Kia Brings Tennis Champions To Seoul!

Their names are already legends in tennis: Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Marat Safin, and Pat Cash.

And thanks to Kia Motors and the ATP Champions Tour, these tennis legends came to Seoul, much to the delight of their Korean fans!

            (Marat Safin and John McEnroe 
             talking to sports reporters)

             (The four Champions in Seoul)

On November 12 and 13 in 2016, when the autumn temperatures in Seoul were best for the outdoors, the legends amazed their Korean fans with their booming serves, shot-making, and enthralling points that made their names the most exciting to watch during their professional days. 

John McEnroe, a former World No. 1 with 7 Grand Slam singles titles to his name, is the only left-handed player in the field. McEnroe is known for his serve-and-volley game as well as his leftie out-wide serve, which, according to Pat Cash, "is very difficult on this court; it's very fast".

         (Young tennis players pose with 
                       Pete and Pat)

         (Fernando Gonzalez was last year's                  tournament champion)

Pete Sampras, with his 14 Grand Slam singles titles, sharing the 2nd spot with Rafa Nadal in the current all-time record list, is also known for his serve-and-volley game, but it's his booming serves that usually do the damage. 

When I asked Pete Sampras about his reaching the World No. 1 ranking in 1993 and the 286 weeks he spent on that spot, he said that "it was one thing to get there; it's twice as hard to stay there".  

                  (Pat Cash with fans)

   (Marat Safin with a young Korean fan)

Marat Safin, also a former World No. 1, has won 2 Grand Slam singles titles, while Pat Cash has been a Wimbledon champion.

                (Excited tennis fans)

          (John McEnroe with his fans)

With the tournament having events such as the autograph signing, the 'one-point lesson' hit with Pat and Pete, and the 'fastest serve' contest, the local and international tennis fans in the SK Handball Arena were treated to a weekend of fun and special tennis matches.

                    (Marat in action)

During the matches, fans would get into the game by cheering words of encouragement for their favorite players.

But the most popular player among the fans was Pat Cash, who not only entertained everyone with his antics on court, but also gave away his prized trademark headbands to lucky fans who were seated courtside. He even walked over to a fan on the other side of the court just to give her his headband in appreciation of the fan's all-out cheering for him.

      (McEnroe questioning a line call)

      (Pat Cash unleashing a backhand)

And just like his old self, John McEnroe flared up during matches (jokingly though) whenever a questionable line call didn't go his way. But that's what fans came to see: their favorite tennis players being just themselves on the court.

And being a tennis fan and a player myself, I felt the excitement of the fans, both young and old, whenever a long rally happened and ended with a winner, or when they rushed courtside after matches to ask for a photo with their favorite player or for an autograph. 

            (The great Pete Sampras)

I even heard one Korean female fan loudly giggled after she had a photo with Marat Safin. It was understandable; he is handsome and at 6'4", his presence on the court is still intimidating.

On the first day of the tournament, Marat Safin won over Pete Sampras (7-6 (4),6-4), while John McEnroe won over Pat Cash (6-2,6-4). 

On the second day, Marat Safin lifted the champion's trophy after winning over John McEnroe (7-5,7-5), while Pete Sampras won over Pat Cash (7-5,6-3).   

        (McEnroe talking to a reporter)

(Marat Safin giving a champion's speech as the runner-up, John McEnroe, looks on)

While the two-day tournament was probably too short for Korean fans to enjoy watching these champions, Kia and the ATP Champions Tour would probably be bringing more legendary champions to Seoul next year! :-)

Playing Tennis in Seoul!

My first ever visit to Seoul On my first ever weekend during my two-week visit to Seoul years ago, I was showed around Seoul by Bella and her husband Junggu. When we drove through the Hannam-dong neighborhood in the Yongsan District, I immediately spotted tennis courts  from the car. And even though I couldn't see the actual courts, those high light posts and tall screen wires were a give-away! That time, I knew they were tennis courts! But what I didn't know was that I would be living in that neighborhood, and those tennis courts would just be minutes away from my apartment! Who would have thought that the first tennis courts I spotted in Seoul would be my favorite clay courts in the city?!

And when I finally settled in that summer, I wasted no time and visited the tennis courts one weekend. And over the years, and perhaps a thousand forehands later, I have been playing on the best clay courts in Seoul! Well, since the courts are very good, rental for one-hour is quite pricey. 

According to my tennis friend, Dong-Eun, decades ago, the Korean government promoted the sport of tennis by creating tennis courts all over the country, usually around the neighborhoods. This was the time when the sitting president then was a tennis player himself. Maybe that's why I always see in the Hannamdong clay courts a lot of old ajussis and ajummas still playing in their 70s, and perhaps even in their 80s. Maybe when they were young, that was when the government promoted the sports, enabling them to learn tennis at a young age. And they're still playing well until now! I remember when I used to play at the clay courts of Sogang University, I played doubles against Father Thomas, a Korean Jesuit priest. I was told he was already in his 90s!

