I remember, during the 2008 Summer Olympics, held in Beijing, watching beach volleyball.  Volleyball has long been a staple of the Olympics back to the days when diving Japanese women were a daring novelty, showing women could throw their bodies around in pursuit of a win.  However, beach volleyball is more of a surfer culture with tanned women (and guys) and music blaring.

Indeed, I had thought, being situated in China, that the music might have an Asian flair, but instead, it was all about Western music, because that was the culture of beach volleyball.  Even the Chinese women, who were very competitive, adopted the Western style.

Even in 2008, music would play during the interludes of the tennis matches.  Although the Olympics is a big affair, and although tennis has only been back in the Olympics since about 1988, tennis was big enough to shift the start date of the Olympics.  Originally, the Chinese had planned to start the Olympics on August 15, 2008.  But, when they were told that no top pro would play the tennis, they agreed to move the Olympics back one week to August 8, 2008.  It didn’t hurt that the start date would be 8/8/08, and that it seemed very auspicious to the Chinese who are prone to lucky numbers.

Nadal just gave up a set in the semifinals of the Thailand Open, one of the rare times a top player will slum and play an ATP 250 event.  Usually pros do this if they really like the venue.  During the changeover, in Bangkok, they played Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down.  I mean, it’s Bangkok, right?  Maybe playing “One Night in Bangkok”, admittedly, a song about the game of chess being hosted in a city often known more for prostitution than anything else.

The tour, for whatever, reason, uses Western music.  Perhaps its exotic nature is a sign of the decadent West, but one wonders how, say, Americans would react, if the the top French music were played, tunes spoken in a language that isn’t, well, English.  They just played “Sunshine in a Bag” by Gorilaz.  Admittedly, both songs are a touch on the old side.

By the way, Garcia-Lopez is going on attack mode.  He’s up 0-30 on Nadal’s serve, early in the third.