This is how the Race To Nairobi stands at the moment...

1 Komlavi Loglo 255
2 Predrag Rusevski 176
3 Rudy Coco 156
4 Valentin Sanon 148
5 Gabriel Moraru 87
6 Henry Adjei-Darko 75
7 Charles Villeneuve 64
8 Adrian Gavrila 57
9 Bogdan Leonte 56
10 Danil Arsenov 55
11 Guillermo Hormazabal 51
12 Catalin Gard 49
13 John McGahon 46
14 Eric Prodon 44
15 Hans Podlipnik 42
16 Candy Idoko 41

But there's awful long way to go until the end of the season. Of course there's Sudan F1 at the end of November, but also Botswana F1, Rwanda F1, Uganda F1, and a couple of tournaments in Nigeria. Things could change dramatically. Loglo qualified a while ago, but it's a dangerous game for Coco if that's what he's doing.



-- Edited by Akhenaten at 17:29, 2007-10-29

The Rise And Fall (And Rise) Of Raven Klaasen

It wasn't long after Raven Klaasen's epic 2005 semi-final with Adjei-Darko, that he amazed the world by retiring from tennis, aged just 22.

After reaching the semi-finals of Nigeria F1, Raven felt there was little else to prove to the tennis world. So he packed up his racquet and hid it in the loft. Of course back then he was plain old Dave Clarkson. It wasn't until he hit the glittering stages of Cape Town - achieving his boyhood dreams - that his alter ego was born... as Raven Klaasen the Caped Magician.

Only problem was... he was awful.

And when I say awful, I mean awful.

It was clichéd-rotten-tomatoes-in-the-face awful.

It was pull-a-suffocated-rabbit-out-of-hat awful.

It was saw-a-woman-in-half-and-leave-her-an-amputee awful.

After this last incident, Klaasen lost his magicianing licence, his livelihood, and his self-esteem.

A disillusioned Klaasen packed up his wand and hid it in the loft.

But from the far side of the attic he heard a long-forgotten calling - his once-beloved tennis racquet. For two years it had lain there, forgotten and unloved. Raven rushed over, eagerly unwrapped it, dusted off the cobwebs. And headed to Thailand.

This was only a couple of months ago, but once out in South East Asia, Raven found a new enthusiasm for game and an energy that took him all the way to the final of Indonesia F3. He now feels good again and is brimming with confidence.

Namibia F1 beware - the Raven is back...

Akhenaten: Lmao [genuinely, not just on paper..] ... You are a literary genius   So far I have to say that this is some of the funniest material I've read in quite a while..

Keep it coming. 

Strydom gets Championships off with a bang

With the reigning champion, Mustafa Ghouse, unable to defend his title, it was down to the Namibian No.1 Jurgens Strydom and the 8th seed Candy Idoko to get this year's Namibia F1 started. And what a start it was - it was scintillating stuff. Strydom Sandbank went insane when Jurgens broke the Idoko serve in the very first game. And they somehow managed to keep the noise level at that incredible volume for the rest of Strydom's tremendous 6-3 7-5 upset.

There were complaints in Botswana that the noise was disturbing their cattle, but they've always been grumpy neighbours. When Jurgens was a youngster he once hit his ball over the Botswanan border, he went round to ask for his ball back, and got the reply, "No, you can't, you careless silly little boy. That'll teach you to be more careful next time." Jurgens went crying back to his mum. What a contrast to yesterday!

What a start to the Championships!





-- Edited by Akhenaten at 11:20, 2007-10-30

Message from Lahore, Pakistan


Hi

Very strange here indeed. They play some kind of extreme tennis. We are playing on grass!!! Yes that green stuff zebras eat! It's hilarious! Vejjy keeps slipping over! I got whacked in the face! And Barthy's in pain after doing splits. Took him 20 mins to get back up again. Think next week they're playing on an ice rink.

Hope aardvarks are not playing up too much.

Bogdan.

PS. "Fish in space" going very well. Hope to have success by week end.

Pete Silverback & The Warp-Drive Tennis

Last month an exhibition tournament was held in Cairo. A tennis court was set up at the feet of the Sphinx - one side sand, the other side mud. They called it Warp-Drive Tennis, and the Marketing Department assured us that this would revolutionise tennis forever.

Competing were Preg Rusevski, Henry and Quincy Adjei-Darko, Bodgan Leonte, Tap Hacs* and remarkably, Pete Silverback.

Matches lasted 20 minutes (banal interview included), and most importantly the crowd were encouraged to be as moronic as possible (and a fine job they did too.)

In an increasingly rare appearance by Rusevski, Preg lost to Leonte in a serve-heavy 1st round encounter. This week Preg will again be doing his Namibia F1 radio commentary via webcasts from Macedonia. People are still puzzling over Rusevski's decision to leave the premier tennis circuit.

Though most people agreed that the format was "a bit rubbish", it was fittingly won by Pete Silverback, playing his first competitive tennis since his retirement 5 years ago.

The 36 year-old South African, Silverback, dominated the game in the 1990s, though back then it was his great rival, George Barth, that got most of the publicity by wearing silly clothes, marrying welders, writing musicals, inventing dance moves, etc. But it was Silverback who kept on winning those Royal Flush titles - a record 14! Of course, Komlavi Loglo is well on his way to reaching that record, but until he does, Silverback must always be called the Greatest Tennis Player Ever (To Have Danced The Barthonova).

It was rumoured that Silverback was going to enter this year's Namibia F1. But accidentally he filled in the wrong form.

So last Saturday, instead of competing on Namibia F1's Centre Court, Pete performed a competent morris dance on his debut in Namibia's Strictly Come Dancing. His scores were 6, 6, 7 and 2.



* 1987 Senegal F1 champion turned commentator/eulogiser. Enormously proud of both his Burkino Faso homeland and his darn cool earring.








-- Edited by Akhenaten at 14:04, 2007-10-30

Flamingo-a-go-go

After the much-hailed success of the Eagle-Eye system at this year's Senegal F1, the Namibian organisers were keen to use it here, but wanting to stamp a little individuality on their own tournament - they're experimenting with flamingos. So yesterday's Strydom-Idoko match saw Centre Court unveil the debut of "Flamingo-Eye".

And believe me, it looks utterly fabulous - 40 beautifully coloured birds keeping their watchful eyes over the proceedings. I love it. When a line-call is challenged, one of the flamingos swoops down re-enacting the flight of the ball, and lands at the point that the ball fell. The crowd adore it - they go crazy shouting "oooOOO" louder and louder as the flamingo goes into land. Fabulous entertainment!

Totally inaccurate of course, but great entertainment!

They're dozy birds, flamingos, they spent most of the match fast asleep with their heads tucked under their wing. And when they are paying attention, they're eyesight a bit dodgy, especially compared to a Sengal Eagle.

Still, they look great, they're fun, and who doesn't enjoy going "oooOOO".