HOPMAN CUP XIX
Friday 29 December 2006:
Today was the day I had to pick up my media accreditation, so around 1pm, I went to the Dome, which is luckily only about 5 minutes by car from where I live. It was also my mum's birthday so she came along as well so we could have lunch at the hotel after. Getting the media accreditation took all of 1 minute. I saw Tomas Berdych and Lucie Safarova while I was there. I then headed to the hotel to meet up with my mum. We saw most of the players coming and going - Tatiana Golovin (who was very nice), Jerome Haehnel, Sania Mirza, Dmitry Tursunov, Nadia Petrova, Ashley Harkleroad, Mario Ancic, Anabel Medina Garrigues...also Mahesh Bhupathi who is apparently coming as a hitting partner?! At one stage, I went to make a phone call and I came back in and mum says to me: "oh guess what, just as you walked out, Tommy (Robredo) and Pepo (his coach) came and said hi!"...talk about bad timing! Anyway, I saw them later on briefly and said hola. That's pretty much it for the day, although I saw Jerome Haehnel in the food court and Mahesh Bhupathi in the casino later that night.
Saturday 30 December 2006:
Day 1, session 1 - Russia v Australia. We got there nice and early and I went over to the practice court to see what was happening (you never want to miss out seeing some good players practise!). There was no one there, so I went in to watch the women's match between Alicia Molik and Nadia Petrova. A pretty decent match, with Molik eventually winning, which is good for her. Next up, the men's match between Mark Philippoussis and Dmitry Tursunov. I have really taken a liking to Dmitry since reading his ATP blog in May..I think it was the best blog out of all of them and it was a great way to learn a bit more about him as a person. Before, I had always just thought of him as a Russian living in the USA who played well on hardcourts but had no idea about his personality. Now I think we all do haha. At least he livens things up a bit, because a lot of the players nowadays are a bit robotic. He needed to win to keep Russia in the tie but he was overpowered by Philippoussis' game. Nevertheless, he provided some entertainment when changing his shirt, refusing to be upstaged by Philippoussis. It was a pretty good match but a surprise to see the Russians go down. They just don't seem to have much luck here as a nation, I have to say. I stayed to watch a bit of the mixed but then went to meet mum in the hotel. We sat there for about 10 minutes, just to see what was going on and in that time I saw Tommy Robredo and said hi to him again. After that, we left. I went back myself later for a little while to see the night session between France and USA, but I didn't stay too long because I had so much to do at home. In any case, France defeated the USA in another upset, despite Tatiana Golovin being jetlagged and Jerome Haehnel having had to conquer his fear of flying to get here!
Sunday 31 December 2006:
New Year's Eve, yes...it always plays a part in the Hopman Cup and it is cool to be able to have some top players in my city on this special night. Before that, though, there is a day session of tennis to get through. And before that even, there was a call from Dmitry Tursunov, who is a friend of a friend, because he was organising some tickets for my mum to see Russia's matches! Very sweet of him. Anyway, I went and saw India take on the Czech Republic and was very impressed with Sania Mirza. She hits so hard but seems a nice, confident girl. I felt a bit sorry for her partner, Rohan Bopanna, who had a tough time against Tomas Berdych. Actually he is in a very tough group because all the guys in group B are very good. It will at least be an interesting learning curve for him to perhaps develop his singles game. He was only able to take 4 games off Berdych and the match was over after 46 minutes. So it was a live mixed doubles for the first time this tournament. Not only that, but it came down to a super tiebreak in the third set. It was funny to see Berdych playing with his girlfriend Lucie Safarova (an interesting way to test a relationship?!) but the Indians, having had experience playing together last month, were just a bit too strong. So, for the third time in a row, the seeded nation was upset. Does that mean Croatia will beat Spain tomorrow? We'll just have to wait and see. It's sad that those 4 players have to come out and play so early on New Year's Day but it's an excuse for them to behave themselves tonight, I suppose! I am very much looking forward to that tie as I think the men's match in particular will be great to watch.
That night, I went back to Burswood to celebrate the new year with some friends, who unfortunately are not interested in tennis. So just after midnight I went into the hotel to say happy new year to my family who were in the bar/restaurant there...and of course I wasn't going to miss out on a chance to see sexy tennis players in suits. One of the first people I saw was not a tennis player, but rather John Blom (one of the umpires). I've known him for quite a few years because he used to be a regular at the Hopman Cup. This is his first time back in 3 years, but he is a cool guy and I talked to him for a few minutes. I also saw Jerome Haehnel and his brother (well he looks like him anyway) wandering around..I have to say Jerome looked rather handsome in a suit, never thought he would! As I was coming out of the restaurant after seeing my family, I made up for my bad timing on Friday by bumping into Tommy Robredo and Pepo coming in from the ball. So I wished them for the New Year, including doing the very European cheek kissing...but it wasn't totally random because I've known Tommy for 5 years. I saw Dmitry Tursunov who was wearing a hilarious excuse for a tuxedo which consisted of a collarless shirt, a pale jacket and a black bowtie tied around his throat...he was supporting Ashley Harkleroad who was maybe just a little bit drunk...or maybe it was just her shoes that were too tight...either way she seemed to have trouble walking! Also saw Tatiana Golovin, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna, Anabel Medina Garrigues but I didn't stay too long and left my friends in the casino because I had to be at the tennis early the next morning!
