Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Kids Day
As I exited the train station this morning and began walking to the tennis centre a lady starts talking to me. Soon a girl comes from behind and asks if we were going to the tennis. I said yes and asked if she is German. She said yes. I'm getting quite good at recognising the Germans now. Her accent didn't sound like the Petkovic/Kerber one though. It turns out she's from Berlin.
It was Kids Day so children under 16 entered free. Kids everywhere. I went to the Jankovic/Paszek match and it was basically packed to the rafters! I watched a set and a bit then walked around before returning for the end of the match. There were quite some good rallies. Next up was Görges/Kuznetsova. It was just a coincidence that I ended up sitting next to the German girl I mentioned earlier. Julia won the first set comfortably so I went over to see Pliskova/Errani. The second set was in progress at that stage. When I came in it looked promising with both players on serve, holding serve. That was short lived. Karolina was trying to end the points quickly with drop shots but ended up making unforced errors and receiving passing shorts from Sara. So the match ended and I went back to the Germans.
The rest of the second set of Görges/Kuznetsova was a close contest. I don't really remember that much of it. In the third Julia had one excellent service game and the rest were quite ordinary. She hit some nice forehand winners. I stayed for a bit of Mayer's match before going for a walk. It was about 4 o'clock and I already began thinking of going home.
With regards to the stricter time violation warning rules, I've witnessed two this week. First for Cibulkova and the other was for Sousa. Needless to say neither player was happy to receive it and both complained afterwards further delaying play. I don't think either points were extraordinarily slow. They were both preparing to serve anyways so it's pretty pointless to give them a warning if they would have served after one more bounce.
As I was contemplating leaving I see a friend who gives me a ticket into KRA. Ebden's match was about to begin but I wasn't interested in seeing him. After a while I went to watch the entirety of the Goerges/Hantuchova and Petrova/Srebotnik match. As that ended Stosur/Zheng was set to begin. There were quite a lot of people staying for that match which was scheduled for not before 5pm. A suspicion was that it was to give Stosur a chance, not having to play in the heat like the rest of the other players. It ended up starting at 6.30pm. Sun setting. Cool conditions. The match was good, a lot of exciting rallies, baseline to baseline stuff. Heaps of winners and balls that just misses the lines. Eva Asderaki looked like she had a cold but was spot on with her overrule. Despite Sam losing in the first round again, I think she didn't play poorly. Zheng played really well, hung in there and returned everything.
It was Kids Day so children under 16 entered free. Kids everywhere. I went to the Jankovic/Paszek match and it was basically packed to the rafters! I watched a set and a bit then walked around before returning for the end of the match. There were quite some good rallies. Next up was Görges/Kuznetsova. It was just a coincidence that I ended up sitting next to the German girl I mentioned earlier. Julia won the first set comfortably so I went over to see Pliskova/Errani. The second set was in progress at that stage. When I came in it looked promising with both players on serve, holding serve. That was short lived. Karolina was trying to end the points quickly with drop shots but ended up making unforced errors and receiving passing shorts from Sara. So the match ended and I went back to the Germans.
The rest of the second set of Görges/Kuznetsova was a close contest. I don't really remember that much of it. In the third Julia had one excellent service game and the rest were quite ordinary. She hit some nice forehand winners. I stayed for a bit of Mayer's match before going for a walk. It was about 4 o'clock and I already began thinking of going home.
With regards to the stricter time violation warning rules, I've witnessed two this week. First for Cibulkova and the other was for Sousa. Needless to say neither player was happy to receive it and both complained afterwards further delaying play. I don't think either points were extraordinarily slow. They were both preparing to serve anyways so it's pretty pointless to give them a warning if they would have served after one more bounce.
As I was contemplating leaving I see a friend who gives me a ticket into KRA. Ebden's match was about to begin but I wasn't interested in seeing him. After a while I went to watch the entirety of the Goerges/Hantuchova and Petrova/Srebotnik match. As that ended Stosur/Zheng was set to begin. There were quite a lot of people staying for that match which was scheduled for not before 5pm. A suspicion was that it was to give Stosur a chance, not having to play in the heat like the rest of the other players. It ended up starting at 6.30pm. Sun setting. Cool conditions. The match was good, a lot of exciting rallies, baseline to baseline stuff. Heaps of winners and balls that just misses the lines. Eva Asderaki looked like she had a cold but was spot on with her overrule. Despite Sam losing in the first round again, I think she didn't play poorly. Zheng played really well, hung in there and returned everything.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The Pliskova twins
I thought I should do a separate post on them. I guess three posts on one day is a bit much but here are the pics from today's practice and also a short vid. By now, I'm pretty sure Krystina is the one with the visor on and Karolina is the blonde(r) one. Kristyna lost her first qualies match to Hlavackova while Karolina has won her three qualies matches against Panova, Falconi and Cabeza Candela. Her round 1 match will be against Errani tomorrow :)
Pics from Day 1
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| A bit of kids playing Hot Shots |
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| Found my seat! |
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Change of ends, Serena style
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| Went to the shade for Petra's match |
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| Cooled down - went down to get good seats for Kirilenko's |
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| Finally went to see (a bit) of Harrison |
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Found shade again. Strange fan!
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Half way point
Today looked good on paper. Wozniacki v Ula Radwanska, Kvitova v Cibulkova, Kirilenko v Rogowska and then Makarova v Lepchenko on KRA. For those who want to buy KRA tickets, going through this website gets you $10 off. Thus, I only paid $20.90 for today's ticket while the grounds pass costs $14.90. I think the rest of the week is too expensive for KRA (even with the $10). It's not worth it for those who will see these players in Melbourne anyways.
The matches weren't that close. I'm so disappointed that Kvitova lost 16 16. I don't even know what happened.. she just missed so much and even when she got a ball off the ball kid to hit it after the point was lost, it went straight into the net! I didn't stay for most of the last match and only watched the first set of Kirilenko. I also saw a bit of Karolina Pliskova's match (well, only 2 games) and about 4 games of Ryan Harrison's. It was just too hot in the sun.
There weren't any interesting players on the practice courts either. They were all probably getting ready for the player's party. However, I did see the Pliskovas practicing and took a video of them practicing their serves.
Three days down, three to go. I haven't even began packing for Melbourne yet!
The matches weren't that close. I'm so disappointed that Kvitova lost 16 16. I don't even know what happened.. she just missed so much and even when she got a ball off the ball kid to hit it after the point was lost, it went straight into the net! I didn't stay for most of the last match and only watched the first set of Kirilenko. I also saw a bit of Karolina Pliskova's match (well, only 2 games) and about 4 games of Ryan Harrison's. It was just too hot in the sun.
There weren't any interesting players on the practice courts either. They were all probably getting ready for the player's party. However, I did see the Pliskovas practicing and took a video of them practicing their serves.
Three days down, three to go. I haven't even began packing for Melbourne yet!
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