Tennis Notebook

End of Wozilroy?

2013-10-15T00:01:00.000+02:00

It seems that one of the most known love affairs in tennis world has come to an end. Rumour has it that the Irish golf star Rory McIlroy decided to end his relationship with the former world no.1 Caroline Wozniacki for the sake of getting back on track in his sports career.

The couple,who met at the top of their professional form, has experienced a dip in form after some time. In the case of Wozniacki it was a deep fall within top 10, missing out on a spot at the final year championships and also disappointing runs at grand slams. McIlroy has had a mediocre form for his standards recording only one top 10 finish this season.

A former golf pro Gary Player showed some empathy and understanding for McIlroy's decision.

"When you are a young man like Rory you can't play with worries. You can't have managerial problems, you can't have women problems. You've got to be out there and have a free mind."

Well, everything great take big sacrifices. McIlroy knows this very well as his parents both worked hard having several jobs to provide all what was necessary to nourish their prodigious son's talent.
Losing something that he's worked for hard for surely would be too much of a sacrifice. The fact his focus changed is also quite obvious from his social media sites. The avatar in his Twitter account no longer has the couple's photo as a profile picture but McIlroy on a golf course instead.

Kim Clijsters' new baby joy

2013-09-19T22:00:00.001+02:00

Back after a long break I'm happy to share the news about one of my favourite players. Three months after her former tennis colleague Justine Henin, Kim Clisters also welcomed a new baby to her lovely family.

Jake Leon is Kim's second child born five years after her older daughter Jada Ellie.

Brian Lynch, Clijsters' husband has posted the happy news on his Twitter page saying:

Jack Lynch is born! Absolutely incredible. Mom @Clijsterskim is well and is my hero! Jada is an adorable big sis. What more can I say!!

After her definite retirement in 2012 following US Open Clijsters talked a lot about having a big family and even considering adoption in the future.

My visit to Nurnberg Gastein Ladies Open

2013-07-20T22:26:00.002+02:00

When planning my summer holidays this year I decided to go for a combination of active and passive relaxing. The plan has finally turned into doing a bit of hiking and watching tennis. I chose to go to Bad Gastein, a picturesque Austrian town, which is famous for its long tradition of a spa and ski resort. The place has a scenery that makes every photograph look like a postcard and is a real delight for those who like mountain walks.

What is more, enjoying the atmosphere of a match in lovely alpine environment was a great way to relax and unwind from the everyday routine and worries. Besides that, I’ve got a chance to see a few up-and-coming players that I have never seen playing live before.

Centre court

The first match I got to see was a long, hard-fought battle between Karin Knapp and Alexandra Cadantu.

In the first set everything was going pretty well for Knapp as she has go to 4-0 lead and it seemed that we were in for a one-sided match. But the players have, once again, confirmed the unpredictable nature of women’s tennis and the matched turned into a very equal affair. Cadantu has made a comeback and levelled the match to 4-4 and finally the first set went into a tiebreak which ended in favour of Knapp. At this point the match has gone on for over an hour. The second set was the same tight battle this time with Cadantu prevailing 4-6. And after this one the match time reached circa two hours. After turning things into her favour Cadantu was unfortunately too exhausted and only won a game in the third set. When the last point was played match time reached 3 hour mark and even though I enjoyed it I was really happy when it was finally over.Watching tennis for a few hours in an under hot alpine sun can be really exhausting!

Local hope: Lisa-Maria Moser

The next match was between Mona Barthel and a local player Lisa-Maria Moser. Even though it was cut short due to Barthel’s injury it was really fun to watch. Both players played more aggressively than we saw in the previous match and also showed more variety. Even though the match ended prematurely 6-2 4-3 Moser really deserved the victory as she showed that she was a better player on the day.

The very last match I saw was between Andrea Hlavackova and an up-and-comer Viktorija Golubic. Golubic gave the higher-ranked rival a good fight in the first set winning it 7-5. Hlavackova was not happy with herself and used the fact that none of the on-court staff knows Czech swearwords... After a slow start,however, she later got into her rhythm and played the next two sets in a dominant fashion.

Making a name for herself: Viktorija Golubic

All in all, it was a nice, although a bit exhausting, day of tennis. The ticket for the day was,in fact, my birthday present so I really celebrated ‘in style’. Might be back next year.

