If you love men's tennis... you just might love this!

Guys, I'm selling one ticket for the Year-end Shanghai Masters Cup to be held from November 8-17. I was able to purchase three tickets six months in advance for the dirt cheap price of $500. The price covers 7 days of tennis at the Qi Zhong Stadium in southwestern Shanghai (matches begin at 14.00 every day): that's three days of round robin action and then knock out matches for the semifinals and finals.

Who are playing in this event? Only the TOP EIGHT men's tennis players in the world. Who have qualified already? (the other players are playing tournaments as of this writing in the hope of getting a slot into the event which is two weeks away)

Rafael Nadal (world number 1, he will be given the year-end #1 trophy in Shanghai -- hurray to Rafael fans!), Roger Federer (the Swiss cheese who was #1 from 2004 until a few months ago when Rafa overtook him), Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Andy Murray of Scotland, Nikolay Davydenko.

Who else might take the remaining three slots and two alternate spots? Andy Roddick of the USA, David Ferrer of Spain, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, James Blake of the USA, and maybe the ever so cute Gilles Simon of France.

If you're interested, email me at svelterogue@gmail.com. If you're in the Philippines, send me an SMS: +63915/983.36.31.

Pass the word to others!

such arrogance!

if it isn't the  english language requirement (that is due to be scrapped nyahaha), it's some lame-assed punk who thinks he can drive better than a current world champion.

in both cases, it's BOO! all the way!

check out the links above for more.

*in photo (courtesy of itv-f1): kimi raikkonen of ferrari, current world champion.

all good things come to an end... almost

after what has been an incredible season thus far, the world number 1 can finally go home to mallorca and rest.  you would think he would celebrate snaring two slams and the olympic gold but wait... davis cup semifinals of spain against the united states is two weeks away.  

so take advantage of this time to rest, my beautiful rafa.  you have made me and all your other fans very happy so far in 2008.  when i go to shanghai this november, promise me you'll be the one receiving that cake with the #1 on it, ok?

time to rest now, rafa.  you are human, after all.

vindictive vindication

say what you must, think what you will, my heart will always root for the misunderstood mavericks.

ajde nole!

*in photo: novak djokovic slides for a return in his quarterfinal match against andy roddick earlier. nole won in four sets, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. (courtesy of the australian)

it ain't over til the fat lady moans

and boy am i moaning.  and yes, fat! 

*in photo: maria sharapova at the atp players party held before the USO kicked off last aug 20 (photo courtesy of tennis.com)

shining bright and it ain't over yet!

it's the kind of thing that makes me break into side A's LSS-inducing line, "so many questions but the answers are so few..."

answer the questions on my latest sports post and the top 3 answers get a special reward from the ultimate sports fan!

*in photo: liu xiang of china breaks 1.3 billion hearts as he limps off the track in the first heat of the 110-m hurdles earlier this week (photo courtesy of AP)

#1 glorified with gold

today, rafael nadal is officially the world number 1. vamos mi rafalito! as he is joined by ana ivanovic of serbia atop the tennis rankings, the sight of the olympic gold medal dangling around his neck has validated, with definitive authority, his ascendancy in the sport in 2008.

the biggest weekend for tennis in olympics ended in big smiles and joy for all winners.

in photo: roger federer and stanislas wawrinka with their doubles gold (photo courtesy of tennis.com)

beijing newsmakers

my brain's about to explode. the coming together of all my sporting favourites and sports favourites is just absorbing beyond belief.

*in photo: michael phelps erupts into celebration with his relay teammate when the USA pips france by .07 of a second to snare gold in the 4x100 metre freestyle event (photo courtesy of the canadian press)

svelte sightings

and the games have begun! i'm in sports paradise. the biggest sporting event on the planet --- my favourite celebs of all are the stars for the next 16 days! totally orgazzzzmic.

check out my parade of faves HERE.

and then there was four

it's not enough to have a trifecta of rafa (yeah baby, he'll be the official number one on 18 august 2008, after 160 weeks as #2, the longest record ever for a #2!), roger ("only no. 1 matters"), and nole ("my dream is to be the number 1 in the world, ever since i was a child of 9...") ruling men's tennis right now, and things are exciting enough with these three.

sometimes, exciting just ain't enough. if three's a crowd, four's a major party. way to go, flower of scotland!

yet another loss

losing to his 6 foot 9 inches opponent with the most fearsome serve on the tour, with his own serve never getting broken was painful for the world number 1. losing by three crucial points in the final tiebreaker is going to hurt for a long long time.

looping roar

this is for those who missed my posted link on rafa's roar --- or unbridled fury elsewhere on this site and beyond.

he's so hard

that's right, you read it here: rafael nadal is sooo HARD.

number 10

... his 10th loss this season and it's still shocking news. take heart, fed fans.

mustn't neglect the hamster

in spite of myself, i find myself admiring lewis hamilton's gutsy win over close rivals (both brazilians) at the hockenheim circuit last sunday.

missing nole and music

i found another gem from you tube: a mother-daughter tandem singing and dancing in 1963. so talented. so flawed. so good.

the last bit of news i could pull out about novak djokovic dates back to his second round loss at wimbledon to marat safin. since then, he hasn't hit the headlines anymore. bring back my serb! ajde nole!

rafa lights up the heavens

one week after and i'm still glowing.

and how! the kid wins his first wimbledon and is immortalised in proportions worthy of the greek misogynists on olympus.

and more. so much interest spawned for the sport that even though he pulled out of stuttgart this week (he's defending champ), i got daily updates on cnn's world sport!

more updates over at my sports blog, friends

comatose

am still overcome by sweeping emotions. happy beyond belief. the one year agony of waiting and hoping and believing came to fruition last night, after camping on my futon for 7 straight hours, allergies ravaging my skin, i unable to move beyond getting myself a glass of water each time my throat dried, allowing myself another trip to munch on a pear... last year's debacle is a distant memory, a necessary pain that culminates in this fireworks of joy.

it is the morning after and i am still hung over. caught in a state of tears and laughter, relief and vindication.

he is a one-surface wonder no more. he isn't just a clay specialist. he is special. he is the new king of the championships at wimbledon. he is my one and only rafael nadal.

in love with el capitaine and el toro

the bbc teaser/trailer ad leading to the championships (oh pompousness, thy name is wimbledon!) shows a clip of past wimbledon champions playing an exciting tennis match on centre court, interposing shots of borg, evert, navratilova, connors, mcenroe, serena williams, et al until the last shot is taken by roger, who is frozen in midair, with the lines, "wimbledon: where greatness awaits".

the men's semifinals are set: two top seeds face two unseeded veterans. if my dream final comes to pass, i will be floating in cloud 9 for weeks to come.

sveltie's yummy men

it's a glutton's dream come true tomorrow when the men's quarterfinals action begins at 14.00 belgian time (13.00 wimbledon time).

rafa? check.

mara? check.

feliciano lopez? check.

baby face mario? check.

don pa lang panalo na.