1- Djokovic will have another great season, not as amazing as last year though. He will win 2 Grand Slams and finish the year ranked number one

2- Nadal will win less than 3 tournaments outside of clay, but he will win at least 2 of the 3 clay Masters, plus the French Open, naturally

3- Federer will win one Grand Slam, but he will not regain the number one ranking. His Grand Slam quarter final streak will come to an end at some point, but he will still have his Round of 16 streak going

4- Murray will have to wait another year to win a Grand Slam, but he will reach the semis of at least 2 Grand Slams and the final of at least one

5- There will be no Americans in the top 10 for the majority of the year, with Mardy Fish having a letdown after a successful 2011, Andy Roddick slipping further down the rankings and John Isner and Donald Young yet to make a breakthrough

6- Four different women will split the 4 Grand Slams, none of them a Williams

7- Kim Clijsters will have one last hurrah before retirement for good and win one of the four slams, most likely the US Open

8- A young Eastern European will have her breakthrough year, winning her first Grand Slam, most likely Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

9- Caroline Wozniacki will lose her number 1 ranking (but will gain it back), most likely to Petra Kvitova. She will not win a Grand Slam.

10- Venus Williams will retire

11- Olympic Mens Singles Gold Medal will be won by one of the “Big 4”, it won’t be the one who won Wimbledom. The Womens will be won by either a Russian, Azarenka, Cljisters or Wozniacki.

12- At least 2 of the 4 following men will retire: James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Andy Roddick

This happened last week but I’ve just been so busy over the weekend I haven’t had a chance to write about it until now.

So I’m currently spending my last semester of Uni on exchange in Liverpool, UK. It’s great and I love it. 

Now there’s a 3 week Easter break coming up and I figured, well, since I’m already in the UK and I have so many friends in Europe, some of whom I haven’t seen in nearly 10 years, I thought I’d do a Eurotrip and go backpacking around Europe. All my other exchange student friends are doing it too. 

That was until I read (well I already knew) that, as a citizen of Thailand, I need to apply for a Schengen visa to go to Europe. This inherently racist policy I already know exist. Of all the exchange students I am the only one who needs to apply for a visa to go to Europe. Most of the exchange students are from Europe anyways. Then you have some Americans and Canadians who can go just about anywhere short of North Korea without needing a visa. Brazilians get exempted because they’re too good in football and Hong Kong gets exempted by virtue of being a former British colony. Basically, Europe is saying, if you’re not white/ former white colony/ good at football, stay the fuck away. 

It was quite a big headache, mainly because in order to apply for a Schengen visa I need to show them my complete itinerary. By that they mean reservation of my flights in and out of Europe as well as confirmations of hotel reservations for every night I am in Europe. Of course, wanting to minimize the cost of travel I opted for booking low-cost flights and trains (which doubles as accommodation as I booked some overnight trains) which meant I had to pay for those immediately. Not to mention I needed a transcript from my University (which is another headache since I am on exchange and therefore do not actually have any grades at Liverpool University) and a bank statement.  

Once I got all that, I had to go all the way to London (2 hours by train, about 50 pounds) since I have to hand it in in person at the Finnish Embassy, as that is the country I plan to spend the most time in. 

So I arrive at the Finnish Embassy in London with all my paperwork. The receptionist took one look at my passport, flipped it over to my UK visa and says 

“We can’t process your application because you live in the UK as a visitor. We only process it if you’re a UK resident.”

……..

“But I’m here studying, it’s a student visa” (but I know what she meant. Since I am only here for one semester I am here on a “Student Visitor” visa instead of an actual Student visa)

“But you are here on Class C visa, we do not process that. You need to apply in your country of residence.”

“So what do you want me to do? You want me to fly all the way back to Thailand to hand in my application at the Finnish Embassy in Bangkok?” 

“Well you should have applied before you came here”

“As if I knew back in January what I was gonna be doing every single night in April” I thought but I knew the battle was lost.

