Today I started my day with a 7:30 a.m. breakfast! While I was having my beloved espresso, I received a Skype call on my new I-phone 4 from Stacey and Katey Boualev (who are 2 girls from California that are in Amsterdam training with John van Lottum at our new acquired Tennis centre)!
We had to do some court cleaning when we got to the site because we had some rain in the morning! The weather cleared and the match started at 11. Unfortunately Sorana could not repeat her previous performances of the 2 other matches and was defeated in the last round of qualifying 4-6 2-6. (In her defense she has been struggling with a stomach injury and even started with 3 double faults in her 1st service game! Also the stats were not great as it is ok if you don’t have 50% of your 1st serves in but you need to be in your high winning % of 1st serve points won. If you look at her stats today: 1st set 35% won only 44% when they were in and 2nd set was again 35% but higher at 88% winning, however, at this stage the damage was done and her opponent was too strong! This time my on court appearance was not successful but much to look forward too! Sorana is on the list as a lucky looser, that means if somebody withdraws from the tournament she gets a second chance and will enter into the draw!
Later today my favorite 3 “tennis” blondes will be coming in (Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki, and Mats Merkel)! Just finished the day after having been at an hour each with both girls! They had a little jet leg as they both landed around 1 in the afternoon from Hong Kong but it shows their dedication and professionalism to come out and practice! Plus Caroline had an all access hour (that is only for the top seeds and it gives the press a chance to chat with the top seed). Also both girls will have to go to the players’ welcome party at the hotel!
I am now heading back to the hotel (welcome 12 hour day of tennis!)