HCFoo's Tennis Blog – Tennis Celebrities Photos, News, Gossips and More!

Read Andre Agassi like an "Open" book

2009-11-09T13:02:00.001+08:00

Let's give credit to the cover designer - the messed-up look helps sell the book.

Honestly, I haven't get hold of Andre Agassi's latest controversial memoir "Open: An Autobiography" yet, but anyone would know this is a book you don't want to miss whether you're a tennis fan or not.

Here are some of the interesting facts that you can find in that autobiography:

On Substance Abuse: Agassi recounts how, when he was a kid, his father would give him Excedrin before matches because it contained caffeine.

Agassi also writes how his father gave him what Agassi believes to be speed. At various points of the book he also mentioned about using marijuana and alcohol.

Agassi called crystal meth "a performance inhibitor" and said, "Everything I earned on the tennis court, I actually had to probably earn more than I needed to, because of many of the things I did to myself."

Agassi however denied he ever took performance-enhancing substances as a professional.

On Pete Sampras: Agassi says Sampras "sounds more robotic than" a parrot. At his depths, Agassi thinks: "I envy Pete's dullness. I wish I could emulate his spectacular lack of inspiration, and his peculiar lack of need for inspiration." Agassi tells of betting coach Brad Gilbert about how much Sampras tipped a parking valet; they ask the valet, who says $1; Agassi's conclusion: "We could not be more different, Pete and I."

On Michael Chang: "He thanks God - credits God - for the win, which offends me. That God should take sides in a tennis match, that God should side against me, that God should be in Chang's box, feels ludicrous and insulting. I beat Chang and savor every blasphemous stroke." When Chang wins the 1989 French Open, Agassi thinks, "I feel sickened. How could Chang, of all people, have won a slam before me?"

On other opponents: Agassi writes about holding grudges against Becker (who Agassi says blew kisses at Shields during a match), Jim Courier, Thomas Muster, Yevgeni Kafelnikov, Jeff Tarango (who Agassi says cheated during a match between them when Agassi was 8).

On "tanking": Agassi says he lost on purpose against Chang in the Australian Open semifinals one year so he wouldn't have to face Becker in the final, writing: "It's almost harder than winning. You have to lose in such a way that the crowd can't tell." He also says of sports writers: "They never get it right. When I tank, they say I'm not good enough; when I'm not good enough, they say I tank."

On his fake hair: Of the 1990 French Open final, Agassi writes, "Warming up before the match, I pray. Not for a win, but for my hairpiece to stay on."

On the 1999 French Open final, which he won to complete a career Grand Slam: "I've already obsessed about this tournament for the last 10 years. I can't bear the idea of obsessing about it for another eighty. ... If I don't win this thing right now, I'll never be happy, truly happy, again."

To purchase the book, you can order from Amazon (click on the link below) or go to your nearest book store.

(Via AP)

Safin, Sharapova among tennis stars to kick off 2010 at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic

2009-10-28T07:14:00.001+08:00

Looks like it has becoming a trend in Asia (e.g. Doha, Malaysia, etc) where tennis events are heavily bankrolled by their respective governments.

Now the same thing is happening to the yearly tennis exhibition JB Classic after its title sponsor pulled out recently.

A new event with different format has taken over - the Hong Kong Tennis Classic 2010.

Next January, teams from four regions of the world (Russia, Asia, America and Europe) will consist of two ladies and a man.

Team Russia: Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva
Team Asia: Paradorn Srichaphan, Zheng Jie, Ayumi Morita
Team America: Michael Chang, Venus Williams, Gisela Dulko
Team Europe: Stefan Edberg, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka

The new team format will feature women’s & men’s singles and mixed doubles matches over four days of action packed tennis at Victoria Park.

Tickets for the Hong Kong Tennis Classic will be on sale from the beginning of December. Details will be announced in due course.

