WIMBLEDON: Has football framed Rafa Nadal?

Nadal stunned by Lukas Rosol unbelievable 5th set (Photo: Wimbledon/AELTC)

The world is still in shock over Rafael Nadal's second-round knockout at Wimbledon. The Spanish was upset by world’s 100th-ranked player Lukas Rosol in five epic sets and, for some tennis experts, this is one of the biggest shocks in Wimbledon history. Rafa has reached the Wimbledon final the last five times he had played the event, and he hadn't lost this early at any Grand Slam since 2005. The day after, everyone is asking: How did this happen?

First of all, Lukas Rosol played top-notch tennis. Czech Republic's player made 22 aces, had a perfect swing and crushing forehand winners. It was the match of his life. “I mean maybe it’s once in life you can play like this against Rafael Nadal on Centre Court, and you can win against him", said the Czech at the post-match press-conference. Rosol equated his victory with a B soccer team from the Czech Republic beating Real Madrid. In fact, it's good he mentioned football, because, in our perspective, football had great influence in Rafa's loss.

Rosol played the match of his life! (Image via Wimbledon - John Buckle/AELTC)

Rafa and Euro 2012

The night before his second round match, Nadal watched Spain's semifinal against Portugal in the Euro 2012, surrounded by friends and his team. If you don't know anything about soccer, we can tell you that the match had a record audience rating in Spain (during penalties, it got the highest TV ratings ever in the country) and in Portugal (most watched TV program in the last 8 years). It was a tough and intense match, decided in the penalties, after almost two and half hours of passionate competition. Spain won but watching the game was painful for the fans. The match ended at around 10:30 PM in London, but we can guess Nadal stayed up late - he had friends at his Wimbledon home, and the victory was so significant to Spain that it was impossible for Nadal and his friends not to celebrate.

Nadal watching Spain vs Portugal (Image via his Facebook)

Such an emotional and out of routine episode, during Wimbledon, must have had an effect on Nadal. We can't say he lost the match because of football but certainly it had an impact on his game. After his defeat, the Spaniard admitted he's been feeling tired. Staying up late, maybe having a drink or two, sharing an intense football night with friends probably wasn't the best idea on the eve of a Wimby's second-round match. “Physically, you need to rest. I played for the last six months, playing almost every match possible. And sure, physically, I need to stop a little bit. The only thing that I can do is go back home and rest, which I need and I deserve”, Nadal said in the post-match press conference. 

Nadal celebrates Spain's qualification to Euro 2012 final. (Image via his Facebook)

World Nº2 recognized that losing against Rosol “is not a tragedy. It’s only a tennis match.” He will go back to Mallorca and will enjoy a short vacation before starting his preparation for the Olympics, which will be held again at the All England Lawn Club.
But not everything is bad news for Rafa. At least, on Sunday, he can enjoy Euro 2012 final between Spain and Italy and, who knows, celebrate another victory for Spanish football with his friends goalkeeper Iker Casillas and forward Fernando Llorente. 

Pippa Middleton applauds Murray from royal box at Wimbledon

Image via Tumblr

Pippa Middleton and her brother James were in the royal box at Wimbledon on Thursday to watch the action on Centre Court. Kate Middleton's siblings applauded Brit Andy Murray and Serena Williams's victories. Both players advanced to the 3rd round.

Image via Guysm

Pippa was wearing a navy and white Orla Kiely dress with a macramé jacket, a Ermanno Scervino bag and a Givenchy's Obsedia sunglasses. Just a few minutes after her arrival at Centre Court, Pippa was trending on Twitter. Magazines such as Glamour UK, InStyle, Marie Claire and fashion bloggers were tweeting about her "chic" look and giving tips on where Pippa's fans could get the same outfit. 

J.K. Rowling, a different kind of royal, visits Wimbledon

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was in the royal box at Wimbledon. Admired by thousands of Potter-maniacs, Rowling herself seems to fancy Rafael Nadal. She followed the Spaniards first victory at Wimbledon's day 2/first round. Will her next book series be named "El Matador"?

