No.1

I just have to dedicate one whole post to tennis. A man named Ljubicic is really making his mark in the tennis scene now, and it'll only do wonders for the sport, for Nadal and Federer really need some challengers. Speaking of Federer, I haven't seen him play for quite some time now, and I'm starting to miss that cool personality of his. Yet at the same time, he is brutal, ruthless, and perhaps invincible when going against any given opponent (with the exception of Nadal of course). I have to admit, he single-handedly converted me to a tennis fan.

Last year, I kept hearing his name on the news, and if I could recall, it was always about him winning a match and proceeding to the next round. I wondered at that time: Who is this man? Is he really that good? So I started to tune in to tennis and catch a match or two. Then I saw the Australian Open earlier this year. The semi-final clash between hot-tempred Safin and cool-headed Federer was such an absorbing match, I would dare say it was an even better experience than today's Man Utd-Chelsea match. Slowly, I started to pick up certain tennis lingos, and learned about the rules of the game eg. the scoring system. Then I realise I had been missing a lot all these years.

There are soccer fans. There are tennis fans. Then, there are sports fans. Trust me, these 3 groups of people may look the same, but really they are not. The soccer fans boo every other sports on the planet. They drink, eat, and sleep football. They jeer the opponents of their supporting team. They are also perhaps the most diverse and "heterogeneous" (haha) group of people in the world. The tennis fans, on the other hand, are really generally a smart bunch. They appreciate the sport, and though they may have their own favourite players, they never demoralise the opponent. They respect the game. I think that's probably why you have companies like Rolex and Mercedes-Benz sponsoring the tournaments. You don't see these names in soccer. It's just not right. Finally, there are the sports fans. These guys are truly the people who just love to see the wonders that any and every sport have to offer. They want to witness every record being broken. They want to be there when history is being made - be it on a football field, on a tennis court, a basketball court, or heck even in billiards halls.

I belong to the third group. Yes, I am proud to be a sports fan. In an ideal world, I'd probably want to work for ESPN. But, it never is an ideal world isn't it?