For more information, please contact the following:
KCE Sport and Entertainment
Mr. Terry Catton, Co-Tournament Director
Ms. Amy Tsang, PR & Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2723 8721/ (852)9809 8710 Fax: (852) 2311 0040
Email: amy@kcesport.com.hk

The Real Glam Slam in Doha

2009-10-26T17:50:00.009+08:00

All top eight women's players attended the draw ceremony for the WTA Championships at the Museum of Islamic Art in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday.

Round robin groups for the Sony Ericsson year-end championships are:

WHITE GROUP
Dinara Safina
Caroline Wozniacki
Victoria Azarenka
Jelena Jankovic

MAROON GROUP
Serena Williams
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Elena Dementieva
Venus Williams

The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals, where each first-placed player will face the second-placed player from the other group.

The 1.55-million-dollar championship willl be held between October 27 and November 1.

World no.2 Serena Williams

World no. 7 Venus Williams

World no. 5 Elena Dementieva

Svetlana Kuznetsova (no. 3), Dinara Safina (no.1), Caroline Wozniacki (no.4)

Victoria Azarenka (no. 6), Jelena Jankovic (no.8)

(Images by Getty Images)

Anna Kournikova super late for launch in KL and 'left with no fans'?

2009-10-26T14:58:00.011+08:00

This photo was twitpic-ed by Noradzliyana, who asked me if the Showdown of Champions 2009 launch was confirmed this morning.

Anna Kournikova was super late for the launch. She was scheduled to launch the exho event together with the Tourism Minister Dato' Dr. Ng Yen Yen at 10.15AM but only to arrive at 2.30PM.

I guess the Tourism Minister didn't wait for her.

So when Kournikova arrived, she had coffee (or maybe tea) with the officials, gimmick launch without the Tourism Minister and then photo shooting.

Kournikova was supposed to meet the junior players at 3.00PM at National Tennis Centre at Jalan Duta. So I guess the boys and girls had to wait a bit.

Now coming back to Kournikova's picture above... guess what's missing?

Of course the FANS!!! (Check out the tourist in the background.. he rather snap a picture of the building than Kournikova!)

Nobody' f**king knew Kournikova was in Kuala Lumpur because the organisers decided to make it a national top secret.

They should learn from Malaysian GP's organiser.

Be more transparent and announce to the fans so that more people will have the chance to meet tennis celebrities like Kournikova.

Either you keep the tennis celebrities to yourself or boost ticket sales by getting more people involved.

Now here's a better view of Kournikova by Glenn Guan/The Star.

For more info regarding Showdown of Champions 2009, which will be featuring Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza and Zheng Jia, in December, go to www.showdownkl.com.

Weekend winners: Youzhny, Schiavone, Baghdatis, Bacsinszky

2009-10-26T14:07:00.004+08:00

Mikhail Youzhny beat Janko Tipsarevic to win 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-4 at Kremlin Cup to earn his fifth career title and extend Russia’s winning streak at the home event to six straight years.

In the women's final, Italian Francesca Schiavone defeated Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-0 to win her second career title.

Meanwhile in Stockholm, Sweden, Marcos Baghdatis beat Olivier Rochus 6-1, 7-5 for his third career ATP Tour singles title just a week after learning he had gained the event’s main draw.

Baghdatis was playing a Challenger event in Tashkent when he got the news.

At the Luxembourg Open, unseeded Timea Bacsinszky won her first WTA Tour title, beating sixth-seeded Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Great entertainment at The Venetian Macao exhibition

2009-10-25T18:55:00.001+08:00

I seldom blog about tennis exhibition (unless it's local) but I thought The Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown deserved a mention.

Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Yuki Bhambri and Ryan Harrison were in Macau, the former Portuguese colony for the weekend to provide some good tennis entertainment.

Aaron Kwok was starstrucked! I can't stand his 'thumbs up' gestures LOL!

I didn't watch the entire show on Astro SuperSport CH816, but managed to spot some famous Hong Kong celebrities including Aaron Kwok (the coin tosser :D), Eason Chan and Sam Lee.

Even Coco Lee was there twittering from the front row seat.

In the highlight of the event, Sampras defeated Agassi in three sets as the two retired American tennis greats revisited as one of the sport’s greatest rivalries.

