Friday, December 21, 2007 @6:28 AM
Yinfei will be off to Hokkaido tomorrow at midnight for the third straight time! Ok ok, I'll go somewhere else next year. Everyone has been giving me weird looks and demanding to know why on earth I want to go to Japan AGAIN. But how often do you get to go skiing? Once a year. :( So I might as well go. :D
After two very unpleasant experiences of flying at night, Yinfei has grown wiser and has decided not to fight fate. She obviously cannot get to sleep on a plane at night. My dad booked business class seats this time in the hope that I might be able to get to sleep easier if the seats are wider, but I know it's useless. So instead, I shall be off to bed at 11.30 tonight and up at 1 p.m. tomorrow. :D Decadent, yes, but it's to make up for the loss of sleep on the plane tomorrow night. So I shall basically be up the whole night tomorrow. The movies had better be good, otherwise I shall just die of boredom. My mum and dad will be fast asleep, so no talking. :( Just in case the movies suck (and believe me, Japan airlines movies really do suck), I'm bringing The Golden Compass along to read. XD I remember bringing The Half-Blood Prince last year, and Pride and Prejudice the year before. XD
If I could have it my way, here's what the airlines should have:
- an entire collection of tennis matches from all four Slams (every single match!) from the past ten years! (paradise! XD)
- POTO! :D :D :D
- Yamakasi!
- Pride and Prejudice
I hear people asking me why not The Pianist, King Kong or Casino Royale. Hmmm. Because I'm such a fair person, I readily admit that those are not exactly very good movies, perhaps with the exception of Casino Royale, which is fairly exciting. You know, I watch those only for the eye candy. XD But POTO, yamakasi and p&p are really movies that I never ever tire of. XD I lost count of the number of times I've watched POTO, and I watched both yamakasi and p&p at least four times each. Somehow I never tire of them. I can watch them again and again and still I like them just as much. I admit that I got bored of King Kong after watching it three times. XD I wouldn't mind watching Casino Royale one more time, but no more. But each time I hear that familiar "In sleep he sang to me...", I get that familiar tingling in my spine. XD
On a different note, I'd like to say this:
RADEK STEPANEK IS SUCH A BIG JERK. GRRRRRRR.
Just less than four months after breaking off his engagement with Martina Hingis, he's now engaged to Nicole Vaidisova. On top of that, they've applied for this liscence which says that they must be married within 60 days (or something to that effect, I'm very muddled about this), so they'll most likely be married before the AO next month. WTH he's 29, and Nicole's only 18! It wouldn't be so bad if he didn't look like he's already 40. And how could he do this to Martina! He's practically just broken up with her, and already he's engaged to someone else. And just when she's going through this rough period with the drug scandal and all. :(
My dad said: "What's so good about this Stepanek that all the pretty girls are going to him? He must have knocked them senseless with a doorknob or something, and Martina came to her senses just in time."
Haha lolz.
Just watched ATP, and since the season's over, they're now showing what the players get up to when there're no tournaments.
- Rafa took a lesson in cricket. XD He swung the bat without looking who's behind him, and he almost hit the coach's head. AHAHAHA.
- Gonzo took a lesson in cycling. He looks HILARIOUS in that tight suit!
- David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro visited a brewery and learnt how the people make beer. And then they drank tonnes of it later.
- Fed went for a photoshoot posing as King Arthur. He dressed up in armour and a long cape and held a sword. XD I laughed a lot.
- Igor Andreev took a cruise with his girlfriend Maria Kirilenko. I DIDN'T KNOW THAT THEY WERE TOGETHER! ZOMG!
- Paul-Henri learnt how to throw a boomerang. It didn't work out. XD He spent most of the time running into the forest to retrieve it. Ahaha.
