Hello readers,

Just found a fun little article about Laura Robson, a junior who won the Wimbledon junior tennis championships last year. On the tennis court, she’s a powerhouse, but off the tennis court she is a self proclaimed “gossip queen.”

In a recent photo shoot and interview with British Vogue, she has said that her fellow tennis players are “sluts”. According to the British Courier Mail, the 16 year old tennis champ said some of the tennis players (girls) “go with every guy and make such a bad name for themselves.” Uhhh, WHAT? If you’re going to call out the other girls on the junior tennis tour, you might want to be careful as to who you actually tell. It would be wise to not say it to global magazine, and in the time where everything you say can and will be posted somewhere on the internet – starting here at tennisthis.com!

In her defense, Tim Henman said “she probably said something that dhe didn’t mean to say and she’ll learn from it.” Awwe thanks Tim, for nothing! Robson did tweet a little something that is sure to “make it better”, “Really enjoyed the photoshoot and looking forward to seeing the full piece, shame some quotes were taken out of context today though ” Yeah – that sounds very apologetic and you certainly learned your lesson, not so much.

We sure hope that Robson will keep her lips zipped when/if she makes it to the profession tennis circuit. Lesson learned to all you junior tennis stars out there, shut your mouth, play your game and be happy!

So this might be a little off topic, but just so you all don’t forget the wonderful women who brought into this world; Mother’s Day is coming up quick – Sunday May 9th!

Remember, mom is the person who gave you life, nourishment, and carried you for those long 9 months. She brought you into this world for you to discover tennis (kidding!). So why not thank mom and send her some flowers or buy her some chocolates…who knows, she might even want a new tennis racquet or some sweet tennis shoes (just be sure to remember her size).

Here’s to all the mother’s out there in the world, thank you for giving us life and encouraging us to do the right thing (like picking up that tennis racquet) and of course, never judging us. For that we thank and love you.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Dear Serena Williams,

Over the years we’ve seen you triumph, fail, cry, scream, threaten, bitch, complain, and even just disappear. What’s the deal with you? It’s been nearly a decade of absentee appearances claiming injuries (a place some would say close to home), and over the past couple of years, just plain annoyance from the spectators view of your tennis game.

Going back to the rise of your tennis career, you dawned upon us, lovely braided hair (braces and all) with little beads, and more importantly; insane tennis strokes. We watched in awe as you won the Wimbledon Championships, the US Open, and the Australian. But, wait, what’s that? You won’t show up to the smaller tournaments because of the money? However; you will complain about the other tennis players that are ranked #1 without a grand slam? Oh please! What about the little people, the ones who can’t afford the lavish tennis trips to watch you do what you were created to do? Yes, what about US????

Long ago, the creator and militant tennis coach, Richard Williams, took you an oasis in the desert where you were set to compete against other world class athletes only to cry “RACISM” to the crowd. Why is that? Did somebody call you a name? Did somebody offend your lord and savior? Since that fateful day, you have yet to show your face to the crowds that pay your salary, give you reason to continue, and to drool as you play the greatest sport on earth…TENNIS!

You have shown us moments of despair, where you should have grabbed some bench and called it a day, yet you only amazed us with the drive and willpower to get that booty off the chair and dig deep in your inner workings to come back with the power of a goddess to only remind every single person that you are the greatest and win. However; you only downplay the truth, as you always do, that you are living in the innocence of a fairytale dream that you’ve done nothing wrong. YOU LIE!

The truth of the matter is, we actually despise you. Go home. Retire. Continue your career on QVC selling your overpriced jewels that are quite atrocious. With all the ranting and raving that you’ve created, it’s time to give it a rest. We’re sick of the complaining, we just want to watch you play tennis – although the thought of a 2009 US Open semi final repeat would be quite spectacular to witness – and play without limitation and zero expectations. Don’t play for the fans, play for the love of the game.

In closing, we will continue to root for you Serena, since deep down we will always love and adore you. We don’t mean this in bad faith, we’re just pointing out the obvious. So please, take your tennis racquet, tie your shoes, pull back your lovely locks of hair, put in the dangling earrings, and get out on the court and make history….we are watching it happen.

Sincerely,

Your adoring fans.

Ok, so Roger Federer lost today in the second round of the Rome Masters tennis event! We have gotten countless emails about how he’s already showing a poor performance on the clay tennis courts this year. Really? Already showing a poor performance? Come on tennis fans, it’s not a grand slam tennis event! You know Roger can pull out the guns (or tennis racquet if you please) when he needs to. Did anybody think that he may not be actually bringing his “A” game to the tennis match? After all, he hasn’t won every masters series tennis event – but he has won EVERY major tennis championship.