Not appreciated: Marion Bartoli receives abusive tweets after her Wimbledon victory

2013-07-09T19:22:00.002+02:00

After her wonderful achievement last Saturday Marion Bartoli has received a lot of congratulatory articles in the various media and fans' support.
Unfortunately, there has also been a few of those who were not happy with her win and decided to express it as nastily as they possibly could.

On twitter several 'fans' ridiculed and insulted Bartoli's appearance and stated that they hated her because of it. Having read the tweets I've decided I'm not going to advertise someone's ignorance in so much detail. It's pretty sad to read comments like 'sweaty ugly pig', 'fat slob', 'she didn't deserve to win because she is ugly' referring to a top-class athlete.

On one hand it's true that one of the selling points of tennis have always been pretty girls in nice, perfectly fitting outfits. However, it would be sad if the physical beauty was the only thing that women's tennis was reduced to. Tennis is a sport in a first place and the main thing that matters is the athletic performance, not the size of someone's outfit.

Marion Bartoli has reached her childhood dream winning Wimbledon

2013-07-06T17:56:00.004+02:00

On her second attempt Marion Bartoli has just fulfilled one of her dreams and became the latest Wimbledon champion. After a convincing victory over Sabine Lisicki 6-1 6-4 in the final Bartoli has,once again,proven that age is no longer a factor. In fact, it is but nowadays it works the other way around: we are no longer living the era of teenage stars but rather in the times of players reaching their potential at a ripe age.

Bartoli has won her maiden title at the age of 28 which puts her into the group with the likes of Li Na and Francesca Schiavone who also won a grand slam after they magic age of 27 which was once considered as the time when player's form usually starts to wilt away.

On the road to her title Marion has defeated Elina Svitolina, Christina McHale,Camila Giorgi, Karin Knapp, Sloane Stephens, Kirsten Flipkens and Sabine Lisicki.

As far as the rankings are concerned Bartoli will re-enter top 10 and replace Caroline Wozniacki at
9th position. As strange as it is, the grand slam champion will yet again end up ranked behind the players who were ousted from the tournament before her.

But that is womens' tennis ...unpredictable.

What will be also interesting is Bartoli's progress after this victory. If she has not been a household name in France she has probably become one now and with the fame comes often increased amount of pressure.

Will she preserve the form and fighting spirit and form that made her a Wimbledon champion? Or will she fade away due to the pressure of expectations?
Remains to be seen...

photo:wimbledon.org

The new faces of 2013: Eugenie Bouchard

2013-06-28T23:22:00.002+02:00

This year's Wimbledon has not left us short of surprises, upsets of the greats and discovering new young talents. Eugenie Bouchard of Canada belongs to that last category. Even before her recent showing she has been relatively known out there, she just hadn't had that 'big' moment of her career to draw a lot of attention.

Fistpump! She's learning :-)

But that is all past because following her smooth victory against Ana Ivanovic (6-3 6-3) her
name appeared in many newspapers' headlines.

Eugenie started to play tennis as a five-year old. She is a member of Tennis Canada's National Training Centre in Montreal. At 19, she already has a nice collection of titles from ITF tournaments.
First success came in 2008,still during her junior days, when she captured singles and doubles title in Costa Rica and later on another singles title in Canadian event, ITF Burlington. At 15 she won a Canadian under-18 event in Toronto.

After turning pro in 2009 she has won Pan American Closed Championships. In 2011 she has added another title in Burnie as a qualifier defeating a fellow qualifier Zheng Sai Sai in the final.She also won in Sibenik the same year.

The season 2012 was also a fruitful one as she won her first doubles title after turning pro in
Dothan, singles event in Bastad, Granby and Toronto. However,the highlight of the 2012 was a junior Grand slam title at Wimbledon.

Apart from her tennis Eugenie is becoming quite well known in the world of tennis fashion and has made some appearances as a model for NIKE clothing alongside Maria Sharapova. Well, I think it's pretty clear whom they have in mind to represent the brand once Sharapova calls it a day...

photo: Tennis Express

Laura Robson defeated a top 10 player at Wimbledon

2013-06-25T22:15:00.000+02:00

Laura Robson can certainly choose the right moment for showing off her talent. This time she has confirmed her giant killer status at Wimbledon where she defeated the newest addition to top 10: Maria Kirilenko.

Prior to Wimbledon Robson had a pretty poor record of having won only one match in her last

three events.

However, this time she showed up in her best form and destroyed her high-ranked opponent in two sets 6-4 6-3.

