Kim Clijsters US open Champion

She was the favorite, and she won, against Vera Zvonareva! But the final didn’t reflect well how high the level of competition was during those 2 weeks. The road there wasn’t that easy for Kim, but she proved to be the most consistent of them all.

It was at first very hot, and then, very windy, and it is not to play in those condition. Azarenka gave everybody a scare when she collapsed on the court on her second match against Gisela Dulko. She had to retire, but we quickly know that it was not only the heat that was responsible, but the Belarusian fell in the morning and got a concussion.

Stosur did very well and it was a tough lost against Clijsters in quart, she could have won the match, and if you asked me, she should have won the tournament. Next year, maybe?

US Open series

Players are back for the US open series. A bonus will be added to the player that cumulates more points. Last year, Dementieva was the leader heading to the US open but it is not looking so good for her at the moment. So, to make it short, Azarenka won Stanford, Pavlyuchenkova won Istanbul, Kuznetsova finally wanted to play a little and won San Diego while Wozniacki won Copenhagen in her home country.

Surprisingly, but not without effort, Jelena Jankovic climb back to number 2, and since then, she had been plagued by a series of injuries and if you asked me, the ankle injury is the worst she could have since her footwork is the anchor of her game. Still a little rusty, she couldn’t make it very far in Cinci and finally Kim Clijsters won a third tournament of the year. The women are now fighting for the Rogers Cup in Montreal where the level of competition is very high. It is going to be a hot tournament

Serena wins Wimbledon

Wimbledon left me on my appetite, or not! On the woman side at least, since my champion on the men side won : Rafael Nadal. As you know it, Serena Wiliams won it, in front of Vera Zvonareva who was marvellous all week for a her first ever slam final.

Since it happened a month ago, i won’t comment any further, you all know the story. No offence to Serena, but even thought she has guts and talent, with what happened at the US open last year, she should have been suspended. Maybe they didn’t do it because of the spectacle, but they are a bunch of great players out there who would have been able to keep us entertain.

I don't like cheaters

And a new one is born today, as Soderling took a loooooooong medical time out just before Nadal has to serve for the third set. It looks pretty much little a strategy to cool down Nadal. That it works or not, i don't care, you just don't so that.

I did like the tall guy from Sweden before, but he just exited my favorite list.

Wimbledon update

It was no surprise to me that Samantha Stosur, who has, almost, the perfect game to play on Grass was defeated so early. The big problem of Sam on that surface is her foot work. Not it’s bad, but it doesn’t allow her to be quick enough to use her forehand as much as she does on Clay. So she was out on the first round, so was the destroyer of her dreams, Schiavone.

Kanepi, who defeated the Aussie, is now on her first Grand slam quarter final. And since she had problem with injuries last year, she had to pass by the qualification rounds to make it here. Which might caused her a problem against Kvitova who is having the time of her life at this tournament, defeated everybody on her way. She defeated Cirstea, Zheng, Azarenka and even trashed out Wozniacki 6-2, 6-0.

The Williams sisters are always dominants on grass and this year is no exception as they both reached the quarter final. It wasn’t that complicated for them, only their round of sixteen opponent shows a bit of problem, but didn’t last. Serena had to face Sharapova, and if the tall Russian held her part of the bargain in the first set, she just became too heavy on her foot in the second. Venus didn’t expect such an opposition from Growth, which a salute for reaching a fourth round in Slam. She just lack of experience on those great event and I guess that was the end of her.

Kuznetsova is continuing her disastrous year and lost in the second round to Rodionova who then lost to Na Li, who is now also in the quart a final after beating Radwanska and she will now face Serena. They had such a fight in Australie this year, we never know what can happen.

Another Player struggling for a while is Pennetta, and she was out in the third defeated by Zakapalova who then lost the Kanepi.

Cjisters brilliantly come back after losing the first set to Henin, but Justine had in her head to beat the other Belgian playing the same game then her from the baseline, as kim was totally dominant from there. She would probably say that the injury timeout bugged her. Sorry Justine, it is just something you were doing then and you still do now.

And speaking of drama queen, Jelena Jankovic was in a good way to do better then she ever did in wimbledon, but it is true, this time, that she has an excuse, as just got a bad injury in her second round match, just got worst in her third and couldn’t keep up against a very in form Zvonereva who is going after the Belgian in quart.

Let’s also mentioned the good run of the pack of bones Pironkova, who, without having very tough opponents, doesn’t have any problem to get rid of them either but what will she be able to do against Venus Williams in quart?

Schiavone wins RG

When the tournament started, it was hard already to do a prediction on who was going to win but, but no one expected that it would be Italian veteran, Francesca Schiavone, holding the trophy and not many gave her a change against this season Queen of clay, Samantha Stosur.

I didn’t expect that either, until, the match started. The Italian had nothing to lose, and she just kept focus and stuck to her plan. It was a big moment for both of them, but she handled it better. Sam was not as effective as she was from the beginning of the tournament, but all credit to Schiavone who took her chances and play consistently enough to win this major 64 76. Her reaction, so genuine, you can't help but just be happy for her!