This is the first time the two had played since Sampras won in the 2002 US Open final for his then-record 14th Grand Slam.

There were other entertainment that evening including a drum solo (bucket beats by a street drummer?) and mime show.

Match Results:
Yuki Bhambri (IND) def. Ryan Harrison (USA) 5-5
Pete Sampras (USA) def. Andre Agassi (USA) 3-6 6-3 10-8
P. Sampras (USA) & Y. Bhambri (IND) def. A. Agassi (USA) & R. Harrison (USA) 7-5

(Images via Reuters, sports.sina.com.cn)

Anna Kournikova to launch Showdown of Champions Kuala Lumpur

2009-10-23T13:25:00.002+08:00

It's confirmed! Anna Kournikova will arrive in Kuala Lumpur to launch the yearly tennis exhibition 'Showdown of Champions 2009' this coming Monday.

Unfortunately, the organisers decided to keep Kournikova for themselves.

No invitation was given to HCFoo's Tennis Blog and sadly there's also no meet-the-fans session although they knew a lot of local fans would die to meet the tennis babe.

However, thanks to my involvement in politics years ago, I managed to sneak in and get some info regarding the launching by the Tourism Minister Dato' Dr. Ng Yen Yen and Kournikova.

WHO: Anna Kournikova
WHAT: Showdown of Champion 2009 Launch
WHEN: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 (10.15 AM)
WHERE: Café Stelle (2nd floor) Couture Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Hope you can catch a glimpse of Kournikova!

To junior players, please contact your coach or Selvarajoo as Kournikova will be meeting you guys at the National Tennis Centre at 3 PM on the same day.

Do prepare some questions for her. Kournikova is very generous in answering questions especially from fans (as you can see from her website)

(Image via Anna Kournikova official website)

Caroline Wozniacki under scrutiny after match-throwing controversy

2009-10-23T08:05:00.002+08:00

Caroline Wozniacki and her father Piotr denied the speculation that the 19-year-old threw her first round match at the Luxembourg Open earlier this week against local player Anne Kremer.

Wozniacki was leading 7-5, 5-0 before quitting the match due to injury, causing tennis authorities to investigate the event.

Who in their right mind would do that? So, I'm not shocked by the allegation.

Viewers watching online streaming were said to be able to hear Piotr tell her daughter to quit at 3-0 in the second set in order to save herself from further injury.

This sparked a series of bets on her opponent who was already on the verge of losing.

Piotr defended his 'innocent intentions".

"I went onto the court and said to her, 'Caro, it does not matter whether it's going to be 5-0, 4-1 or 3-2. You can not play the next round, so you shouldn't take the risk,"' he explained to Danish radio.

"I'm very proud of Caroline, because she stopped the fight and gave her opponent a chance."

Last year, tennis governing bodies created a Tennis Integrity Unit in an effort to combat gambling and match-fixing in the sport.

"We're just looking into everything that happened in this match," WTA spokesman Neil Robinson said, adding that he believed the information would go to the integrity unit.

Wozniacki immediately dismissed suggestions that the result was rigged.

"So, people bet on my matches. Some win, others lose. I just know that I am clean. It is most important to me," Wozniacki said.

"And if anyone is in doubt about my injury, I can both produce scan from the hospital and a report from the tournament physiotherapist."

Despite her injury, Wozniacki has confirmed her participation in the season-ending WTA Tour Championship in Doha next week.

On the lighter side of Wozniacki, I would prefer her being watched this way than by the tennis authorities. Check out the video.

(Via Sky Sports)

Rafael Nadal honoured in Barcelona

2009-10-23T07:51:00.001+08:00

Rafael Nadal was in Barcelona yesterday to receive a full size replica of the ‘Conde de Godo’ trophy at the Barcelona Royal Tennis Club.

Being the only player to have won the tournament five times, Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899, decided to honour Nadal with a full size replica of the giant trophy.

The Spaniard is set to play at the Paris Masters early November, before the London World Tour Finals and a Davis Cup final in Barcelona against the Czech Republic from December 4-6.

