Paradorn Srichaphan's mohawk defeats Thailand's tallest prang

I'll have to give Paradorn Srichaphan's mohawk a pass.

Together with current Thai no.1 tennis player Danai Udomchoke, the boys were promoting Hua Hin Centennial Invitation exhibition match earlier this week.

They will set to play in a one-set mixed doubles match with Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova at 2.30PM on Saturday, January 2, 2010 at the brand new centennial Park, InterContinental Hua Hin Resort.

You can get the tickets from ThaiTicketmajor.com or at the hotel.

For fans who want to welcome Sharapova and Venus at the Suvarnabhumi airport, here's a huge tip: the girls will be arriving at 6.30AM on Friday, January 1, 2010. Send me an email if you want further details.

Thanks for BEC-Tero Entertainment for the info.

Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova to kick off New Year at Hua Hin exhibition

BEC-Tero Entertainment informed us that Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams will be participating in the Centennial Invitation in Hua Hin on January 2, 2010 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Hua Hin and usher in the New Year at the same time.

It was reported that more than 20 million baht will be spent to stage the exhibition match.

A temporary court with a capacity to seat 4,000 people at the Hua Hin Centennial Park.

After their singles match, Sharapova and Williams will combine with local stars Paradorn Srichaphan and Danai Udomchoke for a set of mixed doubles.

The players are expected to celebrate their New Year’s Eve at the new InterContinental Resort.

Tickets for the Centennial Invitation go on sale at all Thaiticketmajor outlets and Major Hua Hin from November 21 onwards.

Danai Udomchoke is engaged!

Thailand no.1 Danai Udomchoke is engaged!

He announced his engagement to Ms. Charinporn Pinijchob on Facebook after their engagement party on Saturday.

Looks like the couple's wedding will take place later in November.

Congrats to the lovely couple!

(Image by Ratt Ninsiri via Danai Udomchoke's Facebook)

Thailand Open 2009: Entry list, Paradorn Srichaphan

Paradorn Srichaphan, Danai Udomchoke

PTT Thailand Open (formerly known as ATP Thailand Open) is scheduled to run on the same week as the Malaysian Open, between September 26-October 4, 2009.

The player entry list was released on the same day as the Malaysian Open and equally impressive too. Here you go:

1 Nadal, Rafael ESP 3
2 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried FRA 7
3 Simon, Gilles FRA 9
4 Querrey, Sam USA 26
5 Troicki, Viktor SRB 30
6 Sela, Dudi ISR 34
7 Melzer, Jurgen AUT 37
8 Petzschner, Philipp GER 39
9 Beck, Andreas GER 40
10 Santoro, Fabrice FRA 44
11 Zverev, Mischa GER 46
12 Becker, Benjamin GER 47
13 Nieminen, Jarkko FIN 52
14 Garcia-Lopez, Guillermo ESP 53
15 Benneteau, Julien FRA 55
16 Daniel, Marcos BRA 58
17 Isner, John USA 59
18 Safin, Marat RUS 61
19 Mayer, Leonardo ARG 65
20 (SE)
21 (SE)
22 (Q)
23 (Q)
24 (Q)
25 (Q)
26 (WC)
27 (WC)
28 (WC)

Alternates
1. Greul, Simon GER 66
2. Bellucci, Thomaz BRA 67
3. Ginepri, Robby USA 70
4. Hernych, Jan CZE 72
5. Koellerer, Daniel AUT 73
6. Lu, Yen-Hsun TPE 74
7. Crivoi, Victor ROU 75
8. Gabashvili, Teimuraz RUS 76
9. Zeballos, Horacio ARG 78
10. Luczak, Peter AUS 79
11. Kendrick, Robert USA 80
12. Korolev, Evgeny RUS 82
13. Srichaphan, Paradorn THA @82
14. Hernandez, Oscar ESP 84
15. Odesnik, Wayne USA 85

Is former world no.9 Paradorn Srichaphan ready to make a comeback since 2007?

Well, not quite so.

According to Srichaphan, he is not ready to make a comeback yet, but that doesn't mean he has effectively retired from tennis.

Married to former Miss Universe Natalie Glebova, Srichaphan had spent his time away from the tour motorcycling, appearing on a Thai sports TV show and most recently opening an Italian cuisine restaurant.