It seems that Laura is one of the few young players who can really step it up at the biggest stages and keep up with the best. In her grand slam showings she has defeated the likes of Petra Kvitova (Australian Open 2013), Kim Clijsters (US Open 2012) or Na Li (US Open 2012).

Well, let's see how far she will get this time counting with the huge support of the home crowd.

photo: wtatennis

Ana Konjuh wins her maiden title in Montpelier

2013-06-23T21:50:00.000+02:00

When Tennis Notebook first mentioned Ana Konjuh it was clear that this year is shaping up to be a success for the talented Croatian teenager.

Konjuh has started the season on a high note by winning big in juniors (won Junior AO in singles and doubles) and most recently she has also made her mark in the senior competition.

After defeating Irina Khromacheva 6-3 6-1 Ana clinched her first title in IFT Montpelier, a 25K hardcourt event held in the US.

Celebrating with her team

The road to the title wasn't easy and required a lot of fighting spirit. In a match against Inez Ferrer-Suarez Konjuh had to dig herself out of trouble and turn around her rival's 6-4 4-0 lead.

All in all, a great success for a 15-year old. If she keeps it up maybe she can become one of the few to win a WTA title whilst still in her teens.

photo: Ana Konjuh twitter

Former tennis player Nicole Vaidisova is divorcing her husband

2013-06-21T07:50:00.003+02:00

It was a big news in tennis world when Nicole Vaidisova decided to hang up her racket for good and pursue other interests. Not only because she's done so at a tender age of 20 but also because she decided to give up tennis in order to tie a knot with tennis player Radek Stepanek who is eleven years her senior.

Face of success

It is safe to say that Vaidisova was one of the last big teen stars. She turned pro in 2003 and a year later, in her first full year as a professional, Vaidišová finished the season ranked within top 100. In this particular year she also clinched her very first WTA tour title in Vancouver thus becoming the sixth youngest champion in tennis history. She also became the lowest-ranked player (World No. 180) and second qualifier (of three) to win a title in 2004.

The seasons 2005 - 2007 can be marked as the peak of her career. During this period she captured titles in Seoul, Tokyo, Bangkog. Achieving this she was the first player since Lindsay Davenport to win 3 titles in the course of 3 weeks and also she was the sixth woman to win 5 titles before her 17th birthday. In 2006 she finished the year ranked in top 10.

Alas, after 3 years in the limelight in 2008 came a turning point and her career started to take the opposite direction. In 2008 she finished the year ranked as no.41 in the world, a year later she found herself outside of top 100 and in 2010 she finally decided to quit tennis citing lack of interest in the sport.

Many blamed this on a relationship with fellow tennis player Radek Stepanek whom she married in 2010.

With Stepanek in happier days

Well, now after three years of marriage this chapter of her life, is over, it seems. Vaidisova is divorcing from Stepanek and there's a rumours have it that he has found a new love. Again, his supposed new partner is from the tennis circuit and Czech media are mentioning the name of Petra Kvitova.

So, will Nicole after the end of one big love story of her life find passion for tennis again? I think many would agree that if that happened from the WTA point of view of it would definitely be a big gain.

photos: womenstennisblog; indianatimes

My visit to Brussels Open

2013-05-25T23:27:00.003+02:00

Although blogging from behind the computer screen is definitely fun sometimes you also just want to be out there enjoying the ‘real’ atmosphere of tennis matches. It has been a while since I last visited an event so this year I managed to put some money aside and booked trips to a couple of venues. Brussels was the first one of them and later on in July I also plan to go to Bad Gastein.

But first things first: Brussels Open.

Brussels Open is one of the newer tournaments as it’s been on WTA roadmap for only 2 years. Until now it has been a Premier event although there are plans to downgrade it to international event next year.

This year the tournament offered quite an interesting list of players including one of my personal favourites, Caroline, whom unfortunately did not get to see because she’d lost in the first round. (Again L).

I bought ticket for 23^rd May and got to see matches of Jamie Hampton vs Kirsten Flipkens,

Courts in between the spurs of rain

Roberta Vinci vs Yulia Putintseva and Jie Zheng vs Romina Oprandi.

Later I wished I chose a different date because the weather conditions on that day were TOUGH. It was raining quite heavily in the morning so all the early matches had to be postponed. Later on the situation got a bit better however the weather continued with its evil little tricks. At one point, a match between Hampton and Flipkens was about to start and both players were already out there warming up. But then, as the match started, here came heavy shower. And then a few more like that… All in all, the staff had to cover up and uncover the courts about 4 times before we were finally able to see the first match.