- Richie went roaming around France trying out all the restaurants. XD
ATP, I can't thank you enough. XD
Tuesday, December 18, 2007 @3:46 AM
I have to say that I'm slightly disappointed with The Golden Compass. Not the book of course, I loved that. It was the movie. :(
Ok, actually the movie's quite nice too, but it'd have been so much nicer if they hadn't left out that whole chunk at the end. :(( Hello, I thought that was the most important part! When Lyra and co were sailing away in the balloon, I totally wasn't prepared for the movie to end yet. I was still waiting for the all-important ending to come, and then all of a sudden, the whole screen went black and the lights in the cinema went on. I was like, "Huh?! Ended already?!" :(
*sads*
IMDB says:
"The events which comprise the final portion of the first book had been already filmed, and brief portions can be glimpsed in the trailers. However, the scenes were removed. According to several reviews: "'There was tremendous marketing pressure for that,' Weitz said. 'Everyone really wanted an upbeat ending.'" These scenes will be the first portion of the sequel, The Subtle Knife, if/when that movie is made."
WHAT upbeat ending. That just tricks those people who haven't read the book. And for those who have, they'd already know that there's no upbeat ending anyway. Sighz.
Another disappointment is the casting of Sam Elliot as Lee Scorseby! WHYYYYYYYYYYY. (before fans of the film start abusing me, let me make it clear that I think the rest of the casting is perfect. Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter is perfect, she's creepy yet elegant. Daniel Craig does look the part of Lord Asriel, except that he could be taller. Dakota's perfect, I totally love her. :) Eva Green looks just like Serafina, no complaints there either.)
*wails*
*wails some more*
1) "He was a tall, lean man"
Sam Elliot is plump!
2) "with a thin black moustache"
Hello, this means he's young. Sam Elliot's all white and old!
3) "I'd like to end my days in comfort."
Not, "My days are about to end", which is what Sam Elliot looks like.
I don't care, that is NOT how Lee Scorseby looks like. Isnotisnotisnot.
*looks around for someone to agree with me*
*is greeted with silence*
Damn.
Saturday, December 15, 2007 @1:14 AM
You know you're slightly out of your mind when you're reading the newspaper and:
- you come across an article on EU airlines relaxing its rules on bringing liquor on board, and read about a guy who's going on a business trip to france, switzerland, and england, and you think, "richie, fed and andy!"
- you come across another article on the terracotta figures in a german museum being not original, and you think, "the terracotta figures at the masters cup!"
- reading the same article, you are even more excited by the fact that the number of fake figures is eight
- reading further on in the same article, you note that it's the hamburg museum, and you think, "hamburg masters!"
So am I out of my mind? XD Just slightly, I suppose.
My mum was yelling the other day when I was watching the AO rewind: "YINFEI AH CAN YOU PLEASE STOP WASTING YOUR TIME?!? YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING!!! I BET ZHIHUA HAS READ ALL HER NEWSWEEK ALREADY! AND YOU?!? EVERYDAY TENNIS TENNIS TENNIS! WHAT IS THE POINT OF WATCHING TENNIS AH?!?"
I strongly disagree with the above statement, because
(a) I don't think it's a waste of time!
(b) It's the hols! WHAT studying?!?
Fine, I don't disagree that Zhihua has read all her newsweeks. ><
(c) I do NOT watch it everyday! Mainly because there's practically NOTHING on TV these days. (searching and reading on the net, however...that's a different story :D)
(d) There's a lot of point in watching it!
Cough.
I have been just brushing through all the SEA games articles without much interest, until yesterday when I saw the title "Danai poised for second win". Now, who can this be but Danai Udomchoke? So of course I read it. Yes. Basically about him reaching the finals of the SEA games, against some Fillipino person. Or was it? I can't remember. They called him a "hotshot". I ROFL-ed, considering he was out in the second round of Roland Garros. My dad says it just goes to show that "yi shan hai you yi shan gao". But then today's news said that he lost to that Fillipino person. And apparently he beat Juanqui at AO?!? They say he got to the third round after beating him, before losing to Djokovic. Gosh.
