Fernando defeated Yen-Hsun Lu today 6-3, 6-7⁶, 6-3, to advance to the second round of the SAP Open.

Listen to his audio interview below:

It may just be an exhibition match that won’t count in any official ATP stat sheet, but Fernando scored a big win last night against one of tennis’ all-time greats, Pete Sampras, defeating the retired legend 6-3, 7-6²

Pete joked with Nando before the tournament at a VIP banquet: “Just show some respect. I’m going to have to get to the net as much as I can—none of those long baseline exchanges. I think I can hold my own serving and volleying. Tonight I have no choice but to come in ‘til the cows come home. If he returns well and passes well, it could be a quick night.”

Pete also had some encouraging praise for Fernando after the match: “He’s tough. He’s the real deal. He could win a major.”

Fernando admitted to watching replays of the 1995 Australian Open final between Sampras and his idol Andre Agassi more than any other match – “probably a hundred times,” He got a chance to play Andre in 2004, but never Pete. “It was one of my goals to play against him one day.”

“He’s still serving so good, and of course, he’s not at the moment in the shape he was in as a professional, but that’s normal. For me it was just an experience to play with him… It was very special to play with him tonight.”

(via yahoo sports)

Fernando also appears to be playing with a new racquet. He’s switched his trusty Tecnifibre racquet for the new Yonex RDiS 200 model. No word yet on whether or not the change is permanent or not.

The finished Air Europa commercial staring Fernando, along with Argentine footballers Leo Messi and Sergio Agüero.

Thanks to Meriko1 again for finding the finished result!

If the above video doesn’t work, here’s a link to it on youtube.

With so much talk about bringing a World Cup to tennis and many of the top players backing the idea, you might be wondering which of them, if any, still want to keep the Davis Cup.

Well, never fear because Fernando is one of the first players to speak out in support of Davis Cup. While he didn’t explicitly rule out a world cup, it’s clear just how much Davis Cup means to Fernando.

“I don’t really know about World Cup tennis, but I can say that I really enjoy playing Davis Cup.

The last two years I’ve won with my country so for me it is very special. I will always support the Davis Cup but I know the schedule is so tight and it’s so tough to play all the ties and all the tournaments. We’ll see what is the best choice and try to get it as best as possible for everyone.”

And this one, from another article:

I do not know what they’re thinking, Djokovic, Rafa, or whoever else. They have not talked to me about the format or the way they want to change things. I would like an earlier finish to the season, but Davis Cup is something that has given me a lot of joy, having won it the last two years. It is very special to me. Getting rid of Davis Cup is something I do not like.

You could perhaps remove the weeks of less important tournaments, some 250 tournaments, or make the final of the Davis Cup in early November and then put the 250 tournaments at the end of the month, since you would not need the top ten to play these tournaments.

I think we can we can reach a solution without changing the Davis Cup.”

(via sydney morning herald & nacion.com)

Calvin Klein will launch the campaign for it’s new underwear line “X” with a global and digital campaign, featuring Spanish tennis player Fernando Verdasco as one of the four faces (and bodies) that will be in this campaign.

Also part of the campaign is Kellan Lutz, Mechad Brooks and retired Japanese footbal player Hidetoshi Nakata.

The campaign will launch from xmarkyourspot.com (which is not live yet) which will feature behind the scenes footage of the creation of the ads.

View the images below in the gallery! Muy caliente!

(via el fashionista)