Jamie Hampton

The 2-hour match between Jamie Hampton and Kirsten Flipkens was a nice compensation for all the suffering though, it had a bit of drama as the momentum changed unexpectedly in the final set and in the end it was the underdog,Hampton, who ended up victorious.

Kirsten Flipkens

Alas, Kirsten Flipkens could not make the most of the support of the home crowd and let her oppoinent take the match away from her whilst leading 5-1 in the third.

As far as the other 2 matches, I did not see them in full but they were also quite enjoyable. In an

Yulia Putintseva

encounter between Vinci and Putintseva it was clear that the young Russian is shaping up to be a tough competitor. Even though she’s finally lost the match she made her opponent work hard for every point and we got to see many long interesting rallies between the two.

Roberta Vinci

I saw only a few games of the last match of that day between Zheng and Oprandi because the weather took its toll on me and I was just too tired and cold so I headed back to my place of stay.

Atomium

Overall though, going to Brussels Open was a really nice experience (except for the bad weather) and I am really happy that I decided to go this year. Also, the city itself is a nice place to see. Big but not too busy, it has a nice combination of the historical and modern architecture and also quite a mix of people from different cultures living there. If you have a chance to go, green light, it’s worth your while.

Someone needs attention :Sloane Stephens becomes Serena's biggest critic

2013-05-06T22:10:00.001+02:00

She might not have the sharpest game out there but Sloane Stephens definitely has a sharp tongue. In a recent interview for ESPN Stephens uttered several very critical statements about current world no.1 Serena Williams.

According to Stephens’ words Williams has become a bit of an ice queen towards her young rival.

A tongue that takes no prisoners

"She’s not said one word to me, not spoken to me, not said hi, not looked my way,not been in the same room with me since I played her in Australia. And that should tell everyone something, how she went from saying all those nice things about me to unfollowing me on Twitter. Like,seriously! People should know. They think she’s so friendly and she is so this and she is so that – no, that’s not the reality! You don’t unfollow someone on Twitter, delete them off of BlackBerry Messanger. I mean, what for? Why?"

Well,well. it's clear someone’s got their feeling hurt. And it was not the first time. In her comments Stephens denied the popular storyline created in the American media that suggest there is a close relationship between Sloane and Serena and portray Serena might Stephens’ biggest inspiration. No, not at all. And why is that? Williams sisters did not sign her poster when she was 12. Ouchy.

"Yes! Sloane says. The people need to know! I waited all day. They walked by three times and never signed our posters. I hung it up for a while. I was, like, devastated because they didn't sign it, whatever, and then after that I was over it. I found a new player to like because I didn't like them anymore."

Having read the interview on ESPN I couldn’t help it but smile. Sure, on one hand, Serena Williams had her classless moments and showed disrespect towards her colleagues in the past,especially after a loss. On the other hand, unfollowing someone on a social network (where she follows 268 people) and deleting them off their messenger is nothing sinister.

Let’s face it, Williams is an important persona in tennis world and a lot of people want her attention all the time. So, it’s normal that she is selective. And the complaints about not getting a poster signed…there are many to whom it happened. Yes, it’s disappointing but most people just get over it pretty quickly. Even younger than 12-year old.

To conclude, in my opinion, Sloane has done more harm than good for herself with this interview. She is right, she is not next Serena. Serena is a champion of many events whilst Sloane is yet to be a runner up on WTA tour. Therefore, when you look into the context of their careers Sloane’s brutally honest views sound more like a petty and awkward cry for attention rather than a legitimate criticism.

photo:

Parent as a coach - is it really so wrong?

2013-04-16T23:04:00.003+02:00

Since the era of Caroline Wozniacki the idea of having a parent as a coach has received a barrage of criticism.

During the peak of her career her father was often described as one of the reasons she has not won a Grand Slam and it was suggested that only with a professional coach there was a chance to achieve it or any sort of improvement for that matter.

So, as well as some other players , she tried to cut off the ties.

And surprise, surprise, unlike what the critics were saying, the change did not bring the expected results.

In 2012 Wozniacki gave it a try and hired two professional coaches: Ricardo Sanches and Thomas Johansson.Both have excellent credentials – Sanchez is a former coach of Jelena Jankovic and Johansson a Grand Slam champion.

Unfortunately, the results that they’ve achieved working with Wozniacki were everything but great.