So I walked out of the Embassy and through London, crushed. I am this close to going Europe but can’t for the crime of basically not being a citizen of the Western World. And I say that because had I been from, say, America or Australia, I would not even need a visa to come to the UK in the first place, let alone one to go around Europe.

I am now sending out cancellation emails to the hotels, at least they only make you pay a deposit, so that’s only about 1-2 pounds a night lost. But the airline and train tickets have already been paid for. Heck, I even have the tickets with me now. I don’t even want to start counting how much money has been wasted. 

I guess what pisses me off the most about this whole episode is the inherent racism that overshadows movement of people. We, and certainly I- having campaigned for refugee rights back in Australia-, already know this exists but it was one slap-in-the-face reminder. A retired white English person could come to Thailand and open a restaurant with ease. Backpackers my age from Europe can just show up at Suvanabhumi Airport with just their passport and they are welcomed to stay for 90 days. And if they exceed those 90 days they just have to pay 500 baht (10 pounds) for an extra day of stay. The only difference between those backpackers and me is the colour of our skin, but that small difference meant I had to carry over 30 pages of paperwork and spend over 300 pounds only to be told, basically “sorry mate, you’re Asian. We don’t trust you and so we’re gonna come up with some bureaucratic bullshit rule that won’t allow you to come in to our country. But do have your hotels, beaches and brothels open for us when we come over with just our passport and let us in for 3 months”.

My mishap is of course nothing compared to the plight of refugees and asylum seekers around the world who flee war and persecution only to be told very much the same thing- “sorry mate but we don’t want your people in our country”. I feel ashamed as I write this very blog that I should even feel sorry for myself, I know I shouldn’t as my frustration is virtually nothing in comparison to asylum seekers locked up in places like Christmas Island. At least I could go back to Thailand in April and visit my friends and family there. At least I won’t have to worry about getting murdered if I went home. At least I’m not put into hellholes of detention centres. 

But I guess, as a middle/upper class person whose aspiration to spend my holidays abroad has been denied by the same logic that has seen the Australian Government watch idly by as a boat full of people fleeing wars in the Middle East (wars that Australia themselves perpetuate) crash off the Australian coast and drowning men, women and children on that boat, I can send solidarity to all the beautiful people on those boats. I can at least say, even though I do have a passport and a home to return to without fear of being murdered, I still know how it feels like to be told you cannot go to a certain place because of your skin colour and/or your country of origin. I wish I could say to all the refugees, the ones in the detention centres, the ones on the boats heading into the sea in hope of a better life and the ones that have perished at the blood soaked hands of the racist governments around the world, that we are all in this together. One day we will have a world where you could go to places like Australia and start a better life. One day I will be able to visit my friends in Europe without having to tell some faceless bureaucrats where I’ll be every single night. But that one day will only come when we take a stand.

Fuck Racism. Open the Borders. Let the Refugees in.

Hello world

New year, new blog, same old me. 

I haven’t decided about the direction in which I will take this blog yet. Is tumblr even a blog? How does it all work? I have yet to figure out.

But seeing the Australian open will begin in less than 12 hours, this shall be my first post. Ready or not. First of all, all credit of the players who participated in the charity Rally for Relief the day before competition began to raise funds for the Queensland flood victims. 

WTA

The big story of the women’s draw is the absence of Serena Williams, who has been missing since last year’s Wimbledon due to foot injury. Does this open up the draw? Not really. I only see three women with a chance to win it. Unfortunately 2 of them are in the same quarter. 

The number one favourite is Kim Clijsters. She hasn’t won a Grand Slam outside the US open, but this could be her best chance. Fresh off her US Open victory and with no Serena Williams in the path, she is the odds on favourite. Seeing the way she strikes the ball at an exhibition against Caroline Wozniacki in Hua Hin and in the Rally for Relief, even if they were just exhibitions, shows that no women can strike the ball cleaner at this hour. Last year she exited due to a rare meltdown against Nadia Petrova, where she only won one game, but I say that was a one in a hundred performance, a rare, ‘just one of those days’ performance which will not come back to haunt her at the Open this year.

