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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The organizer did not provide an umbrella for Rendy to walk from the players lounge to the indoor stadium to continue the semifinal match.
- 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.
- 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.
Now don't worry about Laura Dundovic's arm over Lleyton Hewitt's shoulder.
The 2008 Miss Universe Australia said she's a fan of Hewitt's wife, Bec instead of the tennis player.
"When I was in primary school (Bec) went to the school around the corner from me and one day I chased her down for an autograph because I absolutely loved her and Home and Away," said Dundovic.
Dundovic and Hewitt were at the launch of his fundraising auction site eSwap in aid of Cure Out Kids, a children's cancer charity, at Travelscene yesterday in Sydney, Australia.
Although Bec wasn't fronting the cameras for the fundraiser, Hewitt said his wife - who is 6 months pregnant with their second child - is the brains behind Cure Our Kids.
Items being auctioned on the website include the tennis racquet used by world No.1 Rafael Nadal (notice the racquet held by Dundovic) when he beat Roger Federer in this year's Wimbledon final, Ana Ivanovic's pink tennis dress from her French Open win, as well as items from celebrities including Russell Crowe, Andre Agassi, Gwen Stefani, Toni Collette and Hugh Jackman.
"We've got a signed shirt from Federer that he actually gave me after he beat me, which is the last thing you want to see from someone who has beaten you in the locker room," Hewitt said.
By the way, Miss Dundovic also offered a date with her gorgeous self to the highest bidder.
(Via news.com.au, heraldsun.com.au, Images via Gaye Gerard/Getty Images AsiaPac, Women's Weekly)
It was pizza all-around for ballboys and girls after Roger Federer claimed the title at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Tournament last weekend.
However, it's a different story with two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin who is now considering retirement after a 6-0, 7-6 (4) loss to Juan Monaco in the first round of the Paris Masters yesterday.
Safin, a former top-ranked player and a three-time champion at the Paris tournament, wants a long break before making a decision. “I don’t know what happened. Just couldn’t find my rhythm and couldn’t find the game,” the 28-year-old Russian said.
“I need to think everything through. I have no pressure and I have nothing to prove or show. I just want to be comfortable with my decision, whatever I will take.”
“I need to sit down and relax and just enjoy my life without any tennis (for) a couple of months and then I will see,” Safin said. “If I feel like I want to continue to play, I will. If not, it will be over.”
Safin won the U.S. Open in 2000 and the Australian Open in 2005. He hasn’t won a tour title since the victory in Australia.“I’ve been struggling throughout my career with injuries left and right,” said Safin, who is ranked 31st.
“It’s a little bit uncomfortable to find yourself in the top 10 for many years and to find yourself ranked 70 and 30 and 50 … It’s not really a comfortable position.”
(Via Yahoo! Sport)
Down the Line reported on Rafael Nadal and girlfriend Maria Francesca Perello or better known as Xisca arriving in Paris in a rather stylish manner earlier this week.
Later that evening, the lovely young couple headed for a dinner with Nadal continued his argyle ways with the same scarf. 
Back to business at the BNP Paribas Masters, Nadal who is last year's runner-up finds himself in a quarter of the draw dominated by qualifiers – of the six players looking to secure a spot in the main tournament over the weekend, five are in the Majorcan's section. 
