Friday, December 29, 2006
2007 is under way!!!
Ahh finally! Ok, some of you are wondering how serious I am? Well actually, very serious! Sure the tennis off-season is shorter than virtually any other sport on this planet but isn’t that one of the things that makes the game so great to love? Most people would understand me for liking the off-season, it means a few more hours to do updates on Tennisrulz, updating draws and results, etc. And for a few days, you are right, I’m happy. But then reality sets in and I become anxious about the nw year, about those predictions to be exchanged with Todd Spiker, and not surprisingly for 2007, about my trip to Melbourne.
But it’s also a lot more. I think we can imagine how all players have renewed hopes when a new year starts. They’ve had weeks to work on their games, rebuild confidence after sometimes tough months in 2006, and all of these hopes come in action in Australia. The thing is, all tennis fans carry these hopes as well, hopes that their favourite player will have taken the necessary steps to reach that next level. I personally carry those for many players, some like Maria Kirilenko are obvious ones. I think at the end of 2006 she had grown a bit discouraged and overwhelmed. Injuries, losses, too many events, they had all taken their toll physically and probably even more mentally. So I’m looking forward to seeing how much she will have improved her game and mental strength during this off-season…
Anyway, it’s now a done deal, 2007 has started, some have already suffered tough losses in qualifying, others live in the hopes of having a winning streak start for the new year… I hope all of you will carry you’re your hopes and dreams for those players into the new year, best of luck!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Getting ready for Melbourne!
It's now official, I'm about to get ready for my trip to Melbourne, my second trip there in as many years, no need to say I feel very fortunate. It had been a work in progress for a while now but until I had my plane tickets as well as tennis tickets, I wasn't going to jinx it.
But it's now done. I'll be leaving from Montreal on January 12, arriving in Melbourne two days later (part of it is the time change but a big part is also the many hours it will take me to get there). I'll be going to the first 5 days of tennis for sure. After that, I'm not sure. I will be in Australia until the Wednesday of the 2nd week but I'm not sure if I will go to Sydney perhaps to visit the city. I might just see the first five days and then see the Tuesday....
On the Wednesday, I go from Melbourne to Tokyo, in order to visit the city obiovusly, but I might also be able to squeeze in the first day of qualifying of the Toray Pan Pacific, not sure yet and I'll probably only decide once I'm there but it could be interesting.
As you know, I'll be writing and posting some photos in Melbourne, perhaps not as much as when I'm in New York just because this trip is so much more physically draining...!
Anyway all for now, I'll be writing more soon!