(hey I'm trying to post about something else! no success though. ><)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 @4:03 AM
For some reason, the image search on google has disappeared. On my com, at least. Great. Just great. I wanna know how Irina Davydenko looks like! Strange, she was at the Davies Cup, yet I watched through the match and didn't see her. I think the camera should show the WAGs more often. Sure, it shows Mirka, Mirka, and more Mirka every Fed match, and some of Bec Hewitt. But the rest, nil. Fine, I'm assuming the wags do come to the matches. I've only managed to catch a two-second glimpse of Xisca at, what was it, Montreal?
Ah, I've got one. It's a wedding pic of her and Kolya. Awww how sweet. She looks as pretty as Zhimin said she was. Sorry if I sound kinda loony here, but I'm bored with nothing to do and I feel like blogging.
Trudging through websites, I discovered a Roger/Maria fan video. The pairing itself makes me feel quite nauseous and rather disturbed, although I must say the video is hilarious, and it realy makes it look like they're in love. XD Still does not make me a fan of the pairing though. *shudders*
Another vid I discovered was one of a 12-year-old Rafa and a 7-year-old Djokovic. Uh, not with them together of course, it's two separate videos. Of course they both looked as cute as buttons, kids can never go wrong. Yes, even Djokovic. Rafa's face and expression look just the same as they do now! :) I was ooh-ing and ahh-ing over it. He had shorter hair that time, and kind of floppy, like Tom Felton's hair. I prefer his hair now, though. XD Djokovic was making these funny sounds while hitting, which one person commented was like "a 20-year-old Sharapova shrieking". See, they're made for each other. Pity that rumour of them getting together was false. Turns out it was just a one-night stand. "What kind of one-night stand?!" Zhimin demanded to know when I told her. XD
Davies Cup 2008 draw is out, Spain faces Peru first on outdoor clay. No sweat, vamos to the Spanish armada. :D
Article which made me sputter:
Federer, Andy Roddick and Justine Henin are hardly likely to quit a tournament with a bogus injury, but the administrators might have created a bigger problem for every player with their new rule.
However, a few months ago, the ATP announced that they had finally taken the first step towards finding an answer to the problem. They have introduced a rule, only valid for doubles matches (men and women) to start with. It's called the "doubles withdrawal rule" and it is aimed at preventing players from giving up matches using false injury reasons to leave in time to get to another tournament.
And the rule is new for doubles because players 'tanking' matches is much more common in doubles than singles. It comes into effect from the second round in any tournament, no matter at what level. So a player who announces, during a match that he or she is injured and cannot continue, has two choices:
He/she can quit the match in the middle and lose all points and prize money accumulated in the tournament up to that stage (be it first round or final), or he/she can simply "tough it out" and keep playing to the end.
That is SO NOT FAIR. What if it's real? Does this mean the poor guy/girl has to tough it out and play to the end, while bearing with the pain of the injury and all, risking further aggravation and thus be in a worse condition for the next tournament, just to claim what is rightly theirs? Hellooo, ATP, get some sense! Thank goodness it's only for doubles players. But they just might stretch it to the singles too! *cries* *wails* THIS IS NO WAY TO DEAL WITH THE SITUATION! C'mon, think about it, why would a player give up a match just to catch the next tournament? Unless he/she knows that it's no chance for them. To win, I mean. In that case, he/she would lose anyway if he/she continues, so what's the point of making them continue? (a) this does not change the results (b) yes, the tough first choice would show that the injury is genuine, but is far too tough and unfair for the players and (c) if it's fake, they'd choose the second choice, but lose anyway since they mean to do that. SO WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?! I personally think the ATP should be looking closer into the Tommy H poisoning case instead of coming up with rules like this.
*deep breath*
Ok, shall not get so agitated.
Am having a very amusing convo with Joy right now, who has just discovered the wonders of fangirlism (everyone should!) and is swooning and squeeing over King Fed. She's telling me about how much she'd like to marry him despite parental objection. She also says that she wouldn't mind if he had 3 or 4 other wives. XD I shall not comment about what I think of her choice, but I approve of fangirlism in general, so right on!
Dinner time. Byee.
Sunday, December 09, 2007 @3:11 AM
Because it's that sad time of the year when the tennis season has ended, meaning no more matches and probably no more Ace or ATP to watch on tv, Yinfei has been spending her time roaming fan blogs and forums to catch up on gossip instead. XD That's where the jokes from the previous post came from btw. And because I forgot to add this the last time: jokes (c) TA, the best writer of jokes I've ever seen. Kudos. XD
Anyway, while roaming one of the forums, I came across a series of posts by fangirls discussing the best way to get to touch Tommy R's hand. XD Very amusing. The discussion was sparked off by a photo in which an unidentified girl, whom some fangirls claim is Miss Spain, is apparently holding/touching Tommy's hand. Unfortunately as I'm not a member of the forum I can't see the pic. Anyway:
"I think that this girl is Miss Spain 2000 o 2001 (I don't remember). Her name's Helen Lindez, and I DON'T BELIEVE THAT SHE'S HIS GIRLFRIEND!"
"This girl is really lucky to touch my Tommy's hand!!!"
"LOL! Easy! He's not a god, he's a tennisplayer, ok, that comes pretty damn close , but really.. if you go to a tournament and you ask Tommy for an autograph and give him your pen or something in a really clumsy way, you might be able to touch his hand too!"
Something very interesting from that last post up there: "He's not a god, he's a tennis player, ok, that comes pretty damn close" Hmmmmm. XD So according to this gal, there isn't much difference between a tennis player and a god. XD Ok, that's carrying it a
bit too far, though I would indeed readily worship anyone on the tour as long as he/she is not Blake, Tsonga, or the Williams. XD
"LOL Ask him if you can take a picture with him.. That might do the trick too, if you are really desperate (which some of you are )"
"I've been on a pic with Tommy, but not cuz I'm desperate , just cuz he's a player I support and I like to have something to remember by that I met him a few times .. And don't say the word desperate when you are the *proud* owner of almost 300 autographs"
I'd like to kill that girl up there. I really would. 300 FREAKING AUTOGRAPHS! WTH!
"Yeah but you don't want to TOUCH him You just want a souvenir.. And that's what I want too And 'almost 300' should be 'over 310' I got some at Wimbledon!"
Now I
REALLY want to kill her.
"Ok ok.. sure.. you are the master of autograph claiming .. and I'm so glad that I was found to be not-desperate (even though I secretly didn't really mind touching Tommy , it wasn't my first intention, no )"
Cough. Ok, who can blame them anyway? Tommy R's a real hottie too. XD Before anyone starts accusing me of calling practically every player a hottie, look to the left at my list of obsessions, and note that Tommy R's there, so yes. XD
Uh, more next time, cos my mum's screaming her head off right now.
Thursday, December 06, 2007 @3:44 AM
Jokes which made me laugh my head off:
Sherlock Holmes & the Case of the Stained Jacket
FEDERER: Mr. Sherlock Holmes, you solved the mystery of my stained Wimbledon jacket?
HOLMES: You sound very incredulous, Mr. Federer. You're not the only genius in London at the moment.
FEDERER: I didn't mean to sound doubtful, Dr. Watson. It's just that it's only been twenty-four hours since I brought this crime to the attention of Scotland Yard. I didn't think that the great Sherlock Holmes would be involved.
LESTRADE: Based on my frequent professional association with Mr. Holmes, I deduced that a chemical analysis of the stain would lead us to the identity of the stainer.
FEDERER: That's fantastic deduction, Inspector Lestrade.
LESTRADE: No, Mr. Federer, it's elementary deduction.
FEDERER: I don't want a public scandal. I just want the culprit discreetly warned.
HOLMES: In my profession Mr. Federer, we know when to "cherchez la femme." In your case, "cherchez le finalist." We found evidence of Hamburg clay, Melbourne rebound ace and Flushing Meadows hardcourt.
FEDERER: Nadal, Gonzalez and Roddick? This was a conspiracy of runner-ups?
