Radek Stepanek to undergo surgery due to neck injury

Veteran Czech player Radek Stepanek has withdrawn from next week's Davis Cup tie against Switzerland due to an escalating neck injury since the tournament in Sydney.

According to ATP website, "a neck disc was pressing on a nerve and was creating a big problem in Stepanek's neck and right hand".

Team captain Jaroslav Navratil announced that Stepanek will be replaced by world ranked 189 Ivo Minar, who will join Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol  for the trip to Geneva. The defending champions will meet the Swiss team who will be without Roger Federer.

(Via Sport.cz, NDTV Sports, ATPWorldTour)

TENNIS WATCH: Kid's Day, Minar denies doping, Agassi opens up, Srichaphan's adult product

James Blake and Mardy Fish attended Kid's Day at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament in New Haven yesterday.

Blake, however chose not to enter the tournament in order to prepare for the US Open.

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Czech tennis player Ivo Minar was tested positive for a banned substance after a Davis Cup quarterfinal victory over Argentine on July 10-12.

Minar was said to have taken an unspecified supplement that apparently contained a derivative of the banned stimulant pseudoephedrine.

Currently ranked at no. 66, he denied he had never 'consciously' taken a banned substance.

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Andre Agassi’s autobiography, OPEN, is heading to book stores in November.

In the book, Agassi discusses his start in tennis as a child, his relationship with his father and his failed marriage to Brooke Shields.

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Is Paradorn Srichaphan selling adult product?

According to Srichaphan, he hoped his latest business, a herbal-product company called Magic Thaiherbs, will not tarnish his image as a national hero.

"Unlike Viagra, my product is more like a tonic which is good for men's bodies. When men are happy and healthy, they make married life better,'' said the former Thai no.1.

Shame on the organizers at Seoul Challenger!

Frankly, I don't blog about Challenger events until recently.

The first one I ever did was Tashkent Challenger. If you have followed the recent posts, you know I highly praised the organizer as well as the media team for their professionalism and passion in the tournament.

With the help from Esther, I thought why not blog about the next Challenger event in Seoul.

We quickly realized that Seoul Challenger is no Tashkent Challenger.

Firstly, the media team in Seoul doesn't provide materials (press conference, press releases, etc) in English.

Never mind the language barrier.

The saddest thing happened when the organizer practice favoritism and 'ill-treated' the players.

The following are some of the info that I've gathered from Rendy Lu's forum including posting from Rendy's brother, Thomas.

1. Organizer did not change the venue from outdoor to indoor despite the windy condition and playing under the temperature of 5 degrees! Even Danai Udomchoke complained about the cold temperature in his website.
2. When home boy, Lee Hyung Teik was playing against Rendy in the semifinal, the organizer decided to change the venue to indoor during the last minute.
3. The organizer did not provide an umbrella for Rendy to walk from the players lounge to the indoor stadium to continue the semifinal match.
   
4. When inside, things were chaotic as all seats were filled up with supporters and according to Thomas the organizer didn't allocate seats for player and team.
5. After a few unfair judgments, during the 1st game of 2nd set, Rendy called for the trainer to check on his injured toe (a result from playing 2 matches in one day under cold weather and until night). Rendy who felt he was being treated unfairly decided to retire from the semifinal match and handed Mr Lee the walkover.

In the final result, Mr Lee beat Ivo Minar 6-4, 6-0 to take the Seoul Challenger title.

Now that they are playing in Busan, South Korea, we hope the organizer here would not repeat the same mistakes as what Seoul did last week.

May the best man wins.

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)