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Post by sasha on Jul 2, 2007 11:12:04 GMT -5
I can barely.
Elena was once ranked 14th and was good, then she got injured forever. She's coming back and played in s'Hertogenbosch.
Then they go on about how she sucks now, and Elena says "Injuries make me stronger!!" Oh, ok. And she's still training in Barcelona.
I don't fully understand the 1st answer. Elena yaps about her injuries, and she got an inflammation in her foot. She got hurt in the off-season, by overtraining yet again. Lolz.
She likes living in Spain. It much nicer than Russia!
She does not have a coach.
Why she doesn't have a coach? Something about how they can talk on the telephone... and a single coach is unnecessary. I'm not sure here.
She lives by the water. Barcelona is very nice!
She trains for 2 hours every morning. Then she runs on the beach. And trains with basketball players, because they are most like her. Lolz.
She said s'Hertogenbosch was good for her. She played as well as she expected. And now she looks to play some tournaments in a row. Oh, ok.
Elena watches a lot of tennis. She prefers watching the men play! Wow, I didn't know she had such taste. She also likes only the top girls. Justine and Serena, especially.
She goes on about how Justine is an inspiration because she's so small and worked hard for all her success.
Then the interviewer compares her to Jankovic. But, Elena properly says Jelena is more like Myskina! (WTF? Since when was Elena so smart?) She says Jelena is very good with hitting angles and stuff. Elena tries to add this to her game, but she blows.
About how she trained at Bollitieri's with Jankovic. I'm lost here... she's just rambling on about how she doesn't have a true coach.
Then about Ivanovic. Elena says she's nice.
Then about how players should be pretty. Elena doesn't care. Tennis come first. Oh, ok.
Her long time away from the game has made her very hungry for success. Elena says she's much more calm. A stronger person, and very different from how she was before... interesting.
She's training the next month, and will play in the US hardcourt tournaments. Didn't give specific ones.
If she has to play in US Open Qualies, then she will.
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Post by sasha on Jul 2, 2007 12:44:21 GMT -5
BEAUTIFUL SPAIN !!! ;-) had me laugh an inordinate amount.
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Post by janie on Jul 2, 2007 14:56:57 GMT -5
Wow, Leena. Very impressive! Lena sounds good, but we'll see about the summer. I guess she's hoping for WCs, a la Lucic? Or is she on some actual entry lists; I'll go check. I still wish she'd play in a couple of challengers; there's a 100K in Italy next week, I think, and a 50K in Boston if she'd rather stick to hard courts.
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Post by Pamela Shriver on Jul 4, 2007 10:58:56 GMT -5
nooooo i play places where BIG stadium. i champion once ! looolol
Plus, the bigger paychecks feed my crack habit.
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Post by Pamela Shriver on Aug 5, 2007 12:40:34 GMT -5
I saw Elena play both her first and second round matches.
Elena was really, really bad in the first round. Coco choked hard in the second set - her serve fell apart and she couldn't keep a ball in play. I wasn't expecting much out of her in the 2r.
But I was pleasantly surprised. Her serve really picked up - the day before she was really only serving between 90-100 mph on the first serve. But against Nadia she was getting it up near 110 and was placing it a lot better. She's changed her tactics up a bit since I last saw her play a couple of years ago; she doesn't come to the net at all anymore. She pretty much just stands on the baseline and goes for the flat, hard shots on every point. And she does it quite well - but she can only do it for about four or five shots, then, error.
If she can play like she did against Nadia on a consistent basis, then she should be able to get back into the top 50 at some point within the next year or so. Her form against Coco won't be enough to win much.
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Post by sasha on Aug 5, 2007 12:50:26 GMT -5
She won't play enough to make Top 50.
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Post by janie on Aug 8, 2007 17:04:45 GMT -5
I saw Elena play both her first and second round matches. ... She's changed her tactics up a bit since I last saw her play a couple of years ago; she doesn't come to the net at all anymore. She pretty much just stands on the baseline and goes for the flat, hard shots on every point.. Next you'll be telling us she shrieks when she hits the ball, and gets signals from her Daddy in the stands.
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Post by janie on Aug 18, 2007 14:08:49 GMT -5
Good luck EB in PP Q's!
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Post by janie on Aug 18, 2007 14:39:44 GMT -5
Oh, I see she won her first match, over Errani, easily, but lost today to VRP in 3 sets. Oh, well, at least she's starting to win the odd match here and there. And I guess she'll get into the top 400 now, so no excuse for not playing challengers when her WTA wc's run out.
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Post by janie on Aug 19, 2007 6:46:56 GMT -5
Ouch, I just read that Elena had 2 MPs in the 2nd set against Vivi.
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Post by janie on Sept 7, 2007 19:42:56 GMT -5
Great news, Giant Barbie is playing in qualies in the 100K in Kharkov, Ukraine this week -- see draw on the thread in Tournaments. Welcome back, O Giant One!
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Post by sasha on Sept 7, 2007 22:15:39 GMT -5
OMG, she's actually playing a challenger.
Although, it's a 100K and close to homeland Russia. But, we'll take it.
I haven't even heard of half the players in that quali draw, and Rakhim is ranked like 250... so, I assume the MD is poor for a 100K.
