Regentville versus Bukit Regency
The Regentville tennis team had our first tennis friendly match (home leg) of 2010 against the team from Bukit Regency Condo based in Bukit Timah Singapore. Despite of the haze yesterday, we were fortunate to have good sunny weather and played a staggering totally of 16 games (different double pairings) which in itself is a record as we had never played that many games in one friendly match session before. Regentville tennis fielded both our men's and mix doubles teams.
Regentville and Bukit Regency Tennis Team Photo
This is Bukit Regency's first friendly tennis match and its great for the local Singapore tennis scene that we are seeing more competitive social tennis teams being formed and participating in these social tennis friendly matches.
On behalf of the Regentville tennis team would like to personally Thank Peter (team organizer) and all the players from the Bukit Regency tennis team for coming all the way down to Hougang to have this friendly tennis match with us. Away leg for the next friendly against Bukit Regency is yet to be confirmed.
More photos of Regentville versus Bukit Regency tennis here.
Regentville and Bukit Regency Tennis Team PhotoThis is Bukit Regency's first friendly tennis match and its great for the local Singapore tennis scene that we are seeing more competitive social tennis teams being formed and participating in these social tennis friendly matches.
On behalf of the Regentville tennis team would like to personally Thank Peter (team organizer) and all the players from the Bukit Regency tennis team for coming all the way down to Hougang to have this friendly tennis match with us. Away leg for the next friendly against Bukit Regency is yet to be confirmed.
More photos of Regentville versus Bukit Regency tennis here.
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Regentville versus SIM Varsity Team
Regentville tennis hosted the varsity team from the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) yesterday. The weather yesterday was perfect as it has been raining for the last couple of days. We managed to play a total of 9 men's double's matches against a team of 5 players from the SIM university team. In all, it was great experience to have played against a much younger and youthful opposition.
Regentville & SIM Varsity tennis team photo
On behalf of the Regentville tennis team, I would like to Thank Calvin, team organizer for the SIM tennis team for having this friendly tennis match with us.
More photos of Regentville versus SIM tennis team here.
Regentville & SIM Varsity tennis team photoOn behalf of the Regentville tennis team, I would like to Thank Calvin, team organizer for the SIM tennis team for having this friendly tennis match with us.
More photos of Regentville versus SIM tennis team here.
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Fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive Tennis Racquet
I have been getting many emails and facebook requests asking to verify if a tennis racquet that had been purchase is either genuine or fake after I wrote my initial articles on the fake Babolat Pure Drive and fake Wilson K Blade 98. All these requests had one very similar thing in common and shared a common trait - They were all purchased from either online auctions sites or unknown China based websites not linked to any authorized tennis reseller or manufacturer.
I had the opportunity to get a first hand look of a fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive - APD (Cortex Version) courtesy of Lot Tan who is a moderator of Tennis Friendz Network a local tennis forum here in Singapore. He had acquired this racquet from eBay thinking it was a great buy and genuine tennis racquet. When he finally received the racquet, to much to his surprise, he discovered that there were some inconsistencies with it as I will highlight below in my review of the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive (APD).
Can you spot the difference between the genuine APD and fake APD? The one with the Black overgrip (left) is the authentic one
Before I start with my review, I would have to say that the counterfeiters manufacturing these fake racquets are getting even better at making these conterfeit racquets. I personally rate the Babolat Aero Pro here as a "Class A" fake. Unlike the fake Babolat Pure Drive, that I had previously reviewed, which had some glaring inconsistencies that you will be able to spot from a mile away, this fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive racquet bares an uncanny similarity to a genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive in many aspects and it would take a fair bit of scrutiny comparing it with a genuine Aero Pro Drive to spot the differences. From a distance, I hardly could tell the difference! I hope my review and images below documenting the differences between a genuine and fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive would benefit the folks doing some research on the Aero Pro Drive before making a big mistake by purchasing a fake tennis racquet.
Can you spot the difference between the genuine APD and fake APD? The one with the Black overgrip (right) is the authentic one. They look exactly identical from a distance.
Differences between a Genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive and a Fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive
1. Racquet Balance & Weight
This is almost a dead give away if you have the opportunity to physically see and examine the racquet. A weight balance test from the throat of the racquet reveals the "fake" Aero Pro Drive to be severely "head heavy". The entire racquet tips towards the head of the racquet. The genuine Babolat Aero Pro drive should be closer to an even balance.
The fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is totally head heavy! (racquet in front) As seen from this racquet balance test with a pencil.
2. Silver highlights versus Matte finish on wordings and logos
All the wordings and propriety Babolat Technology and brand logos on the genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive contains a Silver finishing or gleam. The fake Aero Pro Drive only has a dull greyish finish.
The authentic APD had a silver glossy finish to all its wordings compared to a matte dull finished found of the fake APD.
3. Identical colored paintwork but different colored "Cortex" V shaped section
The "Yellow" coloring on the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive are identical but the "White" has a more bright white coloring towards it. The genuine Aero Pro Drive has a more pearly yellowish white look. The most obvious give away here would be the more brightly yellow color on the plastic v shaped cortex section that is on the fake Aero Pro Drive compared to the more duller yellow found on the cortex section of the genuine Aero Pro Drive.
The fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive (Right) has a more brightly yellow colored plastic cortex section compared to the genuine Aero Pro Drive which is more dull yellow.
4. Totally different Grommets colors & Bumper guard design
Another dead give away here. The Grommets on the fake Babalat Aero Pro Drive are different in color. Its in black instead of grey and of low quality. The patterns on the grommets also are totally different compared to the orginal Aero Pro Drive. This comes as a surprise to me as as grommets are relatively cheap plastic and easy to manufacture. The counterfeiters went to such great lengths to fake the cosmetic look of the racquet, but didn't bother to invest any time on making a good imitation of cheap plastic grommets. The most logical reason would be perhaps they felt that the grommets would be the least looked at compared to the racquet cosmetics on the frame.