HOLMES: And unless you sleepwalk to your internationally-stocked refrigerator in your jacket in the middle of the night, the traces of Russian borscht and Swedish meatball were not accidental.
FEDERER: Davydenko and Bjorkman, the semifinalists I beat were also involved?
HOLMES: And Scottish haggis.
FEDERER: Murray's not even playing here in Wimbledon! This is a nightmare!
HOLMES: Stop and smell the newly-cut grass, Mr. Federer. If you're not around, the draw opens up.
FEDERER: I understand but your suspects are my esteemed colleagues who have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of a gentleman's sport. I find it hard to suspect anyone of them.
HOLMES: The stain also contained a yellow dye.
FEDERER: Djokovic, the little twerp. I've never even played him in any semifinals let alone finals.
WATSON: Inspector Lestrade is stymied. And I'm baffled. It's a good thing that Mr. Holmes stepped in and said...
HOLMES: Elementary, my dear Watson. Mr. Federer, this case interested me immensely although it did not involve footprints , gunpowder residue , curious letters , tobacco ashes and cryptology like one of my favorite cases, "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" . It's not as complicated as it seems. When you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. It's really very simple, isn't it, Inspector Lestrade?
LESTRADE: Mr. Holmes asked us to test for one substance that definitively clued us to the stainer.
HOLMES: The stainer who has access to your jacket more than anyone else besides yourself, who has seen all your matches, who has a souvenir of the big courts you dominated.
FEDERER: Oh no! You don't mean.
HOLMES: The stainer who is trying to *fire* you up here in Wimbledon by cooking up a conspiracy without framing anyone in particular.
FEDERER: So you found...
HOLMES: CHEWING GUM. IT'S MIRKA. It's cherchez la femme after all.
HAHAHA LOLZ! :D
And one about Rafa and Richie:
GASQUET: Thanks for giving me tips on my fitness Rafa.
NADAL: What are doubles partners for?
GASQUET: I love working out on this treadmill.
NADAL: Isn't it great, no? But you'd love it more if you run on it instead of just walking.
GASQUET: I'm so glad I get a chance to play doubles with you Rafa.
NADAL: Me, too.
GASQUET: I wrote this speech for you for your fourth French Open title. I know what the French crowd is like.
NADAL: That's so sweet, no? But I don't want to jinx it. When I get to the finals, I will practice a speech - winning or losing - the night before with you.
GASQUET: Of course. But enough with this losing vibe. Let me read it. [reads with a lot of emotion]
NADAL: Wow! I heard Federer's name and Borg's name and your name. What does it mean?
GASQUET: I'm so happy to win my fourth French Open title and be close to Borg's record. I'm so sorry that Roger didn't make it to the finals this year but the hometown favorite, Richard was one tough opponent.
NADAL: WTH?!
GASQUET: *grins*
There was one really hilarious but rather mean joke about Fed, and being such a nice person, I couldn't bear to post it. Perhaps when I'm in a mean, hating-Roger mood, like when I'm reminded of how he beat Rafa at Wimbly. >:D
Monday, December 03, 2007 @3:58 AM
Ok I'm thinking I should probably be posting about the Fed-Sampras match too. XD I meant to have it in the same post as the Rafa one, but unfortunately, it ran much MUCH longer than I expected, and since a post any longer than that one would probably kill off people, I decided to write about it another time. Which is now.
No need for alarm(s) on that day, cos I was already in malaysia. Instead, I happily overslept cos I was up till about 2 the previous night watching disney channel. XD Anyway, my dad went off to play golf at six in the morning, which I was having no part off. Gosh, I only wake up at that sort of inhuman hour for school or holidays. Or Rafa. Cough. Rafa's match I mean. So after waking up at eleven, I started watching tv again until my mum insisted that we go shopping. Unfortunately, our hotel's just next to Pavillion and Starhill and a whole lot of other shopping malls, so no excuse and no way out. :( In the end, we still got back early because I started whining after one hour. Yes, I hate shopping. Unless it's with a purpose, like there's something SPECIFIC which I wanna buy. I totally hate walking around aimlessly.
