Category: Tennis

Randy del Valle, a friend from Cebu who’s resided in London, England since 2009, was at the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final together with his son Luigi two days ago.

“We arrived at Centre Court of Wimbledon around 12:30 noon,” he said. “We passed through Gateway 518 and sat on seats 354 and 353 on Row ZE.”

Ticket prices? I asked.

“£130 each,” Randy said.

In pesos, that’s a high P8,500 per ticket. Not your usual Cebu Coliseum prices, for sure; but this is the most prestigious tennis spectacle in the universe with the world’s top two ranked players.

“What a day!” Randy e-mailed me, just hours after witnessing the historic victory of Andy Murray over Novak Djokovic. “This is my best Wimbledon experience after being here for the fifth time.”

With coach Tommy Frederiksen, friends Jourdan and Jingle Polotan, and my two girls, Jasmin and Jana, in our home theater room, we watched at 9 P.M. the other evening. And while the 32-stroke rallies were intense and exciting, nothing compares to watching it in person.

Randy continues his personal observations: “The last game at the 3rd set – what a thriller! The centre court was about to explode. When Murray broke 4-5, the crowd went wild and you can see a good mix of tension and excitement. With 3 championship points at 40-0,  we were on our feet until the deuce and 2 break points. The see-saw truly was a thriller and I actually expected Djokovic to break and that we’ll go to 4th set — but finally after the 4th championship point, Murray did it and became the first British man to win the gentlemen’s bracket since 1936 (77 years ago).”

On a hot London day that Randy describes as “scorching but nice” (he and son Luigi happened to be seated in the shaded area), he saw plenty of celebrities: Prime Minister David Cameron, Victoria Beckham, Sir Chris Hoy (the cycling champ) and some Hollywood celebrities. He added: “The crowd was great – can’t imagine another tennis spectacle with this type of atmosphere – a lot of firsts… It is definitely called the Murray Mount (farewell Henman Hill) – went there to see the crowd and wow, it’s huge… After a lot of upsets in the 1st week, this truly is the best ending of a great Wimbledon 2013!”

NOTES. What a tournament! After all the upsets, injuries and unpredictabilities, it ended with the two world’s best players on center stage. A few points…

Sabine Lisicki: that was painful. Usually, after a few games into the match, the nervousness subsides. Not Lisicki. Not until the score was 6-1, 5-1 and she was two match points down did she resurrect. But it was too late. We all felt sad for her. With her normal game on grass, she’d have won. Her 125-mph serve is as fast as Serena’s. The entire Wimbledon finale overwhelmed her. Sayang…

Andy-Nole: I actually found the final not as exciting as one where Roger or Rafa is involved. As our group (who watched) analyzed why, we realized the reason: these are two overly-steady, we’ll-never-miss players. Unlike Roger’s forehand or Nadal’s topspin or Del Potro’s running crosscourt angle, Andy and Nole are content to jab-jab-jab until one commits a mistake. They rarely go for the big, knockout shots. This was a game of fitness and mental fortitude. The man with the steelier nerves, wins.

Best quote from Andy: “I think I persevered. That’s really been it, the story of my career, I had a lot of tough losses, but the one thing I would say is I think every year I always improved a little bit. They weren’t major improvements, massive changes, but every year my ranking was going in the right direction.. I kept learning and I just kept working as hard as I could.”

Anderson Silva: ha-ha; I know, he’s no tennis player. But, like millions of you worldwide, I watched the fight last Sunday noon. Hambog! Can you believe how much he was taunting Chris Weidman? He was too cocky. And that’s what happens to people who believe they’re too good and invincible. Can you imagine if the same thing happens to one who’s just as boastful, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.?

Randy del Valle has been residing in England since the late 2009. Since his transfer from Cebu to London, he’s been watching sports nonstop. His current craze? Of course, the world’s most prestigious tennis spectacle…

“We went to Wimbledon last Thursday (2nd round),” said Randy, a top executive of the oil giant Shell. “This was the day after the big storm where a lot of players retired and got eliminated — King Roger, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka (injury), Ana Ivanovic, John Isner (injury), to name a few, and two days after Rafael Nadal’s big upset.”

Together with his wife Christine and son Luigi, he watched plenty of grass-court tennis. “We did not have tickets to the big courts but were able to see some good games in Courts 3-18 (Jeremy Chardy, Bernard Tomic and Sam Stosur plus doubles match of Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek). It was a good afternoon until the rain came at 5:30 which eventually postponed the games to the day after.”

Apart from Wimbledon, Randy has watched plenty of sporting events in London. The Olympics of 2012. Formula One in Silverstone. And, for soccer followers, he’s a Chelsea fan. “My sister sometimes gives us tickets as she’s with Samsung – I was also able to watch a Barcelona game at the Camp Nou in Barcelona this year.”

But his favorite sport is tennis. This year will be the fourth time that Randy has entered the hallowed gates of the All-England Club (Wimbledon).

His passion for tennis started when his late father, Ruel Sr., got him and his siblings to play and follow the game. “I remember my dad to be an Ivan Lendl fan,” Randy said. “I got interested during the Sampras-Agassi days and cheered for Andre, even practicing his double-handed backhand in college.”

GRAND SLAM. To all tennis fans, if you think the story thus far of Randy’s Wimbledon visits are enticing, listen to this: Randy has watched — in person — all four Grand Slam events. Yes, no error in typing there; all four: in Melbourne, Paris, New York and London.

“I’ve always wanted to experience and watch the four Grand Slam events,” Randy narrated. “Last year, I realized that our planned holiday in New York coincided with the U.S. Open and took the opportunity to look for tickets on the first week and got lucky to get one.

“Early this year, I happened to be in Melbourne for work and took the opportunity to watch it over the weekend with my friend Joey Baring who lives in Melbourne. My friend Joey, who is also a tennis fan, watched the tournament everyday (Australian Open has this 2-week daily ticket available)!

“And having watched the three consecutive grand slams, I asked myself why not make it a ‘personal’ slam. I asked my family for to us to drive to Paris to watch the French Open in May and at the same time have a holiday in France since Luigi is also on a school break. This time my sister Ruby’s family joined us.”

How does Randy describe each of tennis’ four majors? The Australian Open, he says, is very sunny, relaxed and free (people wearing shorts and drinking a lot of beer while watching). The French Open is “very strict as they monitor tickets thoroughly.”

“Fun and free and the venue is huge—I find the night matches better than day matches as it is cooler and yes, the crowds yell a lot!” he described the US Open in New York. Wimbledon follows strict tradition, says Randy. That — plus the grass courts — make the London grand slam event extra special.

How he’d score the four? “If I were to rank them, I would say: 1. Wimbledon, 2. US Open, 3. Australian Open, and 4. French Open.”

With his favorite Grand Slam event that’s currently played in London, here’s one final word to keep all of us envious. Randy has tickets to watch the Wimbledon men’s final this Sunday. “We were fortunate to get a couple of tickets from Luigi’s allocation at the British Tennis-Lawn Tennis Association (LTA),” Randy said. “Hope it will be a Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray finals – and Andy finally winning his first Wimbledon.”

I’ve been playing tennis since our family moved from Bacolod to Cebu when Marcos was toppled and Cory moved into power in the summer of 1986.

Since then, I’ve posed for a photo beside Federer and Sampras in Kuala Lumpur, smacked 27,856 forehands, and been operated on a shoulder injury by Dr. Tony San Juan. I’ve watched Agassi and Serena win the US Open, helped organize the four Davis Cup events in Plantation Bay Resort and Spa (a 5th one is coming this September versus New Zealand!) and helped train a young 14-year-old champion that is my daughter Jana.

Through these 27 years of tennis, what tips can I offer the regular, thrice-weekly player? Here are five clay-court tennis tips — while we’re all watching the French Open each night.

One: Practice your serve. It’s funny. We often spend hours perfecting our backhands and forehands — but spend so little time fine-tuning our serves. Lest we forget, this rule applies: the serve is the only shot in tennis that we have complete control of. Think about it. If one has an excellent serve, one will win lots of free points.

Here’s another idea to remember: If you can’t be broken, you won’t lose. True. Just hold your serve and you won’t lose. Never. I like this saying that differentiates the average club player (that’s us) versus a pro like Novak: “We serve to START the point. The pros serve to END the point.” Got it? On that first shot alone (serve), the pros try to finish the point.