The bumper guard grommets on the fake APD (top) has a totally different design and color.
5 Different location of the Trade mark "TM" logo
The Trade Mark "TM" logo of the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is located inside the grommet section and the inner section of the racquet frame compared to the genuine Aero Pro Drive which has the "TM" logo visible on the outer side of the frame. Thing to also note here is the location of the spelling of "T" in the words Babolat. The fake Aero Pro Drive has the T spelling printed just stopping short of grooves where the grommets are housed. The authentic or genuine Aero Pro Drive has the "T" logo printed in the inner section of the grommet grooves.
The TM logo found logo on the fake Aero Pro Drive (left) is found on the inner section of the grommet groves.
6. Butt cap color and etched 3 letter character code.
The butt cap on the original authentic Babolat Aero Pro Drive is a deeper red in color and contains an additional product code. The genuine APD which I have had the 3 character codes "MAC" etched into it. There might be different codes etched into each genuine Aero Pro Drive but I guess the thing to generally look out for would be the deeper red color of the Babolat logo and a character code embedded at the bottom section of the butt cap.
Serial characters on the butt cap and a darker RED color on the Babolat logo (left) might indicate that you have a genuine Babolat racquet
7. Poor QC alignment in specification box.
The alignment on the specs section of the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is out of alignment. As you can see from the image below. The "XCEL" box and the words "COMFORT" is slightly crooked and misaligned for the fake APD. The counterfeit Babolat APD is the racquet at the bottom in the image below.
Quality control has always been an issue with fake tennis racquets as seen in the (bottom) image.
8. Paint overlay on the genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive
A distinct paint over lay was noticed near the hologram section where the yellow paint intersects the white for the genuine Aero Pro Drive. You can literally feel the layer of yellow paint above the white paint causing an impression as you run your fingers through it and a bulge in the grip size sticker above it. In the case of the fake or counterfeit Aero Pro Drive, (APD) there is no pronounced yellow layer and it feels smooth to the touch. All these minor inconsistencies could be prevalent in other counterfeit Babolat racquets and might lead you to quickly determine if a future Babolat racquet you come across is either genuine or fake.
More differences between a fake (top) and genuine (bottom) Babolat Aero Pro Drive
9 Racquet cover and zipper
The racquet cover on the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is noticeably much lighter than compared to an original Aero Pro Drive cover. The genuine APD racquet cover is much heavier and chunkier in feel. The color of the words "Aero Series" is different for both the genuine and fake racquets. The one on the genuine APD has the word "series" labeled in Green. The counterfeit APD had the entire words "Aero Series" all in Yellow.
The racquet covers doesn't lie, poorer quality is evident in the fake cover (left) in terms of weight and quality.
The zipper on the genuine Aero Pro Drive has a greater quality finish, is much thicker in feel and has a matte finish look towards it. The zipper on the fake APD however has a more silvery look and feels much thinner to the touch. The logo on the zipper has a very crude look towards it indicating low quality control.
Better quality matte finish found on the Babolat genuine racquet zippers (right) compared to the silvery crude looking zippers (left) found on the fake racquet covers.
One possible way to check if your Babolat racquet is genuine.
Over the years and from experience using many Babolat tennis racquets. I realized that Babolat usually has two serial holograms on their racquets. One is located on the inner section of the racquet throat and the other is found on the handle of the racquet which is only accessible when you remove your original grip. The serial numbers of the two stickers should match. Refer to the image below of my genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive.
Is it Real? One possible way to find out is to check that the serial numbers matches on both the racquet throat and handle (only accessible if you remove the original grip).
Why you should never buy a fake tennis racquet racquet...
As I was doing this review of the fake Aero Pro Drive and examining the grommets I noticed that this fake APD was already damaged and the frame had been already cracked. Counterfeit racquets are known to use cheaper less stronger composites and materials that are bad for you arm. You can risk serious injuries playing with fake tennis racquets and I strongly urge you to never consider buying an imitation tennis racquet or fake tennis frame. In the case of this counterfeit APD, I believe the crack on the frame was its inability to handle the stresses put on the string. The fake APD had a hybrid synthetic string setup on it. I feel that its material was never built to handle the stresses put on this racquet due to its cheap composites. I have no reason to believe this racquet was abused in anyway as a crack on the inside of the racquet usually indicates more of structural fatigue. It could be the result that this racquet was strung at a higher tension or gave way during play. I was looking for further evidence of abuse but could not find any leading me to conclude that the crack was more of a structural failure due to bad composites than anything else as a fake racquet with its poor quality materials and composites could not simply handle the stringing tension and the racquet finally gave way.
Crack frame from racquet fatigue. Fake racquets are notorious for low quality composites that can lead not only to cracked frames but serious injuries.
Conclusion
If you have already purchase a fake tennis racquet, I'm sorry that this has happened, but its at least a good lesson learnt that you should never try to shave off a couple of bucks in costs and buy from a reputable tennis dealer or store instead of auction sites that you have no way of verifying if the tennis racquet you purchase is real or fake. My advice is to know as much as possible about a genuine racquet before you buy it. Try to physically see and touch the racquet assuming you're buying it off somebody and meeting the seller. It helps to know how the racquet feels - it's weight, balance and some aspects of its cosmetics. If you cannot physically see and touch the racquet as you're buying it online, I would highly recommend that you purchase your tennis racquets from either reputable online stores, sellers or dealers of authorized tennis racquets.
I am not saying that all sellers on online auction sites are selling fake racquets. Most sellers are selling genuine items and you can get them for a good deal as they might have purchased an original authentic racquet from an authorized store and might just want to sell it after sometime. This happens in most cases, but there are always some unscrupulous sellers who wants to sell fake tennis racquets to some unsuspecting buyers so the onus is on the buyer to always be aware and cautious when buying online. Many seller of fake products will posts images of the real product and sell you a fake product later. I sympathize with folks who don't really know much about tennis racquets and buy these imitation racquets thinking that they are genuine. Mind you these fake racquets are not exactly dirt cheap and still considerably cost some money. I sincerely hope my findings on the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive would help some folks not get conned into buying a counterfeit product.
