
You heard us right. Today is the first day of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors event and Roger Federer is already getting some trophy: this one is for his 3 previous wins in Basel. But can you really blame the Swiss? And can you really name the second most famous person in Roger’s country besides Martina Hingis? Exactly.

Remember that crazy, shocking Serena semifinal meltdown in New York? Serena Williams made sure we don’t . Since that horrid day, she released her book, proved she’s #1, finally won one of those pesky non-Slam titles at Doha and then traveled to London for yet another signing. And you know what? Brits went crazy for her new look as they lined up for hours to meet the American. London 2012 is not that far away.

Maria Sharapova didn’t play enough to qualify for Doha and she’s not joining the field at Bali. But we frankly don’t care about those far-away tournaments at this point. We’re just happy to see Maria back in action in California over the weekend. She launched the new Sony Ericsson Equinox phone by her home at Canoga Park, LA and judged (yet another) Maria look-alike contest.

“I don’t recall her name, I know nothing about tennis. I saw a photo of her from the 20s or 30s, and I liked her silhouette, and I said ‘allez, let’s play tennis,” Jean Paul Gaultier on Susan Lenglen who happened to be his Spring 2010 inspiration for Hermes. He might be the only the man in Paris who holds the distinction of not knowing who Lenglen is. But we forgive him!

We love this green tournament look for Rafael Nadal, who sported this fresh Nike color for the first time this week. So far, it’s working. He destroyed poor Marat Safin on this way to the semifinals.

Not every tennis player gets to play around with a supermodel on a couture shoot on most weekday afternoons. Gaël Monfils (who wore Nike to the shoot) paired up with Yankee star Karlie Kloss in a stunning series of photographs captured by Arthur Elgort and styled by legendary Grace Coddington. The duo shot these photos back in July in Paris but you can experience them in the current issue of American Vogue.

Davis Cup. Shmavis Cup. The real highlight of Roger Federer’s weekend was meeting Giorgio Armani after the Davis Cup 2010 play off yesterday between Italy and Switzerland at the Beppe Croce Stadium in Genova. So what if the Federer totally beat the Italian’s team? Mr. Armani was just happy to be in the presence of a fellow great.

Royal Box recently caught up with Lacoste spokesman Hayden Christensen and we got straight to the tennis talk!
Who do usually root for when you go to the Grand Slams?
The underdog.
Are you any good in tennis?
Not as good as I used to be?
Do you ever play with your fiance Rachel Bilson?
Sometimes…
So, who wins?
We play doubles!

Did you know that the cost of Kim Clijsters’ home in New Jersey merely a fraction of what she just earned at US Open. To be exact, he lovable Belgian and hubby Brian Lynch paid $772,000 for this 2,717 square feet property in Wall Township in Jersey. This home has 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, and an expansive basement. You can read about all of the obsessive interior features here. Don’t’ shoot the messenger, Kim!

We recently looked with the work of Brooklyn based designer Hugh Hayden who seems to have special affinity for tennis balls. He makes tables, window displays, and chair out of them while we‘re busy abusing our precious balls.