She has not gotten any closer to winning a maiden Grand Slam (lost twice in the initial round in 2012) and her game has become easier to handle for her rivals. She has become more vulnerable and began losing against players ranked a lot lower than her and only won a couple of times against a top 10 opponent. Besides,the only two titles she won in 2012 (Seoul, Moscow) were under the guidance of her father.

More recently Sabine Lisicki and Marion Bartoli also quit cooperation with their parents and hired a coach

In Bartoli’s case the cooperation had similar development – lasted shortly and did not bring the desired results.

Marion Bartoli started her cooperation with Jana Novotna before Indian Wells and it was over by the time the next event, Miami, was on. After that the Frenchwoman gave a chance to another coach, Gerald Bremond, who left her team after only one week (record-breaking split,actually…)

As for Sabine Lisicki since working with Ricardo Sanchez she has not won any titles and it doesn’t look like her ranking is getting close to top 20 neither (currently ranked at 47^th place).

All this development inevitably brings a question :is having a parent as a coach really such a bad idea?

Firstly, all of the above mentioned players have one thing in common: their careers were much more successful while being coached by their parents then afterwards.

Also, in the history of tennis there are/were several highly successful parent/coach relationships: Williams sisters,Martina Hingis or Chris Evert all thrived while being coached by their parents. All of these players had achieved no.1, won a Grand Slam and had a long glorious careers.

Sure, there were also some destructive relationships with the stereotypical tennis parent who were burdens in player’s growth (Mirjana Lucic, Justine Henin etc) however those are not the norm.

All in all, it seems that the idea of dropping parent as a coach being a key step to improve is just a myth. Having a parent as a coach is the idea often condemned and almost demonised by the mainstream press,however, looking at the history there are many examples of parents who proved that they know what is the way to success for their offspring. Sometimes they may get it all wrong but even the professional coaches at times fail to give the right advice and cannot prove their worth to the players who employ them.

The Blog Debate: Moo's Tennis Blog

2013-04-14T11:24:00.003+02:00

This final post in the blog debate is like a cherry on top of the Tennis Notebook birthday cake. It originally wasn't planned and James has joined in because he liked this little project. The Blog Debate has thus served its purpose. Thank you, James and good luck with your blog!

1. Tell us a little bit about your blog

I began writing Moo's Tennis Blog back in 2010, although it was not until the end of 2011 when I started blogging more regularly. The main focus of my tennis blog is previewing all the tournaments on the WTA and ATP tour, providing my predictions for the most interesting matches and reviewing all the action too.

2. Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging following the conclusion of my University studies in 2010. I have been an avid tennis fan for many years and writing about one of my passions in life has been thoroughly enjoyable and a great way to keep my brain active. I followed many tennis sites online, but I had rarely come across one that focused on offering predictions and tips on the matches, and I felt that I could offer something a bit different with the knowledge I had acquired over the years.

3. What are the topics that you really like to write about?

I particularly like to focus on the tennis draws for each tournament and predicting how each draw will unfold. As the tournament then gathers pace (and all my orginal predictions have turned out to be wrong!), I then make predictions on a day-to-day basis.

I also like to post trip reports every June as I am lucky to visit some of the events in the UK such as Eastbourne and Wimbledon. I really enjoy reading about other people's accounts from different tennis events around the world and looking at their pictures so I like to share my experiences too. All the photos that I use on my blog are my own that I have taken from various tennis trips over the last couple of years; photography is another one of my hobbies!

Finally, in the off-season when there is nothing to predict and having watched a lot of tennis, I end the year with my countdown of my 20 favourite matches of the year. Last year I mainly focused on the WTA, but I am hoping to do one for the ATP at the end of 2013 too. It is something a bit different to all the prediction posts and helps to flex my writing skills a bit more!

4. Did blogging change your way of following tennis?

Blogging has certainly made me an even crazier tennis fan. I am more keen now to watch live tennis and take lots of pictures of all the players to populate my blog. It has also allowed me to interact with other tennis fans and opened up the world of Twitter, which I cannot live without now when following tennis tournaments abroad!

5. What interesting experiences did you have thanks to blogging?

The most interesting experience for me was at the beginning of the year when I noticed that my blog was nominated by an Indian Sports Website called SportsKeeda in their Blogger awards. It was a huge privilege just to be nominated. I am also very thankful for all the kind comments that I have received on my blog throughout the last couple of years. There are times when I question whether it is worth all the effort, but to know just one person actually reads my blog makes it all the worthwhile.