Incidentally the moderators on our local Singapore tennis forum does not condone in such illegal activities and will not hesitate to refer this matter to the local authorities. I hope similar tennis forums and online auction sites follow suit.
More images of the genuine and fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive here.
I had the opportunity to get a first hand look of a fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive - APD (Cortex Version) courtesy of Lot Tan who is a moderator of Tennis Friendz Network a local tennis forum here in Singapore. He had acquired this racquet from eBay thinking it was a great buy and genuine tennis racquet. When he finally received the racquet, to much to his surprise, he discovered that there were some inconsistencies with it as I will highlight below in my review of the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive (APD).
Can you spot the difference between the genuine APD and fake APD? The one with the Black overgrip (left) is the authentic oneBefore I start with my review, I would have to say that the counterfeiters manufacturing these fake racquets are getting even better at making these conterfeit racquets. I personally rate the Babolat Aero Pro here as a "Class A" fake. Unlike the fake Babolat Pure Drive, that I had previously reviewed, which had some glaring inconsistencies that you will be able to spot from a mile away, this fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive racquet bares an uncanny similarity to a genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive in many aspects and it would take a fair bit of scrutiny comparing it with a genuine Aero Pro Drive to spot the differences. From a distance, I hardly could tell the difference! I hope my review and images below documenting the differences between a genuine and fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive would benefit the folks doing some research on the Aero Pro Drive before making a big mistake by purchasing a fake tennis racquet.
Can you spot the difference between the genuine APD and fake APD? The one with the Black overgrip (right) is the authentic one. They look exactly identical from a distance.Differences between a Genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive and a Fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive
1. Racquet Balance & Weight
This is almost a dead give away if you have the opportunity to physically see and examine the racquet. A weight balance test from the throat of the racquet reveals the "fake" Aero Pro Drive to be severely "head heavy". The entire racquet tips towards the head of the racquet. The genuine Babolat Aero Pro drive should be closer to an even balance.
The fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is totally head heavy! (racquet in front) As seen from this racquet balance test with a pencil.2. Silver highlights versus Matte finish on wordings and logos
All the wordings and propriety Babolat Technology and brand logos on the genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive contains a Silver finishing or gleam. The fake Aero Pro Drive only has a dull greyish finish.
The authentic APD had a silver glossy finish to all its wordings compared to a matte dull finished found of the fake APD.3. Identical colored paintwork but different colored "Cortex" V shaped section
The "Yellow" coloring on the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive are identical but the "White" has a more bright white coloring towards it. The genuine Aero Pro Drive has a more pearly yellowish white look. The most obvious give away here would be the more brightly yellow color on the plastic v shaped cortex section that is on the fake Aero Pro Drive compared to the more duller yellow found on the cortex section of the genuine Aero Pro Drive.
The fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive (Right) has a more brightly yellow colored plastic cortex section compared to the genuine Aero Pro Drive which is more dull yellow.4. Totally different Grommets colors & Bumper guard design
Another dead give away here. The Grommets on the fake Babalat Aero Pro Drive are different in color. Its in black instead of grey and of low quality. The patterns on the grommets also are totally different compared to the orginal Aero Pro Drive. This comes as a surprise to me as as grommets are relatively cheap plastic and easy to manufacture. The counterfeiters went to such great lengths to fake the cosmetic look of the racquet, but didn't bother to invest any time on making a good imitation of cheap plastic grommets. The most logical reason would be perhaps they felt that the grommets would be the least looked at compared to the racquet cosmetics on the frame.
The bumper guard grommets on the fake APD (top) has a totally different design and color.5 Different location of the Trade mark "TM" logo
The Trade Mark "TM" logo of the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is located inside the grommet section and the inner section of the racquet frame compared to the genuine Aero Pro Drive which has the "TM" logo visible on the outer side of the frame. Thing to also note here is the location of the spelling of "T" in the words Babolat. The fake Aero Pro Drive has the T spelling printed just stopping short of grooves where the grommets are housed. The authentic or genuine Aero Pro Drive has the "T" logo printed in the inner section of the grommet grooves.
The TM logo found logo on the fake Aero Pro Drive (left) is found on the inner section of the grommet groves.6. Butt cap color and etched 3 letter character code.
The butt cap on the original authentic Babolat Aero Pro Drive is a deeper red in color and contains an additional product code. The genuine APD which I have had the 3 character codes "MAC" etched into it. There might be different codes etched into each genuine Aero Pro Drive but I guess the thing to generally look out for would be the deeper red color of the Babolat logo and a character code embedded at the bottom section of the butt cap.
Serial characters on the butt cap and a darker RED color on the Babolat logo (left) might indicate that you have a genuine Babolat racquet7. Poor QC alignment in specification box.
The alignment on the specs section of the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is out of alignment. As you can see from the image below. The "XCEL" box and the words "COMFORT" is slightly crooked and misaligned for the fake APD. The counterfeit Babolat APD is the racquet at the bottom in the image below.
Quality control has always been an issue with fake tennis racquets as seen in the (bottom) image.8. Paint overlay on the genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive
A distinct paint over lay was noticed near the hologram section where the yellow paint intersects the white for the genuine Aero Pro Drive. You can literally feel the layer of yellow paint above the white paint causing an impression as you run your fingers through it and a bulge in the grip size sticker above it. In the case of the fake or counterfeit Aero Pro Drive, (APD) there is no pronounced yellow layer and it feels smooth to the touch. All these minor inconsistencies could be prevalent in other counterfeit Babolat racquets and might lead you to quickly determine if a future Babolat racquet you come across is either genuine or fake.