Which is why I've promised myself that I'm NOT going back to KL again unless:
(a) More exhibition matches (Rafa hinted he might want to come back next year :D)
(b) Visit relatives
No way am I going there for nothing. >< There's nothing to do but shop.
Oh, and the night before, Fed actually went to Starhill to have tea! I'm guessing that's the function when the nanyang team got to meet him. And remember I said Starhill was just next to our hotel. Instantly, my mum and me got all excited and wanted to go over there that night. I mean, obviously we wouldn't be able to get in, but just to see him from far would be enough. XD My dad, however, rolled his eyes and told us not to be ridiculous. Men just don't get it.
Once again, at four-thirty I was all set, and this time, so was my mum. My dad happily strolled in at four-thirty after having played eighteen holes, showered and lunched with the uncles. I started screaming "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF COMING BACK AT
THIS TIME?! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATEEEEEEEEE!" Thankfully we left at five. Phew. And for some very strange reason, there was absolutely no jam at all that day, so we arrived at my uncle's house in twenty minutes.
Yinfei: (wails) THIS IS A CONSPIRACYYYYYYYYYYYY WHY IS THERE NO JAM AT ALL TODAY WHEN THERE WAS SUCH A HORRENDOUS ONE ON THE DAY OF RAFA'S MATCHHHHHH?!
Humph. Good thing is, I didn't need to get a heart attack this time, bad thing is, I fumed over the injustice of it all. And then, there wasn't any jam on the way to the stadium too! So we were REALLY early this time. I suppose I could interpret it another way. I like to think that it's cos there aren't as many people rushing to see Fed as there was for Rafa. XD My aunt came along this time, cos she hasn't yet seen Fed live, whereas she's already seen Rafa live at wimbledon. She was suanning me about it in the car, "You know, Nadal was just TWO METRES away from us! I could see him CLOSE-UP!"
Ok ok ok.
We arrived at the stadium real early, so I hastened to take pics of the four huge posters which I didn't manage to take good pics of that day due to the fact that it was already dark by the time we arrived. Then we walked around the booths outside the stadium. My uncle the tennis fanatic disappeared immediately into the one selling Wilson rackets. There were posters of Justine and Djokovic. I took pics of the Justine one, but ignored the Djokovic one. XD Fine, I'm biased. Then there were the booths selling the products that Fed endorses. I didn't know he endorsed coffee! O.o Anyway, he really looked damn shuai in the coffee ad. XD
The same excitement I had the other day was starting to build up again, as I realize that in less than an hour's time, I'm actually going to be seeing the top of the top in this fantastic sport. :D
And I forced my dad to buy me the souvenir magazine. XD They come with this lucky draw slip, and if you win, you get to meet the players in person after the match. I don't care about the lucky draw cos there're only three lucky winners out of goodness-knows-how-many, but I really wanted that magazine! They have two pages about each of the four players, interviews with Fed and Sampras, and info about other players who'd be coming for the malaysia open. I was looking at it over the person reading it in the row in front of me, and when I saw that there were profiles of Max Mirnyi, Florian Mayer, and Rainer Schuettler (I know I've spelt that wrong), I was immediately bent on buying it. My dad refused to buy it for me on the day of Rafa's match, but after begging and pleading for three straight days, he bought it for me on the day of Fed's match.
That day at Rafa's match, they were trying to sell the magazine too:
Person: Hi! Do you want to meet the players after the match?
Yinfei: Duh, of course I do, but I don't think I'd be that lucky.
Person: Hey, you'd never know!
At Fed's match:
Person: Hi! Do you want to meet the players after the match?
Dad: If Roger Federer wants to take picture with me, ask him to come and see me.
Person: (laughs in an unsure way)
Yinfei: Don't be lame, pa! (GOSH, THAT WAS SO FREAKING EMBARASSING!)
Dad: What if we don't want the lucky draw? Can give half price?
Person: No!
Aunt: Aiyah just buy lah, maybe we're lucky enough.