Roland Garros Up Date

Samantha Stosur proved me wrong, and I am glad. Mental toughness makes a big difference in sport. I always suspected that the Aussie wasn’t always consistent at times because of that. And, it also happened yesterday when she was serving for the match, but she hung on in there and when she finally had a second chance, some sixteen games later, she seized it.

It wasn’t the best match of Serena Williams, but the American always finds a way to mess up with her opponent’s head but this time, Samantha Stosur was up to the challenge. She shows great strength in many aspects of her game not only today, but all week long, beating also Justine Henin, who some people like to call The Queen of clay. That will gave her a lot of confidence and she will need it in her next match.

The higher seeded remaining in the draw, world number 4 Jelena Jankovic is also having a good tournament. Nothing as impressive as Stosur, but she defeated along the way, players who once deprived her to go further in a tournament: Kanepi, Bonderenko, Hantuchova and Schedova. So in short, Stosur will be her toughest Challenge up to now, and if someone is up to it, it is Jelena.

I do believe that it is going to be a very close match. Stosur is playing unbelievable and she might have a slight advantage going into the match even if the Serbian is leading 3-1 in their encounter. Stosur is stronger, but Jankovic move better. Both use brilliantly every aspect of the game, Stosur with power, Jankovic with fineness. The key to the match is the first serve % and the consistency. The one that top that, will go out as a winner, not only of this match, but the tournament.

Elena Dementieva comes a long way: I’ve never seen her with so many bandages of her entire carreer. Wozniack scared her for a moment, but not able to capitalize, the Russian ran away with the victory. Petrova also gave her some thought moments, hammering her with winners in their first set, but with no surprise, Nadia had a mental break down and it was so easy afterward. It is a ninth grand slam semi finale for Elena and she will face the surprising Italian Frencesca Schiavone..

I knew she would have a good run, but that good : hell no. Nobody gives her a real chance to beat Dementieva, but be aware, she shows mental toughness this week and she might surprise us all! Well, the chances are slims, but they are there. Don’t count her out yet, this is going to be a real fight.

Roland Garross Preview

Last year, the players who dominated the clay season were the one making it to the final : Safina and Kutnetsova, with the latest winning the title. This year, no one really dominated this preparation to RG and it is hard to say who is going to hold the trophy at the end of the tournament. But it isn’t going to be Kuznetsova, or Safina.

The first thing we notice on the draw is that Justine Henin wasn’t granted of any favor and is seeded as her rank allows : 22. She is standing in the first half of the draw with a possible meeting with Maria Sharapova in third round. But even that, shouldn’t be a problem. Stosur is also standing there, but their first and only encounter earlier this month shows that Justine was still superior mentally speaking. So, i guess the first quart will oppose Justine to Serena Williams who might have a tough match against Peer, but still, she should dispose of anyone standing her way till Justine. And even then, hard to saw which one will make it through.

And the second part of the top draw, Jelena Jankovic might have some problems in earlier rounds with possible meeting with players that already beaten her in the past : Kanepi, then Bonderenko and Hantuchova. And she is passes that, is hard to say who she is going to meet in quart because Safina is a possibility but she had been playing so miserably since she returned that i doubt that even a mentually disturb Zvonarava shouldn’t get rid of her, unless that fact that she finally fired that ungrateful coach shows instant result. There is also Ivanovic on that part but is what we saw in the latest tournaments is going to be enough? Radwanska didn’t really shows consistency on clay so, who is going to be? Hard to say: the huge Russian, Kleybanova ?

The second part of the draw holds the defending champion. Sveta had a very unconvincing clay season but with her, we never know. Her draw doesn’t look too bad, but what a draw means anyway? If she is playing at the best of her talent, she could even make it to the semi since Wozniacki, still injured, should not last that long and Pennetta is still in a mid-struggle crisis. Can she find her game on time for the tournament?

And the last part of the draw, I see an immediate clash as I am almost certain that Dulko is going to win over Azarenka: the Belarus is playing injured for a way too long and Dulko is on a good mood. Will it be her or Dementieva in Quart? Hard to say. The Russian is having any kind of problem losing match she should win lately but i gave her the benefit of the doubt, because she the higher seeded in that part. At the bottom of the draw there is Venus Williams: I say for many years that clay isn’t Venus Williams’s surface and even thought she seems to be playing good this season on it and might have her best run for years, she is not going to win this.

Aravane wins in Madrid

The French woman played inspired tennis all week long defeating on her way to Madrid’s title Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams. She was sharp, consistence and a player, no matter who she is, had to be in her best days to stop her. Congratulations to Aravane for an amazing run in Spain. Going into Roland Garros, we’ll have to keep an eye on her and see if she can keep playing that way.

Madrid Update

When you first look at the draw, you have no other reaction than : «Holy Shit» or any other saint expression that you might use in your home town. The level of competition reached such a high standard that some crazy matches started right on the first round.