                          (Go Seoda of Japan)

So, if you want to polish that forehand and improve that backhand, you can always find a tennis court around a cluster of suburban apartments near you. There are also tennis courts inside the schools and universities. 

In Seoul, the hard courts at Olympic Park (Olympic Park Station, Line 5, Exit 3) and Jangchung Tennis Courts (Dongkuk University Station, Line 3, Exit 6) are probably the best. 

While the neighborhood clay courts may do, the clay courts of Hannam-dong Tennis Courts (those on the 2nd and 3rd levels) are the best clay courts in Seoul. They're located in Hannam-dong in the Yongsan District (Beotigogae Station, Line 6, Exit 3).

                      (Duck-Hee Lee of Korea)

                      (Philip Bester of Canada)

The tennis courts of Olympic Park hosts the annual WTA event where you can see female professional tennis players slug it out against each other. This was the venue for tennis during the 1988 Seoul Olympics where Steffi Graf won the gold medal and completed her Golden Slam that year.

            (The Korean tennis prodigy Hyeon Chung 
                           being interviewed)

See you at the tennis courts!

PS. The photos below were from the ATP challenger event held at the Olympic Park in May, which was won by Go Seoda from Japan. The runner-up was the Korean teenage prodigy Hyeon Chung.

2014 Asian Games: The High Kicks Of Sepak Takraw

           (My Asian Games ticket and the wrongly spelled 
            welcome banner at the Bucheon Gymnasium)

The first stop of our trip to the Asian Games sponsored by the Korea Tourism Organization was at Bucheon Gymnasium. I haven't been to this part of Gyeonggi Province. So, a trip to this city was a welcome idea, especially if it was to watch an event of the 2014 Asian Games.

            (Students waiting to enter the Bucheon Gymnasium)

                     (Lining up to buy tickets for the event)

We got to the venue before the games started, and since this sport isn't that popular, I saw a lot of empty seats in the gymnasium. There wasn't much going on around the gymnasium either. I was expecting some Asian Games fun booths to lighten up the atmosphere of this sleepy residential neighborhood. Other than watching the matches inside, there wasn't much else to do outside. 

The crowd watching the sepak takraw elimination rounds mainly consisted of families and students, who I think lived around the area.

Sepak takraw is a sport that originated in Southeast Asia that involves a rattan ball that is kicked by the player over a net. I have never played it, but as I watched it played by teams from Japan, Korea, Nepal and Singapore that afternoon, I realized this sport requires a lot of agility, flexibility and lightness to fly, kick, defend and anticipate where that rattan ball was heading to.

The object of the game is to kick the rattan ball into the court of your opponent, much like volleyball, but using one's legs and everything else, except hands and arms. If the ball drops into your opponent's court, it's a point for you. Although it sounds easy, the ball should not touch your court, too, and only your feet, knees, back, head and chest should touch the rattan ball during the game. If your arms or hands touch the ball, it's a foul. 

'Sepak' is a Malay word that means 'to kick', and 'takraw' is a Thai word that means 'rattan ball'.

Interestingly, the Filipino word 'sipa' also means 'to kick', and Sipa was a game I used to play with friends and classmates when I was a kid using a lead washer that was usually covered and tailed with a plastic candy wrapper. We would kick the lead washer using the inward motion of our right leg (if you're right-handed) and do it the most number of times without dropping the lead washer, and I was very good at it. I guess if I trained for sepak takraw, I would have ended at the Asian Games, too. Ha-ha-ha! 

Inside the gymnasium, the home crowd loudly cheered for the Korean teams, but also applauded by efforts of the visitors. Although the matches didn't last that long as the team that reached 21 points with a difference of 2 was given a set, and the victor should win 2 out of 3 sets. 

And as I was admiring the flexibility and speed of these athletes, I took some photographs from my seat inside the section assigned for Asian Games athletes. Oops! I guess the Korean lady manning the area allowed me to sit in that section because she thought that I, too, was an athlete at the Asian Games. Ha-ha-ha! I was flattered.  Perhaps, the red, white and blue Filipinas t-shirt (bought from Collezione at Greenbelt 5 in Makati City, Philippines) made me look the part.

Here are some photographs of the high kicks, stunts, twists and flexibility of the teams that day:

       (Korea vs. Singapore: the Singapore team member 
                    tries to block the ball with his back)

        (Korea vs. Japan: a Japanese team member doing 
     a split in the air to kick the ball into the opponent's court)

    (Korea vs. Singapore: opposing teams both in mid-air for a kick)

(Some Korean athletes watching the games)

                             (My favorite shot of the day: 
           A player from Team Korea flies next to the net almost 
           horizontally with one leg about to kick the ball and with                                his back against the ground. Amazing!)

Good luck to the remaining teams for rest of the Games!

Korea Tourism Organization's K-Performance Supporters!
                             (Photo courtesy of KTO)