On paper, Caroline Wozniacki is the number one seed. However there is no denying she got there by playing lots of small tournaments that other big name players ignore. She follows Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina in the list of slam-less world number ones. Is it time that this changes? I doubt it. Wozniacki is an all around player with solid groundstrokes and serve, but unlike Clijsters, she does not possess the kind of aggression that wins her those tough matches. A match against an aggressive player on a good day could be difficult for her. 

Justine Henin is my other pick for favourties. She had one heck of a start to her comeback last year, reaching the Australian Open finals. Not much happened after that until an elbow injury that nearly cut her second career short real quick. Now she’s back. She says he elbow isn’t 100% healed but judging from her performance at the Hopman Cup, I think she is still in with a chance. Don’t forget that beautiful backhand. Henin and Wozniacki are drawn into the same quarter which would make a great quarterfinal should they both make it. 

Predictions

Semis: Henin d. Sharapova, Clijsters d. Stosur
Finals:  Clijsters d. Henin

Yep, all all-Belgian final. And I think Sam Stosur’s matured a lot in the past year following her run to the French Open finals and can handle more pressure that would inevitably come from the home crowd. The Sharapova pick is a wild one, with Venus Williams, Li Na and Victoria Azarenka also in the quarter with a chance. I just think she would want to erase the memory of her first round loss in Melbourne last year. 

ATP

Everyone’s talking about the Rafa Slam. Rafael Nadal, having won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open last year, is looking to become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all 4 Grand Slams at the same time (not to mention the very likely chance he’ll make it 5 in a row at the French Open). 

Up until the Qatar Open 2 weeks ago I would have picked Rafa to get his slam. There is no questioning how well he can handle the pressure. However, he suffered from a fever in Doha, losing in the semis to Nikolay Davydenko. It wasn’t the loss itself, it was the way Nadal lost. He was struggling with his fever and even though he should recover by the time the second week rolls around, the body would no doubt affect the mind. 

However he is still the favourite. This is probably the first non-French Open Grand Slam where I would pick Nadal ahead of Roger Federer. I don’t know why, but I just have a feeling Roger won’t win it this year. There is a fair bit of pressure on Federer. As Nadal aims to win 4 in a row, Federer will - should he not win - for the first time since his first Grand Slam victory (Wimbledon 2003- 7 and a half years now!) not have had won a Grand Slam in one whole year. It is clear he is no longer the dominant player he was in 2004-7, but going a whole year slam-less would give a clear indication that Federer is now just a contender, not a favourite. 

Novak Djokovic has always had trouble with the Melbourne heat and has yet to recapture the kind of form that saw him win in Melbourne in 2008, but his Davis Cup win with Serbia last month may reignite that spark. Andy Murray, on the other hand, seems to have lost the fire that accompanied his run to the finals last year. 

Robin Soldering is the man to watch for me and the man most likely to join Marat Safin, Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro as one of the few players to break the Federer-Nadal hold on Grand Slams since Wimbledon 2004. Even though outdoor hard courts aren’t his forte, neither was clay, and that never stopped him from reaching 2 consecutive French Open finals. He won the warm up tournament in Brisbane and despite being seeded 4th, is flying low under the radar compared to the man he replaced as World Nubmer 4, Murray. They are drawn in the same quarter, but with Garcia-Lopez, Del Potro and Jurgen Melzer in Murray’s way, I doubt he would reach the “Battle for Number 4”. 

Predictions

Semis: Soderling d. Nadal, Davydenko d. Roddick
Finals: Soderling d. Davydenko

Yep. I’ve picked Roddick to finally get one over Federer at a Grand Slam, it’s about time. Roddick won’t win a second Slam, but at least he deserves a victory over the man who has stopped him from winning at least 5 slams. And I’ve picked Davydenko to beat Djokovic to win his quarter, just can’t imagine Djokovic handling the heat and a resurgent Davydenko. And with his third attempt at a Grand Slam, I think Soderling will have it in him to finish off a below-par Nadal. Some wild predictions, I know, but we’ll see how it all turns out!

Only one thing’s for sure, it’s gonna be two great weeks at the Australian Open!