Me, A Cointoss and Maria Sharapova

I guess I was being really lucky to be picked in a competition as a coin tosser for one of the tennis match in the inaugural Proton Malaysian Open Kuala Lumpur 2009.

So, what does a coin tosser do?

A coin toss, or informal, racket spin, is done at the start of a match. It is to determine who serves or receives first. The winner has the option of either serving or receiving. So, the coin tosser is the person who tosses the coin. Erm…. I hope that make sense. LOL!

I was led into the court to meet the chair umpire, Mr. Carlos Bernardes about 15 min to the start of the game.

Before the match began, there was an autographed giant tennis giveaway by Carlos. I got the whole thing on video.

Watch the excitement of the screaming boy when he received the ball from Carlos!

ENJOY!

In my heart I was screaming like that boy. But all my excitement was all contained inside me. I can’t be jumping and screaming like a kid in the court, right?

Then, the moment arrived. The MC announced the arrival of the players - Fernando Gonzalez and Mikhail Youzhny. It was a quarter final match.

The crowd roared. It was surreal to be in the court with thousands of people watching!

I was briefly introduced to the players and Carlos passed me the coin to toss and asked the players to choose head or tail. It was a 100 pesos Chilean coin. Not sure why they didn’t use a Malaysian coin instead. LOL!

Upon a count of 3.2.1....I tossed the coin into the air and it landed unceremoniously on the ground.

So there it was. I did it. My 3 seconds of glory. It was indeed the most exciting 3 seconds of my life! Heheh!

I watched took photo of the match between Fernando Gonzalez (black clothes) and Mikhail Youzhny.

Here are some OK photos. It was VERY difficult to shoot an indoor tennis match with a compact! :(

Back-bending feat.

It's a quarterfinal match.

Candid. Gonzales stickinh out his tongue. :P

Chomp! Chomp!

Gulp! Gulp!

Youzhny enjoying his massage during time out.

Gonzales being interviewed after winning the match! He was too strong for Youzhny.

I left the tourney to rush for another "happening" event happening in my "backyard" Sunway Pyramid. Blog post coming soon!

Later that night I got a call from my friend that I have won the grand prize! From the 15 coin tossers, I was picked as the grand prize winner.

Me going to HK to watch Maria Sharapova play? What?!

The grand prize is a trip to HK to watch the ultimate babe in tennis play. Wow!!! It is going to be another surreal experience for me.

I think I am beginning to be sucked into the world of tennis. I better get used to the grunting and growling of the players in the court! ;)

Whatever it is, running is still my real passion. Heheh!