J.K. Rowling (center) sees Nadal against Thomaz Bellucci (Image via Wimbledon's Twitter)

Prince Charles sees Federer win at Wimbledon

The Prince of Wales returned to Wimbledon for the first time since 1970, and got to watch Roger Federer defeat Fabio Fognini from Centre Court's Royal Box. 

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, chatted with former British Nº1 Tim Henman and Andy Roddick before taking their seats in the Royal Box. Later, they met Roger Federer, who bowed to the Royals before and after the second round match. 

Earlier in the day, BBC asked Roger Federer what he thought when he heard the Royals would be at the match and the Swiss said: "Don't do anything stupid!". Fortunately, nothing stupid happened and Federer rolled to the third round. Here are some videos of the royal visit on Day 3 at Wimbledon (second video  shows meeting with Henman and Roddick). 

(Photos and videos via Royal Correspondent/Press Association)

WIMBLEDON: Micaela Bryan gets "smiling lessons" from Brooklyn Decker

Micaela Bryan continues her own personal tour in the tennis circuit! The cute baby is in Wimbledon, following her dad Bob Bryan. Yesterday, during rain delay, she bumped into model and actress Brooklyn Decker and got some "smiling lessons" from Andy Roddick's wife. There's nothing like learning glamour modelling from a top model! 

(Images via Micaela Bryan's Twitter)

No wedding bells in Sharapova's near future

Maria Sharapova will "probably wait a little bit" to get married - maybe until she finishes her tennis career. In an  interview to CBS "This Morning", the Russian star says she is still hungry for the game and believes she has a lot of good years to give to the sport.

Engaged with basketball player Sasha Vujacic since October 2010, 25 year-old tennis star is nowadays more focused on tennis and her multi-million dollar endorsements. According to Forbes, she is the highest-paid female athlete in the world.

In this one-on-one with CBS's Mark Philips, 1-ranked tennis woman talks about her victory at the French Open and how she reacted when seeing pictures of herself celebrating Grand Slam victories. She also talks about her father, her surgery and practicing routines. To read the full interview visit CBS.

Here's a video with part of her interview: 

Nadal's watch thief sentenced to 6 months in jail

The 38 year-old hotel bartender, who stole Rafael Nadal's Richard Mille watch, was sentenced to six months in jail. The watch, worth around 300,000 to 500,000 euros, was stolen from Nadal's hotel room after his victory at the French Open.

The man admitted he entered Nadal's Mélia Royal Alma hotel room twice, the first time moved by curiosity, the second time to steal the watch. He said to the judge that he kept the watch because he felt it could change his life and bring him luck. Unfortunately, the theft actually changed his life: he was fired from his job and will now have to complete time in prison.

Entries for 2012 Olympic Tennis Event announced (Full List)

Djokovic is Serbia's flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony (Photo: London 2012 FB)

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced the full list of entries for the London 2012 Olympic Tennis Event at The All England Club, Wimbledon from 28 July until 5 August. Forty-five countries will compete in this year’s event.

According to the ITF, "this is the strongest ever Olympic singles entry, led by the two world No.1s, Beijing bronze medalist Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Russia’s Maria Sharapova. Nineteen (19) of the current world’s Top 20 will contest both the men’s and women’s events, with the exceptions being Mardy Fish (USA) and Marion Bartoli (FRA)". 

Sixty-four players will contest both the men’s and women’s singles. In the men’s singles, there are 56 direct acceptances and eight ITF Places; while in the women’s singles, there are 56 direct acceptances, six ITF Places and two Tripartite Commission Invitation Places. To read more about the rules of acceptance visit ITF's website. 

Men's singles entry list (ITF places are marked with *)