More differences between a fake (top) and genuine (bottom) Babolat Aero Pro Drive9 Racquet cover and zipper
The racquet cover on the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive is noticeably much lighter than compared to an original Aero Pro Drive cover. The genuine APD racquet cover is much heavier and chunkier in feel. The color of the words "Aero Series" is different for both the genuine and fake racquets. The one on the genuine APD has the word "series" labeled in Green. The counterfeit APD had the entire words "Aero Series" all in Yellow.
The racquet covers doesn't lie, poorer quality is evident in the fake cover (left) in terms of weight and quality.The zipper on the genuine Aero Pro Drive has a greater quality finish, is much thicker in feel and has a matte finish look towards it. The zipper on the fake APD however has a more silvery look and feels much thinner to the touch. The logo on the zipper has a very crude look towards it indicating low quality control.
Better quality matte finish found on the Babolat genuine racquet zippers (right) compared to the silvery crude looking zippers (left) found on the fake racquet covers.One possible way to check if your Babolat racquet is genuine.
Over the years and from experience using many Babolat tennis racquets. I realized that Babolat usually has two serial holograms on their racquets. One is located on the inner section of the racquet throat and the other is found on the handle of the racquet which is only accessible when you remove your original grip. The serial numbers of the two stickers should match. Refer to the image below of my genuine Babolat Aero Pro Drive.
Is it Real? One possible way to find out is to check that the serial numbers matches on both the racquet throat and handle (only accessible if you remove the original grip).Why you should never buy a fake tennis racquet racquet...
As I was doing this review of the fake Aero Pro Drive and examining the grommets I noticed that this fake APD was already damaged and the frame had been already cracked. Counterfeit racquets are known to use cheaper less stronger composites and materials that are bad for you arm. You can risk serious injuries playing with fake tennis racquets and I strongly urge you to never consider buying an imitation tennis racquet or fake tennis frame. In the case of this counterfeit APD, I believe the crack on the frame was its inability to handle the stresses put on the string. The fake APD had a hybrid synthetic string setup on it. I feel that its material was never built to handle the stresses put on this racquet due to its cheap composites. I have no reason to believe this racquet was abused in anyway as a crack on the inside of the racquet usually indicates more of structural fatigue. It could be the result that this racquet was strung at a higher tension or gave way during play. I was looking for further evidence of abuse but could not find any leading me to conclude that the crack was more of a structural failure due to bad composites than anything else as a fake racquet with its poor quality materials and composites could not simply handle the stringing tension and the racquet finally gave way.
Crack frame from racquet fatigue. Fake racquets are notorious for low quality composites that can lead not only to cracked frames but serious injuries.Conclusion
If you have already purchase a fake tennis racquet, I'm sorry that this has happened, but its at least a good lesson learnt that you should never try to shave off a couple of bucks in costs and buy from a reputable tennis dealer or store instead of auction sites that you have no way of verifying if the tennis racquet you purchase is real or fake. My advice is to know as much as possible about a genuine racquet before you buy it. Try to physically see and touch the racquet assuming you're buying it off somebody and meeting the seller. It helps to know how the racquet feels - it's weight, balance and some aspects of its cosmetics. If you cannot physically see and touch the racquet as you're buying it online, I would highly recommend that you purchase your tennis racquets from either reputable online stores, sellers or dealers of authorized tennis racquets.
I am not saying that all sellers on online auction sites are selling fake racquets. Most sellers are selling genuine items and you can get them for a good deal as they might have purchased an original authentic racquet from an authorized store and might just want to sell it after sometime. This happens in most cases, but there are always some unscrupulous sellers who wants to sell fake tennis racquets to some unsuspecting buyers so the onus is on the buyer to always be aware and cautious when buying online. Many seller of fake products will posts images of the real product and sell you a fake product later. I sympathize with folks who don't really know much about tennis racquets and buy these imitation racquets thinking that they are genuine. Mind you these fake racquets are not exactly dirt cheap and still considerably cost some money. I sincerely hope my findings on the fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive would help some folks not get conned into buying a counterfeit product.
Incidentally the moderators on our local Singapore tennis forum does not condone in such illegal activities and will not hesitate to refer this matter to the local authorities. I hope similar tennis forums and online auction sites follow suit.
More images of the genuine and fake Babolat Aero Pro Drive here.
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Write up on Fake Tennis Racquets
I was surfing the web today and was surprised that an online tennis store based in Melbourne Australia called World of Tennis really loved my original write up on the fake Babolat Pure Drive that they actually "stole" it and repackaged the content as if it was there's! See the stolen Regentville write up on fake tennis racquet here. Now whose the one advocating piracy here? Nobody from World of Tennis had the decency to actually write me to ask for permission for the rights to use my pictures and content. They just stole my entire content made a few replacements to suit their page copy and there you have it.
They proudly proclaim in the last line of the paragraph that "World of Tennis is an authorised dealer of every brand we sell. You can contact the Australian distributors of each brand and ask them". How ironic is this statement as they openly steal content from another site and repackage the copy as if it was their own. I am fine about sharing my content as Regentville Tennis Singapore is all about my personal research and findings on anything and everything about tennis, but stealing the content and pictures without asking for permission is really bad.
They proudly proclaim in the last line of the paragraph that "World of Tennis is an authorised dealer of every brand we sell. You can contact the Australian distributors of each brand and ask them". How ironic is this statement as they openly steal content from another site and repackage the copy as if it was their own. I am fine about sharing my content as Regentville Tennis Singapore is all about my personal research and findings on anything and everything about tennis, but stealing the content and pictures without asking for permission is really bad.
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Thailand or Malaysian Open Tennis 2009
For the last couple of years tennis fans in South East Asia were pretty much restricted to the Thailand Open held in Bangkok. In 2005, Vietnam did try to follow suit by hosting the Vietnam tennis Open, but that didn't really pick up as they failed to really attract big name tennis players to their event. The Thailand Open had been the only premier tennis event in South East Asia that has hosted the likes of current number one Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and most recently Rafael Nadal as well as other big name tennis players. No other South East Asian country had come close to hosting a world class ATP event in such a scale and managing to attract such big name players but this year, the outlook seems very much different as Malaysia is set to stage its first inaugural Malaysian Open held in Kuala Lumpur.
