Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone! Although it's cool to have tennis players around on New Year's Eve, it's not so cool to have matches starting at 11am. I don't understand why the scheduling is done this way, but it is...and Spain and Croatia drew the short straw. Although, seeing two of the top 10 guys in the world is not a bad way to start off the year. My friend was meant to join me today but he was so hungover from the night before, I let him sleep...being the nice girl that I am. I, however, was at the Dome at 11am...though I had a hard time trying to cover up the black circles under my eyes! I didn't even bother with the practice court, but managed to sleepwalk my way to the centre court for the women's match. I had never seen Sanja Ancic play before, but I think she will be a promising player. She was a bit out of her depth today against Anabel Medina Garrigues, but it was neverthless a good experience for her. The men's match was really interesting, as expected...with Tommy Robredo against Mario Ancic. Tommy got off to a slow start and seemed to be having problems in particular with his serve and backhand...he had about 5 foot faults which is unusual for him. The standard of tennis was pretty high though and in the end Tommy won in 3. It was great that both guys came out so fired up today, considering it was New Year's and I'm glad to see them taking the whole event seriously. Actually I think Tommy wants more of those diamond balls really badly haha. From what I saw today, I think he has a good chance of getting another one too...because even in the mixed, he and Anabel teamed up really well. It was so cute to see Mario and Sanja playing together though...she looks a lot like him and he seems to be a lovely big brother. So it was the first clean sweep of the tournament and finally I could come home and sleep. Waiting for a taxi, we saw Tommy and Anabel coming back into the hotel and Tommy said thanks for the chocolates that my mum had made him!
Tuesday 2 January 2007
Another day of tennis, today it was the Cold War battle between Russia and USA. I watched the women's match on tv (I'm not a huge fan of women's tennis and it was a pretty one-sided affair), Nadia Petrova won 6-3 6-0. I always thought Petrova was a dour kind of person, but after seeing her interviews, she seems to be really nice and cool. Ok, enough of the women, this is an ATP site. Before going to the main court, I did my usual ritual of going to the practice court and saw Jerome Haehnel having a hit out. I think I am a Jerome magnet because everywhere I go, he's there. Mario Ancic had just finished his practice, and was still sitting at the side of the court talking to his coaches. He also came over to the railings to sign some autographs. Then it was time to head to the centre court to see Mardy Fish against Dmitry Tursunov. I got there in time to see it and woah, Fish was serving huge. One game was just aces. Dmitry was a bit out-of-it, just couldn't really seem to get into the match and Fish won 6-1 6-4. In between the men's match and the doubles, I met up with a friend and we went to the practise court to see Anabel Medina Garrigues practising with her boyfriend Raul and Tommy's coach, Pepo. They seemed to be having fun trying to hit targets. I hope she's as sharp tomorrow against the Czechs! Back to the centre court for the mixed. Whoever won would remain in the competition, the losers would have no chance of reaching the final...oh the pressure. It was an entertaining match with both Fish and Tursunov providing entertainment with the use of the eye formation. But the shot of the match, and probably the tournament, has to go to Tursunov, who came up with a wacky backhand flick kind of volley to set up match point. It had the crowd in raptures. The Russians won the match and thus kept their finals hopes alive, while the USA, who have been such a successful nation here in recent years, have been eliminated, though they will still have to play against Australia in Thursday. After the match, Dmitry was again the clown, accusing Petrova of being a "chauvenistic woman", saying he "didn't know what day it is", but that his lucky shot had been a carefully planned out act that he has practised for a long time. He is such a character. Before the match he had said he felt like a vegetable today...I just love it when players give interesting interviews...obviously sometimes language can be a problem, but with Dmitry you really get your money's worth!
Wednesday 3 January 2007
Off to the tennis again this morning to see Spain v Czech Republic. When I got there, I went to the practice court first and saw the end of Tommy Robredo's training session, as well as the beginning of Sanja Ancic's. We then headed into centre court to see the women's match between Anabel Medina Garrigues and Lucie Safarova. I really hoped Anabel would win this one, because I didn't have much confidence in Tommy beating Tomas Berdych. Anabel won the first set quite easily and was a break up in the second but let it slip. In the third, she had a point to go a double break up but still managed to lose the match!!!! ARRGHH! Very disappointing. Next up was the men's. The first set was very close with both guys showing some high class tennis, but Berdych broke at 6-5 to take the set. In the second, Tommy just seemed to zone out. I don't know what his problem was, but he certainly had one. He looked pretty lacklustre and could barely get a ball in...he was 0-5 down and I thought he was going to be fed a bagel, but he managed to get a game and had to suck on a breadstick instead. So the tie had been won by the Czechs...but the dead mixed was still a crucial rubber for countback purposes and luckily, the Spaniards got their heads together to win that. The standings are pretty confusing at the moment, because everyone in group B still has a chance to reach the final. It depends on tonight's session between Croatia and India, as well as tomorrow night's double header with Spain v India and Croatia v Czech Republic. Fingers crossed Spain can get through!
Thursday 4 January 2007
Double header action day and night today to decide who would reach tomorrow night's final. I didn't go in the day, but watched the matches on tv and was happy to see Russia make it through. Dmitry Tursunov again came up with some classics in his interviews, this time acting like a cat I think it was...rubbing himself against Nadia Petrova and meowing. Totally warped, but funny! Nadia had a bit of a groin injury but she seemed to be ok. I went to the tennis for the night session and headed to centre court to see Anabel Medina Garrigues take on Sania Mirza. When Anabel lost the first set after having a point to go up a double break I thought it was going to be the same scenario as yesterday - a case of wasted opportunities. But Sania's serve went off and her groundstrokes also went a bit wild and Anabel managed to steady herself and win the match in 3. A great start for Spain, who needed to win the tie. The men's match between Tommy Robredo and Rohan Bopanna was moved to court 1, which was actually better because it's smaller which means you can be closer and get a better view! The match was over in less than an hour, with Tommy winning convincingly, sealing the tie for Spain. The only thing standing in their way to get to the final was if the Czech Republic won 3-0 over Croatia, which was happening simultaneously. Lucie Safarova had already beaten Sanja Ancic and Tomas Berdych was playing Mario Ancic on centre court. Mario eventually won, sending Spain into the final...thanks Mario! The mixed doubles between Spain and India was put back on centre court and boy was that entertaining. Anabel Medina Garrigues is the biggest character!! She grabbed Carlos Ramos' microphone at one stage and started singing happy birthday to one of the Hopman Cup staff members in the stands. The crowd were in hysterics, as was Tommy Robredo who fell to the court crying with laughter. The Indians were able to salvage the rubber, which finished after midnight. In the interviews afterwards, Anabel was trying to get Tommy to dance, but he said he was too shy and couldn't dance...but he will dance tomorrow night if Spain win hehe. Afterwards I saw some of the players come into the hotel...Rohan Bopanna, Sania Mirza, Mario Ancic who said hi...and I also got another 2 kisses on the cheek from Tommy Robredo. I would love to have seen Anabel come in because she was such a scream today, but I got picked up before she came back to the hotel so I couldn't see her. Hopefully tomorrow!! Should be a great final and I'm really looking forward to it!!