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Post by janie on Sept 8, 2007 5:54:48 GMT -5
Yes, it's poor for a 100K. Why do they have 2 100ks going on in the same week, anyway? But this is exactly the kind of event I'd been hoping EB would enter. Here's the MD entry list; I hope Lena gets that far, because I don't see anybody scary here:
1 SAVCHUK, Olga UKR 104 1 2 KREMER, Anne LUX 105 1 3 FEDAK, Yuliana UKR 108 1 4 VOSKOBOEVA, Galina RUS 128 2 5 YAKIMOVA, Anastasia BLR 137 2 6 O'BRIEN, Katie GBR 138 1 7 OZEGOVIC, Nika CRO 143 2 8 RODINA, Evgeniya RUS 149 1 9 BACHMANN, Angelika GER 153 1 10 TULYAGANOVA, Iroda UZB 154 1 11 MAKAROVA, Ekaterina RUS 157 2 12 PEREBIYNIS, Tatiana UKR 161 1 13 $ KORYTTSEVA, Mariya UKR 170 1 14 KUTUZOVA, Viktoria UKR 177 1 15 BEYGELZIMER, Yuliya UKR 178 1 16 LISJAK, Ivana CRO 191 2 17 KULIKOVA, Regina RUS 192 1 18 NOONI, Hanna SWE 192 P 2 19 KUSTAVA, Daria BLR 194 1 20 LUKIC, Vojislava SRB 203 1 21 LAPUSHCHENKOVA, Anna RUS 206 1 22 RUUTEL, Margit EST 211 1 WCM LYUBTSOVA, Oxana UKR 281 1 WCM KOSYK, Galyna UKR 323 1
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Post by sasha on Sept 8, 2007 13:24:27 GMT -5
An Eastern European smorgasbord of awesome players! I wish I could be there.
Oh, and let's win this title.
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Post by janie on Sept 9, 2007 10:21:02 GMT -5
(WC)Elena Bovina (RUS) def (2)Amina Rakhim (KAZ) 6-1 6-2
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Post by sasha on Sept 9, 2007 17:05:06 GMT -5
That's an impressive win. The next quali match should be much easier. Then let's hope she avoids A-Bond's section of the draw... Also, I wonder what Elena will play after this. I assume a Quali WC in Moscow. But, there's no big ITFs until Bratislava and Poitiers after the WTA is over. And I doubt she'll play them...
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Post by janie on Sept 9, 2007 17:41:16 GMT -5
Oh, I forgot she might get a QWC in Moscow. That would be good, but why not play in Slovenia or the other Tier 3s/4s? But I'm not going to fuss (well, I'll try not to ;D ). I'm just so happy that she entered this thing. She can get some wins, as she already has, and win some WTA points, and she could also face some decent players and see how her current form measures up. She took the risk of losing in QR1 in a challenger, which would have been really depressing, but that didn't happen; now she's got nothing to lose. Seize the day, EB!
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Post by sasha on Sept 9, 2007 20:49:56 GMT -5
That's if Portoroz/Tashkent/Asian tournies give her a WC... although, she might get in qualies without one.
I mostly want her top 250 by the end of the year so we get directly in AO qualies, and improve our way from there.
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Post by janie on Sept 10, 2007 7:54:06 GMT -5
Kharkov Q3: Bovina(wc) d Orlova (8) 3-6 6-1 6-4
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Post by sasha on Sept 10, 2007 10:29:45 GMT -5
Surprising she struggled so much with that one, but whatever.
Elena drew Yakimova in the 1R. Won't be an easy one, The Yak just made the final of Denain.
Then, A-Bond possibly in the QF.
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Post by sasha on Sept 11, 2007 13:24:10 GMT -5
(WC) Bovina d. (5) Yakimova 6-1 4-6 6-4. Next, Rodionova. We destroyed her big sis. Now, let's finish off the family.
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Post by Calico on Sept 11, 2007 19:32:01 GMT -5
Well done Elena. Maybe she can find some good form in 2007 and head into 2008 with some real confidence in her game.
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Post by janie on Sept 12, 2007 6:55:39 GMT -5
EB apparently has a day off in singles, which is good after those two 3-setters, but she's scheduled to play a doubles match with Angelika Bachmann later today.
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Post by Pamela Shriver on Sept 12, 2007 9:22:37 GMT -5
Wow, impressive that she's putting the effort in. Some nice wins, hopefully she's building some confidence. It should start to help her setup a top 100 ranking for sometime next year.
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Post by sasha on Sept 13, 2007 13:59:52 GMT -5
(Q) Elena BOVINA (RUS) d. Arina RODIONOVA (RUS) 6-3 6-2. Not as impressive as '02 Quebec, but we'll take it. A. Bondarenko next.
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Post by janie on Sept 13, 2007 15:28:59 GMT -5
So she has already won 5 singles matches this week, right? And a couple of doubles matches. Playing here was a great decision.
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Post by sasha on Sept 13, 2007 19:46:22 GMT -5
It would have been a better decision starting this 10 months ago.
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Post by janie on Sept 14, 2007 11:00:58 GMT -5
Alona BONDARENKO (UKR) (1) defeated Elena BOVINA (RUS) Walkover
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Post by Pamela Shriver on Sept 14, 2007 12:26:21 GMT -5
Rut roh.
What now.
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Post by lexpretend on Sept 14, 2007 14:19:43 GMT -5
Well, at least she didn't take part in the Kharkov fashion show.
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