When it was announced in June 2009 that Malaysia was hosting its first ATP World Tour 250 event I wasn't really surprised. I believe tennis fans all around South East Asia wanted to see more tennis and big tennis names showcase their talents in this part of the region. Malaysia had been also slowly but surely gaining experience by having an ATP Challenger Event in 2007 in addition to bringing some exhibition tennis matches which I documented in my article on the "Clash of Times" match between Pete Sampras and Roger Federer and the "Clash of Titans" match between Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet.
Showdown of Champions tennis event 2008 might have set the stage of bigger things to come...
In 2008 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was again the venue for another exhibition match dubbed the "Show Down of Champions" between Roger Federer, James Blake and former tennis legends John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg. I soon realized that this was a prelude of more to come. My guess was that the organizers in Malaysia wanted to the test the market in addition to gain the invaluable experience of organizing world class tennis events and getting all the logistics, planning and getting the right training for the event staff and volunteers which culminated to the 2009 Malaysian Open ATP World Tour event. Learning the ropes to organizing a world class tennis tournament doesn't happen overnight. It requires lots of preparation and planing unlike in the case of the one off exhibition match held in Singapore between Maria Sharapova and Anna Chakvetadze which in my opinion was very poorly organized. I felt that Malaysia did the right thing by having these exhibition matches to gain all the necessary experience to stage a world class ATP tennis event and to attract bigger name players.
All their efforts seems to be working as they have managed to get new and former players to have graced the Thailand Open in the previous years and looks to have upstaged even its more illustrious counter part the Thailand Open which until today have only 3 confirm names such as Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marat Safin whom signed up prior the announcement of the Malaysian Open.
The Malaysian Open 2009 ATP event in KL has attracted many of the worlds top tennis players.
So far the Malaysian Open has managed to attract the likes of:
Berdych, Tomas (CZE) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS)
Ferrer, David (ESP)
Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI)
Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Monfils, Gael (FRA) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Nishikori, Kei (JPN)
Soderling, Robin (SWE) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
The Thailand Open 2009 seems to be losing out, as up till today only 3 top level players have been confirmed.
Mind you these players are no push overs and are considered big name players. The first thought was why so many established players keen on showing up at this inaugural Malaysian Open tennis event in Kuala Lumper, Malaysia? Well the answer is fairly straight forward and simple. If you want big names to show up what's in it for them? A check on the ATP website shows the Thailand Open ($ 608,500) is paying a considerably lesser payout in terms of prize money amount compared to the Malaysian Open ($ 850,000) it is no wonder that most of the big name tennis players are flocking to the Malaysian Open!
The Malaysian Open has attracted much interest in the social media front from both Facebook and Twitter.
In terms of online marketing, I believe the Malaysian Open marketing and PR team made a very smart move. They employed social media techniques. Remember President's Barrack Obama's social media campaign during his elections which many believed was a decisive factor in winning him the US Presidency? Being a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Consultant by profession and having worked in the online industry for over a decade, I immediately realized that the Malaysian Open had addressed one of the biggest issues by engaging people and driving traffic to their website. They have been creating a social buzz and network about the upcoming Malaysian Open tennis event by having both a presence on Facebook - Malaysian Open and Twitter - Malaysian Open. There is also a blog page which is still currently under construction. The Thailand Open is unfortunately not capitalizing on any of the social media fronts. They only have a Thailand Open Events page on Facebook.
The Malaysian Open engages in social media with Twitter and Facebook
My question now is what will be Thailand Open's response to the Malaysian Open challenge? Engaging the social media aspect is a relatively easy thing to do if you have a good online marketing team to promote it. Aside from the social media aspect, how is the Thailand Open going to attract bigger names to Bangkok? The most logical answer to that would be to increase the prize money next year. In terms of competition the Malaysian Open will be a very serious threat for the Thailand Open, both the Thailand and Malaysian Open tennis events will be held on exactly the same day 28 September to 4 October. Both events clash on the same dates so in terms of ticket sales, both tournaments will be competing against each other. For a tennis fan who is based in South East Asia or Asia, I would most definitely want to go to a tennis tournament which offers me the best value for money in terms of ticket pricing and getting to see the top players in action.
Currently the Thailand Open doesn't seem to offer this and one would be more inclined to give it a pass and opt for the Malaysian Open instead. I have been a long supporter of the Thailand Open and I try to go every year (I will be attending this year) but if all the top notch players decide to play in Malaysia instead I don't see the reason in attending Thailand Open tennis events in the future where there will only be 2 to 3 big names playing against a field of relatively unknown players.
Its a pity that both the Thailand Open and Malaysian Open tennis ATP events are also held at the exact same dates. If the organizers had staggered them a week or a couple of weeks apart, there will be surely more fans like myself wanting to attend both tournaments. I am sure that there are reasons why the ATP holds both these events tournament on the same dates and have dedicated certain days that can accommodate the ATP schedule thus these dates might be already fixed and cannot be easily changed to hold these two events at two different times.
In conclusion, I hope that the Thailand Open management will work on increasing its prize money and to try to win back both the players and fans alike and engage more on the social media front to develop and increase its potential fan base that they are currently losing out to the Malaysian Open.
When it was announced in June 2009 that Malaysia was hosting its first ATP World Tour 250 event I wasn't really surprised. I believe tennis fans all around South East Asia wanted to see more tennis and big tennis names showcase their talents in this part of the region. Malaysia had been also slowly but surely gaining experience by having an ATP Challenger Event in 2007 in addition to bringing some exhibition tennis matches which I documented in my article on the "Clash of Times" match between Pete Sampras and Roger Federer and the "Clash of Titans" match between Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet.
