Abu Dhabi World Tennis Championship - Federer v Soderling

This is the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports City, 120 AED for a Day 2 ticket :-)

Walking to the Tennis arena ... my first visit here!


Glorious blue skies, and a nice gentle cooling breeze greeted us :-) and 5,000 other tennis fans!

The man we were all here to see ... current World Number 2, Roger Federer. He was playing against big-serving Robin Soderling in this semifinal matchup.

Hop Suiss!

Warm-up ...

Similar big serves!!

Robin Bo Carl Söderling ... The Swede is the current World Number 5 in the ATP rankings.

Glorious serve by Fedex!

Federer started off slow, losing the 1st set!

Rafael Nadal v Tomas Berdych - Mubadala World Tennis, Abu Dhabi

Event: Mubadala World Tennis Championship

Ticket: 120 AED (About RM$100) for this semi-finals day

Date: 31st December 2010

Location: Zayed Sports City - International Tennis Complex, Abu Dhabi

Camera gear: Nikon D80, Nikkor 70-300mm VR lens

Arrival of the World Number 1 :-)

Getting ready...

Rafa's uncle and coach for the past 20+ years :-) And the coin toss...

A smile for the fans .... and there were many!

Warming up

Warming up at the net ...

Signature back-hand, and a couple more warm-up overhead smashes from Nadal

Gorgeous serve :-)

I love his service action ... so efficient!

Rafael Nadal in Abu Dhabi

Tomáš Berdych playing against World Number 1 Rafa, here in Abu Dhabi!

Rafael Nadal and his fierce serve!

The King of Clay in Abu Dhabi :-)

Berdych has a big serve too!

Gorgeous groundstrokes, Nadal generates huge amounts of top-spin!

More shots from my trusty old Nikon D80, with my new Nikkor AF-S ED 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G VRII lens :-)

It all ended when Nadal beat Berdych, 6-4 and 6-4 in what was an entertaining and energetic game to start the 2011 season! What a privilege to have watched Nadal and Federer as well on the same day :-)