I am a little late to make my own prevision but, I wasn’t surprise at all to see Azarenka and Wozniacki lost: these girls are playing with injuries and I doubt it is going to help for their RG preparation. Sharapova hadn’t played for a while and Safarova was definively a threat since she got a momentum these weeks with good results. Pennetta, who is still struggling a little was sent out kinda early by Petkovic who eventually lost to Rezai.

Yes, Rezai caused a surprise beating Henin 60 in the third set and she is still in the tournament in quart waiting to face Jelena Jankovic to night.. Jelena survived her second round match crash despite a slow start against Ana Ivanovic who seems to have found her game for a set but the oldest of the 2 Serbians shifted gear since then and shouldn’t have any problem to make it through to final again this week.

Dementieva lost to Dulgheru. The Romanian is playing her best tennis lately but still, I didn’t expect that, but she wasn’t enough to stop Safarova who is now standing in the last four. She surprised today Nadia Petrova who couldn’t use the momentum of her great Victory over Serena Williams.

Speaking of Williams, I was wrong thinking that Stosur would defeat Venus Williams; the oldest of the sisters’ got her ticket in semi after beating the Aussie in a one way match. She should met and send out Peer tomorrow to make it to the final against Jankovic. And I really doubt that this time, Jelena is going to get away with the win as easy as she did in Rome.

But this said, one match at the time, none of those players are there yet,and we all know that a match is not over till it’s over, even less when it isn’t started yet. But I do think that it should be Venus against Jelena and this time, it might be a 3 setters. Who is going to win ? I don’t know, aside last week victory 60 61 of Jelena on Venus, it always been epic matches before. But on clay, Jelena leads 4-1 so, I gave a slight advantage to the Serbian.

Glory in Rome for Spaniard

I said Maria-José was dangerous, but i didn’t thought she would be that dangerous. The lefty found her way to the title, and won fair and square the finale match against a Jelena Jankovic who also had an incredible run this week.

After preventing an all Serbians finale by beating rather easily Ana Ivanovic, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez used her various weapons to end Jelena’s dream of winning a third title in 4 years in Rome and hold her most precious title to date.

Jelena had an impressive tournament this week, giving a tennis lesson to Venus, and able to run away with the win in semi after an epic battle with the younger sister, Serena Williams but Maria’s drop shots and consistency had the end of her.

Martinez was leading 5-2 when Jankovic started to climb back to even take the lead in the first set, but in a tight tie break, it wasn’t enough to cool down the Spaniard who finally buckled up the first set 76. The second was a little of the same story, Jankovic not able to capitaze in the important moment 75, give all credit her impressive opponent.

funny fact: if you look at the stats on the WTA tour, Maria-José is 1,76m and Jelena is 1,76m. O_o. I think they forget to update Maria's file. hihi

Pennetta might be struggling a little (a lot) in single, but she found a partner with whom it is good to win in double: Gisela Dulko. It is their third title in a row.

Rome so far

I was not totally wrong with my prediction : hitting the quart the final today, Serena Williams is still part of the draw, it wasn’t that easy thought, but it is her first tournament since Melbourne, so somehow, it is normal to struggle a little. She will be opposed to Maria Kirilenko, who sent packing last year finalist Kuznetsova. It will be an interesting match, more interesting that the sheet says, as Kirilenko could possibly surprise us and play another great match but would it be enough?

Sharar Peer tried but failed to give me right, when she lost to Venus Williams. No much problem for the American up to now, but she will have her hand full today, not sure she will survive this: Her opponent will be Jankovic who gave a tennis lesson to Wickmayer yesterday :those who thought that this would be the match of the day were wrong. I was! If the Serbian plays that kind of tennis today, Venus is out. But yesterday’s match was a way too easy so, let’s hope Jelena is able to keep her focus and if she does, she might even put her hand on her third title there. But can she beat and Venus and Serena in the same tournament? If someone can do that, it’s her.
Ana Ivanovic is having her best tournament in ages, beaten not only one, but two top 10 players. Last time she had beaten a top 10 players was 18 months ago. She was a little helped by her opponent, but still, she had to win : Azarenka was playing injured, couldn’t give a good performance crying all the time. And 33 unforced errors was a way too costly for Dementieva who tried to fight, but she couldn’t make it. The Serbian still misses, her ball toss is still a little deficient, but her forehand is more consistent but that might give her back her confidence. Now, if she can stop fist pumping on every point and stop acting like a baby, she wouldn’t be that annoying.

On the last part of the draw, Pennetta and Wozniacki lost indeed. Safarova sent out Pennetta, but the Italien is not going to pack yet, as she is playing in double with Dulko and the pair is the team to beat lately: they won the 2 last tournaments they participated in.
Safarova is actually on court right now fighting with the always tough to beat Maria Jose Sanchez Martinez who is responsible of Schiavone and Wozniacki’s lost. Always surprise that Spanish Veteran and she will probably go ahead for who knows, maybe a final?

