Sexy Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal has been tapped by Armani to star in the spring/summer 2011 ad campaign for Emporio Armani Underwear, reports Women's Wear Daily. Nadal will replace former footballers and models Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham, and will be photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. How soon until spring?

The 2010 US Open—America’s Wimbledon, but with less rain—got under way last night. The opening festivities included fireworks, Gloria Estefan, Mike Bloomberg, two master-class thrashings by Venus “No Penis” Williams (wearing a black lace quasi-negligee in lieu of standard athletic wear), and perennial badass-turned-weeper Roger Federer. I was there for the second straight year, perched in the last row like a branched owl overlooking the event—equal parts sport and spectacle. Women in all styles of WASP-wear fanned themselves with programs, dads stroked their Venus-inspired daughters’ corn-rowed braids, boys bounced over-sized tennis balls, and I silently philosophized, wondering what David Foster Wallace would say. Wallace was arguably our greatest living novelist, but he was certainly our greatest living tennis critic. He wrote of the sport he loved with an inimitable mix of passion and cerebral analysis. He drooled over Roger Federer, once played through a tornado, and wrote an 1,100 page novel set at a fictional tennis academy. But now he’s gone. Someone needs to fill the giant void he left behind in the world of tennis writing. That man is Lil’ Wayne.

Now that Rafael Nadal has unseated Roger Federer as the number one seed, he's shifting into hot brand status, complete with a new look. Say goodbye to pirate pants and sleeveless tank. Since taking Federer at Wimbledon in July, the baseliner's management team is wasting no time in marketing his mojo in a brand new wrapper. "It is fair to say that it is more mature," says a Nike spokesman about his new toggery to be unveiled at the US Open. The company says that while the new outfits are more conservative, they will continue to reflect the Spaniard's colorful style.

As Wimbledon kicks off today, a style war is breaking out on the tennis courts pitting Roger Federer's traditional preppy style against Rafael Nadal's swarthy pirate look. "Roger is so distinguished-looking," one-time Wimbledon champion and BBC Wimbledon commentator Virginia Wade tells the Guardian. "So refined. His hair is always perfect, his clothes are always elegant." Nadal's look "is a little bit more of a rebel", says Wade.