Australian Open 2013 official players party

Players attended the official Australian Open players party at the Grand Hyatt last night. Those who attended were greeted by some wildlife e.g. koala, snake and a joey. There's a video at the end of this post.

Stanislas Wawrinka

Lucie Safarova

Chen Ti

Jelena Jankovic

Michael Llodra 

Radek Stepanek

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Petra Kvitova 

Sania Mirza

James Ward and Anne Keothavong

Daniela Hantuchova 

Denis Istomin

(Images via Zimbio)

Coming soon: Exclusive interview with Yang Tsung-hua

With the help from Elvis Dai and Esther, I managed to meet up with Yang Tsung-hua, 2008 Junior no.1 and French Open Junior Champion who is in town for Malaysia Futures events.

I'll try my best to post the interview, photos and video of Tsung-hua practicing on court with fellow compatriot Chen Ti.

While waiting for my post, here's a picture of Chen Ti (left), coach 陳南 (I think his English name is Lehn Man) and Yang Tsung-hua (yes, we asked him to pose shirtless for the fans).


(Photo credit should read HSFoo/HCFoo's Tennis Blog)

India, Taiwan to face off in Davis Cup tie

The Indian Davis Cup team believe they have the extra edge against Taiwan in the second round tie of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I, starting tomorrow.

Based on ranking, new poster boy Somdev Devvarman who will take on Chen Ti in the opening singles rubber could win the first point for India.

Taiwan will heavily rely on Asia's no. 1 Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun. He missed Taiwan's first round tie against Kazakhstan, so his return has made the Taiwan team more confident.

But let us not forget that Rohan Bopanna is 2-1 in head-to-head against Lu over the last two years. Bopanna could steal a point in this second singles rubber if Rendy is to continue with his fluctuating game.

World's top doubles players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi is expected to have little problem in dealing with Yang Tsung-Hua and Yi Chu-Huan.

The fourth and fifth rubbers are going to be tough and unpredictable. I do believe that Rendy will at least win a point from the two matches he's playing.

To watch the Davis Cup tie live streaming online, click here.

(Images posted by Elvis via menstennisforums.com)

An interview with John Lee, the team leader of Taiwan Cheering Team

Finally I'm back in the blogosphere after disappearing for few days.

Let's start off with the Davis Cup match between Taiwan and Kazakhstan.

During the week when the absence of Taiwan's top player Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun and Kazakhstan's three top-200 Russian imports threatened to grab the headlines of their Asia/Oceania Zone Group I Davis Cup tie, unheralded Chen Ti had the last laugh.

Chen defeated world no. 180 Yuri Schukin 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1 to give Taiwan a 3-1 lead in a 4-1 victory over the visitors.

In that crucial 4th rubber, credit has to be given to the Taiwan cheering team who cheered Chen and his teammates to success.

Elvis took the picture of John Lee in his famous wig.

Thanks to Elvis Dai who was there at the stadium and managed to get hold of John Lee, the Taiwan cheering team leader.

Hey, Esther, thank you for the translation too :-)

It's time for tennis blogger to recognise the cheering team leader his effort!

Q1. How does it feel as the leader of the cheering team?
JOHN LEE: I am proud to be the leader, and fans were part of the team members besides the players. In example, the cheering group played an important role during the double's match and Chen Ti's 4th rubber. That was a crucial moment and the support had given the players spirit to fight hard.

Q2. What motivates you to form a cheering team?
JOHN LEE: I used to be a member of The Fanatics cheering group which is based in Australia. My participation in the Fanatics cheering team had inspired me to form my very own Taiwan cheering team. It feels great when a group of people gather together to support the sportsmen. So, I formed a group called "Taiwan Woo".

John Lee in his Bruce Lee uniform holding cutie pie baby Savi.

Q3: Why do you choose yellow as the official team colour? And why the Bruce Lee image?
JOHN LEE: I didn't choose blue or green because there have political meaning in Taiwan. So, I think yellow is a brighter colour and suitable for my team and the most important is, it is a political-free colour.