Rome – My Prevision

It is Serena Williams return and she has draw that it’s a way too easy for her, although, we never know what to expect with such a diva; Let’s remind us that last year, she wasn’t able to perform on clay, losing 4 matches in a row before RG. But if she plays well, it should be easy to make it to the semi, unless Svetlana Kuznetsova decides that she feels for playing tennis.

Jelena Jankovic's performance here depends entirely of her consistency. The player who can stop her from reaching the semi final is Yanina Wickmayer. But then again, if Jelana is consistent, she will even make it to the final, but consistency is not an easy thing anymore for JJ, which was one of her strength before.

Sharar Peer might cause a surprise and beat the oldest Williams sister since we know that clay isn’t Venus’s best and Sharar is impressive these days.

On the bottom part of the draw, Dementieva has a very tough draw with Azarenka, and then, probably Petrova, who will most certainly beat Safina, but I think she will be the one standing out of the gang to reach the Semi: Azarenka is injured, Safina is still shaky, and Petrova is weaker mentally then she is.

It is hard to say what is going to happen on the last part of the draw. Wozniacki is there, but I still think she should rest her ankle. There are some great clay court player in the pack in Schiavone, Vinci and Martinez Sanchez. There is also Pennetta but aside her great performance for her country in the Fed Cup, the beautiful Italian is struggling a little lately but she would be my choice for a Semi here, if she was able to find her confidence back. And there is also Radwanska but i don’t know what to expect from her. Vinci might even send her out. Also, Hantuchova is in this part of the draw but if she survived Schiavone, I doubt she will pass Sanchez Martinez. If so, I say she might be the other semi finalist boosted by confidence.

Henin wins in Stuttgart

Justine Henin ended Samantha Stosur winning strike on Sunday, defeating the Aussie in 3 sets; 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. The first set was very tight, but it was Henin able to capitalize on key points that made the difference. In the second, Samantha shifted gear to surprise the Belgian but nervousness caught up with her in the last, her game slipping away from her grasp added to the fact that Henin was really playing great tennis then.

To make it there, it wasn’t that easy for those 2 players. Henin had to cross fire with Jelena Jankovic for another 3 setter match. 3-6, 7-6, 6-3. If Jelena wouldn’t have lacked of energy in the final set, maybe the story would have been different, but Justine keep her perfect H2H against the Serbian, now 10-0.

As for Samantha, it is against Dulgheru that she faced trouble. Playing too inconsistently against an opponent who had nothing to lose, she lost the first set, but came back strong.

In the performance worth mentioning, Sharar Peer had a great run. She defeated Radwanska then, she didn’t have much problem to get rid of Safina, who was playing her first tournament since she had worsened her back injury in Melbourne.

Wozniacki retired, her ankle being still injured. She should take a longer break if you ask me. If not, she is going to miss Roland Garros, or play poorly there. Anna Lapushchenkova (try to see it quickly for fun) defeated Victoria Azarenka (another injured player who should rest) and enjoy a great week with a semi here but Stosur was too strong.

Fed Cup Update

The fed cup was held this weekend, and some countries were playing for a lot. It was the semi-final in the world group. If Italia, defending Champ, lead by Pennetta didn’t have any problem to pass 5-0 Czech Republic, USA caused a huge surprise by throwing out Russia. Of course, Elena Dementieva was the only solid player to compete for her country, and she did one hell of a job winning her 2 singles matches, but at the end, it wasn’t enough, 3-2 USA.

On the world group play off, Belgium, despite a severe injury to Kim Clijters, the defeat of Justine Henin that came to the rescue, Wickmayer did good by winning her 2 singles matches. Before the end of the weekend, it was already 3-1 for the Belgian gals against Estonia.

Ukraine, deprived of one of the Bondarenko’s sister, was no match for the strong team of Australia. Samantha Stosus is a big order for any that stand in her way these days. 5-0.

The French team won against Germany in a decisive double match. Serbia, despite the surprise win for Bojana Jovanovski over Magadalena Rybarikova was thrown out of the world group 2-3 to the great despair of Jelena Jankovic who felt utterly responsible after losing a very close match against Hantuchova. Slovak move on 3-2.

Stosur Charleston Champion

Isn’t ironic that a player with a grass game performs better on a clay court? After making to the semi last year in RG, Samantha Stosur was just brilliant this week to win the biggest title of her career.

Well, i wasn’t totally wrong saying that Daniela Hantuchova was the only one standing is Jelena Jankovic’s way: she did indeed, beat the Serbian despite a quick start from her but, Stosur didn’t really had trouble getting rid of her in the semi despite the confidence boost.

Wozniacki didn’t make it to the final. She had to retire and Vera had clear passage to meet the Aussie in the final. But the Aussie was too confidante to let the Russian rain on her parade with her bad mood and attitude and 52 minutes was all she needed to send Zvonareva to the locker room. Well, 52 minutes and 36 winners : 60 63.

