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Pierre's Tennisrulz Blog (get your own blog here)
Monday, January 15, 2007
Oz Open - Day 1
 Ah well, those used to my blog entries will be very disapointed by this one. Unfortunately, I came back pretty late so this will be a very short one. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get back in early and write a bit more. But today was a good day, lots of good matches, lots of running around. It was hot (30 degrees celsius) but not too hot (tomorrow it will be a lot warmer). A major highlight today was the presence of the Swedes, supporting their players, mostly Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson, cheers really to the greatest fans so far. Although Serbs and Croats do come close, very animated as some of you probably saw in the news (a few people were kicked out of the tennis centre today). As for matches, I saw most matches I had hoped to see, Jelena Jankovic was very impressive once more... Anyway, all for now, I'll hopefully post some photos and infos soon... the photo next to this entry is of Marta Domachowska from Poland
Friday, January 12, 2007
Australian Open 2007 - Day 0
 Hello everyone and welcome to the first of my Australian Open blog entries. Those who have been avid Tennisrulz readers for a few years have read my articles for a while now... Unlike the great and now famous Todd Spiker, I do not get the chance to write every week, but when I do get to see some live tennis, I'm more than thrilled to write about it. I'm currently in Washington DC in my first of two layovers (the other one being in Tokyo in a few hours). Now going to Australia from Montreal is a long ride, but even more so going through Tokyo, but it'll all be worth it I have no doubt. Surprisingly, there does not seem to have a wireless internet connection in this airport so I'm not exactly sure when I'll be able to post this. I guess Tokyo airport would be good but at worse it'll be in Melbourne. I'm scheduled to get there on Sunday, one day before the start of the main draw play.
Just yesterday, I did a quick stop and bought a new lens... Last year, I had numerous problems because of the Aus Open rule of a 200mm limit... Mine was 300mm and so while I did use it, it was quite a hassle to always be checking my back like that. So hopefully this year's rules will be the same and I can watch some tennis, take some photos and just enjoy the nice weather.
Now as discussed with Todd (he actually agrees on this!), I really believe that 2007 on the WTA tour will be a great battle between Justine Henin-Hardenne and Maria Sharapova. To hear that Justine would not be playing sets a slow start to that rivalry and in a way it puts some pressure on Maria to do well here since Justine will not be playing. Other top players who will miss the event include Anastasia Myskina (toe) and Lindsay Davenport (pregnant) as well as the non-surprising withdrawl by Venus Williams. Let's see if Serena actually turns up, hopefully she will.
So here are just some thoughts for the initial rounds as well as my predictions from the 4th round onwards:
Initial rounds interesting matchups:
1st: Kirilenko def Sprem: Hmmm what to think, both players should be doing a lot better than they are in my opinion. Sprem hits incredibly hard and makes tons of errors, Kirilenko can't handle power very much.. how this would play out would be interesting
2nd: Serena Williams def Krajicek: Any match of Serena these days is going to be a challenge. Michaela has lots of vocal fans everywhere and it would be a great matchup... I think the great fighter in Serena will emerge here, but you never know
3rd: Ivanovic def Zvonareva: Should be interesting, Vera is such an egnimatic player.. I think it could be a tough match but it's hard to go with an unstable Vera in such a match
3rd: Molik vs Schnyder: Hmm, it would be interesting in seeing this match although I don't think Alicia's game matches very well against Schnyder...
3rd: Na Li def Safina: Tough one really to come up with, Na Li is such an unpredictable player she might not even make it to the 3rd round. And then Safina is as well.. I'm picking Na Li in 3...
3rd: Petrova def Serena Williams: Again, this could be a good one, I am going to pick Petrova because she is surely in better "game shape".
3rd: Golovin def Peer: I certainly hope to see this match if it actually does happen, what a long match this could be, both are great fighters...
4th round:
Sharapova def Ivanovic: Ana certainly has an interesting game and she can do strides, but she still lacks some of that variety that Sharapova has and I still think her strengths are not as developped as Sharapova's
Chakvetadze def Schnyder: Very interesting matchup, a very close match in perspective and one year ago I would have picked Patty to win this. But Anna C showed great signs last year towards the end of the season and if she's continued improving this off-season, she's ready for another step forward
Clijsters def Hantuchova: Easy quarter honestly for Kim, I don't see her having much of a struggle as other seeds in that part of the draw do not have much confidence right now.
Hingis def Na Li: Not easy, Martina could struggle against the always surprising Eleni Daniilidou and then Na Li is no easy opponent, but I'm predicting she'll make it to the quarterfinals here...
Jankovic def Petrova: Well, hands down, Jelena has been the hottest player in these 2 little weeks before the Aus Open. She has shown signs of greatness but also big letdowns, I think this event will be a good one for her...
