Whine & Cheese

Eye-Opener

It's been about a month since I provided any sort of eye candy here on W&C, so what better than a little eye-opener for this Monday!

May I present Fernando Verdasco during a Davis Cup changeover this past weekend!

After the French Open/Wimbledon one-two punch, I tend to not pay much attention to tennis until the US Open warm-up tournaments begin... so just kind of skimmed over this week's minor tourneys and Davis Cup action... but this picture certainly caught my eye (thanks good for female and/or gay photographers who keep their cameras ready during breaks in the on-court play!).

I do know the US suffered a somewhat embarrassing lost to Croatia sans Roddick... who bowed out citing a hip injury, though I think even Roddick would admit it was more of mental beating after that epic Wimbledon final... and not that you could fault him for it.  But given the in-decline James Blake and the clay surface that did no favors to fill-in Mardy Fish (despite two tight 5-set opening matches)... but with that US line-up....

I would have preferred if The Tennis Channel aired the Spain-Germany tie, at least that would have been something prettier to look at... especially the doubles when Verdasco teamed up with the similarly ridiculously hot Feliciano Lopez (and we'll just conveniently ignore rumors that they have egos to match their good looks).  Verdasco lost a tough 8-6 fifth set opening match, but won his other two to advance Spain to semifinals where they should be heavy favorites against Israel, even if Rafa is still not back in action and/or limiting his play.

If you want to see more Shirtless Fernando Verdasco, be sure to browse my special category for him... believe me, it's all pictures all the time!

Love All

Wimbledon starts on Monday... yes, yes I know what you are thinking... didn't  I just survived Ed's "can't talk about anything else" chatter?... well, yes you did... but this is one of the "what were they thinking?" times on the tennis schedule where two of the biggest crowns on the tennis calendar are contested just a few weeks apart.

It's a pretty interesting time in men's tennis... particularly (some would say, exclusively) among the top two players and two of my favorites (as you know!), Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer.  Just when it looked like Roger was on the decline with Rafa powering past him with last year's Wimbledon, the Olympic gold, and this year's Australian that dissolved Roger to post-match tears... the seemingly impossible happened, Rafa losing at Roland Garros for the first time in 5 years and Roger going on to win the only Slam title missing on his resume.

Now it seems that Rafa is the one reeling... both emotionally and physically, so much so that as I write this the tennis world is waiting for the Spaniard to withdraw from Wimbledon.  The draw was announced earlier this morning and Rafa would have a tough road regardless... so I'm guessing it is the proverbial "rock and hard place" ... better to compete and lose not playing anywhere near 100% or not defend arguably the most prestigious title in tennis at all. 

There is an excellent article about Nadal in this weekend's New York Times Magazine.  While it is pretty much a love-letter to Nadal (one can hardly blame Cynthia Gorney, IMHO), she really was able to communicate the reasons why I seem to love both of the players/men fairly equally (though I'll admit to favoring Rog more since Rafa is his Achilles)... it is strange to feel that way in a rivalry like this... it tends to be "love" one/"hate" (or maybe, "respect but not love") the other.

I'd recommend reading the entire piece, Ripped (Or Torn Up?): Can Rafael Nadal Survive His Own Grueling Style of Tennis?... but it is fairly lengthy and likely for tennis die-hards... but here are some quotes from Gorney that I think perfectly sum up why it is easy to love both these guys:

"He (Nadal) thrills people. Federer thrills people, too, but the Nadal thrill is so different from the Federer thrill that studying the two of them is like a gorgeous immersion course in the varieties of athletic possibility. Federer is elegant and fluid and cerebral, so that his best tennis looks effortless even when he is making shots that ought to be physically impossible. Nadal is muscled-up and explosive and relentless, so that his best tennis looks not like a gift from heaven but instead like the product of ferocious will."

"That Nadal now has the capacity to outplay Federer on multiple surfaces ­ that the signature game of the world’s highest-ranked tennis player is not a beautiful ballet unto victory but an imperfect, bruising, savage refusal to yield ­ this is why Nadal thrills people. This and the biceps. “Every tennis lover would like, someday, to play like Federer,” Philippe Bouin (French writer, covering tennis for 30 years for the sports paper L’Équipe) told me. “But every man wants to be Rafael Nadal. Which is different.”"

UPDATE:  Rafa has withdrawn from Wimbledon.  After reading those quote, you can see why not having these two guys in the draw is a bit sad.. but go Roger!  Time to break Sampras' all-time Slam record with a win at the AELTC!

Triomphe!

My non-tennis blog readers are likely rejoicing that much of my tennis-related chatter is now elsewhere, but nothing like the good 'ole blog to babble on for a bit and share some pictures. 

But it was a very good day yesterday as Roger Federer won the French Open for the 1st time - completing a career Grand Slam... only the 6th man to do so... and only the second after Andre Agassi in the modern/Open era... given the different surfaces each Slam is now played on, I arguably think it is a much more difficult than the other legends of yore (but that's another debate for another blog post).

Give the triumphant nature of Roger's win, I predicted his next day photo shoot would be here: 

But given the historic nature of the win (Roger also tied Pete Sampras' all-time Grand Slam record of 14), Roger also got to saunter down to the Trocadero for some pix in front of Tour de Eiffel.

Now while I think Roger is an overly snappy dresser most of the time (his BFF Vogue editor Anna Wintour was in his box during the French), it is always nice to see him in more casual attire... but c'mon Roger, you couldn't find a better pair of jeans to put on for the big photo shoot!?  But what do I know, those jeans probably cost more $$ than I make in a month!

I think Roger got the extra photo location too because who knows if he'll ever win the French again... but who knows... despite his impressive bod and physicality, I always have feared that Rafa Nadal's body would betray him and that he would not have the longest of careers... and now there are whispers that he won't be able to defend his Wimbledon title in a few weeks due to knee problems... so again, who knows!

After his win, Fed noted that this elusive win "It takes away so much pressure. Now, I can play in peace for the rest of my career"... I am sure the rest of the players on the tour loved hearing that!   Given his domination of the men's tennis in the past 5 years, it is a little scary to think that pressure was holding him back in some way... ha! 

Should also give a quick note to the women's champ... Svetlana Kuznetsova ... or Sveta or Kuzzie... who now has a second Slam on her resume... this one slightly less, but still surprising as her US Open a few years back.  Sveta is one of those players who seems so talented and has underachieved thanks to being a bit of a head case. Good for her, she was playing an even bigger head case in Dinara Safina at this year's Roland Garros championship.  With Safina double-faulting on match point, it was almost like Kuznetsova couldn't believe that she had won and that it had been so easy... with Safina really crushed by the pressure of being the favorite and #1 ranked player in the world and the somewhat valid criticism of how one can be #1 and never have won a Major.  But then again, the women's game is a bit in disarray... and I personally don't have many quibbles with the ranking system, the numbers don't lie... but it does seem as if no one is really earning it ... or should I say being consistent enough to be considered THE top player. 

Sveta only got the Trocadero photo shoot... and I have to say it is sooooo much better watching the French Open having now been to Paris.  This is my 2nd post-Paris visit French Open... but we pretty much just arrived home when it was on last year (though it really seems like eons and eons ago), so I appreciated it much more this year. 

For you Paris virgins (go! go!), I highly encourage you to make the Trocadero vista the very first place you see the Eiffel Tower.  Granted it is pretty much impossible to not catch a view of the Tower wherever you are in the city, but this is very much the "Voila!" view... and it still gives me goose-bumps thinking about. After I soaked it in for a few seconds, this was my very first picture from the spot... and even though I know it's a shot that has been taken hundreds of thousands of times... it remains one of my favorites from Paris... just because I remember being uncontrollably happy at this very moment! :-) 

And finally (!!), usually at some point during a Slam I do some sort of hunky/beefcake picture review... and given that Rafa was knocked out halfway through (and his countryman and object of W&C drooling Fernando Verdasco not too far behind.... the tournament was somewhat lacking in eye candy. 

But you do know that I love Roger... and he was one a big search engine driver this weekend to W&C, so why not this one of a (Google! Google!) Shirtless Roger Federer that I stumbled onto at some point during the French. 

