Singapore Women Tennis Exhibition

This event took place last weekend in Singapore Indoor Stadium and I got tickets to the semi-finals, along with 2 other friends who are into this sports as well. This has got to be the biggest tennis event in local scene in a long time. Being a tennis fanatic (kind of), I got the tickets shortly after i got to know about this match and in less than a couple of days later, there i was seated right smack in the center of the stadium watching the live matches taking place.

No big names were involved in this exhibition match actually, except for Samantha Stosur from Australia. She was the one who won US Open 2011, after beating Serena Williams. She played for the 2nd semi-final match. It was indeed an eye-opener to see world ranking players taking on the court and playing a competitive match. The feel is drastically different from watching it on screen. The venue has a capacity of 12,000 but for the Q-final, the turn-out was on 500. On the semi-final, it was 1000. It is pathetic. I would imagine the players/ level of enthusiasm must have been quite dampened by the poor turn-out. But despite so, the players gave their all in the match and its really amazing to watch tennis live. Despite the poor turn-out, I totally enjoyed the game. Imagine how it would feel like to watch one of the Grand Slam live - Australia Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon or US Open. I am sure the ambience would have been electrifying!

I am going to make it my to-do list to watch one of these Grand Slam live.

Taken from where i am seated - Its a central View. Nice!

  

Interviews going on after the match

Australia Open Crowd - WOW!

Too much

I just feel I am playing too much tennis these past weeks. It can amount to 3 times per week, 2 hrs each session.

Not just body is aching, but I have other things on hand requiring my time and effort too. I need to re-allocate my time and prioritize better. Also, too much tennis may reduce my interest and passion in this sport.

Alright, tennis will go on, but it needs to move down my priority list to balance things in my life.

My Hobbies

Well, for people who knows me would know that I have a few hobbies.

It goes someway back if I were to list them down. Briefly, it used to consist of Freshwater fish keeping and Astronomy. But now, the ones I am really into are Drumming, Marine fish keeping (reefing is a preferred term), Tennis and more recently guitar. the problem is I have limited time on hand and to spend time on every hobbies seems impossible.

Just this week, I spent 2 weekdays evening playing tennis. This is really something I like. But there comes the frustration of not getting my strokes right when I played. Still, I am loving Tennis as of now and there's a thought of going for private coaching to get my strokes right so I can enjoy the tennis games even more.

Then there's reefing. Something which I love as well. The thought of a fully stocked marine tank intrigues me and inspires me to improve my own tank. Just lately I have invested heavily in a few new equipments, building the infrastructure for the live stocks that are to come. The momentum is up, just waiting for more equipments to arrive then I can go full throttle to stock it up.

Drumming for church service is something that has been on my lips. Finally some action going on, as I will be auditioning for my church Creative Arts Ministry (CAM) sometime soon. Not necessary to say I will be in the team anytime soon, but it will be a step in the direction I always wanted since I picked up drumming. Now I am also picking up guitar, but at a slower pace. Hoping to bring our cell worship to a higher level than it is now. Music is certainly something I have always enjoyed and it's good to pick up these 2 instruments for now.

The right attitude

Saw this quote from a sports excerpt...

"Yet this is what makes him great, the ability to find belief in the midst of sustained defeat"

How true! To find belief in the midst of sustained defeat.. not just 1 time defeat but sustained defeat... is a building factor towards a person character. How much I can learn from this quote and this sportsman.

This sportsman is Rafael Nadal. Having sustained injury, he has not won any titles for 11 months. I guess this is a long period for someone who was once No. 1 in world tennis, ahead of Roger Federer. Having such a long period of trophy drought, it is so easy for negative mindset to sink in. But this doesn't seems to be the case for Nadal as he rose up to claim the championship in the recently concluded Monte Carlo match played on clay court. This win also put him on history book as the man with the most consecutive win in Monte Carlos.

I need to have this spirit for my work if Honeywell is still where God wants me to be in.

On a side note, how strange that I can link tennis and work together.

Fri tennis to Sun work

It's gonna be 2 hours of tennis after work tomorrow evening. Fantastic way to end a Friday and to start the weekend.

This weekend gonna be a quieter. No mad rushing between activities, so pace should be slower. Sunday want to head for the first service @ 9am and likely spending the whole day working from home. Some work due on Monday and has to be done on weekend since the necessary information has not yet filter in from client side. Well, I just need to keep my positive attitude which has been serving me pretty well.

JIA YOU BAH.

My New Racket

Wilson KFactor [K]Pro Open.

Woo Hoo... gotten myself a new Tennis Racket. And it has reached my hand just yesterday. It did not wow me the moment I lay my hands on it. But it is certainly growing on me. Its appearance and the feel. An apt time for me to get this racket as I am striving to improve on my strokes.

Racket description from wilson.com

So far, I have used it for 2 tennis sessions. Mixed results. Can't say for sure how this racket performs as my skill is so inconsistent. But I do know for sure this is a good racket and it's my skill I need to work on :S

Taken some additional pictures of my new racket as below: