Nadal Beats Troicki for Stuttgart Grass Crown

Rafael Nadal rebounded from a down French Open effort with the Mercedes Cup grass court title in Stuttgart on Sunday, defeating Viktor Troicki 7-6(3), 6-3.

It was the Spaniard’s first grass court title in five years since Wimbledon in 2010. “Since 2011 I didn’t play a final on grass, so win a title here is very good news for my game and for my mentality …

Four Top 10 players on the WTA tour take to the grass in Birmingham, while Roger Federer leads in Halle, and Andy Murray, French Open champ Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal at the Queen’s Club during week #2 of the 2015 grasscourt season.

Here’s a look at the three grass court events this week:

AEGON CLASSIC BIRMINGHAM
Birmingham, England; Surface: grass

Seeds: Simona Halep, Ana Ivanovic, Carla Suarez Navarro, Angelique Kerber, Eugenie Bouchard, Karolina …

Rafael Nadal won his first grass title in nearly five years today winning the Stuttgart Open title, beating Viktor Troicki 7-6(3), 6-3 in the final.

“It’s a very special title. Since 2011 I didn’t play a final on grass, so win a title here is very good news for my game and for my mentality too,” Nadal said. “Congrats to Viktor for a great tournament. He’s playing great and will …

Rafael Nadal advanced to his first grass court final since 2011 Wimbledon today defeating Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals at the Stuttgart grass event.

Nadal will face Serb Viktor Troicki who was a winner over Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-7, 7-6(2).

“It’s a great feeling to be back in a final, especially on grass,” said Nadal. “It’s been since 2011, I didn’t play a final on grass. So it’s very good …

Nicolas Mahut is in the news again — not for playing an 11-hour match at Wimbledon, and certainly not for his 2-4 tour win-loss record entering this week.

Mahut qualified this week at the grass court Topshelf Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and today beat defending champion and No. 3 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarters.

The Frenchman has accomplished virtually nothing at the tour level this year prior to …

Forbes has released its list of 2015’s highest paid athletes, and tennis figures prominently with five players in the Top 50.

Roger Federer leads all tennis players with $67 million in total earnings from June 1, 2014-June 1, 2015. Federer’s play ranks 5th overall among all athletes behind Floyd Mayweather ($300M), Manny Pacquiao ($160M), Cristiano Ronaldo ($79.6M) and Lionel Messi (73.8M).

According to Forbes, Federer made $9 million in prize …

The US Open announced yesterday that the final piece of steel was placed on what will be the new roof that will cover the cavernous Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2016.

“We are redefining ‘spectacular’ at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and this transformation will allow the US Open to maintain its place at the pinnacle of sporting experiences in the U.S. and around the world,” said …

In the next hour or so, Rafael Nadal will open his 2015 grass court season. The former No. 1 now ranked No. 10, Nadal will face Marcos Baghdatis in the second round of the Stuttart Open.

Last year, Nadal lost in the opening round in Halle (l. to Brown) and 4R at Wimbledon (l. to Kyrgios). He has played in Halle three times (1-3 record) and at the Queen’s Club five …

Now that they are tied at two apiece in the Grand Slam count (together they have won the Career Slam), who’ll win more Slams between Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka?

The Case For Andy Murray:
– More experienced – been a top 5 member for years
– Has won more titles
– More versatile than Wawrinka
– Has $$$ support from Great Britain
– Has made 8 Grand Slam finals
– Two years younger than Wawrinka
– Better …

Late night talk show host and comedian Jimmy Fallon introduced this viral clip from his show with grunts from the French Open set to music. Even Roger Federer approved.

Well done @jimmyfallon 👏 https://t.co/z22OTut0a6

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) June 9, 2015

Rafael Nadal is in Stuttgart for its first year as grass court event. Before his grass debut tomorrow, he talked to the press Monday, answering the questions on his grass season and even his thoughts on the French Open final.

“I did not watch the match, I was practising,” Nadal said of the match between Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic.

Nadal also isn’t interested in talking about his loss to Novak …

Here are some more videos from Stan Wawrinka’s French Open title over Novak Djokovic on Sunday.

Match point:

Post match interview:

CNN Interview:

Reaction on Stan’s win from Eiffel Tower:

Wawrinka’s trophy shot:

The BBC announced today that it has hired former No. 1s Andy Roddick and Justine Henin to its slate of on-air personalities during the upcoming Wimbledon Championships.

Roddick, who has been part of the Fox Sports team in the U.S. since retiring from tennis in 2012, has never done any match tennis commentating.

“I’m honoured to join the BBC team for Wimbledon,” Roddick said. “The Championships will always have a …

After failing to defend his French Open title last week, Rafael Nadal saw his ATP ranking fall into the double digits for the first time in ten years yesterday.

As of the Monday, June 8 ranking, Nadal is now No. 10, his lowest mark since the week of April 18, 2005 when he was No. 11. The good news is Rafa only has 180 points to defend from a Wimbledon four …

MercedesCup
Stuttgart, Germany; Surface: grass

Seeds: Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic, Feliciano Lopez, Gael Monfils, Bernard Tomic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Dominic Thiem, Viktor Troicki

Floaters: Marcos Baghdatis, Lukas Rosol, Borna Coric

Notes: The tournament makes the switch to grass as part of the tour’s extended grasscourt season…Tough starts for (1) Nadal against the Baghdatis-Rosol winner, and (8) Troicki vs. Coric…Wildcards went to Germans Tommy Haas, Maximilian Marterer and Alexander Zverev…Pulling from the event were Julien Benneteau …