Here’s a look at what world number one Rafael Nadal will wear during the 2011 French Open tournament.
Nadal’s shoes will be the Nike Air Max Court Ballistec 3.3, which is fitted with a Lunarlon and Max Air cushioning system. Rafa debuted the model during the Australian Open and will wear the kicks in a white and blue colorway.

Read the rest of this entry →

We have a new feature here on Tennis Buzz: the galleries! You can now upload your photos (from Flickr or photobucket) and videos (from Youtube or Vimeo) on your profile or on groups.

I’ve created a new commercials group with print and video ads of Nike, adidas, Amex…
The Nike ads gallery include more than 50 commercials featuring Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal but also Monica Seles, Lleyton Hewitt…

Some good old classics like the Nike Heritage with John McEnroe, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi…

the Agassi – Red Hot Chili Peppers:

the longest point ever with McEnroe, Sampras and Agassi:

but also more recent ones like Federer Air Guitar:

and Brilla. Illumina tu pais with Nadal, Iniesta and Gasol

You can watch all those commercials and more in the Nike ads gallery. To enlarge the videos, click on the title and then navigate through the gallery.
Enjoy!

Last tennis week by the numbers:

24:
Novak Djokovic has now won every tournament entered this year: the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami. 24 matches in a row. With the clay court season coming, will he maintain his high level of play?.

11:
Thanks to his semifinal at Miami, Mardy Fish rises to rank number 11. With Andy Roddick dropping down to world number 14, Fish is now the top ranked American player on the men’s tour.

6:
With her win in Miami Victoria Azarenka reaches a career-high No. 6 on the WTA rankings.
I’m really sorry for the people who had tickets for this high decibel final between Azarenka and Sharapova. Life of a tennis fan is sometimes really cruel.

9:
After a semifinal at Indian Wells and a final at Miami, Maria Sharapova is back in the Top 10 for the first time in more than two years, going from No.13 to No.9.

0:
Andy Murray has not won a single match since his semifinal win over David Ferrer at the Australian Open. He has split with part-time coaching consultant Alex Corretja. British press speculate about a future collaboration between Murray and Ivan Lendl.

1:
Win one copy of Top Spin 4, enter our Top Spin 4 Giveaway!

4:
Another tennis video game is coming soon: Virtua Tennis 4. Check out the trailer:

In this week’s Tennis Buzz: Federer is not happy with Navratilova’s comments, Sharapova wears her grandmother’s underwear and Djokovic is flying high.

Following Djokovic’s victory in Indian Wells, Federer has dropped to number 3, and Navratilova predicts it will be hard for him to get back to number one:

Roger is on the other side of the float, I don’t think he’ll ever play as well as he did three or four years ago—that’s not to say he can’t still win a slam, but it’s difficult to see him climbing back to No. 1.Nadal is dominating and Djokovic’s confidence is off the chart. Roger has lost three matches (this season) to Djokovic and lost to him at U.S. Open last year as well, it will get under his skin.

And Federer is grumpy:

Maybe she missed the London World Tour Finals. Maybe she was somewhere else climbing Kilimanjaro. I love her. Look, I think she’s been an inspiration to my wife [Mirka] and I always love seeing her, but if you had the microphone in front of you and you get a negative question, you get dragged into it. And she’s in front of the microphone a lot of times like other experts and eventually you can’t just say only good things. You have to also say more negative things.

I must say I agree with Navratilova: Nadal came back succesffuly from injury, Djokovic plays the tennis of his life, and Del Potro is again a Grand Slam contender but Federer is so used to be praised for everything he does -even for breathing air- that every little critic is a drama for him.
What a hard life for Federer….

During this time, number 2 Novak Djokovic was playing tennis on wings of flying plane in this HEAD commercial…

whereas Nadal stars in this commercial for Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani Underwear:

And speaking of underwear, Maria Sharapova graces the cover of Russian Tatler’s March issue… in her grandma’s underwear:

More pics on Sharapova’s website.

Update: Enter our Top Spin 4 give away!

The brand new Top Spin 4 – the latest installment of the tennis video game franchise – is releasing March, 15th 2011 in the US and March, 18th 2011 internationally, packed with exciting new features!

Top Spin 4 features 5 of the top 10 on the ATP rankings (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Roddick), as well as four of the top 10 on the WTA rankings (Wozniacki, Serena Williams, Zvonareva, Jankovic).
Every detail from their look, attitude, attributes, strengths & weaknesses and play style have been implemented in the game. Each player has signature animations for their own swings and attitude.

Read the rest of this entry →

The world number one lost in quarterfinals in Melbourne but here is a little consolation for Rafa’s fans: the first photos of Rafael Nadal‘s Emporio Armani Underwear and Jeans campaign.

It’s pretty hmm interesting. Enjoy!

And some backstage images from the shooting (source Armani Facebook page):
Read the rest of this entry →