Showdown of Champions tennis event 2008 might have set the stage of bigger things to come...In 2008 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was again the venue for another exhibition match dubbed the "Show Down of Champions" between Roger Federer, James Blake and former tennis legends John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg. I soon realized that this was a prelude of more to come. My guess was that the organizers in Malaysia wanted to the test the market in addition to gain the invaluable experience of organizing world class tennis events and getting all the logistics, planning and getting the right training for the event staff and volunteers which culminated to the 2009 Malaysian Open ATP World Tour event. Learning the ropes to organizing a world class tennis tournament doesn't happen overnight. It requires lots of preparation and planing unlike in the case of the one off exhibition match held in Singapore between Maria Sharapova and Anna Chakvetadze which in my opinion was very poorly organized. I felt that Malaysia did the right thing by having these exhibition matches to gain all the necessary experience to stage a world class ATP tennis event and to attract bigger name players.
All their efforts seems to be working as they have managed to get new and former players to have graced the Thailand Open in the previous years and looks to have upstaged even its more illustrious counter part the Thailand Open which until today have only 3 confirm names such as Rafael Nadal, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marat Safin whom signed up prior the announcement of the Malaysian Open.
The Malaysian Open 2009 ATP event in KL has attracted many of the worlds top tennis players.So far the Malaysian Open has managed to attract the likes of:
Berdych, Tomas (CZE) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Davydenko, Nikolay (RUS)
Ferrer, David (ESP)
Gonzalez, Fernando (CHI)
Hewitt, Lleyton (AUS) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Monfils, Gael (FRA) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Nishikori, Kei (JPN)
Soderling, Robin (SWE) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
Verdasco, Fernando (ESP) - Previously played at the Thailand Open
The Thailand Open 2009 seems to be losing out, as up till today only 3 top level players have been confirmed.Mind you these players are no push overs and are considered big name players. The first thought was why so many established players keen on showing up at this inaugural Malaysian Open tennis event in Kuala Lumper, Malaysia? Well the answer is fairly straight forward and simple. If you want big names to show up what's in it for them? A check on the ATP website shows the Thailand Open ($ 608,500) is paying a considerably lesser payout in terms of prize money amount compared to the Malaysian Open ($ 850,000) it is no wonder that most of the big name tennis players are flocking to the Malaysian Open!
The Malaysian Open has attracted much interest in the social media front from both Facebook and Twitter.In terms of online marketing, I believe the Malaysian Open marketing and PR team made a very smart move. They employed social media techniques. Remember President's Barrack Obama's social media campaign during his elections which many believed was a decisive factor in winning him the US Presidency? Being a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Consultant by profession and having worked in the online industry for over a decade, I immediately realized that the Malaysian Open had addressed one of the biggest issues by engaging people and driving traffic to their website. They have been creating a social buzz and network about the upcoming Malaysian Open tennis event by having both a presence on Facebook - Malaysian Open and Twitter - Malaysian Open. There is also a blog page which is still currently under construction. The Thailand Open is unfortunately not capitalizing on any of the social media fronts. They only have a Thailand Open Events page on Facebook.
The Malaysian Open engages in social media with Twitter and FacebookMy question now is what will be Thailand Open's response to the Malaysian Open challenge? Engaging the social media aspect is a relatively easy thing to do if you have a good online marketing team to promote it. Aside from the social media aspect, how is the Thailand Open going to attract bigger names to Bangkok? The most logical answer to that would be to increase the prize money next year. In terms of competition the Malaysian Open will be a very serious threat for the Thailand Open, both the Thailand and Malaysian Open tennis events will be held on exactly the same day 28 September to 4 October. Both events clash on the same dates so in terms of ticket sales, both tournaments will be competing against each other. For a tennis fan who is based in South East Asia or Asia, I would most definitely want to go to a tennis tournament which offers me the best value for money in terms of ticket pricing and getting to see the top players in action.
Currently the Thailand Open doesn't seem to offer this and one would be more inclined to give it a pass and opt for the Malaysian Open instead. I have been a long supporter of the Thailand Open and I try to go every year (I will be attending this year) but if all the top notch players decide to play in Malaysia instead I don't see the reason in attending Thailand Open tennis events in the future where there will only be 2 to 3 big names playing against a field of relatively unknown players.
Its a pity that both the Thailand Open and Malaysian Open tennis ATP events are also held at the exact same dates. If the organizers had staggered them a week or a couple of weeks apart, there will be surely more fans like myself wanting to attend both tournaments. I am sure that there are reasons why the ATP holds both these events tournament on the same dates and have dedicated certain days that can accommodate the ATP schedule thus these dates might be already fixed and cannot be easily changed to hold these two events at two different times.
In conclusion, I hope that the Thailand Open management will work on increasing its prize money and to try to win back both the players and fans alike and engage more on the social media front to develop and increase its potential fan base that they are currently losing out to the Malaysian Open.
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Haig Hills (Haig Court) versus Regentville
The team from Haig Hills (Haig Court) condo hosted Regentville tennis for the 2nd "away" leg of our inter condo tennis friendly. The last friendly tennis match held at home against the Haig Hills team ended abruptly due to rain, but today's game was held in splendid weather conditions.
This was the first time most of our players had to play on a different surface besides regular hard courts, so it was a good experience for all . The courts at Haig Court condo were rubberized and well cushioned similar to that of a running track resulting in slower bounce, longer rallys and some spectacular shots on the part of both teams.
Haig Hills (Haig Court Condo) versus Regentville Tennis team photo.
In all we had 5 hours of solid tennis where both teams played a total of 15 matches comprising of 2 mixed doubles , 2 ladies doubles and 11 mens doubles matches. On behalf of team Regentville, I would like to Thank Ivan and the Haig Hills (Haig Court Condo) tennis team for hosting us and being such wonderful hosts. We look forward to having another match soon in the following months to come.
More Photos of Haig Hills versus Regentville tennis here.
