Ale Richard!: Melbourne 17/01/07 Part V

The French teenage sensation Richard Gasquet is one of the players whom I like very much. Though not as much as Roger Federer, I'm quite impressed with his tennis skills actually. First got to know about this young fella because he defeated Roger Federer who is world number 1. That is very impressive at that time, when Richard was not really famous yet. So he stunned me as well as the world by doing such a task. Another young player whom I have already introduced, Rafael Nadal, also managed to do that, many times over. But somehow Nadal's style of play doesn't seem to impress me that much. Anyway, here's the prodigy Richard Gasquet...

Richardssss

More Richardsss

sidetrack - Oweek and Chinese New Year

A sidetrack from the Melbourne postings. Just some updates about Oweek in Ursula Hall, also affectionately known as Ursies. This year Oweek was from 11th to 18th of February. The theme for this year's Oweek is Saints and Sinners. So we got this nice t-shirt (actually we have to pay for it, no not free) that had the 7 sins printed behind. You can even write your name on the white space at the back. In front is a print of a devil and some words.

Oweek t-shirt; On the left is the front, and the right is the back of the t-shirt. Nice colour eh

Anyway 18th of February happens to be Chinese New Year too. A very Happy New Year to all readers! On the 17th, we went to Alex's new place at UniLodge. Chern brought yu sheng and we also had steamed dumplings over there. Played some Big 2 with Ting Yi, Jay Shen, Zhong and Eun Hae too. It was great fun just gathering around for some fun, even though there's nothing quite special. Hannah, Yun Jin and Sol Yun were captivated by the racing game on PS2 at Alex's place. On the 18th, which was the 1st day of the Lunar calendar, we went to Bateman's Bay, a beach. Photos will be up soon hopefully.

Other tennis stars: Melbourne 17/01/07 Part IV

Filled with excitement after seeing Rafael Nadal, I went around checking out who's playing in the other courts. At showcourt 3, there was Thomas Johansson from Sweden playing David Ferrer from Spain. I was going for David Ferrer to win this encounter. David is a very big hitter, not a very good all-rounded player, but he still has enough tricks in his bag to show Thomas to the locker room. Thomas Johansson is pretty much past his prime I feel. Sure enough, David won, albeit in 5 sets.



Thomas Johansson

David Ferrer

The Swedish contingent of supporters for Thomas Johansson. The man in the red circle couldn't bear to watch any longer

After the Johansson-Ferrer match, it was about time for lunch. So I made my way to one of the many food stalls within Melbourne Park. I have to say that the organisers of the AO really knew how to bleed the fans, because I got a stupid ham sandwich which costs a whopping 7 bucks! A stupid hotdog costs about $5.90 too, a stupid bottle of coke costs $4.20 and sushi was also up there in the price rankings. So bled, so bled. Unless you exit the grounds, take a tram to the city and get your lunch and then travel back, the best you can do is to have your lunch there if you're hungry.

Walking around the other courts, I got to see many other tennis players.

Elena Dementieva, from Russia (with love)

Max Mirnyi, from Belarus

A junior doubles match featuring two Taiwanese girls

The guy circled is Michael Llodra, one half of the successful doubles team which won the Australian Open twice and the tennis masters cup. His partner, Fabrice Santoro, is not in this picture

The next match will be one played between French young talent Richard Gasquet, who has a history of defeating Roger Federer, and an American, Amer Delic.

Rafael Nadal: Melbourne 17/01/07 Part III

Rafael Nadal


Yup, I saw Rafael practising on this open court, and many fans were crowding around, for photos as well as for his autograph. He's still pretty young though and he's already world number 2! For more information about Rafael Nadal, checkout: www.rafaelnadal.com his official website. Below are a few more photos of Rafael and his big bicep.

Big bicep boy

Nadal on the serve

Why is he frowning? Because he can't become world number 1

The hitting begins: Melbourne 17/01/07 Part II

I entered showcourt 2 which was a rather large arena which could probably accommodate 2 thousand plus spectators. The arena was relatively empty as I entered, as it was still early. There were 2 players training on the court.

Using the court for training before the match begins

The crowd, waiting for the match to start

As I saw on the scoreboard, the first match of the day, beginning at 11am was a match between the once great player, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and a relatively unknown player by the name of Danai Udomchoke. Juan is Spanish, and Danai is Thai. Wow an Asian player! I hope he doesn't choke (u don't choke - udomchoke). Just a joke. Anyway he's got many supporters in the crowd, mainly Thai, and there were in fact 2 behind me. This is looking pretty good for Asian tennis I suppose, especially with the recent rise of female Chinese players.

Here comes Mr Ferrero, nicknamed the Mosquito

Udomchoke and Ferrero face-off!

Here is Juan Carlos

Doing a smash

On the serve

A rare shot of Juan Carlos's opponent, Danai from Thailand

Ferrero on the receiving end

Danai on the serve. Well he's certainly not choking

The result turned out to be quite an upset for Ferrero as Udomchoke won in 4 sets 7-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. Well bye bye Ferrero, and Hello Udomchoke! Could he replace Paradorn Srichapan as Thailand's number 1?

Yeah the result turned out to be quite surprising, but this is good for Asian tennis I suppose. Some of the spectators who turned out to watch Ferrero win were quite disappointed and left halfway during the match. I even heard someone commented, "I can't watch this anymore, this is spastic!" Well, the match was quite good, and it's nothing close to spastic.

Danai had many supporters in the crowd, and the Thai supporters were shouting for him, something like "Nai susu" which I reckon they want some milk? Because Nai in Mandarin is milk and susu in Bahasa Melayu means milk as well! So Danai.....got milk?

After the match, I walked out to one of the courts where many people were gathered. Ooh, my first glimpse of a top ten player on the court doing some training. Guess who?

To The Games!: Melbourne 17/01/07 Part I

The beginning of a new day! I headed for the Australian Open today, getting a groundpass for $29 at the Ticketek booth at the Visitor's Centre at Federation Square. The groundpass allows a person to enter Melbourne Park and view tennis at all courts except the Rod Laver Arena. Which means I can get to enter the Vodafone Arena, which is the only other court which has a closable roof but subject to available seating, and other smaller courts like the Margaret Court Arena, Show Court 2 and 3, and the rest of the smaller courts. To get tickets for the Australian Open online, checkout: http://premier.ticketek.com.au/

Had breakfast at this cafe which sells many cakes. A bit pricey though

Queuing up to get into Melbourne Park. Don't these people have to work?

Getting ready for reporting

Rod Laver Arena in the distance

IBM updated scoreboard