Charleston – My previsions

There are some good players missing from the top 10 but, this doesn’t mean that the competition won’t be interesting, far from it. The family circle cup is the first event on clay court of the season.

My first thought when i look at the upper part of the draw was : what the hell Victoria Azarenka is doing there? She had to retire in a match she was leading not later then last week! I don’t give much of her skin out there. She’ll lose or retire within the first couple of round.

With that in mind, I think Vera Zvonareva should make it in semi easily unless memories of her past come and haunt her: let me remind you that it is here that everything changed for Vera. She injured herself quite badly last year at the right ankle and I think she was never the same player afterward. She was in her best form then.

And it depends on Nadia Petrova if Vera will meet either her or Wozniacki there because really, if Nadia could play at her full potential, Wozniacki wouldn’t stand a chance but unfortunately for the Russian, her mental state is quite fragile. Will she even make it there?

And on the other side of the draw, it looks like we are going to have another rematch between my 2 favorite players on the tour: Samantha Stosur and Jelena Jankovic.

Sammy’s part of the draw is quite open and I don’t see anybody stopping her before the semi especially if she serves well. And only Daniela Hantuchova stands in Jeca’s way to join Sammy there. It depends here if Jelena is consistent or not. Everything depends on Jelena’s regularity!

And if you ask me, the winner of this tournament is on the bottom side of the draw so, it is either Samantha or Jelena. And Jelena won that tournament in 2007, who knows, she might surprise us again!

Let's talk about ....

Caroline Wozniacki! Let’s talk about her a little, and that will be the only entry on my entire blog that will be dedicated to her. I was arguing with a good friend of mine this other day about if she deserved or not to be #2 in the world.

Well, her strait answer was no. Well, my answer was yes. Well, but not because i like her, because i really don’t, but she earned the points and was the most consistent player all year around, which is true, to my point of view. However, digging deeper, it is a little bit out of luck to: let’s face it, the Dane has a good game, her only big weakness is to have no big weapon at all. She can do almost everything good on a court, and make you play one more shot because she is not going to miss anything, but if her opponent got a really good strength, that might be enough to beat her.

She had some good victories over Dementieva, Pennetta and Stosur, but got also lucky draws, but hey, she had to win those matches and she did. You combine that to the fact that other better players didn’t perform really well, so, you got a very happy Dane camping at the second position.

Well, she is number two, and deserve to be there, for the points and the consistency, and being there making it even easier because tougher players just come later in a tournament, so, she will keep rolling for while. Until, the big guns decide to show some guts…

Pennetta won Marbella

As predicted in my Book, especially after Azarenka had to retire, i couldn’t see who would have been able to stop the beautiful Italian to own her ninth title of the WTA tour. She defeated in 3 high core sets Carla Suarez Navarro. Despite that fact that the crowd favorite didn’t win, everybody was satisfied of the intensity displayed by both players.

“It was a very tough match from the very beginning”, during which she felt tired of the intense rhythm on several occasions.


And my last words will be able fashion : i totally hate the new adidas collection. Yellow wouldn’t be so bad on Flavia but it’s the cut of the different dresses she wears. I am going to miss Sergio Tacchini collection.

Since i mentioned Vedra Beach tournament, again, as predicted, Alek lost to Cibulkova and Wozniacki defeated her title there. But since i don’t like the Dane, i will just, move on to another tournament.

Wozniak in the last 8 in Ponte Vedra Beach

As a patriot, I must talk about our Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak. Currently ranked 39 in the world, she needs to do really good in that tournament since she made the final last year. She needs to keep those precious points to stay within the top 50. She hasn’t played really well since the year started losing some matches she could have won, but she might get a good momentum; she is now in quart. Hopefully, she will remind herself the good sensation she had last year, beating Lisicki and Petrova, because her next opponent is no else then the little bit pull Dominika Cibulkova. She could beat her, she could be«t a lot of people, but the main problem of Alek is that she makes too many unforced error.

Open draw for Pennetta in Marbella

After a dream week in Miami, Kim Clijsters streaks of win finally came to an end and the one responsible is Beatriz Garcia Vidagany. Yes, you are puzzled and need to read her name again saying to yourself, Beatriz who? And you are entitled to do so, because this player from Spain is 258 in the world and as for today, she was a no name player. That is, without a doubt, her greatest victory.

Flavia, the beautiful Italian, won’t complain about that, since Kim was on her side of the draw. Pennatta is struggling a little lately and hopefully, this might help her making it to the finale since, if you look at it on paper, no one can really challenge her till this last match.

And this challenge is called Victoria Azarenka and she is going to have a hazardous road to make it to the final because, in the next round, Maria Jose Sanchez Martinez, her next opponent, never gives free points. The Belarusian better play consistently because Maria is home, and Maria is playing great tennis lately. And if Maria is not enough, then, a great clay court specialist in Carla Suarez Navarro shouldn’t be taken lightly either and the small Spaniard is also home. She made the final last year: Jelena Jankovic defeated her in 3 tough sets.