- Argentina: Juan Martin del Potro, Juan Monaco, Carlos Berlocq, David Nalbandian
- Australia: Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt (*)
- Austria: Jurgen Melzer
- Belgium: Olivier Rochus, David Goffin, Steve Darcis
- Brazil: Thomaz Bellucci (*)
- Bulgaria: Grigor Dimitrov
- Canada: Milos Raonic, Vasek Pospisil (*)
- Chinese Taipei: Lu Yen-Hsun
- Colombia: Santiago Giraldo, Alejandro Falla
- Croatia: Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, Ivan Dodig
- Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis
- Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek
- Finland: Jarkko Nieminen
- France: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet
- Germany: Philipp Kohlschreiber
- Great Britain: Andy Murray
- India: Somdev Devvarman (*)
- Italy: Andreas Seppi, Fabio Fognini
- Japan: Kei Nishikori, Go Soeda, Tatsuma Ito
- Kazakhstan: Mikhail Kukushkin
- Luxembourg: Gilles Muller
- Netherlands: Robin Haase
- Poland: Lukasz Kubot
- Romania: Adrian Ungur (*)
- Russia: Mikhail Youzhny, Alex Bogomolov Jr, Nikolay Davydenko, Dmitry Tursunov
- Serbia: Novak Djokovic, Janko Tipsarevic, Viktor Troicki
- Slovak Republic: Lukas Lacko, Martin Klizan
- Slovenia: Blaz Kavcic (*)
- Spain: Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco
- Switzerland: Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka
- Tunisia: Malek Jaziri (*)
- Ukraine: Sergiy Stakhovsky (*)
- USA: John Isner, Andy Roddick, Donald Young, Ryan Harrison
- Uzbekistan: Denis Istomin

(*)  ITF Place

Women's singles entry list (ITF places are marked with *)

- Australia: Samantha Stosur
- Belarus: Victoria Azarenka
- Belgium: Yanina Wickmayer, Kim Clijsters
- Bulgaria: Tsvetana Pironkova
- Canada: Aleksandra Wozniak
- China, P.R.: Li Na, Peng Shuai, Zheng Jie
- Chinese Taipei: Hsieh Su-Wei
- Croatia: Petra Martic
- Czech Republic: Petra Kvitova, Lucie Safarova, Petra Cetkovska, Klara Zakopalova
- Denmark: Caroline Wozniacki
- Estonia: Kaia Kanepi
- France: Alize Cornet (*)
- Georgia: Anna Tatishvili (*)
- Germany: Angelique Kerber, Sabine Lisicki, Andrea Petkovic, Julia Goerges
- Great Britain: Anne Keothavong (*), Elena Baltacha (*)
- Hungary: Agnes Szavay
- Israel: Shahar Peer
- Italy: Sara Errani, Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci, Francesca Schiavone
- Kazakhstan: Galina Voskoboeva, Yaroslava Shvedova
- Liechtenstein: Stephanie Vogt (#)
- New Zealand: Marina Erakovic
- Paraguay: Veronica Cepede Royg (#)
- Poland: Agnieszka Radwanska, Urszula Radwanska
- Romania: Monica Niculescu, Simona Halep, Sorana Cirstea, Irina-Camelia Begu
- Russia: Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva, Maria Kirilenko, Nadia Petrova
- Serbia: Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic
- Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova, Daniela Hantuchova
- Slovenia: Polona Hercog
- Spain: Anabel Medina Garrigues, Carla Suarez Navarro, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Silvia Soler-Espinosa
- Sweden: Sofia Arvidsson
- Switzerland: Timea Bacsinszky
- Tunisia: Ons Jabeur (*)
- Ukraine: Alona Bondarenko, Kateryna Bondarenko (*)
- USA: Serena Williams, Christina McHale, Venus Williams, Varvara Lepchenko

(*)  ITF Place
(#) Tripartite Commission Invitation Place

Men's doubles entry list 

- Argentina: David Nalbandian/Eduardo Schwank (*)
- Austria: Jurgen Melzer/Alexander Peya
- Belarus: Alexander Bury/Max Mirnyi
- Brazil: Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares, Thomaz Bellucci/Andre Sa (*)
- Canada: Daniel Nestor/Vasek Pospisil
- Colombia: Juan Sebastian Cabal/Santiago Giraldo (*)
- Croatia: Marin Cilic/Ivan Dodig
- Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych/Radek Stepanek
- France: Michael Llodra/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Julien Benneteau/Richard Gasquet
- Germany: Christopher Kas/Philipp Petzschner
- Great Britain: Andy Murray/Jamie Murray, Colin Fleming/Ross Hutchins
- India: Leander Paes/Vishnu Vardhan, Mahesh Bhupathi/Rohan Bopanna
- Israel: Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (*)
- Italy: Daniele Bracciali/Andreas Seppi
- Japan: Kei Nishikori/Go Soeda (*)
- Netherlands: Robin Haase/Jean-Julien Rojer
- Poland: Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski
- Romania: Horia Tecau/Adrian Ungur (*)
- Russia: Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny (*)
- Serbia: Janko Tipsarevic/Nenad Zimonjic, Novak Djokovic/Victor Troicki
- Slovak Republic: Martin Klizan/Lukas Lacko (*)
- Spain: Marcel Granollers/Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer/Feliciano Lopez
- Sweden: Johan Brunstrom/Robert Lindstedt
- Switzerland: Roger Federer/Stanislas Wawrinka
- USA: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, John Isner/Andy Roddick
(*)  ITF Place