(Images via Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)

Roger Federer's not done yet

2009-10-23T07:10:00.002+08:00

Roger Federer brushed off the rumour saying that he'll extended his break all the way into the New Year.

He wrote this on Facebook yesterday.

"I have been back practicing and training now for some time and all is going well. I feel much better. I am looking forward to playing my hometown tournament in Basel . I have also had a chance to spend some amazing time with my family. Myla and Charlene are doing great. After training yesterday, Mirka and I took them for a walk along Lake Zurich. I am always excited to be back in Switzerland!"

Federer will be playing on his home soil in Basel again to defend his Davidoff Swiss Indoors title which he has won from 2006 to 2008.

Jelena Jankovic smiles her way into the Guinness Book of World Records

2009-10-22T08:34:00.000+08:00

Jelena Jankovic must have accepted the fact that she can't break any records in tennis.

But that doesn't stop her from breaking the Guinness Book of World Records!

Through a campaign named “We collect smiles and we need the one from you as well” which was organized by Wrigley and promoted by Jankovic the ambassador for the chewing gum company, they put together 137,264 photographs of smiling faces in Belgrade Arena, Serbia on October 15th 2009.

(Via Jelena Jankovic's official website; Images via tennisforum.com)

Still in relaxing mood...

2009-10-22T08:05:00.001+08:00

There's no pressure in ending a 6-month title drought for Rafael Nadal.

He's currently taking a break to play golf in the Pro-Am of the Castello Masters Costa Azahar at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo in Castellon de la Plana, Spain.

With golf pro Sergio Garcia

In the meanwhile, do expect lesser posts (maybe just 1 or 2 posts per day) from me during this time of the year as I'm trying to focus more on my work.

(Image via menstennisforums.com)

Swedish Sex Scandal: Pim Pim said Gulbis confessed it was him!

2009-10-20T22:19:00.014+08:00

Sheraton Hotel where the 'players' were arrested.

I'm pretty sure that most of you already know about the latest sex scandal in tennis by now - "two foreign tennis players" were suspected to be involved in soliciting prostitutes before the Stockholm Open.

Investigation leader Jonas Trolle said the players were detained as they entered a hotel in Stockholm early Sunday with their escorts.

According to Sweden’s prostitution law, it punishes those who pay for sex but not the prostitutes.

Despite the on-going investigation, the tournament organiser said they wouldn’t stop anyone from competing in the tournament.

C'mon, we all know Ernie doesn't need to pay for sex...

Now, in the latest twist of the story, Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson wrote in his blog saying that Ernests Gulbis has confessed he was involved!

Monaco fick sent igår kväll reda på att han blivit anklagad i argentinsk press för att han var den skyldige spelaren som köpt sex under helgen trots att Gulbis redan erkänt."

(Translated into English:) "Monaco found out last night that he was accused in the Argentine press of being the player who bought sex during the weekend while Gulbis already acknowledged. He will probably have a difficult time before the match on Wednesday. I'll try to take advantage of it early in the match ..."

(Updates: It seems that Pim Pim has removed this part from his blog post. Perhaps he didn't realised the commotion he had caused by ratted out Gulbis :P)

Although some media pointed their fingers to Simone Bolelli (he withdrew from Stockholm Open due to personal reason) and Juan Monaco as the second person to be involved, source told me otherwise.

Gulbis' accomplice in that scandal COULD BE Deivids Juksa (or David Juksha as he spelt it in his FB), a former Latvian junior player and Gulbis' hitting partner.

Anyway, so far all these are just allegations. Probably more details will be revealed in the next few days.

I'll keep you posted.

(Images by Jerkker Ivarsson and via menstennisforums.com)

Marvel superheroes photoshoot in Linz

2009-10-20T21:52:00.000+08:00

This is not the usual WTA Superheroes marketing campaign you normally see.

Recently some WTA players and Austrian player 'Crazy' Daniel Köllerer took part in a 'Marvel Superheroes' photo shoot during Generali Ladies Linz tennis tournament.

