NEW YORK — In the ultra-competitive landscape of professional sports, American tennis players have carved a niche — on the world’s doubles courts. American Doubles explores the phenomenon of the United States’ doubles prowess from the successes of such legends as Billie Jean King and Stan Smith to today’s top-ranked men’s doubles players Bob and Mike Bryan.

American Doubles is packed with touching stories of how some players conceded a chance at singles stardom to preserve ties with a doubles partner, how sibling pairings are tough to beat, and how Americans thrive in a team environment. Readers will learn that the success of Americans in the doubles game runs deep — at the junior and college levels, wheelchair tennis, mixed doubles, World TeamTennis and the pro tours.

The story of how Americans have come to rule the doubles court is a fascinating and surprising tale told by longtime journalist and tennis insider Marcia Frost. Stanford University’s Director of Tennis Dick Gould, who coached the Bryans as well as John and Patrick McEnroe, says the book offers “a close-up view that is intriguing, exciting and impossible to put down.”

“We’ve felt a renewed interest in doubles the past few years and this book will help the great game even more,” says Bob Bryan, who won the doubles championships at the ATP Masters Series Barcelona this past weekend with brother Mike. “We love the dynamics of the team thing and it is captured so well by Marcia Frost in this work.” It was their doubles team who clinched the 2007 Davis Cup Final for the United States.

The book, published by Mansion Grove House (ISBN-13: 978-1-932421-16-3), runs over 200 pages with photographs. It’s available on Amazon.com, BN.com, and at Barnes & Noble and other fine book shops.

The superhero team of Venus Williams and Andre Leon Talley strike again, this time arriving together for the Costume Institute’s gala opening of the exhibition “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Venus came out in a Carolina Herrera gown with Fred Leighton jewels while Andre wore Giorgio Armani; both were shrouded by a red Chanel cape apropos for the occasion.

George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Anna Wintour, and Armani chaired the $15,000-a-head gala that brought out the A-listers.

Wintour wore Chanel Haute Couture (by none other than Karl Lagerfeld) — think bighorn sheep circa 2050 — while the men’s best dressed included Zac Posen in a royal blue tux and hottie Marc Jacobs in classic black with muse Sofia Coppola in tow.

From the Telegraph:

Inside the museum, guests were dwarfed by 30ft statues of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, contemporary versions of the ancient superheroes sculpted in marble in the museum’s Graeco-Roman gallery.

The “Superheroes” exhibition opens with a mirrored illusion of Clark Kent morphing into Superman and features radical catwalk creations by some of the world’s top designers and comic book costumes from Hollywood blockbusters such as Spiderman and Batman.

Pride of place is given to the heavy-metal suit-of-armour worn by Robert Downey Jr in “Iron Man”, the new movie which took more than £50 million at the box office on its opening weekend. Dinner was served in the Met’s 15 B.C. Egyptian Temple of Dendur, with tables arranged amidst massive sculptures of ‘Kryptonite’.

More: See a picture of Venus’ dress after the cut…

Red carpet pics: See ‘em here

(full-length photo by Getty Images via omg!; style.com)

Bethanie Mattek toned things down as she played this week’s Boyd Tinsley USTA Women’s Pro Championships in Virginia. This Bebe Sport halter dress uses the right amount of flashy color accents to spruce up — and not distract — the ensemble.

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The squeaky wheel… Remember Bethanie’s tunic-and-tube socks Wimbledon debacle of 2006? Apparently, officials fell for the shock-and-awe approach of her kit: “They actually came up to me after my match and asked me to donate it to the museum,” she tells the Charlottesville Daily Progress. “They are in the museum now at Wimbledon.” Wow.

(via Colette; photo by The Daily Progress/Kaylin Bowers)

Italian Simone Bolelli took out top seed Paul-Henri Mathieu in the semifinals of the 2008 BMW Open in Munich with a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 7-6 (4) win.

Tattoo watch: He gave us a little peek into the gigantic gothic “S” inked on his upper right arm — just enough to make us want to see the whole thing!