(Via menstennisforums.com, AP)

Thai trio conquer Busan Open

Second seed Danai Udomchoke of Thailand successfully captured his first ATP challenger title this year in the US$75,000 Busan Open in Busan, Korea on last weekend.

The Thai 27-year-old avenged his Bangkok challenger final defeat to Florian Mayer with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over the German third seed in the semifinals, then defeated Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic(ATP-243) in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, to win the title.

Danai, who recently quit his national team, received US$10,800 and 90 ATP entry points for singles champion.

In the men's doubles, twin brothers Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana took home the title after defeating Japanese pair of Toshihide Matsui and Tasuku Iwami in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.

It was twin brothers' fifth ATP challenger title this year and the seventeenth in their career.

The 26-year-old Ratiwatanas who won two ATP titles in Bangkok 2007 and Chennai in 2008, awarded US$4,650 and 90 ATP entry points.

(By Jirobkk via menstennisforums.com)

Danai Udomchoke earns law degree from the Bangkok University

Thailand no.1 pro tennis player Danai Udomchoke is joining players like Max Mirnyi and Mario Ancic who earned their law degrees last year.

Congrats to Danai for completing his Law degree from the Bangkok University recently.

According to Danai, he hopes to continue his studies in MBA in the near future.

Here are some photos taken on his graduation day.


(Via Danai Udomchoke official website)

Grigor Dimitrov stumbles in Bangkok

Grigor Dimitrov lost to Thailand no.1 Danai Udomchoke 6-7(6) 5-7 in the second round of the $50K Challenger tournament in Bangkok yesterday.

However Grigor is not going to leave the tournament yet as he is also be playing in the doubles pairing up with Thai Kittipong Wachiramanowong. They will play their first round match against Daniel Brands / Dieter Kindleman of Germany.

Next week Grigor will appear in Korat, Thailand, another $50K ATP Challenger tournament.

(Image by Jai via menstennisforums.com)

Danai Udomchoke invites you to his home in Pattaya

Here's an interesting peek into Danai Udomchoke's home in Pattaya.

It was built and renovated last year and the Thailand no.1 player should have moved into the new house by now.


(Images via Danai Udomchoke's official website)

India could be the best in Asia

I'm still saddened by Rendy Lu's lost to Somdev Devvarman in the fourth rubber in last weekend's Davis Cup tie between Taiwan and India.

His fluctuating performance is probably one of the reasons why I don't blog for days.

But to be fair to Rendy, India already knew from the start that they had the extra edge over Taiwan.

With Grand Slam doubles specialists like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, and upcoming tennis star like Somdev Devvarman, they look like a tough team to beat.

Kudos to the Indian Davis Cup team for making it to the third round where they will be meeting Australia who narrowly beat Thailand.

However congrats to Thai no. 1 Danai Udomchoke for his perfect performance in the second and fourth rubbers which saw him beating Australian teenage player Brydan Klein and former world no. 1 Lleyton Hewitt.

The other two countries who made it to the third round tie of the Asia/Oceania Zone Group 1 are Japan and Uzbekistan lead by Kei Nishikori and Denis Istomin respectively.

For complete results, click here.

(Images via udn.com, hindu.com, zimbio.com)

One million baht carrot for Thai Davis Cup team

The Thai Davis Cup team will earn a million baht bonus if they beat Australia in this weekend's Asia/Oceania Zone Group I clash.

The Thai team will be led by Danai Udomchoke with Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana, Kittipong Vachiramanowong and Peerakiat Siriruethaiwattana.

Thanakorn Srichaphan is the team captain while his brother Paradorn, who cannot play because of an injured wrist, will be the assistant coach.

The Australian team is led by Lleyton Hewitt supported by Carsten Ball, Chris Guccione and Brydan Klein.

The winning team will meet either India or Taiwan in May.

Thai team manager Atat Nana said the players were looking forward to the event, especially as doubles pair Sonchat and Sanchai won a doubles title in Australia last week.

The match will be held at the National Tennis Development Centre, Muang Thong Thani from Friday until Sunday.

Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand (LTAT) offers 1,500 free tickets for fans on their website.

(Via Bangkok Post; Image via LTAT website)

X'mas comes early for Danai Udomchoke and friends

Danai Udomchoke from Thailand is already in the Chrismas mood.