Kuznetsova def Peer: Peer is a great player, but Svetlana has a lot of variety
Vaidisova def Dementieva: Haha interesting matchup hey? Two players who often in tight matches will break down at various points during the match. I'm picking Nicole simply because I think her serve will help her manage through those tight 3 set moments..
Mauresmo def Schiavone: Hmm, as does Kim, I think Amelie has a great draw. The best player other than her is Schiavone who has no weapons really against Amelie...
QF:
Sharapova def CHakvetadze: This could be a very tough match for Maria. She'll face a player who probably fights as hard as she does and has a game that can give her trouble. I will pick Maria mostly because of her serve/return game, just a bit too many free points.
Clijsters def Hingis: Just too much variety, she has every weapon and there is no way Martina can compete over 3 sets in my competition...
Jankovic def Kuznetsova: Wow, this would be an upset though. I'm not sure how to predict this one so I'm going with gut. I'm not sure how Kuznetsova would react to the unconventional "play & attitude" of Jankovic.
Vaidisova def Mauresmo: She did it on clay, can she do it in Australia on hard courts when Amelie is not playing in front of the pressure of her home crowd.
SF:
Sharapova def Clijsters: What a great match this would be really hey? I'm picking Maria, in a tight one
Vaidisova def Jankovic: Jankovic impresses for the whole tournament and then when she starts thinking about the final and everything... letdown, she loses in a error filled match
F: Sharapova def Vaidisova: One player in her first final, the other has been there before and has a lot of confidence going into Australia...
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Hantuchova's ups and downs
 As much as Daniela Hantuchova is quiet and reserved, she still manages to get a lot of people talking about her. There were her great looks that have always been there. Then, when she was coming on tour, her incredible talent and poise had generated much deserved publicity including Martina Navratilova predicting she would one day reach #1... Then, she started going downwards, losing more and more, getting scaringly thin, leaving her fans and the tennis world without any clue what was going on. Later, it was reported, although not very loudly, that all that had happened in part because of problems between her parents..
And so she was able to recover and started a long way back.. It's been a couple of years now since she's been heading back and many of her fans are wondering if she'll ever fulfill all that was once hoped and predicted of her. She still has that great game, can hit all the shots, fights for her life.. but somehow, it never seems enough in those big matches. She lacks that big weapon, or that extra gear. Today, she was defeated by a Nicole Vaidisova who was clearly lacking confidence and was perhaps not even at 100% physically... but Daniela did not really test her opponent...
Will she rally back and come back to silence her critics? I would be the first one to applaud if it happened... but unfortunately at this point, her improvement has been slowed significantly, let's hope it's just a pause...
Saturday, January 06, 2007
How much tennis...?
 I've been struggling the past few days deciding how much tennis I'd see in my upcoming trip. Always seems so easy, tennis fans will mostly tell me to see every possible day, while others will tell me I should see other things besides tennis, both are tempting I must admit.
So here is what I know, I'll be going to the first 5 main draw days of tennis. In theory, I could add 4 more days of tennis in Melbourne. One drawback is that I don't have any tickets for those dates. One major positive is that especially on the second week I could see lots of junior action, which I have never really had a chance to see. Maybe discover some upcoming stars, who knows.
And then, there is the possibility of going to see the first day of qualifying in Tokyo. Could be interesting to see a new event over there. One major negative is that it's also my first time in Japan and I'd love to spend the 4 days I have visiting, one day less is pretty sighnificant... I also do not yet know who will be playing in qualifying, so for sure that would play into the whole thing...
Hmmm, I know I shouldn't complain, these are nice problems, but I still am...
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Myskina out of Australian Open
 Wow, what a blow. To any tennis fan seeing big names drop out is tough to see, we all know how fans of those players will feel when they'll see the news. That's even more true about those who were going to see their favourite on tv. And now, imagine those who were going to the tournament... Sad hey? Now add to the fact that they're doing over 24 hours of plane transportation in order to get to this tournament and that the player we're talking about is actually their favourite player... yep, sad. And that's exactly the situation I'm in personally....
Now not only is Nastya my favourite player but I've also stuck my head out predicting quite a nice finish for her in the now famous Backspin volley.
But myself aside, this is a big blow to Tennis Australia and an even bigger one may be upcoming as the renewed hopes in Mark Philippoussis may yet again be unfulfilled as he is now questionable for the Australian Open.
Tough luck for the tournament that usually boasts the highest number of top players, at least since the top players started actually going there (remember those years without Agassi for example). Of course it will once more bring back the debate about too many tournaments, etc. But really, it's tough to jump back on that train since we hardly know what caused the injury, and if further rest would really have helped....
Anyway, there will be others to see in Melbourne, and I'm sure Anastasia will recover to help me fulfill my predictions for 2007... so life goes on right?
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