Rafael Nadal meets President Sebastian Pinera, Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez at La Moneda Palace

Rafael Nadal arrived in the Chilean capital of Santiago this morning.

The first thing on his schedule since he landed was a visit to the Palace of La Moneda for a meeting with President Sebastian Pinera. Also attended the function were Chilean Olympic medalists Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez.

Arrives in the official car

Waves like a prince

This is Nadal's first official public appearance since Wimbledon

A happy smile

Nadal, Massu and Gonzalez on the way to meet and greet the President

After the event, Nadal headed off for his workout preparing for his first appearance in Vina del Mar tournament since Wimbledon.

(Images via Soychile.cl, Rafaholics)

Fernando Gonzalez saddened by Chile quake

Chilean Fernando Gonzalez posted in his official Twitter account on Monday saying that he has been attempting to return to his family in Santiago following an 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck early Saturday morning.

He also posted a message on his official website:

"Hello friends. I was watching TV and I found out about the earthquake. I’m so sad for the victims and families. I’m at Mexico City. This night I’ll fly to Lima to try to get a new flight to Santiago."

"Thank God I could talk with my family after the earthquake. I watched TV all the time and I’m so sad with the news. It’s tough I can’t be in Chile. I’m praying. I would like to help with the reconstruction of my country."

"I hope to see them again as soon as possible."

"A big hug for everyone and ¡Fuerza Chile!"

Gonzalez and his Chilean Davis Cup team are scheduled to host Israel in first round World Group action beginning Friday in Coquimbo.

The Chilean tennis federation would like the tie to go ahead as planned.

Rewind: Unseen before footage from the Malaysian Open '09

I had too much free time last weekend so I decided to put some of the unused footage clips from the Malaysian Open back in September into some sort of a music video.

As usual, I appreciate off court a lot, so you'll only find off court footage in this MV.

Unseen before practice photos: Lesson learnt

Practice court supposed to be a popular hangout place for tennis fans during any tennis tournament.

However, it was a different case at the PROTON Malaysian Open last week.

The seats at the practice courts (gym hall) were empty. Popular players came in and out without being mobbed by fans simply because there were almost none.

The crowd was slightly better when the players practice on Court 1, behind the Centre Court.

Hopefully the number of fans at the practice courts improve next year.

We attended a few practice sessions and here are some of the pictures we've got.

Left - Thumbs up from Rohan Bopanna
Right - Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi experimenting a simple yoga position

Igor Kunitsyn - "What are you looking at?"

Mikhail Youzhny - Maybe it's a Russian thing. They are not impressed with Nikon-toting mamarazzi

Tennis talk - David Ferrer, Andre Sa, Marcelo Melo, Jose Acasuso

Left - Marcelo Melo says hi to Jose Acasuso
Right - Ferrer crotch grab picture revealed

Keep your chins up, Acasuso

Happy people are beautiful people - Jose Verdasco, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez

Fernando Gonzalez arrives at the practice court with his entourage

(Photos credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

Proton Malaysian Open: Results and OOP for Day 5

Insider source said that Gonzalez requested for a golf session yesterday.

RESULTS - THURSDAY, 1 OCTOBER, 2009

Singles - Second Round
[2] F Verdasco (ESP) d K Beck (SVK) 64 60
[4] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [Q] R Bopanna (IND) 64 36 64
[5] G Monfils (FRA) d M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 64 62
[6] T Berdych (CZE) d S Greul (GER) 63 46 63
R Gasquet (FRA) d [WC] J Johansson (SWE) 46 76(1) 62

Doubles - Quarterfinals
[1] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d A Golubev (KAZ) / D Istomin (UZB) 57 64 10-1
[3] M Damm (CZE) / R Lindstedt (SWE) d M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 64 62
S Huss (AUS) / S Lipsky (USA) d M Elgin (RUS) / F Moser (GER) 63 62


ORDER OF PLAY - FRIDAY, 2 OCTOBER, 2009

CENTER COURT start 12:00 noon
[3] R Soderling (SWE) vs [6] T Berdych (CZE)
Not Before 2:30 PM
[1] N Davydenko (RUS) vs [5] G Monfils (FRA)
Not Before 5:45 PM
M Youzhny (RUS) vs [4] F Gonzalez (CHI)
Not Before 8:00 PM
R Gasquet (FRA) vs [2] F Verdasco (ESP)

(Image by Proton Malaysian Open)

Davydenko, Verdasco, Gonzalez, Soderling at KLCC

Kuala Lumpur has some very identifiable landmarks but none compare to the iconic Petronas Towers in the heart of the city.

Top seeds Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Verdasco, Fernando Gonzalez and Robin Soderling paid a visit to the KLCC this morning.

“It’s incredible looking building. Very nice. Incredible how they make this bridge across two building like this," Davydenko said.

Verdasco said: “It’s incredible, these two buildings. You can see it from all over. It is amazing to see the buildings from my room at the hotel which is next door.”

After the photo shoot, the guys went back to Mandarin Oriental Hotel for round table interview. You can watch my exclusive interview with Verdasco here.

Here are some of the pictures at the events.

(Photo credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

Meet Fernando Gonzalez at Starbucks KLCC

Starbucks Coffee, a partner of the PROTON Malaysian Open Tennis will host a “Meet the Fans Session” with Fernando Gonzalez on next Monday.