Women's doubles entry list 

- Argentina: Gisela Dulko/Paola Suarez
- Australia: Jarmila Gajdosova/Anastasia Rodionova, Casey Dellacqua/Samantha Stosur
- Canada: Stephanie Dubois/Aleksandra Wozniak (*)
- China, P.R.: Peng Shuai/Zheng Jie, Li Na/Zhang Shuai
- Chinese Taipei: Chuang Chia-Jung/Hsieh Su-Wei (*)
- Czech Republic: Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka, Petra Cetkovska/Lucie Safarova
- France: Alize Cornet/Kristina Mladenovic (*)
- Georgia: Margalita Chakhnashvili/Anna Tatishvili (*)
- Germany: Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki, Julia Goerges/Andrea Petkovic
- Great Britain: Laura Robson/Heather Watson (*)
- Hungary: Timea Babos/Agnes Szavay (*)
- India: Rushmi Chakravarthi/Sania Mirza (*)
- Italy: Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta/Francesca Schiavone
- Kazakhstan: Yaroslava Shvedova/Galina Voskoboeva
- Poland: Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanska, Klaudia Jans-Ignacik/Alicja Rosolska
- Romania: Irina-Camelia Begu/Monica Niculescu, Sorana Cirstea/Simona Halep
- Russia: Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova, Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina
- Slovak Republic: Dominika Cibulkova/Daniela Hantuchova
- Slovenia: Andreja Klepac/Katarina Srebotnik
- Spain: Nuria Llagostera Vives/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Anabel Medina Garrigues/Arantxa Parra Santonja
- Ukraine: Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (*)
- USA: Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond, Serena Williams/Venus Williams
(*)  ITF Place

Novak Djokovic premieres HEAD bag at Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic premiered on Monday his new White Limited Edition HEAD Racquet Bag. World Nº1 got so inspired by his new bag that he decided to pull a surprise prank with a golf club. The same bag will be used by "HEAD racquet rebels" Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic at the All England Lawn Tennis Club. 

Novak arriving at Centre Court on Monday

Andy Murray

HEAD rebels!

The brand new HEAD White Monster Combi Limited Edition Racquet Bag is not the only HEAD product opening at Wimbledon - Maria Sharapova premiered her own line of racquet bag on Monday too. 

HEAD contests: 

- HEAD White Monster Combi - For a chance to win a bag just like the one Djokovic is sporting visit Head Tennis on Facebook. Click here to enter the application.

- HEAD Prestige Racquet - HEAD Tennis is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the legendary Prestige racquet and will offer a brand-new YouTek™ IG Prestige S racquet signed by Henri Leconte, every month until 25th December 2012. To win click here and follow the instructions.

(Images via HEAD Tennis)

"The Guardian" promotes Tennis Boulevard

We are delighted to announce that "The Guardian" quoted Tennis Boulevard in a column called "Shorter Cuts - A Sideway look at the News". In this column, the prestigious British newspaper selects and redirects their readers to interesting articles posted in blogs and other news sources. 

On Sunday, "The Guardian" chose our article about Maria Sharapova's candy brand, Sugarpova. Here's the link to "The Guardian" quote - Look for the "On the ball" title.