Kudos, pt. 2: The man can teach a lecture at the next ATP University on how to be a professional tennis player… and have amazing hair while doing it.

Browse: He recently launched an official website; you can take a look at it here. The current version is only in Italian.

(Thanks, Saum!)

LOVE IT.

(src)

Make out (with), date, marry, or dump: what would you do with Lleyton Hewitt?

My options would have some other verbs, but I can’t share those in mixed company!

(Photo by Wade Laube/SMH)

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The organizers of the BMW Open hosted a players’ party on Monday night at P1 in Munich. Since you weren’t there, I will summarize the party in five words: mustachioed racquet-jugglers in short shorts.

Not enough words? How about “Gael Monfils and Fernando Gonzalez in lederhosen.” I’m glad they found a hat big enough to fit his dreads.

A sun-kissed Marat Safin… wearing stripes! He’s into the second round after beating Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Poor Tommy Haas withdrew today because of his nagging shoulder injury. This most recent flare-up also forced him to back out of ATP Tour stops in Hamburg and Rome, and leaves him doubtful for an appearance at the French. Tournament director Patrick Kuehnen lost his other top draw when defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew because of a cold.

Maybe he just forgot to stretch and warm up before playing Wii Golf?

(Photos by ATP/ATPTennis.com)

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Not everyone just gets handed a sweaty shirt worn by Nole Djokovic (yes, some of us actually have to bid for it). But in the spirit of sportsmanship — and perhaps making a political statement — Croat Ivan Ljubicic and the Serbian exchanged shirts after their match at the Masters Series Monte Carlo last week. Consider this a “carbon offset” to the mouth of Djokovic and his camp, which has been recently spewing lots of hot air (none of which is directed to his old pal Andy Murray, of course…).

(Thanks, Chris!)

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NEW YORK, N.Y., April 29, 2008 – Pete Sampras will kick off his 2008 Outback Champions Series season this week by defending his title at the $150,000 Champions Cup Boston. The Champions Cup Boston, which will be held April 30 to May 4 at Agganis Arena, is the third of eight events on the 2008 Outback Champions Series, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over.

Last year, Sampras made his return to competitive tournament tennis in Boston and won the title, defeating Todd Martin in the final. The seven-time Wimbledon champion and the owner of a men’s record 14 major men’s singles championships is grouped this year with John McEnroe, Jim Courier, and Jimmy Arias in the event’s Group A. Sampras will open play against Arias on Thursday, May 1 and will play McEnroe on Friday evening, May 2 and Courier on Saturday evening, May 3.

InsideOut Sports & Entertainment, the New York-based owners and organizers of the Outback Champions Series and the Champions Cup Boston, announced Tuesday that Martin, the 2006 Champions Cup Boston champion, has withdrawn from the event due to a strained back and will be replaced by 1996 Wimbledon finalist MaliVai Washington.

More info: For tickets and match schedule, please visit the Champions Cup website.

NEW YORK, April 24, 2008 –- Atari, Inc., one of the world’s most recognized brands and a third-party video game publisher and distributor, today announced the upcoming launch of Smash Court Tennis™ 3 for the Xbox 360.

The first in the revered tennis simulation series for the new console generation, Smash Court Tennis™ 3 for Xbox 360 tests the player’s skills against 16 of the world’s finest international tennis players. From established stars such as world number one Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, and Martina Hingis, to rising talents including Italy’s Andreas Seppi and Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic, each player has their own strengths and weaknesses which come into play on the game’s painstakingly rendered courts.

Smash Court Tennis™ 3 boasts enhanced graphics including improved player animations, realistic shadows, and skin shaders; a host of customizing options allows players to choose rackets, shoes, hairstyles, skin tone, and clothing to create their own unique star of the courts. New gameplay includes a system which lets all players — no matter what their skill level — benefit quickly from the powerful shots and finely honed skills of the star players. The game also has an online mode, which allows players to compete with other Xbox users via the internet.