I am not sure where this one came from... as it seems a bit more "up close and personal" than the usual shirt change on a change-over type of shots that occasionally land on the sports sites, but heck no complaints.  In this era where a lot of 20-somethings are plucked and tweezed and shaved, it is nice to see a bit of hair... though I have no doubt that Rog engages in some manscaping.  

Here is a link to: all my Roger posts... and those who just want to skip ahead to more of the shirtless variety, the weekend search engine hits seemed to heading to this post in particular. 

I Love The Smell Of Rafa In the Morning

If I keep on posting pictures like this one and the one from yesterday, you may never want me to come back with a "real" blog entry.  Though that will very likely happen tomorrow as I can't imagine my obsession with IDOL would wane enough to not want me to rip into some musical performances.  So that means basically a picture!

Now this one I did "borrow" from the website that rhymes with RowleToad... it's not like I have any real issue with that blog, but pretty much once it's on there EVERYONE knows about... so it becomes a big 'ole case of "why bother!?"  But by "everyone," I mean gay men... so while the Bamber PETA pic was uber-predictable in becoming a raging wildfire in the gay blogosphere, I still felt the need to share this one here, since it involves the unofficial W&C mascot, Rafa Nadal!

So it looks like the fairly new-ish #1 tennis player in the world is finally getting some good endorsement action outside of tennis equipment and clothing... and now the  face of a fragrance. 

Me?  I just would have called the fragrance "Rafa" (make sure to roll your R) ... and could have still gone with this ad which is pretty much ready-to-go as a cover a Harlequin romance novel! 

Fed Cup

This past weekend we got some fresh (and quite cool, well... for us) air heading out to Surprise, Arizona for Fed Cup tennis between the USA and Argentina.  With professional tennis pretty much gone from th Phoenix metro area, Todd got me tix for Christmas... and first row no less!  Though we didn't know it until they arrived in the mail a few weeks ago.

For my non-tennis fan readers, Fed Cup is an international competition were countries compete in teams in a best 3 of 5 matches (4 singles, 1 doubles) over the course of 3 weekends throughout the year.  This past weekend was Round 1, but actually the quarterfinals of the "World Group" which includes the countries that typically have the greatest depth of talent. 

Again, to my non-tennis fan readers it may come as a surprise that the US, after Serena and Venus Williams, do not have much depth when it comes to women's tennis.  As is often the case in the early rounds of Fed Cup (and also it's "brother" Davis Cup), the very top players tend to play only the later rounds of the competition.  So after an injury knocked out the next highest American women's player -- ranked #35 in the world, the next highest American was 34-year old (which is ancient in tennis world) Jill Craybas, who is ranked #93 on this week's rankings. 

So what really should (or could) have been a slam dunk ended up being an extremely competitive weekend of tennis... with the Americans winning the final "must win" matches to pull out the 3-2 victory.  Most surprising was hopefully a young up-and-comer, 17-year old Melanie Oudin.  After dropping the first set pretty easily on Day 2, I was pretty sure most everyone (including first time team captain Mary Joe Fernandez) thought the US would be out of the competition.  But the youngster stormed back -- and while still pretty green -- won the match against a similarly ranked opponent (we're talking 130/140s).  But it was still impressive and everyone breathed a bit easier knowing we had the #1 ranked doubles player in the world, Liezel Huber, who quite conveniently and nicely for us became a US citizen in 2007.

Here is a picture of the team introductions on Day 2:

You can check out all (don't worry there are only 15 pix!) my Fed Cup pictures over on Flickr.  If you are reading this around February 10th go to this link (my "home" Flickr page)... if you are reading this at some later time, probably best to go to this Fed Cup Flickr set.

As you can see, it was all quite colorful!  I was a bit thrown off by all the predominance of pink all around the court.  I am probably over-thinking it, but it just seemed to be unnecessarily "girlie" ... or and I'll cross the politically incorrect line here... and say it otherwise felt like I was in the middle of a breast cancer awareness event (though indirect kudos to Susan G Komen folks -- when I see pink I do think of... am aware of... breast cancer!)

It was great to get out and see some live tennis... and also support our country at the same time!

