TENNIS WATCH: What's up Down Under?

• Earlier this week, Andy Roddick and wife Brooklyn Decker visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane.

But guess who steal the show?

Roddick tweeted about two koalas making love that stole the limelight during his visit.

• The protest at Israeli Shahar Peer's match ended with an arrest today. The demonstrators belonged to local activist groups opposed to Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
  

Peer said the noise was disruptive but only increased her determination to win. She won 6-0, 6-1 against Magdalena Rybarikova.

More protests are planned for tomorrow. I guess this will continue until the Australian Open later this month.

• The recently retired Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro may play in Australian Open. If he does, he'll be the only player to have played Grand Slam events across four decades. He first made his Slam debut at the French Open in 1989.

• Now all top players want to participate in the Kooyong exhibition, including Robin Soderling who confirmed his presence after losing in the first round of Chennai.

Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco, Fernando Gonzalez, Tommy Haas are also booked for the eight-player round robin event.

One last spot is currently being held for Roger Federer who's in taking part in the Qatar Open this week.

Andy Murray and Andy Roddick also have indicated that they may want to play at Kooyong if they do not get sufficient preparation this week.

TENNIS WATCH: First post of 2010

Here's some brief updates on what had happened recently.

• Rafael Nadal kicked off the new year by beating his has defeated Robin Soderling 7-6(2), 6-4 to win the Abu Dhabi exhibition.

• Maria Sharapova outplayed Venus Williams to take a 6-3, 6-4 victory in an exhibition match in Hua Hin, Thailand last Saturday.

• The Auckland Tennis centre, hosting the WTA Tour's Auckland Classic, was evacuated today after a security scare over an unattended bag.
  
  Police said the bomb scare was not linked to the public street protest held outside the tennis centre against Shahar Peer.

"It's the second year in a row I have a demonstration against me. They shouted "shahar pe'er go away," she wrote on her Twitter account. "[I]t's a shame!!!"

• Still on Peer, the WTA has confirmed that the Israeli will receive a visa to play in Dubai this year.

• In Doha, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal play a unique game of tennis on a magic carpet in the Souq Waqif to kick off the 2010 ATP World Tour season at the Qatar Open. Check out this video:
  

  
  
  

Shahar Peer, Melinda Czink win in Guangzhou, Quebec City respectively

Controversial Israeli player Shahar Peer won her first WTA Tour title in three years, beating Alberta Brianti 6-3, 6-4 in the Guangzhou Open final.

Peer’s last championships came in Prague, Istanbul and Pattaya in 2006.

In the doubles event, Olga Govortsova and Tatiana Poutchek win their first title after defeating Date Krumm and Tiantian Sun .

In Quebec City, Melinda Czink won her first career singles title after beating Lucie Safarova 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 at the Bell Challenge on Sunday.

In the doubles final, Vania King and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova defeated Sofia Arvidsson and Severine Bremond-Beltrame 6-1, 6-3.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Alize Cornet pays tribute to Mathieu Montcourt

French no.1 Alize Cornet was seen wearing a patch with Mathieu Montcourt's name on it yesterday.

Obviously Cornet is still mourning the loss of her friend and fellow compatriot.

A defending champion last year, Cornet gave in to Shahar Peer losing 2-6, 0-6 in the second round of the Budapest Grand Prix.

Updates:
Here's a message (in French) from Cornet on her website:

"Je suis extrêmement choquée et émue par la disparition de Mathieu. A vrai dire, je n’arrive toujours pas à réaliser qu’il n’est plus parmi nous, que je ne croiserai plus ce garçon si gentil que j’avais l’habitude de côtoyer sur certains tournois.

Je voudrais témoigner tout mon soutien pour cette terrible épreuve a sa famille et ses proches. J’essayerai de lui rendre hommage tout a l’heure sur le terrain en portant un badge à son nom, pour que personne n’oublie a quel point son décès est déchirant pour moi et pour le monde du tennis en général, que l’on ait connu Mathieu de prés ou de loin.Repose en paix cher Mathieu, et courage a ceux qui restent."

(Image by Getty Images)

Novak Djokovic 'flies himself' to Dubai; Andy Roddick 'flies kite'

Yesterday, Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships top seed and world. 3 Novak Djokovic had his first experience in a flight simulator courtesy of Emirates.

The A380 flight took Djokovic on his chosen route, from Belgrade to Dubai. He flew with Emirates Captain Milan Kosanovic, a fellow Serbian.

“It’s always fun to do this kind of activities in Dubai, last year I skied indoors at the Mall of Emirates and this year the flight simulator. I had so much fun, it looked so real,” said Djokovic.

On the other hand, Andy Roddick, who won at Memphis last weekend, 'flies kite' (translated from Cantonese 'FFK') by withdrawing from the tournament as a protest to the UAE's decision not to grant Israeli player Shahar Peer a visa to compete in last week’s women’s event.