The Blog Debate: Womens Tennis Blog

2013-04-12T18:31:00.000+02:00

Marija's blog is one of my favourite tennis related websites.In fact, thanks to reading this blog I was inspired me to start my blogging experiment myself.It's a great mix of factual and lifestyle news on womens' tennis with competitions and give-aways for readers. Womens tennis blog is a real blogging adventure and I hope that it will continue that way for many years to come.

It is my pleasure to have been invited by Marine for the occasion of Tennis Notebook’s second birthday to share with you the story of my blogging beginnings and all the things I experienced and achieved thanks to the exciting hobby of writing about tennis online.

Introduction

Let me first introduce myself and my blog. My name is Marija Zivlak, I am from Serbia, Southeast Europe, and I am the only person behind Women’s Tennis Blog, one of the most popular websites in the niche, covering stories about top WTA players, from their careers and tournament results, to their private lives, business ventures, appearances at glamorous events and fashion choices both on and off the court. I started blogging six years ago, on March 31^st, 2007, and never in my wildest dreams could I have projected that I would develop one of the most successful blogs dedicated to women’s tennis.

How and why I started?

At the time I was still a student of the English Language and Literature and I had a boyfriend who was blogging about smartphones and he told me: “Why don’t you start a blog? You speak English, you are good at writing and you have plenty of free time.” In the period of several months he continued to bring up the topic and finally I decided to give it a try. I chose the topic of tennis, as I spent a lot of my free time watching matches on TV and I wanted to share my passion with the world.

As I didn’t know how dedicated I would be and if I would even enjoy blogging, for a start I made a blog on Wordpress.org and we decided that if I continued to blog for three months, he would buy me my own domain and make me a professional design. In that trial period, when my blog looked very modest (above you can see the first header), had no photos and was visited by about ten readers a day, I received a link from BBC. It was surreal! Then my boyfriend exclaimed: “I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re doing something good!” I turned out to love everything about blogging and my innate discipline and dedication proved to be a recipe for success.

Accomplishments and interesting experiences I had thanks to Women’s Tennis Blog

Blogging has brought me so many unimaginable things. You have to picture that I come from a small country that was isolated by war and extremely bad economic situation, and things are not considerably better now, and to be in the position to cooperate shoulder to shoulder with the whole world is unbelievable. Here are some of my biggest accomplishments:

· telephone interviews with legendary Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin and Chris Evert;

· cooperation with various big and small companies;

· presents both for myself and for my readers (it is so rewarding to make someone happy by sending them tennis apparel, WTA autographs, and other prizes);

· high-profile links and mentions from Tennis.com, BBC, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Blic.rs (famous Serbian news source), Sports.ru, The Huffington Post, countless big and small sports and entertainment blogs, Nike's official Facebook page, etc.;

· Best Tennis Blog award in the 2009 Baseline Awards;

· 35,342 visitors in one day, in February 2011;

· ever-growing knowledge about tennis, Internet trends, social networking, blog design, online marketing, correspondence, etc.

· modeling – recently I’ve even become a model posing for Denise Cronwall Activewear;

· most importantly, meeting numerous people from all over the world who have been unbelievably supportive, helpful and generous, even though they don’t know me in person (I feel I have friends in half of the world countries and really I believe I could reach out to those people at any time, just as they can reach out to me).

MY FAVORITE TOPICS TO WRITE ABOUT

My favorites are fashion overviews which I do for every Grand Slam and in the off-season I make famous fashion retrospections in which I show what a particular player wore throughout the year, also trying to cover all the major brands. In addition, I enjoy my Childhood Photos and Videos of Women’s Tennis Players series, which was even mentioned on Tennis.com.

Did blogging change the way I follow tennis?

Definitely. Now I watch tennis much more and I follow a greater number of players, not to mention that now I’m regularly reading tennis blogs and following players’ social networking platforms, which wasn’t the case before, at least not to that extent. There is also more pressure, I have to admit, as whenever I watch a match I am already thinking how I would write an article about it.

I hope you enjoyed this short story about my blogging experiences. Feel free to ask me anything you like, I’m here for your questions. You can also reach me via Twitter. If you’re a fan of social networks, don’t forget to follow Women’s Tennis Blog on Pinterest, to join our Women’s Tennis Fans group and like Women’s Tennis Blog’s Facebook page.

