spotted in the city: game, svet, match…



The Clique Summer Collection Dylan - tennis Young adult novel

This week’s stop at our local Out of the Closet yielded this YA novel, The Clique Summer Collection: Dylan, by Lisa Harrison. Here’s the loopy (moonball-y?) teaser on the back cover:

Dylan and her TV-host mom are off to Hawaii’s Aloha Tennis Open. While Merri-Lee interviews tennis’s wild child Svetlana “Tennis the Menace” Slootskyia, Dylan lets the tropical sun melt away the memory of getting dumped by two guys at the end of seventh grade. But between avocado mud masks and poolside naps, she falls in love with a preppy, tennis-obsessed hawtie. Dylan soon realizes the only way to score a date with him is to master the game. Can she convince moody Svetlana to spill the secrets of her tennis success, or will she end up oh-for-three in summer love?

“Hawties”? “Slootskyia”?! Ohmigawd! We’re not reading this, JFTR. At least not yet. Maaaybe if we find ourselves absolutely bored and poolside somewhere with a break in between a poolside nap and an avocado mud mask. Only then would we consider flipping through this to pass the time.

(Photo Credit: TSF)

spotted: floating orbs at the sap open



arena decor at the HP Pavilion - SAP Open 2013

What a fitting way to bid adieu to tennis in the Bay Area! The folks at the SAP Open in San Jose have decked out the HP Pavilion in floating tennis balls to fill the space within the arena’s vaulted foyer — looks like tennis is just floating away into the ether. The event’ll be missed, for sure.

Action-packed: Tonight, the Bryans face off against fellow Americans Steve Johnson and Jack Sock in the first match of the evening. They’ll be followed by Fernando Verdasco vs. Tim Smyczek. More info available on the SAP Open website.

(Photo via @nickmccarvel/instagram)

spotted in the city: rafa's nike display + maria for cole haan



The window’s his. There would be no US Open title for Rafael Nadal, but he did reign as king of Niketown on 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan for most of the Open. We love the picture-framed outfits which you can see better after the jump. Below: Maria’s Cole Haan collection advertises on an 8th Street subway stop downtown.

One more Rafa meets Niketown after the cut.

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spotted in the city: uniqlo goes uptown



Not one, two: We first noticed that Japanese brand Uniqlo was moving uptown in New York while riding a crosstown train back home from the US Open a couple of weeks ago. Forbes reported in late August that the store will open it’s second and third New York City stores — the only in the States — come October. The first is to be 5th Avenue’s biggest retails space (89,000 square feet) and the second is set for tourist-happy 34th St. Uniqlo currently  has just one store in NYC in SoHo on the ever-busy retail strip of Broadway between Houston and Canal Streets.

The company eventually plans to open 200 US stores, generating some $10 billion in sales.

TSF Vault: Uniqlo in SoHo | Kei Nishikori in Uniqlo


(tsf photos)

as if the news itself weren't sad enough



Here’s one way Venus shocking revelation spread in London.

(photo from flickr by dennoir)