Here's the outcome.

Daniel Köllerer

Tamira Paszek

Babsi Schett

Agniezska Radwanska and Timea Bacscinszky

Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Andre Petkovic

(Images via laola1.at)

Weekend winners: Davydenko, Stosur, Wickmayer

2009-10-19T12:53:00.005+08:00

Sorry for the lack of post recently. I was enjoying my break from tennis blogging and twittering :P

Thanks to Astro, I did not miss a single night match of the Shanghai Masters.

It was a bit frustrating because I really thought Rafael Nadal could have clinched his 4th Masters title this year in Shanghai.

Nevermind, let's wait for Paris in early November.

After winning the Malaysian Open earlier this month, Nikolay Davydenko is taking home yet another trophy.

This time he upset Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters for his fourth title of the year.

A kiss from wifey Irina.

In the men's doubles Frenchmen Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga surprised us by defeating Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-2, 6-4.

In Osaka, Samantha Stosur finally earned her first WTA singles title with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Francesca Schiavone at the Japan Women’s Open.

In the women's doubles final, Chuang Chia-Jung and Lisa Raymond win their first doubles title together after defeated Chanelle Scheepers and Abigail Spears 6-2, 6-4.

Somewhere far from Asia, Yanina Wickmayer won her second career WTA Tour title, defeating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-4 in the Generali Ladies final in Linz, Austria.

Meanwhile Katarina Srebotnik and Anna-Lena Groenefeld won the women's doubles title by overcoming Meghann Shaughnessy and Roberta Vinci 6-1, 3-6, 14-12.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Dementieva, Kirilenko, Mirza, Zheng Jie for Showdown KL 2009

2009-10-14T01:13:00.010+08:00

Look who spilled the beans regarding Showdown of Champions 2009!

The Tourism Minister of Malaysia herself announced recently that the yearly event will take place on December 19-20.

The exhibition match will see Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko (not Sharapova as promised in Showdown of Champions last year), Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie (in sequence).

Nevertheless, it is still a good line-up as we'll be having four good looking and talented tennis players in Kuala Lumpur.

It's time for local tennis fans to get to know more women tennis players other than Sharapova.

Personally, I think this is a smart move by the organisers who made this event sort of like a "women tennis preview' as we'll be having a WTA tennis tournament in February next year.

(Via Bernama)

Tsonga, Verdasco play mini tennis on high speed train

2009-10-14T00:42:00.004+08:00

Finally I'm back! I've been busy catching up with work after a short trip back to hometown.

Novak Djokovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova won Beijing Open last weekend while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took the Rakuten Japan Open title.

This week all the players (excluding names like Roger Federer and Andy Murray) are in Shanghai for the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000.

A gimmick tennis court were setup in one of Shanghai's world's fastest commercial high-speed trains.

Named the “fastest tennis in the world", Tsonga took on Fernando Verdasco on an exhibition tennis as the train reached a cruising speed of 268 mph during the 7 minutes, 20 seconds it took to make the 18.6-mile trip from Longyard Rail Road station in Pudong to Pudong International Airport.

(Via AP; Images by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

TENNIS WATCH: On coaches, nudity, money & power, retirement & comeback, etc.

2009-10-09T06:39:00.002+08:00

Since I'll be away for a couple of days, here's a longer than usual brief tennis news for you to read. Have a good weekend!

Finally James Blake has stopped working with long time coach Brian Barker after the US Open. He is now coached by Kelly Jones in Beijing. Although lost to Rafael Nadal 7-5, 6-7, 6-3 in the second round yesterday, Blake saved a match point to claw back to 5-5 and eventually won the second set.

Ernests Gulbis seems to improve a lot after getting help from new coach Hernan Gumy. He has won back-to-back ATP matches for the first time this season and advanced to the quarterfinals of Tokyo when Juan Monaco retired at 6-3, 4-1 yesterday.

Have we forgotten about Mario Ancic? I guess not. The Croatian has not retire from tennis to become a full time lawyer. He is expected to get medical clearance (from mononucleosis) to begin training again. Ancic hopes to return to the tour next January.