Here’s a favorite saying: “Life is like a game of tennis. He who serves well seldom loses.”

Two: Employ the drop shot. Study the French Open players tonight. (If you subscribe to SkyCable HD, go to channel 702 where the free HD on Roland Garros is found.) On the red clay of Paris, the best players employ a strategy that’s wise and proven successful: When the opponent is far, they hit a feather-like drop shot. It works. The key point is the element of surprise. You can’t hit a drop shot every other point — your opponent will guess it and sprint forward. Disguise. Surprise.

Three: High topspin is best. Watch Nadal. He’s the greatest ever on the dirt surface. What does he have that nobody else has? Tremendous spin. It’s been recorded that his forehand generates 5,800+ revolutions per minute (RPMs) — the most of any pro. (Federer, at 4800+, is a distant second.) The higher the allowance over the net, the deeper the shot. Add more spin with the high-bouncing shot and you’ve got a Rafa-like chance of victory.

Four: Watch only one player. While watching tennis on TV, you really want to learn and improve? Watch only one person. Yup. That’s no joke. Instead of moving your eyeballs up and down, stick to focusing on one player. Observe Maria’s side-to-side movement (not her yellow-colored bikini shorts). Copy the best backhand down-the-line shot in today’s game (Djokovic’s). Relish the inside-out forehand of the Rolex-sponsored Swiss codenamed RF. Watch only one player. You’ll learn more.

Five: Play the game. Majority of readers who’ll read this are non-tennis players. That’s a fact. Few people have ever gripped an Eastern backhand grip and performed a slice shot. Tennis is not as easy to learn as, say, bowling or Zumba. You need a racket. You need a person at the opposite end of the court (although I spent hundreds of hours as a young junior practicing against the pelota court’s high wall — at the old Casino Español). In tennis, you need balls, tennis shoes, grips, new strings (once they break) and cash to pay for the court fees, etc, etc. It’s not as inexpensive as the most inexpensive of sports: running.

Yet tennis is fun. It’s a game you can play from six until 86. It’s a chance to group together with friends. It provides some of the best form of exercise. It enhances your competitive spirit. It offers both rigorous (singles) and recreational (doubles) options. Plus, it’s a game of contradictions, as Billie Jean King once said: “Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility.”

The first time I saw Serena Jameka Williams was in 1999. We were in New York. It was the US Open and, as a young 17-year-old, Serena was not expected to win. But she did. It was her first Grand Slam singles title. Since then, Serena has won a total of 30 majors (15 in singles, 13 in women’s doubles and 2 in mixed doubles).

The second time I watched Serena in person was in 2008. Playing doubles for Team USA with her older sister Venus, they won the Olympic gold medal in Beijing. In singles, she won another gold.

Last Sunday night on Solar Sports TV, the 31-year-old Serena faced Maria Sharapova. It wasn’t the first time they met. I recall their Wimbledon encounter in 2004 called “Beauty and the Best” — won by the long-legged Russian blonde.

Not two nights ago. Holding a 12-2 win-loss record, Serena has a mental edge over Maria — just like Rafa has over Roger, or Novak has over Rafa.

Williams easily defeated Sharapova, 6-1, 6-4. The match was over in 78 minutes. Serena — who has not lost to Maria since 2004 — is nearly-invincible because of two Bs: brawn and brains. If we talk of physical strength, nobody is more muscular. If we talk of mental strength, nobody possesses more resolve and willpower than Ms. Williams. (Add another B: a Boombastic serve, at times clocking 207 kph.)

With one more B — big bucks — it’s also the same: nobody, in terms of prize money among women athletes, has earned more. In her career so far, Serena has amassed $44.1 million.

And if that’s not mind-boggling enough, here’s further bad news for the women: At the press conference after her Madrid victory, she wore a red shirt that said, “Bestest Ever.” She then explained: “Every time I play, I really relish it more. I feel like, honestly, Serena, when are you going to get tired? I don’t know.”

With Maria, well, this we know: she doesn’t mind losing these days because she’s in love. Previously engaged to NBA star Sasha Vujacic, she has since dribbled away from basketball.

