maria sharapova & pepsi deal goes flat. May play clay.

Latest news on Maria Sharapova Inc

Bloomberg.com reports today that PepsiCo & Maria Sharapova have not renewed their two-year endorsement deal. Sharapova dropped out of the top 50 because of her on-going  shoulder injury.

In January 2007, Maria Sharapova became the first tennis player to represent PepsiCo’s Gatorade sports drink and Tropicana fruit juice brands worldwide. That contract was signed after the Russian won the 2006 U.S. Open and has expired at the end of last year. It is rumoured that the deal is worth close to US$1 million annually.

Small change to the highest-paid female athlete in the world I guess. Maria’s other endorsement deals are with Tag Heuer, Nike, Tiffany & Co and Cole Haan. What about Canon, I wonder.

Click for Bloomberg story here.

Russia Today also ran a story that Maria Sharapova is hoping to return to play clay in Roland Garros in May, with one or two tune-up tournaments before Paris.

I wait without a pepsi.

Click for Russia Today story here

Here’s a Maria Pepsi commercial from 2007!!!

 

and a Maria Gatorade commercial 2007! Hmm…is that YOU I hear in the background?

Maria Sharapova parties in LA. Dinara Safina struggles in head. Serena Williams beached in Marbella. So… who’s numero uno again?

posted by Hollywood TV

Come back Maria, we missed you.

photo via mariasharapova.com
 

tennis loves twitter. also flutter mockumentary.

Twitter, the social media phenom has a worldwide following of 10 million in Feb 09. Tennis has almost 23,000 followers, and it is growing daily, rapidly.

The Sports Category has over 2 million followers. Topping the list are :

@THE_REAL_SHAQ and  @lancearmstrong with over 500,000 followers each! Everyone else in Sports splits the 1,000,000+ balance. Is this a monopoly, nonopoly, twitopoly?

On top of the tennis category :

@TennisTV is tops with just over 1,500 followers, followed by @gototennis, @TennisExpress. So its pretty wide open for tennis, game on!

Tennis Elbow Room started twittering in March 09 to be ‘live’ & experience the Tennis Tournaments at Indian Wells & Miami vicariously through fellow tennis twitterers. I loved the experience, its a post still sitting in ‘Drafts’.

@tenniselbowroom has only 80 followers, so c’mon sign up at twitter.com or just click the twitter icon on the sidebar already. I need 499,930 to get within sniffing distance of shaq & lance, you follow.

Tennis players who twit are @andy_murray, and recently @serenajwilliams. although check out tennis elbow room’s funny twi story of Serena – Click Here!

 

Ok enough facts! Whats a mockumentary, I hear you say in the background.

Click & find out people…

Andy Murray of Scotland & Jensen Button of England rule Britannia, well tennis & F1 at least…

The sports- mad British Isles were jumping with joy at the weekend with 2 big wins in tennis and Formula 1. Scot Andy Murray subdued a resurgent Novak Djokovic to win the Miami Masters. Across the globe, English Formula 1 driver Jensen Button kept his calm through a torrential tropical storm to win the shortened F1 Malaysia Grand Prix. *Cheers to a double britannia*. Men and their trophies.

Andy Murray, Champion Miami Open

Jensen Button, Champion F1 Malaysia

roger federer spins out of control, yet manages to spin the media spotlight on himself again…and again

Has Roger Federer added a new backhand-ed approach to his game?

Federer’s Oz tears got him more media miles than Nadal’s back-to-back 5-setter marathon runs.

Now in Miami, Federer’s smashed up racquet has literally bagged & zipped the Serb!

Watch the approach next time he loses a big match

 

outburst no.1 : australian open finals 2009

nadal won but remains in the background

 

outburst no.2 : miami open semifinals apr 2009

djokovic won but federer’s racquet beat him

after the racquet abuse, federer continues with a water bottle throwing tantrum. watch the ball boys scurrying to collect the 2 bottles…

And all this after winning the ATP World Tour Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship award, just last week in Miami!?

how serena williams learnt the golden rule of the twit

the culprit

Serena's Pomegranate Lip Balmer SPF15

 

the evidence : tweet tweets 

 received serena’s tweet during the match *jaw drops at her superior multi tasking skills*

 

 replied to serena *nervously watched serena’s fingers during changeover*

 

 serena wins. her fans are relieved. *we apply extra pomegranate to celebrate*

 

the CSI Miami

are the pomegranates from china?

did roddick decline a sample from serena

Twu Twit Tennis Story at WTA Miami Open during match during match between Serena Williams and Na Li of China. Serena won 4-6, 7-6 but she wasn’t focused!

a shout-out  to fellow tennis twitterers @magzalez @tenisbrasil @TheFanChild. your balm is in the email.

UPDATE : @tenniselbowroom would like to send a tweet to tennis players who twit such as @andyroddick, @Bryanbros, remember the Golden Rule of The Twit… tweet & learn, tweet & learn… @andy_murray, you are the top of the tennis twits! Twitter on, troops!

miami heat : verdasco / camilla belle vs tsonga / dolphin

What’s Don Juan without the senoritas?

What’s Miami without the dolphins?

Not to poor Tsonga , look at that smile… its a french thing, c’est la vie

So, no touchy feely here.