No.1 again next week, Serena Williams, on posing nude for the cover of ESPN The Magazine, "ESPN had a body issue, and they told me I had a great body and wanted me to be on the cover. So I was super flattered, but I wanted to do it classy and not trampy, for lack of a better word. It's tasteful and super cool, and I love it."

It's not a surprise when AskMen.com poll voted tennis stars Roger Federer (no. 8) and Andy Roddick (no. 35) as among the world's most influential men of the year.

Andy Murray is the 8th highest-earning sportsman in Britain with an annual income of £7 million, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Still on money, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, like many other sportsmen who resides in Switzerland for tax purposes, will be unable to play in Basel. Tsonga's tax agreement with local Swiss authorities would become invalid if he were to earn money inside Switzerland.

Justine Henin will make her Grand Slam comeback at the Australian Open, tournament director Craig Tiley confirmed at the official event launch. Henin's first tournment back will probably be Brisbane Open.

While veteran players are planning a strong comeback, Amelie Mauresmo is considering retiring from tennis. In her website, she said, “Since I came back from the U.S. Open, I’ve been trying to practice but I can’t find again the desire to come back to competition. I don’t want to rush or force things. (I will take) some time to think before making a decision regarding the remainder of my career.”

Martina Hingis who is now given the green light to return to the tennis circuit after her two-year cocaine ban, chose to return to competition - but in horse riding. She is set to make an appearance in a show jumping contest in Switzerland this week.

Jelena Dokic's dad, Damir is on a hunger strike to protest his jail sentence for making threats against the Australian ambassador.

The Spanish tennis federation has narrowed its choice of venue for the Davis Cup final against Czech Republic to Valencia or Barcelona. The final decision to be announced this Saturday.

(Via AP, tennis.com)

Robin Soderling, Yanina Wickmayer kung fu fighting in Beijing

2009-10-08T08:00:00.003+08:00

Robin Soderling and Yanina Wickmayer were said to receive some kung fu lessons at the China Open promotional event yesterday evening.

Using my research skill, I managed to find this picture of Soderling. His pose looked quite convincing, right? No?

Earlier, a teacher and his students from the Shaolin Temple put up a display before the players arrived, showing off different skills in kung fu, with some of them even breaking small metal rods over their heads.

(Via China Open official website)

Rafael Nadal goes green to win

2009-10-07T23:38:00.005+08:00

I can't believe I still haven't write a single post about Rafael Nadal this week.

Do you like this green polo shirt and chequered navy blue shorts? I think this is his best gear so far after he ditched those sleeveless shirts and pirate pants.

After a successful start against Marcos Baghdatis on Tuesday, which he won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, Nadal will play American James Blake in the second round tomorrow.

Hopefully this new gear will be his greencard to win a title in Beijing.

(Images by Feng Li/Getty Images)

Showdown of Champions KL 2009 set to launch by Anna Kournikova? (Updated)

2009-10-07T20:20:00.004+08:00

Note: I was asked to remove this post by the organiser (not the first time I was asked to do so) but I'm going to repost this anyway.

I'm a blogger. I write based on what I heard and experienced. I can write whatever I want without reporting or explaining to anyone.

Besides, I don't think there's any harm in creating a buzz about this event. It's just like spreading the buzz about Justine Henin's comeback. It was good for her publicity. The same thing applies to this event too.

I'm still thinking about last week's ATP tournament and now I heard there could be another exhibition match in Kuala Lumpur coming this December.

And let's not forget that in February next year, Kuala Lumpur will host the WTA players in the Malaysia Tennis Classic.

My source (quite a reliable one) informed me that Showdown of Champions is set to take place sometime on December 19 & 20, 2009 at the Melawati Stadium.

The launching could be sometime on October 26 by Anna Kournikova; possibly going to take place at Starhill.

My source also added that 2 Russians, 1 from China and 1 from India will take part in this classy event.