Kim Clijster without mercy

Who did i said was impetuous this week? Yes, I said Kim Clijsters was impetuous! Only Justine Henin was a challenge for her. In fact, this semi final match could have been the final, score was 62 67 76 in 2h34 hours battle. It was the only set Kim lost in Miami. Yes, because in final, she crushed Venus Williams allowing the American to win only 3 slim games in the entire match which lasted not even an hour; 62 61. Congratulations to Kim for this great run!

Sony Ericsson

It is the premier event Sony Ericsson Championship this week and there are lots of action going on but compare to last week Indian Wells event, the big name are holding up their part of the bargain. Complicated, but hanging on. Well, except for the beautiful Pennetta, who is struggling a little lately; she lost to Petkovic in second round. Winner of those match will be get into quarts.

Venus Williams vs. Daniela Hantuchova

Daniela Hantuchova is playing great tennis lately. She is one of the few to have caused a surprise this week, sending to the locker room Nadia Petrova. Last time they meet was in 2007, but i really doubt the Slovakian can past the tall American who leads 9-0 in their H2H.

Kim Clijster vs. Victoria Azarenka

Kim Clijsters had been impetuous in Miami crushing everybody who was in her way but Azarenka is the defending Champion, and the Champ is a really good form to. That it certainly a match not to miss today!

Justine Henin vs. Vera Zvonareva

They didn’t met since Justine is back, but she never lost to Vera. The Russian, who is having lots of ups and downs, might surprised us, but it will depend on Justine’s consistency. The Belgian should win.

Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Marion Bartoli

They haven’t meet for almost 4 years. I doubt the ungraceful French woman can beat the talented Russian, but Sveta is like yoyo, we never what to expect of her so, Marion could be the one who knocked her down.

Yaroslava Shvedova vs. Agnieszka Radwanska

Probably one of the easiest fourth round, Radwanska should beat Shvedova no story, especially if she playing a clean tennis like she does lately.

Yanina Wickmayer vs. Timea Bacsinszky

Okay, this one should be an easy win to for Wickmayer, I don’t see Timea able to compete with the powerful Belgian. But I wish…

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Caroline Wosniacki

Wozniacki is not player great tennis this week, came close to lose in her 2 other matches. I doubt Pavlyuchenkova can beat her, but we never know.

Jelena Jankovic vs. Samantha Stosur

This is the match of the day. I still wonder why they put it in court 3, we won’t even got the chance to it on a livestream even. The 2 have met last week, in quart, and Jankovic had it easy, helped by the weak first serve % of the Aussie. If Jelena is one of the best returner, Stosur has certainly one of the best serve on tour, usually, but this is the key to have one of the greatest matches of the day: a lot of first serve in and of course, consistency. This is going to be a very interesting match if both players are playing their best. But frankly, I think JJ, who seems really confident, should win the mental battle.

Jelena Jankovic : Indian Wells Champion

Indian Wells is one of the biggest tournaments on the tennis circuit, if not the biggest after Grand Slam tournament. There was a high level of competition there and the road to hold the trophy was tortuous. The Serbian Jelena Jankovic made it!

She was 2 points to lose the match in the third round against Errani, but from that moment, no one was really able to worry her. Kleybanova didn’t play the best match of her life, but it was the Serbian being consistence that made a huge difference in that match (6-4, 6-4).

In semi, she was opposed to the Aussie, Samantha Stusor and then again, Jelena applied a lot of pressure and forced the error of her opponent. The score looked easier than the match really was (6-2, 6-4), but there were no doubt about the issue of that match. Let’s mention that with her presence in semi, Samanthat Stosur is now part of the top 10. Congratulations to her!And in Final, the Dane Caroline Wozniacki could not really get into the game. Jelena was consistent, returned everything with precision, which allows the Serbian to make the Dane run from side to side. (6-2, 6-4).

Is she back? It had sure been a while since the last time I saw the Serbian having a winning strike that long. It will certainly be good for women tennis if the Serbian player found her good sensations for more than a couple of matches. There were a time, when we didn’t even know if Jelena would win a match that she usually have won so easily, but, this is certainly a positive image for the future.

On thing for sure, Jelena never gave up, and she keep it that way, she will make her way back to the top 3, where I think she belongs. Of course, if she is playing with consistence and regularity, like she shown us in Indian Wells.

Olympics canadian TV numbers

TV numbers in Canada for the Olympics Games were stunning. Each day, millions of Canadians were watching our athletes performed. Of course, Medal moments were certainly the most watched events and at the right beginning, Hockey is our national sport so, difficult to beat that; but not far behind, stand our curlers.

The top eight watched medal events and their averages: 1. men's hockey gold 16.6 million; 2. Women's hockey gold 7.5 million; 3. Kevin Martin curling gold 6.9 million; 4. Alex Bilodeau moguls gold 6.82 million; 5. Cheryl Bernard curling silver 6.8 million, 6. Jenn Heil moguls silver 6.7 million; 7. Kristina Groves speed skating bronze 5.2 million; 8. Joannie Rochette figure skating bronze 4.4 million.