We have been blogging for three months and being "short cut" by "The Guardian" is just as special as winning a Wimbledon title... well... almost! :)

Win or lose, Wimbledon has a special place in Federer's heart

Roger Federer is hoping to win a record 17th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon and hopefully regain the world Nº1 spot. The 30-year-old six-time Wimbledon Champion is trying to finish Nadal and Djokovic's dominance in the last two-year Grand Slam tournaments. 
He is also seeking to tie Pete Sampras record of seven Wimbledon titles. But even if he doesn't achieve any of these goals, Wimbledon will always have a special place in Federer's heart. 
Watch this very interesting interview for Rolex Rendezvous and learn why the Swiss thinks Wimbledon "is just perfection". 

Date night on the eve of Wimby

Caroline Wozniacki and Rafael Nadal were spotted, on the eve of Wimbledon, with their better halves in London.

According to the Daily Mail, Caroline Wozniacki and her golfer boyfriend Rory McIlroy, a couple known as Wozzilroy, went to a pizza restaurant in Eastbourne.

Meanwhile, the British newspaper found Nadal taking girlfriend Maria Francisca Perello (Xisca) for a stroll.

Wozzilroy enjoying some time together in London

Nadal and Xisca are childhood sweethearts

(Images credit: Tillen Dove/Daily Mail)

Djokovic debuts at Wimbledon with golf club prank

Image via Djokovic's Facebook

Novak "Djoker" Djokovic pulled one more of his pranks Today at Wimbledon. The world Nº1 got to Centre Court for his first match, opened his bag and pulled out a a golf club instead of his tennis racquet. Then he looked around to see if anyone noticed and smiled.  What a great way to start the tournament, isn't it, Novak? We gotta love your sense of humour!

Later in the day, he told the story to his fans on Facebook: "I had a little surprise for the ones who were watching the match - my new white limited edition HEAD Tennis racquet bag. It reminds me so much of a golf bag that I "accidentally" brought a golf club with me on the grass... :) good that i had some racquets hidden there otherwise.. :)", said the Serbian, adding that he was happy to go through to the next round. He won his match against Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets (6-3 6-3 6-1) and will now face America's Ryan Harrison in the second round. 

ATP bans blue clay in 2013

ATP decided to ban blue clay courts and won't allow Madrid Masters to continues its experiments next year. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal criticized the blue surface, which was introduced for the first time at this year's tournament, and said they wouldn't be playing in Madrid again in 2013.

After so much controversy, ATP agrees with Rafa and Novak and defends that blue clay is not safe to play tennis. Players complained the court was too slippery. According to Spanish newspaper Marca, ATP executive chairman and president Brad Drewett said that "regardless of colour, we must first ensure that courts are safe and fair for players." "While the blue clay may have offered better visibility on television, there were clearly issues with the quality of the courts in Madrid this year, which were not acceptable at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, one of our top events worldwide", added Drewett.

Madrid Open was won by Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Top seeds like Nadal and Djokovic crashed out early in the tournament and blamed the court surface for their poor performance.

Predict Wimbledon's Champions!

Who will win Wimbledon 2012 Men's Title?

Who will win Wimbledon 2012 Ladies Title?

Counting down to Wimbledon - Federer, Ivanovic, Wozniacki and others

Wimbledon Championships 2012 start in a few hours. Here are some practice photos of several players. 

Ana Ivanovic practicing at Wimbledon 

Caroline Wozniacki

Roger Federer warming-up. Will he be world Nº1 again?

Britain's favorite Andy Murray (Image via Murray's Facebook)

Serena Williams practices a few days ahead of the tournament

Agnieska Radwanska

Don't miss this short video! Rolex ambassadors - Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki, Li Na, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin Del Porto and Roger Federer - talk about the uniqueness of Wimbledon.

(Photos via Wimbledon's Facebook Page)

Counting down to Wimbledon 2012 - Djokovic and Kvitová

Wimbledon Championships 2012 start in a few hours. Ahead of all the excitement, Tennis Boulevard shows you how players have prepared and what they expect of the tournament.

Novak Djokovic

Defending champion Novak Djokovic is prepared to eat the grass if necessary to win another Wimbledon title :) The Serbian says he is "feeling better than ever". “I’m playing with more self-belief on this surface,” admitted Djokovic in the traditional Sunday press-conference, where he previewed his participation on the Championships.