WHO: 2009 US Open Quarterfinalist, Fernando Gonzalez

WHAT: Meet the Fans Session

WHEN: Monday, Sept. 28, 2009 (6:00 pm)

WHERE: Starbucks, KLCC (ground floor), Kuala Lumpur

Not only that you'll have a chance to meet the tennis star and get his autograph, Starbucks will also pick a receipt from a lucky customer in the lucky draw contest and the winner will receive an autographed (should be Babolat) tennis racquet!

Here's how you can participate: Customers write their name and I.C. on their Starbucks receipt for beverage or food purchased throughout the day from 9 am to 5.45 pm on 28 September 2009 and drop it in the lucky draw box at Starbucks KLCC (ground floor).

Winning customer has to be present during the event to receive their prize.

Hope to see you there 'cause I'm not going to miss this!

For the latest on court and off court updates, follow me at: http://twitter.com/hcfoo

(Via Starbucks Malaysia facebook page)

US Open Day 13 Wrap-up: Gonzalez eats bagel, Clijsters wins but Serena steals the show, Wozniacki stays in the shadow

Rafael Nadal beat Fernando Gonzalez pretty quickly to win 7-6, 7-6, 6-0 in a match that began Thursday evening.

Gonzalez who seemed not getting enough warm-up kept looking at the sky and scoreboard, perhaps was looking for a sign of rain.

It started to drizzle a bit and Gonzalez sought treatment from a trainer for his feet but that didn't help to delay his lost to Nadal for another day.

Light shower continued through the evening but I was glad that both women's singles semifinals finally took off.

Kim Clijsters reached the final by beating Serena Williams 6-4, 7-5.

Kimmie, I'm sorry I stole the limelight from you tonight.

However the match was marred by controversy after Serena was docked a point for yelling at an official who called a foot fault.

I may look very calm on the outside but guess what, I'm shit scared of Serena inside.

The line judge reported it to the chair umpire which led to the chair umpire awarding a point to Clijsters, ending the match.

Serena already had been given a code violation warning when she broke her racket after losing the first set.

At the press conference, Serena denied she threatened to 'kill the line judge' and it was unnecessary to apologize to the lady. You can read the full transcript here.

In another women's semifinal that took place at the same time, Caroline Wozniacki's victory was overshadowed by the controversy.

Wozniacki will play in her first Grand Slam final after defeated Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 6-3.

Here's Sunday's order of play on day 14 at the U.S. Open (prefix denotes seeding):

(Starts at 12:00 PM)
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) v 4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
3-Rafael Nadal (Spain) v 6-Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina)
9-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) v Kim Clijsters (Belgium)

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Nadal, Gonzalez match postponed as rain halts US Open

Juan Martin del Potro has to wait for another day to know who he's going to play in the semifinals.

This is because the quarterfinal match between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez was postponed after a series of interruptions due to showers during the second set.

Nadal is currently leading 7-6, 6-6 and 3-2 in the tiebreak.

This break might be helpful to Nadal, who called for a trainer in earlier set due to stomach muscle problem that bothered him since earlier of the tournament.

Their match was scheduled to resume tomorrow (not before 2PM) — following the first women’s semifinal, between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters, which was to begin at 12:30PM.

(Via AP, Image via Yahoo! Sports)

US Open Day 9 Wrap-up: Nadal gets the kiss, Murray gets the kick

More bizarre incident happened on Day 9.

Just when Rafael Nadal finished the match against Gael Monfils, a fan ran out of nowhere, approached the Spanish player and gave him a kiss before a woman security guard intervened.

Here's the video taken from Gototennisblog.

When asked about the incident, Nadal said, "For me, it wasn’t a problem. The guy was really nice. He said, ‘I love you,’ and he kissed me.” :D

By defeating Monfils 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 to move on to the quarterfinals, Nadal will regain his no. 2 ranking from Andy Murray who was upset by Marin Cilic earlier.

Back to Nadal, he'll try to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the US Open.

He'll meet Fernando Gonzalez in the quarterfinal after the Chilean eliminated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

In another men's singles match, Juan Martin del Potro defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

In the women's singles, Kim Clijsters dispatched Li Na in straight sets with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.

The opponent waiting for her next in the semifinals is none other than Serena Williams who sent off Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-3.

Here's Wednesday’s order of play on day 10 at the U.S. Open (prefix denotes seeding):

(Not before 1630GMT)
Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) v Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine)
4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) v 10-Fernando Verdasco (Spain)

(Not before 2300GMT)
Melanie Oudin (U.S.) v 9-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) 12-Robin Soderling (Sweden)

(Via AP, US Open website)

10th Annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis

I've been out of town for the past couple of days so I haven't been able to update some of the pre-US Open events that took place over the weekend.

In a quick update, let's start off with the 10th annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis, which is famous for its food, drink and celebrities.

Held at the W Hotel, and the Food Bank for New York, it has some of the biggest names in tennis including Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Billie Jean King, Sam Groth, Vera Zvonareva, Fernando Gonzalez, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer and Asia's very own Rendy Lu Yen-hsun.

Roddick mixing drinks with Natural Food Chef Bethany Frankel.

Left to right - Chef Ariane Duarte, Jo-Willy, newscaster Hannah Storm and chef Carla Hall.

HCFoo's favourite, Rendy Lu serves up a tennis-themed cake :D

David Ferrer

Vera Zvonareva

Fernando Gonzalez

(Images by Donald Bowers/Getty Images North America)