If the Showdown organisers keep their promise to the fans at the Putra Stadium last year, we could be having Maria Sharapova right here in Kuala Lumpur.

Now let's wait for the official news.

Party like a rock star at China Open's dinner party

2009-10-07T13:30:00.002+08:00

I love players party. It was a shame that HCFoo wasn't invited to the Batik party held at Mandarin Oriental Hotel last week. Hmmphh....

It looked like a MTV awards show at China Open's dinner party last night.

The players including Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and James Blake dressed up like rockstars while Maria Sharapova, Maria Kirilenko, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova glammed up for the evening party.

Serena Williams: I'm shy... 'cause y'all have seen me nude by now.

Short pants made of garbage bag and a see-through shirt? Bad taste.

Marat Safin can wear whatever he wants and still look pretty.

Poor Makiri. First it was Stella Mccartney... now it's Andy and Shrieky.

(Images via sports.sina.com.cn)

China Open upsets Marat Safin fans over farewell party

2009-10-07T13:21:00.006+08:00

Marat Safin: I can't believe you did that to my fans...

The organiser of China Open recently announced in their official website that they are planning to throw a party for Marat Safin who is about to retire end of this season.

The party is supposed to involve some hardcore Safinator fans.

However things didn't work out between the fans and the organiser.

Now, probably there'll be no ceremony after all. Maybe a 'fake' one, according to fino7marat, one of the fan who's involved in the issue.

SORRY, We are cheated by China Open

I apologize for making a new thread, but there is something really important to tell you.

Weeks ago I posted a thread about asking for ideas of marat's retiring ceremony, but things changed now.

I bet you have read the interview after round 1, and obviously Marat did not know about the ceremony.

A few days before I posted the idea thread, the organizer of China Open contacted our forum and said we would design the ceremony and we spent a long time trying to make our design better. But things going on changed thoroughly.

They only wanted the ceremony to last for onlt 5~7 mins and we, yes, argued with the organizer and the ceremony might last for 15 mins. that could be OK.

Oh, and the organizer said that all our designs as well as our hard work had gone to dustbin. They will design the ceremony.

Today, they told us the ceremony will last for only a few minutes and my friends were angry about that because they are not informed about the decrease of time.

They were not ever offered tickets for today's match. how much did my Friends helped the organizers to make it better!

OK, my friends showed their objection, saying that they will not take part in the ceremony which they devoted themselves to.

And the Organizer refused their demand to increase the ceremony time at last.

so there won't be a ceremony. that's ok, because marat doesn't want to have one.

Oh, they did not even contact with Marat before but they said that Marat was happy to have one, on the official website.

http://www.chinaopen.com.cn/news/en/...9/195960.shtml

there won't be a ceremony. perhaps there will be a faked one.

True safinholics will not give marat our wishes but some faked ones who work for China Open may appear at the party.

I am just soooo sad now.

Sorry to fino7marat and the rest of the Safinator fans. It must be a huge disappointment for you guys after all the brainstorming.

(Via menstennisforums.com)

Sake barrel cracking ceremony without the REAL Samurai

2009-10-07T07:53:00.000+08:00

It only takes one player to complete this group.

The REAL Samurai, Sam Querrey!

However the rising son of America has been sidelined for four-to-six weeks after injuring his right forearm in a freak accident in Bangkok.

He could have joined Gael Monfils, Kimiko Date Krumm, Ayumi Morita, Juan Martin Del Potro, Lleyton Hewitt, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, to crack the sake barrels during a welcome reception on Day 2 of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis tournament at Hotel Grand Pacific Le Daiba yesterday.

(Images by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

Kei Nishikori fit to play Wii but not Japan Open

2009-10-06T22:58:00.005+08:00

Kei Nishikori, who recently underwent a small microscopic surgery to remove a minor bone spur, was at the EA booth at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championship yesterday.

Sporting a wavy new hairdo, Nishikori was there to promote EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, developed specifically for the Wii.

Nishikori is one of the characters featured in the popular game (Asian edition).

(Images via game.watch.impress.co.jp)