Thanks to a contest by Astrolife I had the opportunity to toss coin for the doubles semifinals match last night.
It was such an honour to be able to step onto the Centre Court. [Click here to check out the court preparation, if you haven't seen it yet]
I was introduced to the chair umpire Carlos Bernardes by the international Media Director Craig Gabriel.
I congratulated Carlos as his country Brazil won the rights to host the Olympics 2016.
I teased him by saying that the organiser should have a special autograph signing session for the chair umpires as he and Mohamed Lahyani are very popular here.
Then we started talking about Malaysia - he said he had now know the meaning of 'Malaysia Truly Asia'.
Carlos said he had seen the commercial countless times on CNN but only understand the true meaning of that famous tagline when he reached this country.
Everywhere he went, including the KLCC, he was truly amazed by how the different races in this country able to live together despite social and cultural differences.
As we walked towards the middle of the Centre Court, waiting for the players to join us, Carlos added that the ATP World Tour tried very hard to promote the doubles event - having the players' names on the back of their t-shirts is one way to do so.
I shook hands with all the players and tossed the coin. Mariusz Fyrstenberg joked/praised me for that nice flip :P
What a priceless experience that was on Friday night.
I'm glad I made full use of that opportunity to speak to one of the best and nicest chair umpires in the world. (Images by HSFoo/hcfoo.com)
Juan Martin del Potro defends his title in Washington D.C., coming back from 3-1 down in the final set to defeat Andy Roddick 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6) in the final.
In the mens' doubles, Martin Damm and Robert Lindstedt added more silverware to an already successful debut season together by clinching their third ATP World Tour title.
The Czech-Swedish duo overcame fifth seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 7-5, 7-6(3).
Meanwhile at the LA Women's Tennis Championships, French Flavia Pennetta defeated Sam Stosur 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Sam Stosur in the final.
In the women's doubles, Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei and Zi Yan of China outplayed Maria Kirilenko and Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 4-6, 10-7.
Israeli tennis player Andy Ram said Swedish authorities made a “stupid decision” when they barred fans from the Davis Cup series between the two countries.
Well, Ram, take a look at what had happened to the Sri Lankan cricket team yesterday, and you might want to think twice.
Eight people were killed and seven other wounded in the attack when unidentified gunmen firing at the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, the capital city of Punjab.
In the latest updates, New Zealand Cricket has called off their Pakistan tour scheduled in December.
Now back to tennis, I understand how frustrated Ram, his fellow teammates and the Swedish team were to play the first-round series in Malmo in an empty stadium.
Malmo city officials had to make the hardest decision by keeping the fans away as they couldn’t guarantee security at the 4,000-seat Baltic Hall. Anti-Israel protests are already expected in Malmo, and about 1,000 police have been called to keep protesters from the arena.
After Sweden, other countries who will be playing Israel could follow suit.
“I think it was a wrong decision. I think it maybe can open the door for other countries to make a stupid decision like this one,” Ram said.
“I think it’s going to be very bad to play without a crowd.”
Harel Levy, another member of Israel’s four-man team, said it was wrong to mix sports and politics.
“We are here to play tennis,” Levy said.
“We are not here to talk about politics or to talk about terror.”
Dudi Sela and Noam Okun are also on the Israeli team.
Sweden are represented by Robert Lindstedt, Simon Aspelin, Bjorn Rehnquist and Daniel Berta. Veteran Thomas Johansson has been practicing with the Swedish team.
“We’re here since Sunday and we saw him (Johansson) play every day, practicing very hard, so he’s going to play,” Sela predicted.
Johansson, the 2002 Australian Open champion, was disappointed his country won’t get the benefit of a cheering crowd.
“When you play Davis Cup on home turf you want a full house, and we think it’s too bad that there won’t be,” he said.
(Via AP; Images by Drago Prvulovic/AFP/Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports)
I was introduced to the chair umpire Carlos Bernardes by the international Media Director Craig Gabriel.
I shook hands with all the players and tossed the coin. Mariusz Fyrstenberg joked/praised me for that nice flip :P