The Blog Debate: Tennisstat

2013-04-10T07:47:00.002+02:00

Omair is one of my friends that I found thanks to blogging. It was great to see how he got more and more interested and enthusiastic about it as time went by and now he's talking about blogging 'career'. Good luck, Omair :-)

Tell us a little bit about your blog

I have been following tennis for quite some time now. I can’t exactly recall that whether it was Serena Williams, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova or Jelena Jankovic whose game sparked my interest in tennis, but I do recall that I did not have internet then, rather was not interested in using internet due to lack of knowledge probably, and I was always looking for news in the newspapers (hard copies of newspapers) as to who beat who and who was sitting at the top of the rankings.

Sometimes I would imagine myself playing tennis and beating the top players and being one of the top players (of course on ATP, not WTA ;) )

Fast forward, it was the end of 2011, the second year when Wozniacki finished at the top of the rankings that I thought about an article containing all the information regarding the results of the top players for the year. I asked Marija if she could somehow prepare such an article, but she replied that it would be a tedious task (thanks Marija) and so I started working on that idea and the result was highly appreciated, thanks to Marija for posting it on her blog. It even got mentioned by C.W Senso on Sports Illustrated Tennis Blog J

From then on, it all started and it was Indian Wells 2012 when I decided to start my own blog with the name of Tennis Statistics. You can visit my blog here. It basically covers match reports from both tours and the pre-match analysis based on the stats from the past performances of the players in the tournaments. I am not very regular in posting due to my hectic internship routine, but it always is fun to post J I owe a huge thanks to Marija since she was the inspiration behind starting my own blog and giving me the opportunity to write and for publishing my first articles.

Why did you start blogging?

As an audit trainee student, my routine has been too boring and too hectic (any audit trainee students out there know it). Writing about tennis gave me some time to be myself, to get out of that monotonous routine and to play with my thoughts and fantasies I had about tennis. As a fan I was always looking for more and more. I was always looking for articles and I did not seem have enough of them, so I thought why not write for fun and let the hormones flow ;)

What are the topics that you really like to write about?

I love playing with numbers and looking into the results of the matches by looking into match stats. I also love trying out different things that I as a tennis fan used and still fantasize. Like using numbers to justify the position of a player :)

Did blogging change your way of following tennis?

Yes, it definitely has changed the way I follow tennis. I used to watch fewer matches before I started blogging. I used to watch matches of only my favourite players, and if my favourite player lost, it would send me into a depression that would last three to four days.

However, since I have started blogging, I have started watching more, no, way, way more matches than before. Blogging has also helped me learn and grow a lot in that my depression periods have reduced, there still is depression but it has reduced, and I have started appreciating tennis more rather than players. This is one of the major improvements and the positive things that I have experienced since I have started blogging.

Furthermore, I keep on waiting for the matches to begin the whole day, this is one of the things that never happened before I started blogging. Throughout the day, I would be waiting for some match to begin so that I might be able to watch some tennis and follow on the scores, and don’t ask me about the off season. It seems like I have nothing to do in off-season.

What interesting experiences did you have thanks to blogging?

There have been a lot of interesting and sweet experiences over the course of my very short blogging career. I will never forget when my very first article went live on women’s tennis blog, and all the positive comments and feedback that I got. I had never expected to receive such appreciation, and I had never thought it would be liked that much, and when my article got mentioned in Beyond the Baseline by Sports Illustrated, I went crazy with happiness.

I got autographs of Flavia Pennetta and Dinara Safina, thanks to Marija, as an appreciation for my contributions to women’s tennis blog.

The other day I got a personalised message on face-book from a fan, stating that he loved my articles on women’s tennis blog. It was the first time that someone had approached me to compliment my work and I can’t describe how good it felt to read that message.

One of the most interesting things that ever happened to me was Interviewing Aljaz Bedene. I had never in my dreams thought that I will ever be able to interview a tennis player, but I got the chance and I had a fun interview with him on Skype. It was a great mile-stone in my very brief blogging career, more than what I could have hoped for, or asked for.

For now on, I try to concentrate on studies along with blogging, but I am hoping and planning on traveling to tournaments for a year or so very soon, after I am done with my studies, just to enjoy the thrill of being on tour as a media person and watching them play live.

The Blog Debate: Tennis Notebook

2013-04-08T17:57:00.002+02:00

Since my little blog baby celebrates today I decided to open the debate with a post regarding my own blog experience. Shamelessly promoting myself, oh yes ;-)

Tell us a little bit about your blog

Hi all J . I started my blog,Tennis Notebook, 8^th April 2011. I write about everything eventful on and off the court although I particularly focus on the young, up-and-coming players. Tennis Notebook is very subjective, it’s like my own notes on tennis (hence the name) covering all topics that got my attention and I’d like to talk about further.

