PARIS (AP) — Novak Djokovic knows it’s important to keep those sponsors happy.
During Djokovic’s victory in the French Open quarterfinals Tuesday, the letter “P” tumbled off a courtside advertising sign for the carmaker “Pugeot.”
Between points, Djokovic ambled over and put the silver-colored “P” back in place.
Then he struck a pose next to it, showing the patch on his sleeve with that same company’s name.
— Howard Fendrich, http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
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TEA TIME: When Maria Sharapova came back from a set down to win her French Open quarterfinal, Wimbledon champion Andy Murray’s mother, British Fed Cup captain Judy, wrote on Twitter: “Sharapova is like a tea bag. Put her into hot water and (you’ll) find out how strong she is.”
So a reporter wanted to know what Sharapova thought of that assessment.
Didn’t go well.
First, Sharapova asked who Judy Murray is.
Then Sharapova asked the reporter to explain what the tweet meant.
The reporter asked Sharapova whether she drinks tea.
“I’m a big tea drinker,” Sharapova replied with a laugh. “I don’t understand what she means.”
The reporter began explaining.
“That’s great. She’s very creative,” Sharapova said. “I guess she could have put it many different ways, and she chose the English version.”
— Howard Fendrich, http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
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PICTURE THIS: But first, let me take a selfie.
That was the request put to Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard right there on court by Fabrice Santoro, a former player who conducts post-match interviews at the French Open.
After asking questions about Bouchard’s quarterfinal victory, Santoro went off on a tangent.
“I saw on the social networks that you do an enormous amount of selfies,” he said, “and I’d like to have one with you.”
Bouchard looked surprised, laughed, and then posed with Santoro while he used his phone to snap a photo of the two of them.
“I didn’t know I was famous for my selfies, but that was really cool,” the 20-year-old Bouchard said later. “So different, you know. I love those things.”
— Jerome Pugmire, http://twitter.com/jeromepugmire
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WASTE NOT, EAT NOT: Nearly half a million spectators attend the French Open, and there are dozens of outlets across the tennis complex to feed them.
That means a lot of food going to waste at the end of each day.
So the French Tennis Federation started a project aimed at distributing leftovers to the homeless.
The federation says it hopes to donate the equivalent of 8,000 meals over 10 days to the homeless via several centers in Paris.
— Jerome Pugmire, http://twitter.com/jeromepugmire
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French Open Watch follows tennis’ clay-court Grand Slam tournament in Paris as seen by journalists from The Associated Press.
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