FASHION FIX: Nike bores to tears, Winter Global Power Sleeveless in blue needs to go

End of our rope: Believe us, we like this Nike shirt. We think the colors are great and it shows off the player's sexy guns. But we're through and bored, frankly. We've seen our fill of the Winter Global Power Sleeveless Top in crystal blue at this week's Madrid Masters. The Spanish trio - Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya, Feliciano Lopez - and the fiery Austrian Stefan Koubek have all sported it during their matches here and elsewhere, sometimes at the same time.


Hello - the shirt also comes in 2 other great colors, people. We're beating an already dead horse, but tour stylist anyone?!!

HOT or NOT: Feliciano vs. Stefan

Here we have our latest HOT or NOT candidates. Feliciano Lopez and local favorite Stefan Koubek played a second round match at this week's BA-CA Tennis Trophy in Vienna, Austria. The Spaniard emerged the victor in this battle 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Unfortunately, they were both sporting the same Nike threads in this match - another one of our pet peeves (tour stylist, anyone?)


Feliciano is a self-proclaimed metrosexual and is BFF's with World No. 2 Rafael Nadal. We've always thought he was sexy, maybe a little TOO pretty, but sexy just the same. His striking blue eyes, chiseled face, and fit body - hello, check out those arms!


Stefan also has a great body - here we get another peek at his six-pack and the sexy belly-button surprise we first noticed at the US Open this summer. He's fiery too - the Austrian was the latest player to get booted from a match - this time for foul language. Though we don't condone cursing out the umpire, we do think his stubborness is intriguing for all the wrong reasons- yes, we have issues.

HOT or NOT: Feliciano vs. Stefan

Tell us!

+ WEDNESDAY NETCORDS: Justine, Andy, Lindsay, Billie and Elton...Pete vs. Andre, match-fixing update and more

(image courtesy of J R E Y)

- On top of the world: A huge "congrats!" to World No. 1 Justine Henin for clinching the year-end No. 1 ranking (for the third time in her illustrious career) and winning the United States Sports Academy’s Female Athlete of the Month for September. Plus, she's an astonishing 54-4 this season.

- All bets are off? The tennis gods are gathering in London this Friday to hash out all this match-fixing business. In addition Tennis Diary has reported that players' cell phones may be banned from the locker rooms to avoid inside information from leaking to betters. And, Hall-of-Famer Pam Shriver has some choice words for those prone to betting. Can it be stopped? Stay tuned...

- New chief in town: Arlen Kantarian has been newly named CEO, Professional Tennis for the USTA. What does this mean exactly? As part of his new duties, Arlen will oversee the development of a new USTA elite player development program, focused on identifying and developing the next generation of American champions. He will still lead the USTA's Professional Tennis operations, and serve as the lead executive overseeing the USTA's involvement in the professional sport, including the US Open, US Open Series, USTA Pro Tour events, U.S. Davis Cup, Fed Cup, and Olympic teams, and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

- Music superstar Sir Elton John and long-time friend Billie Jean King will host the 15th annual Advanta WTT Smash Hits, a special night of tennis featuring superstars including Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport and Anna Kournikova. The event, which benefits the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the local charity ActionAIDS, will be held in Philadelphia on Oct. 10. Visit Ticketmaster to purchase tickets to this event and to support AIDS research and charities.

- Getting to know: Stefan Koubek

- If it ain't broke...: In the "What were they thinking?" file, the ATP announced it's 2009 schedule to include the new format of giving tournaments ranking points to determine they're importance (1000 = Master Series level, 500 = Tier II). Is that even correct? We're confused just writing about it...oy...

- Think pink: Daily Racquet has been supporting October's Breast Cancer Awareness month by posting on all things pink and tennis. Check it out!

- Wanna know more about the history of the Lacoste brand? Click here.

- Video vault: Reminisce about the good ol' days of tennis with this great, classic Nike commercial featuring legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi playing an improptu set of tennis in a New York City intersection.

THE LOW DOWN: Stefan Koubek uses foul language, gets booted from Open de Moselle

Stefan Koubek was booted from the Open de Moselle today for some apparently inappropriate comments he made to tournament supervisor Thomas Karlberg during his match against Frenchie Sebastien Grosjean.

According to Karlberg, "On the first point of the seventh game, on Grosjean's serve, a Koubek forehand close to the baseline gave a 0-15 advantage to Koubek," [...] "But the umpire realized Grosjean was in the way of the line judge, who was therefore unable to judge the point. In this case, the rule is to replay the point. Koubek disagreed and asked for the supervisor's intervention. He did not want to accept the rules and used strong language. I told him the match was over and asked the umpire to announce it."

Stefan is not a first-time offender, however. He was disqualified from the French Open in 2000 and from the qualies of the Paris Open in '03. He follows fellow dis-qualie Anastasia Rodionova who was bounced from her match earlier this year for hitting a tennis ball towards some fans.

(source)

Stefan Koubek loses to Blake, reveals belly-button surprise

While watching Stefan Koubek take on James Blake last night at the US Open, we realized we had never noticed his amazing body. The Austrian is sporting some serious guns and you know how much we like that. Plus, when he pulled up his shirt he revealed a six-pack and a very sexy belly-button piercing. It makes us wonder what else Stefan may be hiding under his tennis gear...ouch.