Post by Ilhame on Jun 14, 2004 14:55:19 GMT -5
Part 1
Today I went to the tournament in Rosmalen. It’s a bit far from where I live so I left home early. Play started at noon and I left home at 9 a.m. since I also still had to buy a ticket. I’m glad I left early cause I didn’t arrive till noon. I was surprised to see the place was so big. There were 5 courts and another five courts for practice.
The first thing I did when coming in was check the practice courts. Nadia Petrova was practising with Mary Pierce and there were two other girls practising on the same court. On the court next to them was Michaela Krajicek with some young girl, whom I assume was Carly Gullickson. For some reason I saw Jana Novotna on the practice courts. On the practice courts on the other side you had Popp and Andreev. I stuck around for a while and also saw Ancic for a few minutes. I took a pic of Barbara Schett when she arrived and then I moved on.
I went to Court 1 where Youzhny was playing Dupuis. It was 4-3 when I walked in. Dupuis wasn’t serving that great and made a lot of errors. He lost the first set 6-4. His coach was sitting close to me and I heard him encourage him in French all the time. On my other side was the Russian camp. They were less noisy. At one moment the coach shouted something at Misha and he replied in Russian. A silence followed so I assume he said something bad. Andreev watched some of the first set. In the second set Dupuis had a few breakpoints and couldn’t convert any of them. Misha was playing well. He was aggressive and took the set 6-0.
After that match I wanted to see Hrbaty, but he had just lost when I got there. Since there weren’t any interesting matches going on, I went to the practice courts again. Davydenko was practising and Robredo, who was waiting for his match to start, was being stretched by someone. That stretching looks mighty sexy I have to say. I took a pic with him and moved on.
I walked further to go and take a pic of Gisela Dulko. Canas was sitting on the stairs reading a book, while waiting to enter the stands with a girl, who is probably his girlfriend. Jankovic was cruising and was leading 4-1 when I came in. Her coach was sitting in front of me and her father behind me. They were taking plenty of notes. This match was boring in my opinion and I left after having taken pics of both.
Robredo is the man I wanted to see so I went to his doubles match. I’ve heard a lot about Karsten Braasch and now I’ve finally seen THE SERVE with my own eyes. Words can’t describe it lol. The match was entertaining and you could see Tommy was the better doubles player. Braasch made a few more errors. Etlis-Rodriguez are a good doubles team, but one of the two, don’t remember who, had a terrible serve. I’ve seen a few double faults in the first set. Braasch-Robredo lost the first set and I moved on again.
I spotted Rainer practising with another German and Karlovic was on the same court with an Asian guy. Rainer’s coach was sitting by the side smoking and telling Rainer what to do. That looked funny. I took a few pics and continues my stroll around the grounds.
Michaela Krajicek was on centre court. She played against Schaul and lost the first set. Michaela was making too many errors, perhaps because she was nervous. She also seemed to be slow on the court. If she could cut down on the errors, I see her having a bright future. She did come up with a few nice shots, but the finishing touch was missing. She reminded me of Dinara Safina, cause she also walks like her brother. In the second set she asked for the trainer. It took like 5 minutes before someone came on court and she was taken away. It took too long so I moved on.
I went to the practice courts again where Coria was practising with Popp. Alexander was wearing the same sweaty shirt as in his other practice session. Meanwhile I found out Michaela retired cause she fainted on court or something. She was standing on the baseline till she suddenly fell. Popp and Coria played a few games. Coria was stuck at the baseline as usual. In those 30 minutes that I watched them he came to the net once. Afterwards his physical trainer stretched him for like 15 minutes and then he left. On the court next to them Sluiter and Verkerk were practising. On the other side Nadia was with her coach and Loit came out later on.
Today I went to the tournament in Rosmalen. It’s a bit far from where I live so I left home early. Play started at noon and I left home at 9 a.m. since I also still had to buy a ticket. I’m glad I left early cause I didn’t arrive till noon. I was surprised to see the place was so big. There were 5 courts and another five courts for practice.