 

Then lets heat it up. its spring time for spain’s fernando verdasco and american-brazilian camilla belle… Fer wins hands don, er, down.

*why have my captions turned blue, hmmm*

tsonga is not happy *its big*

tsonga eyes the dolph *its got teeth*

i don't do sushi *smiles nervously*

           

fernando & camilla belle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photo : celebrity-gossip.net & getty

no maria in miami

 

maria sharapova returns at indian wells but withdraws from miami. photo reuters.

Maria Sharapova feels she’s not ready for Miami after her ‘doubles wild card’ return at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California with fellow Russian Elena Vesnina. At least Maria got 3 sets of match play and a tie-break before losing out to Ekaterina Makarova and Tatiana Poutchek, 6-1 4-6 10-7.

maria sharapova & elena vesnina indian wells 2009

working hard off-court

 

 

 

                     Sharapova’s injury woes

Maria, a three-time Grand Slam champ(lest we forget), withdrew because of a shoulder injury (a torn rotator cuff, ouch!) and has not played a singles tournament since the Rogers Cup in Montréal in July 2008. In that last singles outing, Sharapova won her second round match in 3 sets, 3 hours and committed 17 double faults! She then withdrew from Montreal.

More withdrawals followed – the Beijing Olympics in Aug 2008, the US Open 2008, the Australian Open 2009, GDF SUEZ in Paris and the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. And now the Sony Ericsson Miami Open in March 2009.

Will we continue having withdrawal symptoms? Will she come back or will she kournikova it … after all maria has worked hard both on-court and off, and made a fab career over the years. She absolutely gets tennis elbow room’s ♥ nudge nudge wink wink ♥ award for best tennis glamazon in black and white.

maria sharapova in spanish GQ

maria sharapova

tennis elbow room’s pain-killer video : Top Ten Reasons to Sack Your Tennis Coach!

tennis elbow room’s shout out to paul gold – i’m glad i stumbled upon your video. flove it! watch out coaches!!!

hi, my name is nadal and i’m a sleeve to fashion

 

tennis elbow room hearts candy coloured rafael nadal

tennis elbow room hearts candy coloured rafael nadal. thinks he puts the ‘ass’ into sleeve, style and spins! check out his latest nike gear.

Players in party mode

sydney 2009 from tennisvideosatpwta

Girls you can be Sania Mirza!

From The Economic Times/India Times :

English|हिन्दी|ગુજરાતી

Honorary Dr: More the Merrier

13 Dec 2008, 0222 hrs IST

India’S 22-year-old Sania Mirza wanted to study medicine but opted for a tennis career instead, turning professional at the age of 17.  click for full story from economictimes.indiatimes ‘Honorary Dr : More the Merrier’

 

From The Times of India : 

Tennis ace Sania honoured with a doctorate

11 Dec 2008, 0043 hrs IST, Prajwal Hegde,TNN

You can call her ‘Doctor’. That’ll be an option after the Dr MGR University in Chennai decorates tennis star Sania Mirza with a doctorate. click for full story from timesofindia ‘Tennis Ace Sania honoured with a doctorate‘

if sania plays in malaysia, would it be in malacca?

Novak wins Australia with his imitation of Maria! hilarious, must watch!

Australian Open 2008 Winners

Men’s Singles Final
(3) Novak Djokovic (SRB) d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)

Women’s Singles Final
(5) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (4) Ana Ivanovic (SRB)

Men’s Doubles Final
(8) Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (ISR) d. (7) Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra (FRA)

Women’s Doubles Final
Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. (12)Victoria Azarenka/Shahar Peer (BLR/ISR)

Mixed Doubles Final
(5) Tiantian Sun/Nenad Zimonjic (CHN/SRB) d. Sania Mirza/Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)

Boy’s Singles Final
(5) Bernard Tomic (AUS) d. (10) Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE)

Girl’s Singles Final
(14) Arantxa Rus (NED) d. Jessica Moore (AUS)

Boy’s Doubles Final
Cheng Peng Hsieh/Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) d. (2) Vasek Pospisil/Cesar Ramirez (CAN/MEX)

Girl’s Doubles Final
(1) Ksenia Lykina/Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Elena Bogdan/Misaki Doi (ROU/JPN)

Sharapova next door in Singapore

posted on youtube by markusa51

sharapova girl next door in singapore

oh by the way, Anna Chakvetadze (who?), WTA ranked 6th, was also in Singapore. Both Russians played an exhibition match at the city’s Indoor Stadium. Sharapova won 6-0, 7-6 (12-10).

Sharapova says Singapore will be great Youth Olympic Games host
SINGAPORE : Tennis sensation Maria Sharapova feels Singapore would make a good host for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010.
This is despite the fact that the Russian would prefer Moscow to win the bid.
Channelnewsasia.com 29 Dec 2007 : click here for full story

is sharapova swinging for singapore?

(note to 18 year old son : happy now?)

seoul vs kuala lumpur vs macau

the most seen image worldwide was of federer and sampras in their fuschia and pistol grey korean robes!

advantage to the korean organisers (& fed in fusch!)

the world’s press kept referring to ‘traditional korean robes’ – its called the Hanbok. play and learn. play and learn

note the traditional american footwear!