This was the first time most of our players had to play on a different surface besides regular hard courts, so it was a good experience for all . The courts at Haig Court condo were rubberized and well cushioned similar to that of a running track resulting in slower bounce, longer rallys and some spectacular shots on the part of both teams.
Haig Hills (Haig Court Condo) versus Regentville Tennis team photo.In all we had 5 hours of solid tennis where both teams played a total of 15 matches comprising of 2 mixed doubles , 2 ladies doubles and 11 mens doubles matches. On behalf of team Regentville, I would like to Thank Ivan and the Haig Hills (Haig Court Condo) tennis team for hosting us and being such wonderful hosts. We look forward to having another match soon in the following months to come.
More Photos of Haig Hills versus Regentville tennis here.
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mi Adidas Barricade V Tennis Shoes
My second pair of mi Adidas barricade IV tennis shoes have been already worn out and I decided it was finally time to get another pair of mi Adidas custom tennis shoes. The mi Adidas Barricade IV had been already phased out, so I had to go with Adidas' latest mi Adidas Barricade V custom tennis shoes.
Tsonga had recently worn a bright yellow custom mi Adidas Barricade V tennis shoes for the Australian Open aka "TSONGA 7" and the base colors looked really cool. It sort of reminded me of "Bumble Bee" from the Transformers. I thus got the base color using a yellow and black theme. I would have love to stick to the "TSONGA 7" theme colors, but unfortunately for the mi Adidas Barricade V, you were NOT allowed to have different colored Adidas stripes for the inner and outer base section of the shoes. If I were to stick with black stripes, similar to the "TSONGA 7", the stripes will NOT stand out against the black background on the inner base part of the shoe which can be seen in the image below.
As you can see the "TSONGA 7" does not have the black stripes clearly visible on the inner base of the shoe (left shoe)
I thus choose to stick with the main theme colors but used Slime Green or Lime Green for the stripes instead and silver base eyelets instead of gold. The end result was achieved with the Slime Green stripes contrasting against the black inner base.
What I like about & what could be better improved on the mi Adidas Barricade V.
What I like about:
1. Nicer custom colors but still limited to the main base colors.
2. Lighter compared to the Barricade IV. Note this is not a mi Adidas issue but Adidas Barricade Vs are known to be generally more lightweight compared to the Barricade IVs.
3. Having the ability to go online to customize your mi Adidas Barricade V and choose your own color custom color themes. This feature however is only available on the US site and not the Singapore site.
Can be better improved:
1. No Geo Fit sock liner option. The Geo Fit Sock liner provides added stability and cushioning for the ankle and provides for a better fit. I would say that this is the main highlight which really disappointed me as I feel that the Geo Fit option is really a critical part of the shoe and stands outs from the normal off the shelf versions.
2. Customized name on the rubber sole instead of being stitched on compared to the mi Adidas Barricade IV. I liked the more customized stitched on feel of your name on the canvas material rather than the name just being embossed on the rubber sole section. The printing on the rubber is also very small and cannot be really noticed.
3. Cannot customize different names on each shoe. This option was also not available for the mi Adidas Barricade IV. But this is a very simple add on as it would be really neat to have customize words for each shoe instead of a standard word on each side of the shoe.
4. Limited international flag option for the tongue. When we did a mass customization for the Regentville tennis team, some of my tennis players wanted the Philippines flag on their mi Adidas Barricade V although the Singapore flag was available, the flag option for the Philippines, Thailand or Malaysia was not available for the mi Adidas Barricade V.
5. Not being able to customize different colors stripes on the outer and inner base. As mentioned earlier, I was not able to customize the inner and outer Adidas 3 stripes on the inner and outer base of the shoe this issue was also prevalent with the mi Adidas Barricade IV but was restricted to one standard color. I couldn't use the "TSONGA 7" theme in the end, as if I were to choose black, the 3 stripes would not stand out against the black inner base of the shoe which was indeed a pity. If there were the option to choose two colors for the stripes one for the inner and one of the outer it would be really neat.
6. The wider the feet the longer the shoe. As with my previous Adidas Barricade IV, the width and the shoe design have always been an issue with severely flat footed people like myself. Although the mi Adidas shoes fit extremely well in terms of comfort, since I was going for the wide option on my feet the shoes had to be built longer. A regular size US size 8.5 for me would have to go to a customized US size 10. So all my mi Adidas shoes would physically look longer or bigger but fits well.
7. More custom colors would be great. I love orange, and I used orange exclusively for my stripes on both my custom Barricade IV. Orange was not available for the Barricade V this time round. More color selection would be fantastic. I have had lots of questions if you can customize your mi Adidas shoes to your own color theme. The answer is NO. While you can choose your very own colors there are a standard color theme that you are allowed to choose from. You cannot customize the shoe according to whatever colors you want. I would really like to see some variations of lighter blue (i.e. Djokovic's Blue CC Genius), army green and orange from mi Adidas in the future ;)
Conclusion:
Despite having more items that can be "better improved", I still personally consider the mi Adidas Barricade V one of the best tennis shoes available in the market today. It has great stability and durability compared to any other tennis shoes that I have personally used in the market today. Remember if you have feet problems like myself, mi Adidas customization provides not only greater support, comfort and fantastic fit but will greatly save your knees and legs in the long run. I strongly advocate mi Adidas if you have flat feet problems. Do keep in mind that spending a little more on your feet is a worthwhile investment. There is no use trying to save a couple of bucks and destroying your feet in the process.
The end result... More images of my mi Adidas Barricade V here.
Incidentally, Fernando Verdasco has just recently switched to mi Adidas Barricade V as well.
Tsonga had recently worn a bright yellow custom mi Adidas Barricade V tennis shoes for the Australian Open aka "TSONGA 7" and the base colors looked really cool. It sort of reminded me of "Bumble Bee" from the Transformers. I thus got the base color using a yellow and black theme. I would have love to stick to the "TSONGA 7" theme colors, but unfortunately for the mi Adidas Barricade V, you were NOT allowed to have different colored Adidas stripes for the inner and outer base section of the shoes. If I were to stick with black stripes, similar to the "TSONGA 7", the stripes will NOT stand out against the black background on the inner base part of the shoe which can be seen in the image below.