Shahar Peer denied visa by UAE; Dubai could lose its WTA membership

Why me???

Israeli Shahar Peer caught up in a political controversy (what else?!) again.

The UAE refused to grant a visa to Shahar, which means preventing her from competing in the Barclays Dubai.

WTA said it was "deeply disappointed" that Peer was being denied entry to the country hosting the tournament.

However WTA did not cancel the tournament.

The move is against WTA policy, whereby no player should be barred from competing in a tournament for which she has qualified.

Dubai could lose its WTA membership next year over the ban on Shahar, according to the WTA's rules.

"We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) denying Shahar Peer a visa that would permit her to enter the country to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships," said Larry Scott, chairman and chief executive of the tour.

"Ms. Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it is regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right."

"Following various consultations, the Tour has decided to allow the tournament to continue to be played this week, pending further review by the Tour's Board of Directors."

"Ms. Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally, and the Tour is reviewing appropriate remedies for Ms. Peer, and also will review appropriate future actions with regard to the future of the Dubai tournament," Scott said.

"The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour believes very strongly, and has a clear rule and policy, that no host country should deny a player the right to compete at a tournament for which she has qualified by ranking."

The Dubai Tennis Championships began Sunday and a cool 2 million dollars in prize money is at stake.

Updates
While I believe a player shouldn't be denied his/her rights to play in any tournament he/she qualified for, let us just face it and accept that this practice is nothing new.

For example, Pakistani player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi was simply delayed in his Indian visa resulted in his non participation in Chennai Open.

Read Reem's blog here (she's from Eygpt) and try to understand her point of view too.

I think Shahar and all of us have to start accepting the fact that she'll possibly be denied visas in other Islamic countries too.

At this moment Shahar should stay out of controversies until the political tension has improved (I wonder when) and play in only countries where is she welcomed.

(Via cnn.com; Image by Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images)

Israeli Shahar Peer rejected calls to pull out over Israel’s invasion of Gaza

Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer has rejected calls for her withdrawal from the ASB Classic tennis tournament over Israel’s invasion of Gaza, saying she can take no responsibility for her nation’s military action.

A New Zealand protest group, Peace and Justice Auckland, said they had written to Peer asking her to withdraw from the WTA tournament as part of a comprehensive international boycott of Israel.

The group said they had not received any reply from Peer and would protest outside the tournament venue tomorrow when the 5th seeded player was scheduled to play a quarterfinals match.

“On the eve of the tournament last Sunday evening we wrote to Shahar requesting she respect international calls for a comprehensive boycott of Israel and withdraw from the tournament,” protest leader John Minto said in a statement.

Peer was provided with extra security as she played a second round match Wednesday, beating Barbora Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

She later told journalists she could do nothing about the politics of the Middle East.

“I have nothing to do with this,” she said.

“I’m Shahar Peer. I came here to play tennis. I know I’m from Israel and I’m proud of my country and that playing tennis is what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

Peer, 21, said she had tried to ignore the events in Gaza but her own brother, a military reservist, had been called up.

“Two days ago, I was crying a bit, actually more than a bit, so it was a hard time for me,” she said.

“I hope as soon as possible it will end and we will all be happy, because no one wants to be in a war.”

Peer said she had never previously been the focus of protests and had even been the first Israeli to play in the Muslim country of Doha, Qatar, where she was warmly received.

She said the protesters had the right to express their view.

“It’s their choice and they are choosing what they want to do,” she said.

Peace and Justice Auckland said its letter to Peer highlighted the attacks and invasion of Gaza by the Israeli army and the heavy death toll of Palestinians.

“The sports boycott of Israel is a key part of any boycott campaign because it is much more visible than a trade or investment boycott and can have an important psychological impact,” Minto said.

“We saw this with the successful sports boycotts against apartheid South Africa which had a big impact in South Africa and around the world.”

(Via AP; Image via Yahoo! Sport)

The controversial WTA Qatar Open

No, no, no, there's nothing controversial about the dress. In the picture, tennis players Venus Williams of the United States, Russia's Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Sharapova, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Serbian Ana Ivanoic pose in traditional Qatari dresses during the opening ceremony of the WTA Qatar Total Open in Doha.

The controversial topic is about Israeli Shahar Peer who is playing on the Arab courts. Shahar Peer has become the first Israeli tennis player to compete in the Gulf region.

Setting aside Arab-Israeli differences, Peer made a successful debut at the WTA Qatar Open on Monday by defeating Slovakia's Andreja Klepac 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

"Everyone was very supportive" when she decided to go to Doha, Peer said.

"When I came here I was a little excited because I didn't know what to expect, just like every new tournament and every new place you go," she said after the match.

"I find the people are really nice here. I got a very warm welcome."

Shahar Peer looks at US tennis player Venus Williams as she enters the tennis court.

Peer said when she goes on the court "you don't think about politics, you just want to go and play tennis".

(All pictures from Getty Images)