Express Lane: Issue 60

Springsteen Calls Wal-Mart Deal A Mistake - Glad to hear The Boss, and champion of the working man (and woman!), express regret and take responsibility for the exclusive deal made with the retail beheamoth for an upcoming greatest hits album release. (1/30/09)

Comeback Kid Kelly Clarkson Makes History - The inaugural Idol is the first person to ever hit #1 with a song with "suck" in the title - also, the largest jump in Hot 100 history (96 spots) and, perhaps most surprisingly, the first Idol to score a second #1. (1/29/09)

Donny Osmond Won't be on DWTS, At Least Not Until Fall - Seems like Mr. Little Bit Rock 'n Roll got caught in a lie! (1/28/09)

More of London From Above, At Night - The Big Picture - It figures the day I go back and post a re-working of one of my London pix, TBP comes out with an amazing set of night pix of London! (1/28/09)

Donny Osmond to Follow in Marie's Dancing Shoes? - Alas the first substantive (if somewhat predictable) casting rumor for the upcoming DWTS season. (1/27/09)

Chinese New Year: Welcoming the Ox - The Big Picture - I've become semi-obsessed with China since our trip to Beijing, so was wow'd by this collection (I even have a very similar - well w/out the Qing Dynasty characters - to photo #21). (1/26/09)

Is This Nadal's "Wardrobe Malfunction?" - Nike hoping to increase clothing sales appears to be the reason behind Nadal's on-court wardrobe change this year... the belief being the "average" person is not going to wear sleeveless shirts and pirate pants. (1/26/09)

Fernando Verdasco Shirtless

Ok, thanks the Aussie Open semifinal tennis match that I wrote about early today, I am getting a whole slew of search hits for:

fernando verdasco shirtless

And every so often, I very innocently check in to see where W&C places among a particular (and popular) search.  On this one, I was #2 ... pretty darn good and again thanks to that photo of  Verdasco's comfort in getting nekkid for a good cause.  But my eyes bugged out (likely with the accompanying booooi-ng cartoon character sound effects) when I looked at the other image results on the page of some recent (this new-ish pompadour-y hairstyle was mostly the give-away) photo shoot of the Spaniard... in the immortal words of the Food Network's Paula Deen...

GREAT. TIME. OF. DAY.

It's almost enough for me to say... Rafa who?!   Almost.

Hee hee! Anyhow, I've decide to throw in the towel (and given Fernando's apparent lack of modesty, I think he'd be more than happy to do that... literally!!) and created a Fernando Verdasco category for everyone's viewing pleasure... along with my words of wisdom, of course!

The Thrill Of Victory

WARNING:  SPOILER ALERT of Nadal/Verdasco Aussie Open Semifinal Match

(Ok, that takes care of possibly the 2 or 3 people that may care/be potentially affected)

I was (and well, wasn't surprised) to see that the Aussie Open semifinal match between Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco was still going on when I checked into the home office this morning.  It was on serve in the 4th set, so while I sometimes go back to bed (particularly this time of the year when it's still not light out) if this is no urgent work (like today), I decided to stay awake and watch the rest of the match... and I am certainly glad I did!

It was a high-quality match to the end... and the longest ever Australian Open match, 5 hours and 14 minutes with #1 ranked Rafa advancing to the final by a score of 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4!

Thanks to this "bringing sexy back" match-up between the two Spaniards, I am getting a ton of search hits thanks to my long-term obsession admiration of Rafa and my more recent stalking appreciation of Fernando.  I had over 400+ hits before 7am, which is what I usually what I pull in on a typical day!

Of course, most folks are looking for them naked (which surprisingly enough I kinda sorta have for both Rafa and Fernando) and shirtless, which I have plenty for Rafa (I point folks to peruse my Rafa category)... but I still be nice and post each player here during a changeover during this match:

I can't really explain the expression on Verdasco's face other than I'm guessing a lot of us have funny expressions when we are pulling a shirt over our head.

When Rafa reached triple-match point (and it would take 3 of them), I awaited his "I gutted it out" post-match celebration.  Rafa is definitely Obsessive Compulsive a creature of habit, so I suspected he would exuberantly tumble onto the court, and he didn't disappoint me... and kudos to the photographers from catching the moment from every conceivable angle!

After sorting through these pictures, I think the only thing that was missing was one from Rafa's perspective!

