Clash of the Titans: Rafael Nadal vs Richard Gasquet at Shah Alam

It was a night to remember especially for tennis fans in Malaysia. Having two top 10 tennis players in the world in this country is something that is far from my imagination. Thanks to the Ministry of Youths and Sports, we are able to see Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet live in Malaysia for the very first time in an exhibition match called Clash of the Titans.

The MC for the night is Mahadzir Lokman which I think is appropriate since he knows how to speak Spanish and French. The Deputy Prime Minister and wife as well as the Minister of Youths and Sports were present that night.

The match started off with a performance by a local boy band, Ruffedge. To be honest, I wish the performance is by Sheila Majid, Ning Baizura or even Siti Nurhaliza who has more class and suitable for a high profile tennis event like this.

Then the event was followed by cultural dance. It was a very Malaysian-style event. I only hope that they are able to make it more grand for such a huge event like this (the MC said the event were broadcasted to over 50 countries) and not just a few people wearing different costumes doing some simple dance moves. It's just too old school for me.

Well, most of us were already anxious for Nadal and Gasquet to emerge. And so by 8.30 p.m. the players came out and I'm so relieved that the stadium was already more than 3/4 occupied. I managed to get a good sight of the players as I managed to move from my RM83 seat to a RM388 seat!

The MC asked some questions before we were introduced to the umpire who is a former national tennis player. The players warm up for few minutes and fans were already cheering seeing some great sharp returns made by the players. The show haven't started and you can see how good these guys are.

To cut the story short, the score for the night is 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 with Nadal winning the exhibition match. Through out the match, I managed to get to see Nadal's butt picking habit (!), fist pumping but there's no adjusting socks, placement of water bottles or any other rituals he normally do. Perhaps, it's just only an exhibition match. But Nadal seemed to be having a lot of fun and showing some tricks compares to Gasquet. By the third set, Gasquet was already tired and gave up although I wish this set could end up with a tie break.

The night would have been a perfect if the linesmen do their jobs well. Even the umpire made a few wrong calls that night. Speaking about professionalism in tennis, we are still very far behind. Even the Stadium Melawati needs some face lifting job done. I can't believe these world top players are playing in such a poor venue like this. Don't they have a better tennis court in Bukit Jalil?

Now, Roger Federer will be arriving Malaysia today with Pete Sampras. According to the organizer, they will be flying in through private jet and will land in Subang Airport instead of KLIA. I'm not sure if there's any changes in their flight schedule but you can check with the organizer by calling them up.

For Nadal's fans, I'll put up more pictures as soon as I've uploaded more pictures from the camera.

10 reasons why you must watch Nadal instead of Federer

Okay, I've just checked out Ticketpro.com.my about the exhibition match for Malaysia Independence Tennis Festival and tickets are selling fast for the Clash of the Times match between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras. Many of the expensive seats were sold out!

Now, the same thing is not happening to the 'special match' (as mentioned in the Ticketpro website) between Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet. As Nadal's huge fan, I'm going to list my 10 reasons why you should watch Nadal vs Gasquet match instead of Federer vs Sampras.

Nadal vs Gasquet	Federer vs Sampras
1. For the energetic and young crowd.	For the boring and conservative crowd.
2. A lot of muscles and good looks.	Only hairy chests.
3. Better hairstyle.	Boring hairstyle and losing hair.
4. A lot of rally and running around. Expect a longer match that makes your money worth.	Big serve and a lot of aces. Expect a shorter match.
5. They are the new generation of tennis players that rule the tennis court.	Federer still rules the tennis court but Sampras has retired since 2002.
6. They are rivals in today’s tennis sport. Expect a ‘real match’.	Merely play for exhibition purpose. Not a ‘real match’.
7. Intense celebration whenever Nadal wins a point or a match.	Selamba or rarely showing any emotion when winning points or match.
8. Watch Nadal’s obsessive compulsive bum groping	Nothing unique
9. Left-handed player vs right-handed player is always more interesting to watch.	Right-handed vs right-handed.
10. Better choice of seats.	Limited choice of seats as many tickets has been sold out.

Live in Malaysia: Fedex vs Pistol Pete and Nadal vs Gasquet

Thanks to an anonymous reader, he/she informed me about the availability of the tickets for exhibition match Malaysia Independence Tennis Festival this coming November.

The first exhibition match is going to be between Rafael Nadal (yes!) and Richard Gasquet on November 20th at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam. Price tickets range from RM83 to RM403. Kinda pricey but I think I'll just settle for RM83 seat if I don't get any free tickets from my Sis's friend. And probably I should invest on a good binocular.

Then there's this Clash of the Times between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras on November 22nd and tickets range from RM83 to RM443. I'm not sure if I wanna watch this match but catching a glimpse of Fedex and my former tennis idol, Pistol Pete, is going to be great.

For more information go to Ticketpro or call them at +603 7880 7999.

Nadal to play in Shah Alam too this November?

Although I'm not 100% sure about this, but my source said that Rafael Nadal is definitely coming to Malaysia!

I don't understand why The Star want to keep the news tightly to themselves by not mentioning Nadal's name in the exhibition match in Shah Alam. NST sounds more sincere in letting us tennis fans know that not only Fedex and Pistol Pete will be visiting us in November, but also Nadal, the indisputable clay court specialist.

My source also said that Nadal will be playing against a local veteran tennis player. The only player that I can think of is none other than Adam Malik. Since this is an exhibition match, I don't mind settle for this match although I would like to see Fedex play against Nadal in my homegrown.

And by the way, to those of you who came into my blog searching for places to get the tickets to this exhibition match, don't worry because the organizers have not make an announcement yet. Give them some time and you guys will see it in papers.

more on tennis: live in Malaysia and Roland Garros

It seems that The Star did not mentioned about Nadal playing in Shah Alam this coming November. However, the news in New Straits Times (NST) reported otherwise, that Nadal is going to play against a mystery opponent.

I wonder why the news are not consistent. Well, I want to believe NST because I don't really trust anything reported (or not reported) by The Star. The most popular local English newspaper has the tendency not to report certain news to protect their personal interest. Well, of course I also want to believe that Nadal is coming to town.

Meanwhile, my sister might be able to get free passes for me to watch Fedex and Pistol Pete in action. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


Anyway, tomorrow will be the first day of the French Open. It's my favourite Grand Slam since Michael Chang won the championship in 1989. I'm sure if you remember, that was one of the proudest and memorable moment for all Asian and Chinese people around the world.

Okay, no more mentioning about Nadal now. Will save it for his first round match.

omigod! Fedex and Nadal to play in Shah Alam?!

Am I dreaming or what? Slap me. Pinch me. Omigod! Can you believe it? Can you actually believe that Federer and Nadal are going to play in Malaysia? And my tennis hero of all time, Pete Sampras whom I watched playing on television since I was a kid is going to join those top players as well in Shah Alam.

I googled for Nadal's latest updates at Hamburg Open and to my surprise, I came across this news from The News Straits Times online.

I'm already planning a trip to Bangkok Open this September when I know that Nadal is going to be there. But having my favourite clay court specialist in my homeland is something I can't imagine of! Oh my, am I still dreaming?

Despite all the things our Tourism Minister said about bloggers, I'm going to love him for one second because he's going to officially announce the exhibition match this Wednesday. I just hope the tickets are not going to cost a fortune or I'll just go to Bangkok instead. And I'm not sure if it's going to be easy to get a ticket. Anyone running the event, please contact me about the details on ticketing (if you are interested to find volunteers, you can drop me a line too).

It's Visit Malaysia Year and there's no better way to promote our country than to have these top players playing in our country.