2009 Davis Cup Group II Asia/Oceania: Malaysia vs Kuwait in relegation play-off

The national tennis players in my country are going to have a tough job this weekend.

Team Malaysia will have to be at their best to remain in Group II, Asia/Oceania Zone when they meet Team Kuwait in a relegation play-off for the next 3 days.

Since the country's no. 2 Adam Jaya has injured himself during the recent Malaysia Futures tournament, 40-year old V. Selvam is chosen to join his younger team mates in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas tie.

If you are free and have nothing better to do from Friday to Sunday, please head to the National Tennis Centre, Kuala Lumpur. Matches start from 4 p.m. except on Saturday. Admission is free.

Check out the OOP below:

1st day, 10 July 2009 Friday, 4pm
First Singles Match
Si Yew Meng, MAS VS Ahmad Rabeeca Muhammad, KUW

Second Singles Match
Razlan Rawi, MAS VS Mohammed Ghareeb, KUW

2nd Day, 11 July 2009 Saturday, 5pm
Doubles Match
V.Selvam & Si Yew Meng, MAS VS Mohammed Ghareeb & Ahmad Rabeeca Muhammad, KUW

3rd Day, 12 July 2009 Sunday, 4pm
First Singles Match
Si Yew Meng, MAS VS Mohammed Ghareeb, KUW

Second Singles Match
Razlan Rawi, MAS VS Ahmad Rabeeca Muhammad, KUW

Team Kuwait: Mohammad Ghareeb, Hassan Al Mousa, Musaad Al Jazzaf, Ahmad Rabeea Muhammad, Khaled Al Foudari (Captain)

Team Malaysia: Yew-Ming Si, Selvam Veerasingam, Razlan Rawi, Abd-Hazli Bin Zainuddin, Singaram Selvarajoo (Captain)

(Images by LTAM)

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)

Rafael Nadal chills while Roger Federer makes history

While Roger Federer was celebrating the best moment of his life, Rafael Nadal was enjoying a quiet moment at a yacht club near his home in Palma De Mallorca, Spain on Monday.

Sporting the famous "RAFA" t-shirt from the Australian Open and a pair of red shorts, he looked rather relaxed as he prepared to do some sailing.

Nadal who lost his number one ATP ranking to Federer is targeting his return to tennis at the Montreal Masters in August.

(Images via celebrity-gossip.net)

2009 Davis Cup Quarterfinals matchups

As usual I'm not too keen about Davis Cup.

That simply because I don't get to watch the events LIVE on TV in my country.

Besides with Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Andy Roddick out of this team competition, it just gives me more reasons not to watch it on live stream.

If you can't watch it on TV in your country, you can always count on atdhe.net.

Anyway here are the matchups and photos (can't find Team Argentina, Team Israel and Team Czech Republic photos yet).

The Davis Cup world group quarterfinal ties beginning Friday (all times GMT).

CROATIA v UNITED STATES
Venue: Sportska Dvorana, Porec, Croatia
Surface: Indoor clay
Times: Friday (1400), Saturday (1330), Sunday (1400)
Head-to-head: Croatia lead 2-0

CZECH REPUBLIC v ARGENTINA
Venue: Cez Arena, Ostrava
Surface: Indoor hard courts
Times: Friday (1300), Saturday (1200), Sunday (1100)
Head-to-head: Czech Republic lead 2-1

ISRAEL v RUSSIA
Venue: Sport Palaces, Tel Aviv
Surface: Indoor hard court
Times: Friday (1000), Saturday (1200), Sunday (1200)
Head-to-head: Russia lead 1-0

SPAIN v GERMANY
Venue: Plaza de Toros de Puerto Banus, Marbella
Surface: Outdoor clay
Times: Friday (1100), Saturday (1400), Sunday (1100)
Head-to-head: Germany lead 9-5

SPAIN team: Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Feliciano Lopez; Captain: Albert Costa

GERMANY team: Philipp Kohlschreiber, Nicolas Kiefer, Mischa Zverev, Andreas Beck; Captain: Patrik Kuhnen

RUSSIA team: Igor Kunitsyn, Marat Safin, Igor Andreev, Mikhail Youzhny; Captain: Shamil Tarpischev

UNITED STATES team: Mardy Fish, James Blake, Mike Bryan, Bob Bryan; Captain: Patrick McEnroe

The other members of the following teams are:

CROATIA: Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, Roko Karanusic, Lovro Zovko; Captain: Goran Prpic

CZECH REPUBLIC: Tomas Berdych, Radek Stepanek, Ivo Minar, Lukas Dlouhy; Captain: Jaroslav Navratil

ARGENTINA: Juan Martin del Potro, Jose Acasuso, Leonardo Mayer, Juan Monaco; Captain: Tito Vasquez

ISRAEL: Dudi Sela, Harel Levy, Jonathan Erlich, Andy Ram; Captain: Eyal Ran

(Images via Getty Images)