As you can see the "TSONGA 7" does not have the black stripes clearly visible on the inner base of the shoe (left shoe)I thus choose to stick with the main theme colors but used Slime Green or Lime Green for the stripes instead and silver base eyelets instead of gold. The end result was achieved with the Slime Green stripes contrasting against the black inner base.
What I like about & what could be better improved on the mi Adidas Barricade V.
What I like about:
1. Nicer custom colors but still limited to the main base colors.
2. Lighter compared to the Barricade IV. Note this is not a mi Adidas issue but Adidas Barricade Vs are known to be generally more lightweight compared to the Barricade IVs.
3. Having the ability to go online to customize your mi Adidas Barricade V and choose your own color custom color themes. This feature however is only available on the US site and not the Singapore site.
Can be better improved:
1. No Geo Fit sock liner option. The Geo Fit Sock liner provides added stability and cushioning for the ankle and provides for a better fit. I would say that this is the main highlight which really disappointed me as I feel that the Geo Fit option is really a critical part of the shoe and stands outs from the normal off the shelf versions.
2. Customized name on the rubber sole instead of being stitched on compared to the mi Adidas Barricade IV. I liked the more customized stitched on feel of your name on the canvas material rather than the name just being embossed on the rubber sole section. The printing on the rubber is also very small and cannot be really noticed.
3. Cannot customize different names on each shoe. This option was also not available for the mi Adidas Barricade IV. But this is a very simple add on as it would be really neat to have customize words for each shoe instead of a standard word on each side of the shoe.
4. Limited international flag option for the tongue. When we did a mass customization for the Regentville tennis team, some of my tennis players wanted the Philippines flag on their mi Adidas Barricade V although the Singapore flag was available, the flag option for the Philippines, Thailand or Malaysia was not available for the mi Adidas Barricade V.
5. Not being able to customize different colors stripes on the outer and inner base. As mentioned earlier, I was not able to customize the inner and outer Adidas 3 stripes on the inner and outer base of the shoe this issue was also prevalent with the mi Adidas Barricade IV but was restricted to one standard color. I couldn't use the "TSONGA 7" theme in the end, as if I were to choose black, the 3 stripes would not stand out against the black inner base of the shoe which was indeed a pity. If there were the option to choose two colors for the stripes one for the inner and one of the outer it would be really neat.
6. The wider the feet the longer the shoe. As with my previous Adidas Barricade IV, the width and the shoe design have always been an issue with severely flat footed people like myself. Although the mi Adidas shoes fit extremely well in terms of comfort, since I was going for the wide option on my feet the shoes had to be built longer. A regular size US size 8.5 for me would have to go to a customized US size 10. So all my mi Adidas shoes would physically look longer or bigger but fits well.
7. More custom colors would be great. I love orange, and I used orange exclusively for my stripes on both my custom Barricade IV. Orange was not available for the Barricade V this time round. More color selection would be fantastic. I have had lots of questions if you can customize your mi Adidas shoes to your own color theme. The answer is NO. While you can choose your very own colors there are a standard color theme that you are allowed to choose from. You cannot customize the shoe according to whatever colors you want. I would really like to see some variations of lighter blue (i.e. Djokovic's Blue CC Genius), army green and orange from mi Adidas in the future ;)
Conclusion:
Despite having more items that can be "better improved", I still personally consider the mi Adidas Barricade V one of the best tennis shoes available in the market today. It has great stability and durability compared to any other tennis shoes that I have personally used in the market today. Remember if you have feet problems like myself, mi Adidas customization provides not only greater support, comfort and fantastic fit but will greatly save your knees and legs in the long run. I strongly advocate mi Adidas if you have flat feet problems. Do keep in mind that spending a little more on your feet is a worthwhile investment. There is no use trying to save a couple of bucks and destroying your feet in the process.
The end result... More images of my mi Adidas Barricade V here.Incidentally, Fernando Verdasco has just recently switched to mi Adidas Barricade V as well.
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Regentville versus Haig Hills
The Regentville tennis team kick started the 2009 campaign with an inter condo friendly tennis match against Haig Hills tennis. The team from Haig Hills comprises of of mostly Indonesian expats based here in Singapore.
Regentville and Haig Hills tennis team photo
We were fortunate to squeeze in 11 matches as the weather had threatened to rain all along. A total of 11 matches were played. 8 mens doubles, 1 ladies doubles and 2 mixed doubles before rain finally stopped play with two hours remaining.
Ivan (right) Haig Hills tennis team organizer and me.
As always, I am grateful to Haig Hills organizer Ivan Surjadi who had been coordinating this tennis friendly with us for the last couple of months, as bad weather and other commitments had kept us from organizing this friendly tennis match earlier. On behalf of the Regentville tennis team, I would like to thank Ivan and his team from Haig Hills tennis for making this friendly tennis match a success and look forward to the return leg at Haig Courts condo.
More Photos of Regentville versus Haig Hills tennis here.
Regentville and Haig Hills tennis team photoWe were fortunate to squeeze in 11 matches as the weather had threatened to rain all along. A total of 11 matches were played. 8 mens doubles, 1 ladies doubles and 2 mixed doubles before rain finally stopped play with two hours remaining.
Ivan (right) Haig Hills tennis team organizer and me.As always, I am grateful to Haig Hills organizer Ivan Surjadi who had been coordinating this tennis friendly with us for the last couple of months, as bad weather and other commitments had kept us from organizing this friendly tennis match earlier. On behalf of the Regentville tennis team, I would like to thank Ivan and his team from Haig Hills tennis for making this friendly tennis match a success and look forward to the return leg at Haig Courts condo.
More Photos of Regentville versus Haig Hills tennis here.
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