Let’s give the guy a break, yeah, I’m sure he wasn’t happy about losing to Earnest Gulbis (who?), but that’s the game of tennis, you win some and you lose some.

We’ll see how he fares at the French to defend his title.

Hey readers,

Just got word that the Babolat Pure Storm line of tennis racquets are on sale! We found that you can get the tennis racquets at up to 30% off the retail price, not to mention free shipping (US only)! Did we mention that you can also get international shipping? Yes you can!

Now is the time to get a new tennis racquet, you can’t go wrong with the Pure Storm series, they offer a lighter and more maneuverable feel in a player’s tennis racquet, the Pure Storm offers all the control and feel in a racquet that’s easy to get around. We enjoyed a crisp and clean feel from this racquet and a response that’s also big on comfort. You will like the aggressive cuts at the ball to generate lots of spin will find a willing partner in the Pure Storm.

If you want to get a better tennis racquet, get the discount here.

We thought we would share with you some of the best – and one of the hardest tennis strings to come by – the Pacific X Force 17. This string has a ton of spin and power, surely to take your tennis game to the next level. Beyond that, the tennis string actually looks super cool on the tennis court, it’s like this weird translucent orange color.

Some of the cons about this tennis string are actually few – it’s a pretty stiff tennis string so a few things happen: 1. It’s can be kind of difficult to string onto your tennis racquet. 2. It takes some getting used to, it’s hard on the arm and you have to get used to amount of spin it generates on your ground strokes. and 3. It’s nearly impossible to find, which is good – it’s a popular item for us tennis players.

We only have good things to say about this particular tennis string, it’s affordable, durable, pretty (yes, pretty), and can help your tennis game reach the next level. So try it out if you want, you won’t regret the Pacific X Force 17 tennis string.

So you’ve spent lots of money on your tennis racquet and have spend several hours on the tennis court, hitting thousands of forehands, backhands, volleys, overhead smashes, and serves. But what are you going to do next? Of course you want to see how you match up against another competitor in a tennis tournament setting. You got your USTA membership, you found the next tournament, you have you NTRP level picked out – most players are between a 3.5 to 4.5. All things are ready to go and the time has come to prove what you have worked so hard for. You get those pre match jitters and you think all will be well when it’s time to play.

The next thing you know it’s 6-0, 6-0 and you’re out! What the deuce??? Didn’t you work hard perfecting your game? You should have at least gotten in a game, right? Well here’s the deal, like most sports, tennis is mostly mental. You have to be in the match the whole time, that includes your mind! Yes, tennis has a mind game involved. All that court time you’ve put in is great and all, but you have also have to be mentally tough. Most, if not all tennis pros have their brain farts and lose a match (case in point, Nadal – French Open – 2009…nuff said).

So how do you fix it? You have to train your brain off the tennis court. In this little book there are so many little things that you can to do fix and perfect the mental game of tennis! Trust us, we’ve read it and it sure as heck has help us all – regardless of skill level.

Remember, we’re only trying to help your tennis game folks!

We just found out that tennis great and 9 time Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova has been diagnosed with breast cancer. People magazine has early reports that Martina was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2010, however; her prognosis is looking great.

People.com reports that Navratilova had a lumpectomy and will begin six weeks of radiation therapy next month. It added that the tennis hall of famer was diagnosed with a noninvasive form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS.

Here at Tennisthis.com, we wish Martina the best of luck with her battle against breast cancer and we hope to see her on court as soon as possible. Our thoughts are with her and her family.

Hey folks,

We found this neat video of a young Andy Roddick playing Lleyton Hewitt in Miami in 2001. You’ll see that Andy used to make a ton more unforced errors back in the day – but he still had the powerful serve and whipping forehand. Congratulations Andy Roddick for your win today in Miami!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this tennis video and hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

As we sift through all the pictures we got while at the BNP Paribas Open last week, we have decided to post a few of the close up pictures we got of tennis superstar Rafael Nadal during his warm up just before his semi final match against Ivan Ljubicic.

Although he did not actually win that match, he sure as heck made it so that us tennis spectators could watch some great tennis. Nadal’s massive spinning ground strokes were a sight to be seen. One thing that we picked up on – as we were so close to the tennis players – is that these guys are HUGE! We all know that the tennis players are generally tall (6 feet or more), but when you are just feet from them, they are what seem to be chiseled from marble. Their muscles and the frames they carry them on, are just breathtaking. When you watch them on TV, it really does not justify their presence. We gotta hand it to them for keeping their bodies in peak physical condition.

As with Andy Roddick, Rafa refused a picture with the tennisthis.com team, but that’s ok. We were still able to get close enough to see the sweat drip from his face.