"Back to the good old All England Lawn Tennis Club, and feeling good", Djokovic said on Facebook

Sunday night, "Nole" wrote a long post on his Facebook and explained to his fans some of Wimbledon's traditions. "The great thing about Wimbledon that I really appreciate is the tradition that is respected and protected for more than 130 years. We still wear only white clothes during the tournament, and the defending champion always plays at 13h00 on Monday", he said, ahead of his first Championships match. The world Nº1 also emphasized that he and his opponent Juan Carlos Ferrero will be the first ones to play on the "perfect grass". "Nobody played there since last year :)", added. Another tradition is the defending champion's press conference, which always happens on "Sunday at 12 o'clock".

Novak hasn't played any Wimbledon warm-up tournament, but he was one of the first players to arrive in London so that he could have time to practice and adjust to the court surface. He did enjoyed a good time in the Boodles exhibition event on Thursday, 21 June, beating Andy Murray in straight sets.

Here are some photos of his Wimby warm-up practice and Boodles match:

Image via Djokovic's Facebook Page

Images via Wimbledon's Facebook Official Page

Boodles exhibition match against Murray (Image via AmyStewart25)

Traditional defending champion Press-Conference (via Wimbledon FB)

Pre-Wimbledon interview:

Petra Kvitová

Ladies defending champion Petra Kvitová will also have the honour to open play on Tuesday, 26, in Centre Court, as it happens every year to the women's defending champion. Her parents Jiri and Pavla will be watching from the Royal Box. "I think for me it's very nice to have them here for the first match as the defending champion. For them it's I think honour, too, because my father was my coach until my 16. They travel with me a lot, so for them it's very nice, for sure", world Nº4 said on her Sunday press-conference.

The Czech feels "honoured" to be a Wimbledon's champion and admits that there is some "pressure" for 2012 Championships. "I will try to not thinking about when I will be on the court and try to thinking about the points and about the match", she added. Kvitová played warm-up grass tournament Aegon Championships in Eastbourne and lost her first round match to Ekaterina Makarova. 

Here are some photos of her practice sessions at Wimbledon (Photos by Česká sportovní/Pavel Lebeda-sport-pics.cz): 

Petra Kvitová got into Wimbledon's spirit back in February when she took a tour of the Wimbledon courts and Museum accompanied by her compatriot and 9-time Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova. Watch CNN's exclusive report: 

Sharapova's Road to Wimbledon

Maria Sharapova hasn't played any tournament after her historic victory at the French Open. Just like French Open men's champion Rafa Nadal, she took some time off to visit friends and to work on her own projects, like the Sugarpova brand. Here are some of world Nº1 moments ahead of the Wimbledon Championships.

Spain 
Visit to Juan Carlos Ferrero tennis academy and Sugarpova candy factory

Juan Carlos Ferrero and Nicolas Almagro with Masha at the Equelite Sport Academy (Photo credit: Equelite)

London
Practice, practice, practice 

Images via Wimbledon's Facebook Page

Exhibition match with Varvara Lepchenko at the Hurlingham Club, London

Photo: Lepchenko's Twitter

Sponsor time!

Evian teaser for Wimbledon's ticket contest. (Contest is valid until Monday, 25 June. Visit Twitter @evian_uk for more information): 

Evian ad for Wimby 2012

Heading to practice with the new HEAD bag (Photos: Wimbledon FB and website)

Interview, sponsored by Evian, in which "Masha" explains why Wimbledon is so special.

Party Time!

Pre-Wimby Party...Masha steals the spotlight!

Living like a "commoner"

On Friday (22 June), London was hit by a major bus drivers strike over demands for an Olympic bonus. Maria Sharapova somehow managed to find a bus sooner than a taxi! She posted on Facebook: "It took me way too many years to get on that red double decker English bus, but I finally made it! Well the truth is, I was looking for a black cab and somehow ended up here. Fun fun!!"

Wimbledon Championships

First Match - Monday, 25 June

Maria will play her Wimbledon first round match against world no.133 Australia's Anastasia Rodionova. Match is the second of the day on Centre Court. Schedule of play begins at 1.00 PM London time (2.00 PM CET, 8.00 AM ET & 5.00 AM PT).