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.

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

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)

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Mr Congeniality goes to... Joachim Johansson

The ATP 250 PROTON Malaysian Open hasn't end but HCFoo's Tennis Blog has officially named Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson, Mr Congeniality for the year 2009.

Not only that I've seen him practice with Rendy Lu Yen-hsun earlier this week, the Swede wild card recipient and former top 10 player also partnered with Malaysian wild card Si Yew Ming in the doubles event yesterday.

However, his bids in the singles and doubles events came to an end after he was defeated by Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-7, 2-6 and by Brazilians Marcelo Melo-Andre Sa 1-6, 7-5, 3-10.

I managed to chase Pim Pim down after his practice. I've got to say that he's the most humble (the other player is Rafael Nadal) and nicest guy I've met on tour.

(Photo credit to HSFoo/hcfoo.com)

Pim Pim receives Wild Card to play at the Malaysian Open

Pim Pim during his prime years

Former top 10 player, Joachim "Pim Pim" Johansson has been awarded a singles and doubles wild card into the Proton Malaysian Open, which begins today.

The Swedish joins Taylor Dent and Marcos Baghdatis as wild cards recipients.

In addition to receiving the singles main draw wild card, Johansson has also been given a main draw doubles wild card slot and he will be teaming up with a Malaysian player, possibly Si Yew Ming, who gains wild card entry to play in the singles qualifying round.

Due to his injuries and the surgeries he underwent, Johansson, who briefly retired from tennis only to launch a comeback in 2008, saw his ranking drop to No. 774 in January. He has brought his ranking up to 451 this week.

(Via tennisweek.com)

Joachim 'Pim-Pim' Johansson back for good

Many tennis fans are excited about the return of Joachim Johansson, who is most affectionately known as Pim-Pim.

The former world no. 9 from Sweden announced last week that he would resume his professional tennis career starting at the Stockholm Open, where he has received a wild card for the main draw, which starts on Monday.

The 26-year-old Johansson originally retired from the ATP circuit in February after suffering from shoulder injuries for three years.

“My shoulder feels much better and when Pelle (Per Hjertquist, Tournament Director) asked me to play here it felt like a very exciting challenge," Johansson said.

"It’s extra special for me to play this tournament, with home court advantage and with the wonderful atmosphere in the arena.”

The Stockholm Open will be Johansson’s only event in 2008, while he will resume a full schedule starting in 2009.

The 6’6’’ right-hander played his last professional match in Stockholm last year, defeating Carlos Berlocq in the first round before withdrawing from his second match due to illness.

Johansson captured three ATP titles during his professional career. His best Grand Slam performance came at the ’04 US Open, when he beat defending champion Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals before falling to Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals.

He reached a career-high No. 9 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings on February 14, 2005.

(Via menstennisforums, Image via joachimjohansson.org)