The first thing I did when coming in was check the practice courts. Nadia Petrova was practising with Mary Pierce and there were two other girls practising on the same court. On the court next to them was Michaela Krajicek with some young girl, whom I assume was Carly Gullickson. For some reason I saw Jana Novotna on the practice courts. On the practice courts on the other side you had Popp and Andreev. I stuck around for a while and also saw Ancic for a few minutes. I took a pic of Barbara Schett when she arrived and then I moved on.
I went to Court 1 where Youzhny was playing Dupuis. It was 4-3 when I walked in. Dupuis wasn’t serving that great and made a lot of errors. He lost the first set 6-4. His coach was sitting close to me and I heard him encourage him in French all the time. On my other side was the Russian camp. They were less noisy. At one moment the coach shouted something at Misha and he replied in Russian. A silence followed so I assume he said something bad. Andreev watched some of the first set. In the second set Dupuis had a few breakpoints and couldn’t convert any of them. Misha was playing well. He was aggressive and took the set 6-0.
After that match I wanted to see Hrbaty, but he had just lost when I got there. Since there weren’t any interesting matches going on, I went to the practice courts again. Davydenko was practising and Robredo, who was waiting for his match to start, was being stretched by someone. That stretching looks mighty sexy I have to say. I took a pic with him and moved on.
I walked further to go and take a pic of Gisela Dulko. Canas was sitting on the stairs reading a book, while waiting to enter the stands with a girl, who is probably his girlfriend. Jankovic was cruising and was leading 4-1 when I came in. Her coach was sitting in front of me and her father behind me. They were taking plenty of notes. This match was boring in my opinion and I left after having taken pics of both.
Robredo is the man I wanted to see so I went to his doubles match. I’ve heard a lot about Karsten Braasch and now I’ve finally seen THE SERVE with my own eyes. Words can’t describe it lol. The match was entertaining and you could see Tommy was the better doubles player. Braasch made a few more errors. Etlis-Rodriguez are a good doubles team, but one of the two, don’t remember who, had a terrible serve. I’ve seen a few double faults in the first set. Braasch-Robredo lost the first set and I moved on again.
I spotted Rainer practising with another German and Karlovic was on the same court with an Asian guy. Rainer’s coach was sitting by the side smoking and telling Rainer what to do. That looked funny. I took a few pics and continues my stroll around the grounds.
Michaela Krajicek was on centre court. She played against Schaul and lost the first set. Michaela was making too many errors, perhaps because she was nervous. She also seemed to be slow on the court. If she could cut down on the errors, I see her having a bright future. She did come up with a few nice shots, but the finishing touch was missing. She reminded me of Dinara Safina, cause she also walks like her brother. In the second set she asked for the trainer. It took like 5 minutes before someone came on court and she was taken away. It took too long so I moved on.
I went to the practice courts again where Coria was practising with Popp. Alexander was wearing the same sweaty shirt as in his other practice session. Meanwhile I found out Michaela retired cause she fainted on court or something. She was standing on the baseline till she suddenly fell. Popp and Coria played a few games. Coria was stuck at the baseline as usual. In those 30 minutes that I watched them he came to the net once. Afterwards his physical trainer stretched him for like 15 minutes and then he left. On the court next to them Sluiter and Verkerk were practising. On the other side Nadia was with her coach and Loit came out later on.
Gugaaaaaaaaa 
Poor girl, she must be under a lot of pressure -- and I've heard her father is one of those tennis dads *shakes head*
and I'm jealous that you have seen this infamous Braasch serve 
So funny, Ilhame, about the grandma and the geezers!! Hope your pix turn out!! Can't wait to see them. Thanks for the great report! What was Novotna doing there?? Nice to see players walking around... too bad naughty Maratski wasn't there! 