So we bought it eventually, much to the grumbles of my mum (until she saw the nice pics of Fed and Rafa and Richie inside :D).
At the entrance, there was the box to drop your lucky draw slip in. At first I didn't think there was any point to do that, but my uncle and aunt insisted. So I dropped it in the end. Anyway, I can tell you now that we didn't win. Yep.
Once again, we ate ice-cream, and once again, my dad insisted on being traditional and took strawberry.
This time, we were seated further away. Like, really quite far. I was quite disappointed, but glad that at least this wasn't Rafa's match. This time, though, I was wiser and made my dad video the entrance instead, so that I could see with my own eyes the players themselves, instead of stupidly peering through the cam. The usual announcements, and Fed and Sampras enter, Sampras first, obviously. My mum grabbed the binos immediately and stared for so long until I grabbed them back to take a good look myself. I discovered that Fed really does look quite shuai. :D Now I know why there're fan clubs dedicated to both Fed and Rafa. I quote, "I'm crazy. I'm totally in love with BOTH Rafa and Rog. :)" Very smart of these people, cos they wouldn't need to have heart attacks every time a grand slam final rolls around, cos as everybody knows, the last ten slams or so have been shared out between the duo. And for the past years at wimbly and roland garros, finals have always been between Fed and Rafa. Fed takes wimbly, Rafa takes roland garros. Quite a nice deal, really, and I wouldn't mind it so much if Fed didn't also take USO and AO as well. ><
Anyway.
Sampras is a really funny guy. :D When there was a point when Fed lobbed the ball over him, he gave this priceless WTH look, like, "I can't believe you did that to me!" Ahahaha. Then there was this ball of Fed's that went out, but the linesman didn't say a word. Like I said, they suck. So Sampras went over and pretended to get all mad and kept challenging and questioning the call, and kept poking at the ground with his racket. The whole stadium was laughing like crazy.
The disappointment was that I didn't think Fed really gave his best. I mean, of course I didn't expect any of them to, since it was just an exhibition match. But still. During the practice rally, he kept giving these real soft balls (I mean, soft for the world's top player!), and didn't really whack them. Or maybe it was cos I was seated further away this time. But I sincerely, unbiasedly think that Rafa played more impressively than him. At this match, that is. I'm not saying that Rafa's better than him, obviously, but he did give more to this match cos he's got a reputation to hold, since he's playing against Richie. World number eight for anyone who doesn't know. And if anyone says they didn't know that Rafa's world number two, they shall suffer my displeasure. >:) *evil laughter* But since Fed and Sampras were both top in the world (Sampras was a former top in the world for anyone who once again doesn't know), any one of them could win. So probably not as much pressure on Fed to perform. Ah, and he won by the way. 7-6 7-6. The score speaks for itself. Obviously he wasn't trying.
My dad thinks they should have asked him to play against one of those I mentioned were coming for the malaysia open, like Florian Mayer. I was all "WHAT?!" until my dad explained that since they were so lowly-ranked, Fed would have more pressure, like, "I can't lose to THIS low-ranked loser!". And the other guy would be thinking, "What the heck, I'll probably lose, so I might as well go all out and give my all." That's my dad's reasoning. Which might make sense, but honestly, people wouldn't exactly want to see a Fed vs Mayer right.
Halfway through, my mum felt bad that no one was exactly shouting for Fed very much, and she begged me to shout on her behalf. Strange, isn't it, that when it comes to stuff like this, she loses her voice. -.-
I didn't want to shout cos:
(a) we were seated much further, meaning that I would have to shout even louder, which I really couldn't bear to.
(b) the umpire was so freaking strict about shouting ("Please don't shout and distract the players") for this match.
(c) obviously I don't like Fed as much as I like Rafa. -.-
But because I'm so nice, I did shriek and scream and clap (quite against my conscience, but nevermind). No shouting "I love you Roger!" though. Perhaps if we were nearer, I would have shouted "Go Roger!" or something.
Ok that's it. I'm totally pooped from typing so much.