Pinterest hack: 8th Monte Carlo title hope for Rafael Nadal

After I've learned a trick from Mashable, I've decided to apply the Pinterest hack on my page. It shouldn’t be long before online advertisers find a way to apply this technique in their marketing schemes.

Hope Nadal will overcome his left knee problem, make it to the final and clinch the Monte Carlo Masters title for the 8th time. 


No pressure. Just hope for the best!


(Image by hcfoo)

Just Fan: Rafael Nadal featuring HCFoo

Recently, I was featured on one of the episodes of Just Fan, a programme on Trace Sports HD channel.

Thanks to my former employer KDU University College and Taylor's University for allowing us to run the Giant Tennis Shot promo for the ATP 250 Malaysian Open 2011.

The French TV production crew who shot this video tagged along with us. If you’re interested in video production, there are online classes available that can get you started.

This is just a version I've made for the universities. There will be another version featuring my family, friends and colleagues.

Australian Open 2012: An unforgettable trip

The Australian Open is never my first choice among all the Grand Slam tournaments. I've dreamed about attending the French Open first but after visited the Australian Open recently, I think I'm more than lucky being able to visit one of the most tennis-loving cities in the world. The Australian Open is indeed the Happy Slam.

I was there at the tournament for only one day due to a packed itinerary. I bought the ground passes online way earlier to avoid queuing up and paying more. Made the right choice! I saw long queues at Flinders St. over the weekend before the tournament kicked off as well as the tournament site on event day.

The venue is easily accessible by train and tram. I stopped at Richmond station and walked towards a very familiar building - the Hisense Arena. It's a tennis fan's dream to attend a Grand Slam tournament and I'm glad I have achieved mine.

I've attended ATP 250 tournaments so to compare to the Australian Open, this is like 50 times bigger. I was amazed by the passionate fans from all walks of life walking down from the train and trams walking towards the entrance. Some were wearing their favourite flags and AO caps, and some would proudly carry their Australian Open tote bags.

Australian Open trademark true blue

Checking in with the barcode system was smooth despite thousands of people already queuing up earlier than me. The first thing that caught my eyes was the trademark Australian Open True Blue at the Grand Slam Oval, a multi-faceted entertainment precinct is located. I quickly queued up for body painting - I've got myself Vamos Rafa on both of my arms. I’m not sure if any of the body painters had MFA degrees, but they were doing a fantastic job!

An Australian fan got his body painted

As my trip here was restricted to only one day, I didn't intend to watch any matches. I've planned to court hop and find out what were the facilities offered.

I met up with a former colleague at the Malaysian Open last year. David Steed who worked on the IBM statistics and he gave me some tips on who were training on that day. Court 16 and 17 are top players usually training ground so if you’re at the Australian Open, you’ll probably hang out a lot here.

Stanislas Wawrinka vs Benoit Paire in the first round

There are plenty of food, beer and sun here! Surprisingly people don’t use umbrella here although it was so freaking hot. I was at Stanislas Wawrinka’s first round match and I only managed to sit through the first game!

Do check out some of the pictures I took at the tournament. The sponsors’ presence never fail to amaze me – that’s why I took many of their pictures.

At Garden Square

Heineken beer garden

Places where you can get your food and drinks

Lacoste Clubhouse and Kia

Nestle Drumstick Walk on Water 

 Rolex

Inside Lacoste Clubhouse 

Inside Hisense Arena

Janko Tipsarevic walks with style

 Marcos Baghdatis

Philipp Kohlschreiber during the first round match against Juan Monaco

Michael Llodra at the Autograph Island

Rafael Nadal 

Kim Clijsters

Juan Monaco

 Roger Federer

Maria Sharapova

Ivan Ljubicic

 Novak Djokovic the eventual champ

 Kei Nishikori

(All images belong to HCFoo's Tennis Blog)

Venus Williams set to play at the BMW Malaysian Open 2012

Good news to Malaysian fans! One half of the Williams sisters will be coming to this part of the world early next year.

CARBON Worldwide, the organiser of the WTA Tour BMW Malaysian Open, has confirmed the participation of former world no. 1 Venus Williams for the US$220,000 tournament on Feb 27-March 4 at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort.

Make sure to remind Venus not to wear her skin coloured underwear in this country or else she'll be targeted by certain religious groups here.

(Via NST)