But as often the case in sports, "the thrill of victory" that I mention in the title is coupled with "the agony of defeat"... and likewise, a commentator will more often than not utter the obvious "it's a shame there has to be a loser."   And while the crowd roared over Rafa's win and celebration, I think this picture of Verdasco captures the solitude, despair, exhaustion on the other side of the net:

Can You Hear The Drums Fernando?

Or is it just the beating of my heart!  

Last night when I was watching Australian Open coverage there was a brief split screen of both Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco playing their Round of 16 matches in Melbourne... the good news/bad news scenario was they weren't playing against each other, so I only got to see one of them... that being Rafa, so no complaints!

The Aussie Open is the toughest Slam for me to keep tabs thanks to the time difference, matches start here in the early evening (which is the morning the next day Down Under), with actual coverage often starting a tad later... so I only catch a bit before reading/bed time... and then it's the decision/attempt to avoid/not avoid seeing scores during my morning Internets rounds.  Usually I don't do a good job of avoiding 'em.

But as usual I am scouring the photo galleries for good pics.  I don't know if I am still a bit miffed that Rafa has gone with sleeves this year... and I already spend plenty of W&C airspace on him... but I seem to have an increasing fascination with his countryman Verdasco.  The Spaniards always catch my eye, but again it was very likely Fernando's decision to drop trou (and shirt and sock and shoe!) for a good cause that got me on his bandwagon. 

And I am not alone in my admiration, I had to laugh when I caught this picture from a Verdasco match earlier this week:

... and I am pretty sure it was directed at Spaniard and not his Czech opponent.

So here is another little Fernando collage (if the one from last week wasn't enough) of some recent Fernando pix from the past few days.  If he couldn't get any more adorable, in the lower right hand one he had to go to the Melbourne Aquarium to play with penguins! 

Again, I'm thinking I need to postpone any plans to go to Spain until I am able to convince myself that I wouldn't be constantly walking into light poles.

Something To Warm You Up

Since it is unbelievably, extremely, shockingly cold in some areas of the country, I figured today I'd provide a little warm-up... and I'll be the first to admit that things haven't been terribly cheery and/or motivated here at W&C lately... so there's nothing better to cure that than with an infusion of "Fine Wine'.

The good news is that it's the middle of summer Down Under (I will refrain from any mention that the expected high here in Phoenix today is 73 degrees and that's just the start of a warming trend thru the weekend) and that is certainly better news when it comes to what tennis players are not wearing during practice sessions for the Australian Open (starting here in the States, this Sunday evening)

Now these three players aren't really my favorites (some anything but, bunch of cry babies!), but I have to admit that they are all looking good.  From left to right... never got the Andy Roddick thing, but his "core" is certainly looking solid... Andy Murray is looking like he may have negative %s of body fat... and this may be one of the few times you see the enigmatic and fiery Russian Marat Safin in a good mood these days.

Unfortunately, this ends the shirtless portion of this post.

I am guessing you can believe that our city is just orgasmic over the Cardinals being in the NFC Championship this coming weekend.  I find it all quite amusing.  A couple of years ago, it would often be the case that at Cardinals games there would be more "fans" cheering the opponents than the hometown team... but these days everyone is marching around in Cardinal red and their bandwagon likely resembles a clown car at the circus.

I have to admit I have watched the last couple of games... and while the Matt Leinart was all the buzz when he was acquired by the Cardinals a few years back, it has been vet quarterback Kurt Warner that has excelled and brought the team to the brink of the Super Bowl (ok, I've officially put the jinx on now!).  Much like Roddick, I didn't quite sign on to the whole drooling over Leinart thing... just too much flash, bravado, pretty boy thing for my taste... and really there is not much to quibble with this...

Kurt has certainly made it easier to to watch Cardinals game!  If the Cards do make it to the Super Bowl, let's just say for me personally "Go Daddy" will have more to do with Mr. Warner than any provocative commercials for an Internet web hosting company.

But back to the tennis world, if Kurt did have a younger, hotter, Spanish cousin... who doesn't mind taking off his clothes for a good cause... I think Fernando Verdasco fits more than the bill

... and at least in tennis, there is no such thing as a penalty for "excessive celebration"