About Bruce Lee, that was a coincidence image that I brought into my team, i didn't have the intention to use Bruce Lee as our trademark. I bought the yellow attire from Japan and I had wore it at one of the Davis Cup event in Taiwan. My friend told me, I was like Bruce Lee and the image does suit Taiwan Woo. That's why I wear the attire until now.

You can visit John Lee's blog at http://kunlinjohnlee.pixnet.net/blog

By the way, Taiwan will host India on March 6-8. I think most of us will expect a stiff competition between these two countries.

(Images by Elvis Dai and via John Lee's blog)

Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun to miss Davis Cup tie against Kazakhstan

Taiwan's team without Rendy Lu.

Taiwan's top tennis player Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun, who reached a career-high 58 in the world rankings on Monday following a breakthrough performance at the Australian Open, will miss this weekend's Davis Cup tie against Kazakhstan because of an inflamed knee.

The announcement came as Taiwan's team for the Feb. 6-8 tie at Sinjhuang Gymnasium in Taipei County was introduced Tuesday.

Rendy suffered discomfort to his right knee during his stunning five-set upset of 10th seed David Nalbandian in the second round of the Australian Open, and further aggravated it last week during a Challenger series event in Heilbronn, Germany.

Doctors there suggested that Rendy remain in Germany to treat the knee rather than play in Taiwan’s 2009 Davis Cup opener to prevent the inflammation from growing worse and jeopardizing his participation in upcoming ATP Tour events.

Rendy will be missed against Kazakhstan, whose top three players -- Andrey Golubev, Mikhail Kukushkin and Yuri Schukin, all ranked in the world's top 200 -- played for Russia before changing their nationalities last year.

The Feb. 6-8 tie was made necessary because the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 has nine teams entered this year. Taiwan and Kazakhstan were drawn to compete for the final spot in the official eight team draw, which begins competition in earnest March 6-8.

If Taiwan beats Kazakhstan this weekend, it will host India in March. A win over India and either Australia or Thailand in May would send Taiwan to the elusive World Group playoffs for the first time ever, a prospect Rendy would surely relish.

The oft-injured 25-year-old risked playing in Germany to try and cover ranking points he was about to lose, but the gamble did not pay off when the knee acted up during a second round 6-2, 6-0 loss to Karol Beck of Slovakia, said Thomas Lu Wei-Ru, Lu's older brother who helps manage his younger brother's affairs.

Not treating the injury now could have financial consequences. Rendy has already signed up to play at four ATP tournaments in the U.S. beginning Feb. 9, but will be fined by tennis’ organizing body, the ATP if he misses more than one of them due to injury, Rendy Wei-ru told the Central News Agency.

In Rendy's absence, Taiwan will likely depend on Wang Yeu-tzuoo and Chen Ti in the four singles matches played on Friday and Sunday. A pivotal doubles is played Saturday.

Wang, ranked as high as 85th in the world in 2006, is hoping to restart his career this weekend after being sidelined for most of 2008 with an assortment of ailments, the most serious a persistent wrist injury.

He has played in only five ATP Tour event qualifying tournaments since last year’s Australian Open, winning just one set in the five appearances.

Wang told the Central News Agency he spent most of 2008 conditioning his body and had only begun hitting balls in earnest at the end of November.

Asked if he was worried about his lack of match competition or that the wrist injury might still hamper him during the Davis Cup best-of-five set matches, Wang deadpanned, “I am worried about so many things that I've decided not to worry about any them.”

Wang, whose natural talent was in evidence when he reached the finals of the US Open boys singles at the age of 16 in 2001, felt he had recovered his basic skills and was physically fit.

“But confidence can only come from tournaments. There's no way you can get confidence from just practicing, It's not possible," said Wang, whose confidence and match toughness are likely to be challenged against Kazakhstan.

Chen Ti, who has remade his game, from his grip to his serve, in the last six weeks, will be testing how much he's absorbed.

Although the world No. 375 Chen is ranked below Kazakhstan's top three players, he said he was more confident than when he played Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in a Davis Cup tie last February.

"Last year when I played Hewitt, I was just hoping to play well."

"This year, I'm playing to win."

(Via taiwannews.com.tw; Image via sport.1-apple.com.tw)