Cheryl Bernard had already broken TV record number on the national TV when she fought her way to the Olympic on the Olympic trial event Roar of the Rings back in December 2009. I bet national TV will beat some other records if Team Bernard decides to play the last tournament of the season.

No doubt that after seeing those numbers, Curling is “sweeping” the world and Cheryl Bernard won’t longer be able to do her grocery store “incognito”.

Indian Wells, CA.

This is week, it’s one of the biggest even of the year, Indian Wells in California, in there are lots of action there, believe me! If Zheng is the first in quart by beating Sharapova, the 7 other quarter finalists weren’t easily decided either ; Justine Henin was stunned by Gisela Dulko in a surprising match in the second round but then, the Argentinean lost to a very solid player this week, A. Radwanska who will now meet Dementieva in Quart.Carla Suarez Navarro celebrated a victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova but she then lost to Kleybanova on an epic 3 sets Match. Kleybanova, stronger of her title, had also defeated Kim Clijsters in the second round, and she is going strait towards Jankovic, who had herself, a lot of trouble to make to her first Quart of the year. She defeated Peer yesterday, and Peer had defeated the great Flavia Pennatta the round before.Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is having a lot of fun this week to: after sending to the locker room Victoria Azarenka, she offered another great performance and defeated in 2 sets last night, Yanina Wickmayer. Her next opponent is one of my favorite to win this tournament, Samantha Stosur who is playing a solid tennis up to now: Vera Zvonareva was a good test yesterday and she beated her in 2 sets. Not saying it was easy, but not saying it was tough either.

A bit of tennis

It is not because my interest with curling is renewed, that i will forget about tennis. Oh no! There were a lot of action since my last post about tennis : Venus Williams kept her title in Dubai and in Acapulco, Maria Sharapova easily won an international event in Memphis. Mariana Duque Marino won a title on Bogota (who ???) and Alisa Kleybanova surprisingly beat Dementieva to win her first title on WTA tour at the Malasian Open in Kuala Lumpur. In Monterrey, were JJ failed to won a match and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova made it all the way to win her first WTA tour.

Team Bernard Wallpaper

It has been fun, stressing, sometime sad or happy, but how inspiring!!! There are some people that left something in the air even when the show is over. Is it really over? This team had shown characters, strength, determination, strategies and their Skip, Cheryl Bernard, left an unforgettable presence. This great silver medal will change everything for them, since it was their first real international competition. I hope to see them in 2014 in Russia to claim what belongs to them: Gold. But till then, i will follow them through their sport closely. Those wallpapers are 1280 X 800.

The last days of the Winter Olympics 2010

I didn’t really lost track of the Olympics, i was just kinda busy down here, so, i had to post-pone the update, especially that i left all my energy in the curling woman final, in which, we got the silver after all. But it doesn’t really matter now, what matter is that they are Olympics medalists and Cheryl Bernard is «mon coup de cœur» of those Olympics. She has an unmistakable presence and I am sure I wasn’t the only one drawn to her each night for 2 weeks, especially that when there were showing woman curling, It was 85% Cheryl, and 15% the other players.

I am sure she is disappointed of losing the final, especially after being so close of the gold, but there is no shame of being a silver medalist. I hope to see her in 4 years to finally claim what was hers.

The night before, women had won the gold in Ice hockey! It was a third gold medal for the women on ice hockey team, and some of the players were part of them all.

Joannie Rochette who got the sympathy of million of people skated with her heart, and probably held by her mother from above, did only a slight mistake on her free program and manage to take the third place on the podium. It was an exploit to do it already, but doing it with what she’s been through, this bronze medal worth a lot more to her heart and ours.

On Friday, on men short track, 500m, the Ste-Julie locomotive, Charles Hamelin, finally got his own medal: the gold. François Louis Tremblay got the bronze medal. Few minutes later, the Canadian team got also the gold in relay. It was the second gold medal of the night for Charles Hamelin.

The following day, another 3 medals was added to the total. On speed skating, Men’s team pursuit, we were sure to add another medal, but we just didn’t know the color: the Canadians passed the finish line .29 seconds before the American for the gold.

On snowboard, Jessie Jay Anderson finally was able to hold an Olympic medal after a 16 year career and it was of the color of gold. On bobsleigh, four men, we finally get the bronze.

On curling, Kevin Martin and his team captured the gold medal in a 6-3 finale against Norway. With the silver of our women the night before, there is no more proof to do that Canada has the best curlers on earth and, some of them are quite sexy.

We were at one gold to establish a new record for gold medals, a record established many many years ago, and our hockey team did it. I am not much of a hockey fan, but it was quite a match. We won 3-2 in extra against USA, Crosby scoring the winning goal.

Bernard will play for gold

Cheryl Bernard and her team defeated Switzerland in an expected way. It was not until the last stone was thrown that they secured their spot for the final. The Canadians curlers had some problems today but luckily for them, Switzerland team had some problems to. Both skips missed lot of opportunities, but the 2 last stones thrown were conclusive.