Maria’s new boyfriend is Roger Federer. No, not the Rolex endorser and the married man codenamed “Federer Express.” It’s the player whose game resembles that of RF: Grigor Dmitrov. The Bulgarian (who’ll turn 22 this Thursday) stands 6’2” and was a former world no.1 junior. He shocked Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Madrid Open.

In this sport where the word “love” is used each game, these two have found a love game.

NADAL. Of the Spanish superstar, I’ve watched Rafa play twice. The first was together with Dr. Ronnie Medalle and his wife Steph and my wife Jasmin in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That was in 2007. The following year, Jasmin and I witnessed the Olympic gold medal victory of Rafa in China.

Intense. Spin-filled. Physical. Tenacious. These are a few words I’d use to describe Rafa. Here’s one more: the Best Clay-Court Player Of all Time.

For all you tennis players, you know this: Grass is slippery fast; hard-court, too, is quick — but red clay is slow. And, when the games are long and the rallies are long, this is when Rafa excels.

Like last Sunday. In Madrid, Rafa was as comfortable speaking Espanol as he was winning points. He beat Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-2, 6-4. (The first set he won in half an hour.)

Rafa was out for seven months until last February because of a knee injury. He missed the Olympics and the US and Australian Opens. He missed too many — and this is why he’s winning many today, reaching seven straight finals and winning five.

Which brings us to Rome this week for the “Italian Open” and, in two weeks’, to the Super Bowl of clay-court events: the French Open.

Ranked No. 5 in the world, this number troubles Novak, Roger, Andy Murray and David Ferrer. That’s because Rafa can meet any of the top four in the quarterfinals. Imagine a Novak-Rafa contest in the Round of 8? Ouch. That would be bad.

I hope that doesn’t happen. I’m hoping for a Novak-Rafa final that goes five hours, five sets, with all four socks brown and a million drops of sweat watering the dusty red Parisian clay.

I’ve never had a more profound Holy Week than this week. No, we didn’t fly to swim in Boracay or do underground cave-watching in Palawan — we just stayed home. What we did was to join the Easter Triduum Recollection at the Sacred Heart Parish Church. What a moving and touching three days. Last year, it was Fr. Johnny Go — a very inspiring teacher. This Holy Week — from Thursday to yesterday — we had mornings of teachings from one of the most respected of teachers: Fr. Bienvenido Nebres, SJ.

Still filled with so much energy and wisdom (at the age of 73), Fr. Nebres imparted so much from the life of Jesus our Lord. He gave so many examples (Gawad Kalinga, his experiences after 18 years as president of Ateneo de Manila Univ., his humble work with the public school children and with our Muslim brothers — sharing with us hours of lessons with zero notes on hand).

To me, apart from the three mornings of listening and reflecting, a most humbling moment came Thursday night when, as one of the apostles, Fr. Nebres washed my right foot. He knelt down like a servant before each seated man, washed our feet with water, wiped it with white towel — and then, like a man who did not despise but felt joy in the act, he shook our hands and, with his trademark sincere and joyous face, he smiled.

It was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve encountered. Not only because, kneeling in front of you and cleansing your dirty feet is one of our nation’s most respected men — but that Jesus himself did the same. It’s a lesson for all to follow: He who wants to be great must be the greatest servant.

On Good Friday night, our household watched The Passion of The Christ. Though we had seen the movie before, watching it on the day when Christ was humilitated and beaten to death — that’s another profound event.

Today, as we celebrate the most important day of the year, let us be thankful to the Lord for he has rescued and uplifted us. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”

TENNIS. The next seven days will bring to Cebu’s shores two mega events: the 14th Truflex National Junior Championships and the Davis Cup weekend between our Philippines and Thailand.

Randy Villanueva, the VP of Philta (Phil. Tennis Assoc.), is bringing, for the first time, his Truflex event outside of Manila. To be held at four different venues in Lapu-Lapu City (Mactan Airbase, the City Hall, Amores court and Haruhay Resort), Truflex is a Group 1 (highest-ranked) tournament. We welcome all the participants!

Next weekend (April 5 to 7), it’s Davis Cup. The venue is at one of Asia’s best: Plantation Bay Resort and Spa. Tennis lover or not, everyone ought to watch. It’s an international meet. It’s for free. And it’s not in Rizal Memorial or at the PCA courts in Manila — it’s here in Mactan.

