OZ Open 2009 Day 1 Highlights: Nole continues to delight fans

World No. 3 and defending champion Serbian Novak Djokovic, fondly called as Nole, never ceases to delight us. After winning his first match against Italian Andrea Stoppini 6-2, 6-3, 7-5, he took off his shirt, showing off his hairy slender bod, before waving to the crowd and throwing his band. I have always liked Djokovic --- bursting with youthfulness, so bubbly, so naughty and so sexy! Who would have forgotten his hilarious on-court impersonation of tennis superstars as Roddick, Serena, Nadal and Sharapova; his karaoke singing at Roland Garros; and his catwalk wearing only underwear at Rogers Cup in 2007?

Djokovic waving to fans after his first round match

· The surge of Serbian players continues as Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Janko Tipsarevic all won their opening matches.

· Bernard Tomic, 16-year old Australian of Croatian descent, broke the record by being the youngest player in men’s professional tennis to win a match at Australian Open, defeating Italian Potito Starace 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 7-6. Tomic who at 16 years and 89 days old is 94 days younger than compatriot Todd Woodbridge was when the latter beat American John Letts in the first round of OZ Open in 1988. Move over Lleyton and make way for the lanky yet cute Tomic!


Bernard Tomic is 2008 Australian Open Boy's Singles Champion (seen here in his finals match). His profile says that he stand 6'3" and weighs 77 kgs, hmmmm....

· My hubby Russian superstar Marat Safin is changing. In an interview after crushing Spain's Ivan Navarro 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 the volatile superman of tennis made clear of his new approach of playing this season: that is, just to play and be relaxed, be in good shape and run around the court, sans stress and sans the drama! While this means that we’d see less of your umpire-shouting, racket-smashing, and self-berating antics, Marat, please do not stop from taking off your shirts!

Marat sweating it out in a pratice session in Melbourne

· Another tennis hottie, American Andy Roddick cruised into the second round easing past Swedish Bjorn Rehnquist 6-0, 6-2, 6-2. Andy, despite winning 3 titles last season, wants to be in the elite Top 4 (joining the ranks of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray) after admitting that he slipped out of people’s minds as top contenders in Grand Slams. He is 1st Runner-up at Qatar Open a few weeks back, losing to Scot Andy Murray. Go Roddick!


Sun-baked and shirtless: Roddick while practicing in Melbourne

· Speaking of Roger Federer, the Swiss maestro begins his quest for record-tying 14 grand slam trophies with a win over another Italian, Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-6, 7-5.

· Simone Bolelli made sure that not all Italians would be packing their bags after the first round as he scored a win against Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 7-6, 7-6, 7-5.

· Spanish hunk Tommy Robredo, who posed nude in Cosmopolitan UK mag in 2007 to raise testicular cancer awareness, also cruised into the 2nd round, defeating American Bobby Reynolds 6-2, 7-5, 6-1.

· Jelena Dokic, adopted daughter of Australian Tennis, made a comeback by prevailing over Austrian Tamira Pazsek 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

· Sania Mirza from India is back from wrist injury that hindered her 2008 season making easy work of Polish Marta Domachowska 6-1 6-4;

· The boys bare it all!!! Most importantly, though not connected with Australian Open, I just wanna end by announcing that ATP has unveiled its first ATP World Tour Official 2009 Calendar showing classic black and white photos (shot by French photographer Corrine Dubreuil) of 14 hottest players on the tour, namely Tommy Robredo of Spain, Fernando Gonzales of Chile, Tommy Haas of Germany, Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, Juan Monaco of Argentina, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, Paradorn Scrichaphan of Thailand, Dmitri Tursunov of Russia, and Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States. According to Dubreuil, who made the shoot in Paris during the ATP Masters Series, Tursunov is the most seductive player, who played with the camera and the make-up artist and is very easy to shoot. Dubreuil’s favorite though is Verdasco whose body according to her is of aesthetic beauty. While I’ve seen these droolicious photos online, hey wait, where are Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal, Marat Safin, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic?

The ATP World Tour Official 2009 Calendar: