip and frame. Do you remember your first racquet?
After a few searches online I’ve decided to give a chance to a brand that is reborn from its ashes: Snauwaert.
Snauwaert was founded in 1928 by two Belgian brothers-in-law Valler Snauwaert and Eugeen Depla. The company went out of business in 1994. Milos Mecir, Mikael Pernfors and Vitas Gerulaitis used to play with Snauwaert racquets back in the days.
The company is now back to business thanks to new investors. Former top 20 Xavier Malisse is a brand ambassador while Dominique Monami is Snauwaert’s communication manager.
They currently sell four different models, available each in two weight and balance combinations:
– Grinta 98 for attacking players, provides control and spin
– Grinta 100 for creative allcourters, provides an all-round mix of control, power and spin
– Vitas 100 for explosive allcourters, provides extra power and spin
– Vitas 105 for players just getting into the game
When ordering you can also choose between three kind of strings:
– black beam for extreme spin and durability
– white beam for balacnced power and control
– sunny core for extreme power and control
I opted for the Vitas Snauwaert 105 265g with sunny core string for €210. It’s quite expensive but when you have the racquet in hand, you feel that’s a really high quality product.
An early Christmas present, a Snauwaert Vitas 105:
