Tennis

Next thing you know, there'll be telephones that let you know the weather and keep up with sports scores around the world!So as you've noticed, I haven't posted here in a minute. I've still been writing elsewhere, like on Tennis View's website. I plan on being here more, though, with the blogger app. This is my first of many (I hope!) posts using my iPhone. A busy man needs tech for busy times!Anyway, stay tuned!

Rafa interview and practice footage from today: Posted by molvi1501. Articles: Rafatigue? Nadal’s dominance on clay never gets old; more mail – by Jon Wertheim (si.com) The Rally: 2013 French Open – tennis.com pundits Tignor and Bodo be pundity. Rafael Nadal ¡¡¡sorprendente!!!. Palma del Río, el mejor ITF Future de España. – Rafa praise and concern for the future of Spanish tennis from Toni Colom (mangle). French Open build-up: Who’s hot and who’s not? – via thetennisspace.com French Open preview: Can anyone stop Nadal or Djokovic lifting the trophy in Paris? – by Alex Kay (dailymail.co.uk) A chance to play Poker with Rafa in Paris? (mangle) Videos/Audio: Rafa practiced in Manacor today and spoke to iB3 afterwards. A longer version of the above. Cute animated KIA promo. Region blocked like me? Inés comes to the rescue. 2013 French Open: 5 Men Who Can Beat Nadal – overwrought voice-over of doom! Doom! Photos: Marianne Bevis has added some photos from the Rome final to her Rafa set. Social media related to Rafa: Rafa on the cover of Tenis World magazine. [View the story "May 22nd - Rafa in Social Media" on Storify] Other stuff: Want to go down an Australian Open tennis Memory Lane? The vault is open.

It was a good day for the French in Nice as Gael Monfils pulled off an upset win over Fabio Fognini, while Gilles Simon breezed through his second round match.

Rafa wants you to come watch him play David Nalbandian in Buenos Aires on November 23rd. Learn more here (mangle). (Video posted by Fenixproductora.)

Warning: the amount of adorkableness going on at the end might cause you to fall into a cuteness induced coma. You stand forewarned! Rafa comiendo Quelitas!!! Posted by quelytv.

Follow American Irina Falconi in this “Quest to Qualify” player blog as she competes in Europe, and now, the French Open qualifying. Currently ranked No. 135 in singles and 72 in doubles, she is now 11-2 in her career in Grand Slam qualifying and looking for another main draw berth in Paris this week. (Catch Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and follow her on Twitter @IrinaFalconi) After coming to Roland Garros for the last couple of years, I must admit that I really do love the atmosphere here in France. The U.S. Open crowd and fan base for American players in New York is incredible, but you have to give it up for France as well. These fans live and die for their players. Today, I straight up watched a fan cry out of happiness after one of his favorite female players won the match. I mean, what do you even say to that fan if you’re her — “Thank you. Here’s a tissue?” What a unique sight to behold. Today started out like any other day — just a bit earlier. I’m not the kind of player that has the luxury of allowing herself a ridiculous amount of sleeping hours, but I will spoil myself with 9-10 hours of sleep on occasion when I get the chance. However, today was not one of those lucky days. This morning, I had David Guetta’s song Titanium wake me up bright and early at 6:40 am. You might be thinking ‘That’s crazy early for a 10 am match!” but let me divulge why I needed to be up that early, and it may not sound so strange afterward. Roland Garros scoreboard 1. Getting ready: I’m not one to take an hour to get ready in the morning, but I definitely like to take my time before a first round match at a Grand Slam. 2. Breakfast: As some of you may know, breakfast is my most favorite time of the day. I don’t ever go without breakfast and today wasn’t going to be any different. We had a car scheduled for 7:30 am so I wanted to make sure I was at breakfast by 7. Why so early again, you might ask? Well, because the boiling machine that the hotel uses to hard boil eggs is technologically challenged, and it has decided to hard boil eggs in no less than 18 minutes — on a good day. So sure enough, the first day when I prepared a few eggs, I ended up just having embryo on my plate. Ewww, sorry about the visual! I really didn’t enjoy writing that! I’m just going for effect, promise! 3. Traffic: Paris traffic has been voted somewhere in the top 5 of worst in the world, so why wouldn’t I want to make sure I give myself enough time to make it to the club? 4. Getting sorted on site: Anyone that has ever been to the Roland Garros site will attest to the fact that this place is huge. Ok, let me rephrase. It takes a while to get from point A to point B. You literally have to give yourself at least 10 minutes to get from the locker room to your court. And mind you, there are TWO locker rooms. So depending on what court you’re playing, you might have to give yourself more time. So once I got to my locker and picked up my racquets can of balls, it was already 8:10 am. 5. Warm up for the warm up for the warm up: As players we always need to warm up, and even more so when it’s 50 degrees Farenheit (10 degrees Celsius) outside! It was so cold that I needed to give myself at least 20 minutes to warm up for my warm up. Yes, we don’t mess around with our warm-ups. Irina Falconi (R) warms up for her warm up in Roland Garros 6. Shower, food, hair: So by now, I have warmed up for 30 minutes, taken the 10 minute walk back to locker room, then showered, changed into new clothing, and finally grabbed some food. Some people don’t like to have too much time in between their warm up and the match (some players even warm up in their match outfits) but I personally love to have a little snack before my match. I go for a light protein shake that gets me going before the match. And last but not least, the hair. You have to make sure your hair looks

Highest remaining seeds Gilles Simon and Sam Querrey both eased into the quarter-finals of the Open de Nice Cote d'Azur.

Top seed Caroline Wozniaki was sent crashing out of the Brussels Open after suffering a 6-2 6-4 second-round defeat to Zheng Jie.

As early as in November 2012 we got a peek into the Adidas by Stella McCartney apparel for the first half of 2013 and the latest press release by the brand confirms that their biggest star Caroline Wozniacki will wear the blue version of the Barricade summer dress, but also provides detailed information about the brand new Barricade shoes that "fuse advanced technical superiority with standout style". The dress, highlighted by the adjustable yellow tank straps, available for $120, will be accompanied by lemon Barricade shoes specially designed to endure extreme lateral movements and demanding rallies. The shoe will be available as of June 1 for $125, while its official launch is scheduled for Wimbledon, when it will be worn by all the other Stella representatives, including Maria Kirilenko and Laura Robson. In non-fashion Caroline Wozniacki news, the Dane today lost her fourth straight first match of a tournament, falling to Zheng Jie in the second round of the Brussels Open after a first-round bye. After recording a rain-delayed victory over American qualifier Mallory Burdette 6-2 4-6 6-3, Zheng proceeded with the winning ways, upsetting the top-seeded 2011 Brussels champion Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 by hitting twice as many winners than her opponent, while in the department of the unforced errors they were shoulder-to-shoulder.

On Thursday, May 23 at 4 pm EST, TENNIS.com senior writer Peter Bodo will take your questions about the upcoming French Open and anything else tennis. Tennis Talk with Peter Bodo