Macau Tennis Showdown: Roger Federer wraps up Asian exhibition with another win

Roger Federer wraps up his 2008 season in Macau last night as he, James Blake, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe conclude this week's lucrative pair of Asian paydays.

Personally I don't care about the results as these are only exhibition tours.

Nevertheless, here are the final scores:

Kuala Lumpur
Borg vs McENROE 6-7 (11-13)
FEDERER vs Blake 7-6 (10-7)
TEAM AMERICA (McEnroe & Blake) vs Team Europe (Borg & Federer) 7-5

Macau
BORG vs McEnroe 7-6
FEDERER vs Blake 6-4, 6-4
Team America (McEnroe & Blake) vs Team Europe (Borg & Federer) (No results provided)

Here are some photos before and during the exhibition match as well as post match press conference photos in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week.

Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

And here are some photos of the players in gondolas during their appearance at the Macau Tennis Showdown at the Venetian resort.

While Roger and Blake have wrapped up their Asian exhibition, Borg and McEnroe will continue to play in Bangkok tomorrow.

(Images via Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images)

Kei Nishikori is back in Japan, kicks football at Sony event

It's been awhile since we heard from Kei Nishikori.

According to bunny in MTF, Kei is back in Shimane for holiday and perhaps for some work.

Just like Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic, Kei took time to visit a local primary school where he used to be a student.

Kei was welcomed by about 1,000 students at the school!

He told the kids that when he was a student there, he had a big dream about tennis and he has wonderful memories from the school.

In the Q&A session, a girl asked him what she sholud do to make her dream of becoming a piano teacher true. Kei told the girl that it's important that she continues to like piano.

He also held a press conference at the school where he said he wanted to enter Top 50 as soon as he can and to win consistently in many tournaments.

In another event later, Kei was in Tokyo for a Sony event.

In one of the interviews he was quoted as saying that he wants to reach last 8 at Australian Open! He also said he want to stay injury free and reach top 50 as soon as he can.

Here are some photos from the event where Kei shows off his football juggling skills.


(Via menstennisforums.com; Images via sankei.jp.msn.com)

Mirka spotted grocery shopping in Malaysia!

While Roger Federer was at the meet-the-fans session, Esther who had just attended the tennis clinic conducted James Blake, walked towards the Mandarin Oriental hotel entrance.

By the way Esther is a huge tennis fan (and also very tennis-savvy) whom I get to know through my blog. For the past one year we have been exchanging information and she helped me a lot in doing research and contacting media and organisers as well.

There she bumped into Mirka. It wasn't easy to get a personal photo with Mirka but Esther was really lucky that day (*Esther just gave me the green light to post her photo with Mirka here).

I walked back to Mandarin Oriental after Roger's meet-the-fans session and reunited with Esther.

At the hotel lobby, we saw Mirka coming back from grocery shopping! Not sure what she bought though. The yellow plastic bag shows two chinese/japanese-looking characters.

We asked for photos but she declined and kept saying, "Sorry, I don't take photos. Sorry!"

So we let her go :D

Later in the evening, Esther, Siti (a tennis fan whom we met that day) and I walked back from Starbucks towards the hotel lobby hoping to catch the players before they head to the stadium.

On the way, we saw Mirka again! She was right in front of us and we asked for photos again.

She refused to take photos and repeated sorry countless times, "Sorry, I don't take photos. Sorry!"

Then Mirka and her lady friend walked towards KLCC for shopping. It seems like nobody recognize Mirka.

Now I must tell you how regretful I am for not following Mirka to the shopping mall. Then we saw her coming back to the hotel in a new black and white striped cardigan.



She was late and Roger had to wait for her for awhile before they headed to the stadium for the exhibition match.

James Blake at tennis clinic for kids in Malaysia

While Roger Federer were meeting fans at KLCC, James Blake spent his time conducting a sparring session with 16 national junior players at the Mandarin Oriental tennis arena in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

I spent some time at this clinic before dashing to the meet-the-fans session. Esther stayed on and managed shoot a lot of great photos.

The juniors received tips on footwork, service and other techniques.

Blake reminded them to concentrate on improving their footwork as it's the most important part of tennis.

"Tennis is a game of movement. Correct footwork can mean the difference between winning and losing," said Blake.

Among those who attended the clinic were national Under-10 champion Talhah Rahizam, Faiz Samsuddin, Tobias Waldau and Damien Rocky.

Talhah, the son of national coach Rahizam Rahin, and Faiz were the stars of the day when they managed to earn a few points during the coaching-cum-sparring session with Blake.

Talhah said it's a dream come true to spar with Blake and win points.

"My ambition is to become a world class player and the session with Blake is something I will cherish forever," said the 10-year-old Talhah.

Here's a great photo of Blake. No wonder Evian water wants to partner with him.

(Via News Straits Time)