My Sport

I always dreamt about being a tennis professional. I love playing tennis and it's the only sport I play. I'm lucky to be able to play almost everyday. Thinking back to 20 years ago, Vietnam was very poor and I knew my dream couldn't come true. I was born in a working class family and we couldn't afford to play tennis as the time I was growing up. Tennis was considered a sport only for rich people. I remembered going to the tennis center in Yersin Street in Nha Trang and watching from outside.

I started playing tennis when I was 20 after I started working. It was tough to manage my time as I had to go to school every day in the afternoon, evening classes in the evening and working in the morning. But I promised myself to give tennis a try. I played with my own coach three times a week at noon between my work and school commitments. In fact, before I started working, my father wouldn't allow me to play. He thought that it would reflect badly on the family.

It's now 12 years since the first day I hit a tennis ball. Since then, I have actually played in a few tournaments but never make it past about the third round. The first time I ever played in the Hanoi Open, I couldn't sleep for the whole night and keep going to the bathroom every half hour. By the time I played I was so nervous and exhausted that I could hardly get the ball in the court.

I love watching tennis too and I have stayed up all night long just watching Hingis and Federer playing their matches. Maybe you guys think that I am crazy but I just love them and I was really sad when Hingis retired then happy when she announced her comeback but truly sad when she retired last year. I hope Roger Federer will retain his old form and break the grand slam records of Sampras.

Guess who is going to win Roland Garros? I hope Roger will win this time.

Alez Roger !!!!

Going Bowling

My friends invited me to join in a ten-pin bowling day yesterday at Star Bowl. It was great fun with many stupid uncordinated bowls thrwon by me down the gutters at the side. I was a bit drunk after a few beers and unfortunately my bowling skills didn't improve!

I thought I was destined to be last! We had a few laughs, especially when the ball didn't exactly roll but instead bounced along the lane. I was hopeless today, I swear! Sometimes you see some funny sights. There was an older man playing next to our lane and he seemed very professional and he has his own shoes and gloves and ball. He played really badly but he had a bit of a bad attitude so I accidentally on purpose took his ball and bowled it down the alley just for a laugh. I couldn't help it!

We only paid 110,oooVnd each for 2 games and the shoe hire. If you forget your socks, they'll sell you a pair for 5000VND. The last time we played, if you forgot your socks, you had to hire a pair which had been worn (and not washed)... so that's an improvement!

Good fun! A good day had by all!

Amateur Compitition

Tennis is my favorite sport ever and I always feel like playing no matter what the conditions. Since I moved to Hanoi four years ago, I started to play in some competitions. This is the thrid time I've played in the Hanoi Heinneken Open but I always end up losing in the third round which is a shame - for me! I know I don't play all that well plus the mental side of my game is weak, which is 80% of the game. I hope I can play better this year and can grab something -maybe a prize - as a souvenir.

I lost in the socond round due to some back and shoulder injuries. It was a shame because I had worked really hard practicing for few weeks before. Oh well, That's sport!

Football

To support my city football team, I invited some of my friends to go to Hanoi stadium, San Hang Day, to watch Khanh Hoa last Sunday. We were looking forward to enjoying the game and drinking some beer but the funny thing is that they do not allow beer to be sold inside the stadium, which was a bit annoying because we had all brought beer stubby holders to keep it cool. I asked the lady who sold the drinks, and she said that because the fans used to get upset when the referee made a mistake or the opposition scored a goal and throw their beer cans onto the ground or at the players. There are football hooligans in Vietnam, too so the government banned the ladies from selling beer. It was a shame but we ate some bread, drank red bulls and waters plus some chips, peanuts and crackers. We ate a lot while we watched the football.

The match wasn't as excting as it should have been and I was so disappointed because my team lost. The atmosphere was great with people shouting, swearing non-stop and of course a few arguments as well. I was sitting near an old man who had verbal diarrhoea who was driving me nuts.

The tickets were much cheaper than I thought, from only 20,000Vnd to 30,000Vnd. If I remember correctly, in Nha Trang the tickets costs me about 50,000Vnd each. Maybe I am wrong.

Finally, it was time for dinking beer when the match finished. We went to Bia Hai Xom for drinking and dinner. The food was good and beer cold-thank god.

SEA Games

The SEA Games are the Southeast Asian Games which happen every two years in November for about a week. Only known in this region, it is a great advertising opportunity for businesses, with many companies paying heaps of money to make ads on TV and in magazines to publicise their businesses. Some others conduct quizzes in the newspapers and on mobile phones. Everybody tries to make some profit from the interest in the games, by standing along main roads selling flags, hats, head bands or make up for fans.

The best time to wander around is after Vietnam's victories in the football competition. You'd be surprised about how crazy the Viet fans are about football. They ride around shouting "Viet Nam Viet Nam"- "Vietnam Vô Đich"(Vietnam are champions!) or shouting the goalscorers' names till 1 or 2 am non-stop. This is an exciting time for foreigners and most of them can't believe that Vietnam is so crazy about football.

Last night, the SEA Games concluded and the highlight was that the Vietnamese national womens' football team scored the hat trick of three gold medals in a row. In total, Vietnam won 71 gold medals and finished third on the medal ladder. Once again, the male football team lost in the final to Thailand. Even though they lost, Vietnamese fans still hung around the streets, some very upset.

You may see me sometime in that big group in the Vietnam red T-Shirt with the yellow star, just because I am a normal Vietnamese who loves watching, supporting and celebrating my national sports teams achievements.

Agriculture Cup Goes to Viet Nam

Last night was such an exciting moment for the U23 Viet Nam national football team after beating U23 Malaysia, U23 Thai Land and U20 Japan. Heaps of Vietnamese celebrated and rode their bikes around the streets, shouting "Vietnam Vietnam".

I also was riding my motorbike wander around Hanoi to share the happiness with my countrymen. What a fantastic preparation for the Sea Games which is going to be held in December in The Phillippines. The Vietnamese team won $40,000 for their victory.

For The First Ever

The Viet Nam Open is the first ever fully-fledged ATP tournament for tennis in Viet Nam, and it was a shame that no Vietnamese player got through to the second round. Even though they lost, I am sure that they learnt a lot from the top professional tennis players who competed.

The ATP officals said we did well in organising the tournament, despite some small mistakes. For a first-ever time, it was quite impressive.

The Vietnam sport news said that "old father Bjorkman" won the title with experience and great shot-making against the youth and strength of Stepanek. This is the first time that Vietnamese fans have been able to see their favorites player from around the world and they were so excited.

In addition, the Vietnamese national tennis competition has just been held, finishing on the 16th of October. I was so disappointed in the standard of umpiring and the behaviour of the Hanoian fans, who are very one-eyed. Ngô Việt Hà, a young tennis player who has trained in Russia and Spain, seemed to not know how to behave fairly or professionally. She constantly distracted her opponent by stalling for time after every point. It was so bad and the umpire did not have the guts to do anything about it.

The crowd was so horrible, the way they shouted, used mobile phones, spoke very loudly and walked around the stands during play. There was no respect here in such a very important tournament. No wonder that the quality of the matches was poor because the players couldn't concentrate.

Anyway, the best players won the cups to finish what officials said was a successful tournament. I think Vietnamese fans need to understand that tennis is a sport with a certain etiquette. It's still new for us.