SUMMER HEAT. Whew! It’s getting hot. It’s not only the Heat of Miami that’s getting hot in the NBA (they finally lost!) but our own summer.

April 1, tomorrow, is officially the first summer day. Here’s a non-April Fool’s Day joke: Enroll your children in sports. When can you find uninterrupted time to learn a new game? Now is the best time. Instead of your kids watching TV (or playing online games or texting) all day — get them active.

Before I recommend other sports, I’d like to just suggest one coach and one sport.

For tennis, learn it from one of the top tennis coaches in Cebu today: Tommy Frederiksen. He’s the coach of my daughter Jana and our Bright Academy tennis team — and he’s open to coaching as many children in Cebu.

His tennis camp begins this April 9 at Casino Espanol. It’s month-long and will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 8 to 10 A.M. The fee is P2,000 (for the whole duration) — and you don’t even need to be a Casino Espanol member to participate.

Call Casino Espanol now (2531260) or call Coach Tommy at 0917-3010338. Happy Easter!

At Ka Lui with Roland So and family and Mayor Edward Hagedorn

Em-Em and Jana (left-most) with the So sisters: Mariel, Camille and Mia

Binoy Hitosis, Francis Lambayan, Alexie Santos, Em-Em Siso, tournament organizer Pet Santos, Cai Hitosis, Jana Pages and Noynoy Seno

Smile!

The Arguelles, Siso and Pages families on the way to the UR!

With super-nice and friendly tennis parent, Cherry Pie Picache

That’s Cherry Pie (center) with the Trillanes and Santos families

Cai, Alexie, Jana, Kara Salimbangon and Em-Em

Go, Chief Lambayan!

Bobby Castro, the owner of Palawan Pawnshop, poses with Em-Em and Jana (who slipped, twisted her ankle and had to default at 1-0 her Girls 14 final match with Alexie Santos)

About to enter the bat cave!

The Girls 18 doubles champions!

With Em-Em Siso, our week-long “adopted daughter” and the “People’s Champ!”

Jed with Dato Patrick Liew, the president of the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association

Another junior standout and future Philippine men’s tennis star is Eric Olivarez, Jr. Nicknamed “Jed,” I had the chance for two weeks to watch him play in two Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) Under-14 tournaments in Malaysia. Wow.

Jed won the singles crown in Kuching. He also won the doubles title there. The following week, he bested the top Asians to win in Kota Kinabalu. And, to top all that, he won the KK doubles crown. It was a four-for-four record for the 14-year-old Jed. Amazing. It was the first time in Philippine history that a Pinoy went undefeated in singles and doubles in two straight international events.

Three weeks after, Jed joined us here in Cebu for the Babolat Junior Championships. He entered the Boys 16 and Boys 18 categories — battling players two- and four-years older than him. The result? The same. Jed went undefeated to win both titles in the Group 2 Philta-sanctioned tournament.

The young Olivarez comes from an illustrious tennis family. His grandfather, Dr. Pablo Olivarez, was a long-time president of the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta). His uncle, Congressman Edwin Olivarez, is the current Philta president. His aunties, Eva and Edna, are some of the country’s most prominent former champions; as are Jed’s cousins, all champions — from Tamitha Nguyen to the Orteza sisters, Katrina and Isabella.

Jed’s biggest fans? Of course, his dad, Parañaque City Councilor Eric Olivarez, and his mom, Aileen, whom we got to know well during their recent Cebu visit. Jed is coached by one of the nicest (and funniest) coaches you can meet, Bobby Esquivel, an astute and sharp tennis tactician (I saw that for myself in Malaysia).

And the best part of all this? Jed is such a humble and quiet person, never bragging about his amazing accomplishments. I watched his match point in Kuching against the Japanese player (Daisuke) and, after winning the championship/last point, he simply nodded his head and smiled a shy grin. No in-your-face fist pumps. No extra-loud chest-bumping. No bragging.

Jed, at such a young age, is already a classy act. The Philippines is looking forward to a bright tennis future for the young Olivarez. Good luck, Jed!

Our island-hopping trip in Kota Kinabalu (from left: John, Jana, Jasmin, Jed and coach Bobby Esquivel)

The Kuching finalists: Daisuke Sumizawa with Jed Olivarez