Together with team mate, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Korean Woong-sun Jun, they were out in the snowy, freezing cold weather making snowmen.

The tennis players are in Astana, Kazakhstan for the Asian Hopman Cup from 12-15 November.

Below are team photos taken before and during the Opening Ceremony of the Asian Hopman Cup, all taken from Danai's official site.


Kudos to Danai for keeping his website updated!

To check out the OOP and results, click here to join the forum thread at Tennis Forum.

Updates:
In the finals the 2007 Asian Hopman Cup winners Lu Yen-Hsun / Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) defeated Golubev Andrey / Shvedova Yaroslava (KAZ) 2-0 and secured their position in the final eight teams of the A $1,000,000 Mixed Team event at Perth, Australia in January 2009.

The final standings are as below:
Winner : Chinese Taipei ( US$20,000)
Runner Up : Kazakhstan ( US$12,000)
2nd in Group : India & Thailand ( US$10,000)
3rd in each Group: China & Korea ( US$9,000)

(Images via Danai Udomchoke's official site)

Asian Hopman Cup in Astana starts tomorrow

Danai Udomchoke has posted some photos from Astana, Kazakhstan. He is there to represent Thailand in the Asian Hopman Cup.


Thanks to Esther for getting in touch with the media team in Kazakhstan for the latest press release regarding the tournament. Here you go:

A unique team superiority on tennis will be held in November 12 -15 in Astana.

For the first time the Asian qualifying stage of the Hopman Cup where the teams of China, India, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Korea and Kazakhstan will participate, takes place in the capital of Kazakhstan.

The tournament winners will get a chance to play in a draw of the Australian Hopman Cup among 8 best world teams.

Hopman Cup - is a yearly international tennis team tournament, which was found in 1989 and is held in Perth of the Western Australia in the beginning of January (sometimes at the end of December).

The competitions were named in honour of Harry Hopman (12.08.1906-27.12.1985) - one of the greatest tennis players and a famous Australian coach.

For 30 years he guided young talented players to victories on 15 Davis Cups and 21 Challengers rounds.

What the difference of Hopman Cup from other team tennis competitions?
Unlike other major international team tennis tournaments like the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup, which are strictly for men or women only, the Hopman Cup is a mixed competition where male and female players team up together on combined teams.

Each team consists of one male player and one female player. Each match-up between two teams at the championships consists of:

• one women's singles match
• one men's singles match
• one mixed doubles match

In the Asian qualifying stage 6 competing teams will be divided into 2 groups. The winner of each subgroup will play for the pass to Australia.

The honour of their countries will be defended by: Udomchoke Danai and Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand), Lu Yen-Hsun and Hsieh Su-Wei(Chinese Taipei), Jun Woong Sun and Chae Kyung Yee (Korea), Li Zhe and Zhou Yimiao (China), Vishnu Vardhan and Shikha Uberoi (India).

The Kazakhstan banner will be carried by our first rackets –Andrey Golubev and Yaroslava Shvedova, who recently has gotten into best hundred tennis players in the WTA ranking.

The Tournament Director: Daniel Chambon
Referee: Andrey Kornilov (Uzbekistan)

(Images via Danai's official website)

Rendy Lu's updates at Seoul Challenger

I think I should spend some time to blog a bit about Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun (盧彥勳) who is having a great run at the Seoul Challenger this week.

Despite suffering from a jet lag and rain delay during the tournament, Rendy is doing everything he can to repeat his feat at Tashkent Challenger last week.

By the way, the new ATP ranking reveals a better position for Rendy; at no. 65, he is right behind Kei Nishikori.

Well, Kei is already out for the season due to a right knee injury. Here's a chance for Rendy to redeem himself and snatch back his position as the top Asian male player.

Today, Rendy who is the 2nd seed beat Bjorn Phau in the third round 7-6 (6), 7-5. He will play home boy Lee Hyung-Taik in the semifinal tomorrow.

In another semifinal match, Ivo Minar will face off with Thailand no. 1 Danai Udomchoke.

Click here for the main draw singles and here for the main draw doubles.

I'll leave you with some pictures of Rendy Lu at the Seoul Challenger forwarded by Esther via Rendy's brother, Thomas. The second picture below was taken earlier this week with Takao Suzuki.


Rendy, 加油 (Jia you in Mandarin means C'mon) and good luck for the weekend!

(Via Rendy's website)