Bernard needed to sneak past a guard and remove one of two Swiss stones in the four-foot. As it left the skip's hand, both Bernard and O'Connor yelled for sweeping, screaming as loud as they have all week, somehow managing to be heard above the din of the crowd. The stone found its target and Ott couldn't duplicate the shot, hitting the Bernard stone but rolling from the rings to count just one and give Canada the game.

"It wasn't as stellar a game as we've all had all week," admitted Bernard, of the sloppy but satisfactory effort, "but we made the necessary shots when we needed to."

"There were some nerves going into that game, no kidding," said Bernard. "I think it was a little bit of the fear of having to play the bronze medal game, not so much the trying to win that game."

That may indicate the Calgary foursome is already satisfied, but nothing could be further from the truth. The team is hungry for one final win.

"I think maybe there's not so much pressure but we still have a job to do," said the skip. "You get this close and you probably want it even more."

They are going to play against Sweden, who defeadted China and Bernard’s team is definitely the underdog. The sweden team, lead by Anette Norberg won gold in the 2 last olympics. "We're definitely the underdog going in and that's understandable," said the Canadian skip. "That's OK, we're good with that."

Clara Hugues says goodbye with Bronze

It was her last laps on the speed skating world and she made it wonderful. With all the competition on that day, she managed to finish third, on the podium with a bunch of Kids. What a beautiful way to end a career that it’s quite spectacular. It was a sixth Olympic medal in 5 Olympics, first one in 1996 to summer game in Atlanta.

Clara is an impressive woman and got a heart of gold. What a great athlete she was!!! Her determination and compassion for other make her quite special. I will honor her career in an entry quite soon.

Silver in Short Track

On short track, 3000m relay, our ladies managed to get a silver medal. They finished third, good for a bronze, but the Koreans were disqualified so, they got a stop higher. Jessica Gregg, Marianne St-Gelais, Kalyna Roberge et Tania Vicent lead the team on the podium.

A first in bobsleigh

Canada had never won a medal on bobsleigh before, and, on Wednesday night, we won 2: gold and silver. Canada 1 led by Heather Moyse and Kaillie Humphries and Canada 2 led by Helen Upperton and Shelley-Ann Brown finished #1 and #2.

Cheryl Bernard

Some persons just got to us. We just don’t know why, but they do. During the Olympics, I’ve always had an athlete that becomes my Olympian Hero, and that’s what happened this year with the skip of the Canadian women curling team, Cheryl Bernard.

Frankly, on a year basis, I don’t watch curling very often, well, I don’t watch it at all BUT I follow it a little to know when the Olympic arrives, who are going to be our stars. I always love the under dogs, and on her case, there are lots to love. Not that she is an underdog now, but no one expected her to win the Olympic selection, and no one expected her team to lead the Olympic Pool that easily. They are now in semi-final and will play against Switzerland tomorrow.

Mrs. Bernard has been very impressive since the tournament started. Curling is a team effort, but there are reasons why she is the captain of this team and even if she is, what I call, a very beautiful woman, it’s not one of the reasons. She is well supported by her teammate, but her % of success is impressive. Some of the shoots she makes are unbelievable, her precision is astonishing, her focus is mind-boggling and her way to see the best strategy is quite efficient. And I also kinda like the fact that this woman is barely 5 foot 4 inches and is not twenty year old proving that an athlete can perform above 40.

Not sure she would like me to openly say that she is 43, but I guess with the last picture she made, she doesn’t care much about it. Not only she is beautiful, and a great athlete, but outside the ice, she is a gifted entrepreneur and owes her own company. She got it all!

All the pieces of the puzzle are in place to write history.

Joannie third after the short program

The competition is not over yet in figure skating, but Joannie Rochette made a her best performance of the season good for a third position. The whole world sympathized with what happened to Joannie and I am sure that lot people joined me and wish her the best for the last part of the competition held on Thursday evening. I hope she’ll ease her pain by winning a medal, whatever the color

Gold #6

Another great day of competition, Canada winning another gold medal, this one is in ski cross; Ashleigh Mcivor finished first and if the previous round was risky, she won this one by far. The conditions were rough but she made it. Congratulations!

There is no word to describe how beautiful they were last night, competing among the best, but showing they were without contest, the best! They were sublime, they were delicious, they were marvelous! No other reward than gold would have been accepted. If you got the chance, you got to watch that performance. It is not only history for Canada, but for the whole ice dancing world.

Joannie’s courage

It is without warning that Joannie Rochette’s mother was stroke by a heart attack. Her parents were coming to cheer for their daughter at the Olympics and they had just arrived in Vancouver. Her father told the news to Joannie early on Sunday morning.

It is with courage that Joannie wishes to still participate at the competition since it was a dream for both mother and daughter.

Our though goes with her and her family, and i am sure wherever she is, her mother will make sure that her dream comes true.