Why did you start blogging?

As a fan I often had an impression that the coverage in the official media was too limited, I couldn’t get many information about my favourite players and I sometimes noticed that articles included many wrong information. All that somewhat annoyed me because I felt there was a lot more going on and so many interesting things and people were getting totally overlooked! So, I started Tennis Notebook to write about what and whoever caught my eye in tennis world.

What are the topics that you really like to write about?

I like to write about new interesting players to watch. I write a series called ‘The New Faces’ which includes features about successful newcomers on the tour. One of the most popular articles was the one about Mona Barthel, I wrote about her for the first time when she did not have any singles title to her name (WTA tournaments). So, it was really cool to see that I did make a good tip as her career has really taken off since those times. Also, I really like write ups about exhibitions and tournaments I visited. I plan to do that more often this year as I am planning a trip to a few events this year. Tennis summer, here we go J

Did blogging change your way of following tennis?

Definitely. Before that I watched tennis only every now and then but after I started to watch a lot more matches. I also formed my preferences and became an avid fan of a couple of players. What's more, it inspired me to go to actual tournaments as well. I even decided to give it a try and signed up for a few tennis lessons. Now that I can get a ball over the net (at least sometimes,lol) I found buddies to play with.

What interesting experiences did you have thanks to blogging?

First and foremost: collaborations.To get noticed I wrote a guest post for my friend Marija's blog about ‘Top 5 emotional players in womens tennis’. It was asking fans which players they considered to be the biggest drama queens. It got many,many replies so I ended up doing another post to make it top 10. The post was also noticed by a Serbian newspaper ‘Blic’. The paper changed it to give it more appeal and a bit of fun was suddenly turned into a big headline(phew!).

Luckily for me, I wrote in a positive, fun way so my friend who was nice enough to publish it as a guest post did not get into trouble with any of the players.

I wrote several other posts for Womens tennis blog after that and, even though it is sporadic, we have a very nice collaboration every now and then.

Besides having fun as a writer, I learned a lot in terms of technical stuff about blogging (e.g how to set up and organise a blog, use various blog features, promote my writing etc).

Also,thanks to my friend Pati I did an interview with a tennis player Darija Jurak It was a really exciting experience for me. I was surprised that she agreed,to be honest because usually this is not possible to be done without a prior (and paid for) arrangement. Therefore I really appreciate players who take their time to do this for free just to please fans.

Tennis Notebook second birthday & Blog debate

2013-04-08T17:40:00.001+02:00

Hi all :-). Time flies by and today Tennis Notebook celebrates it's second birthday. This year I decided that instead of a 'thanks for stopping by' post I'd like to do something a bit special.
Since blogging has become my little passion I learnt a lot of things. Therefore I decided to talk about how this creative and cool hobby enriched me and share my blogging experience with you in my blog debate.

The debate includes the following questions:
1. Tell us a little bit about your blog

2. Why did you start blogging?

3. What are the topics that you really like to write about?

4. Did blogging change your way of following tennis?

5. What interesting experiences did you have thanks to blogging?

I invited a couple of my friends, Marija ( Womens Tennis Blog) and Omair ( Tennisstat) to join in the blog debate and talk about their blogging experience. Their stories will be published in the course of this week.

I hope that you will enjoy reading about our experiences and perhaps our stories will give you some inspiration. If you yourself have a tennis blog and would like to tell us about blogging experience of your own leave a comment.

Take care and love blogging just like we do :-)
Yours,
Marine

Heather Watson taking a break from tennis

2013-03-23T22:17:00.005+01:00

After a good start into the season Heather Watson has come with surprising news. She is intending to take a break from tennis following her recent loss in Miami (lost to Ayumi Morita 1-6 7-5 6-4).

In her recent interview Heather hinted that she pushed herself a bit too much and started to feel a bit burnt out. Even though her run this year has not been a bad one something is missing and her achievements are not enough to keep her satisfied.

"This year I've been going a bit too long so I'm a bit burnt out," she told BBC Radio 5 live."I've been thinking about it now for a while and I'm going to take a break.""I was looking at the stats and I actually won more points, but that can happen in tennis," Watson observed."It really hurts, I think I just need to find myself, find my game again."

On one hand Watson's decision is not that surprising because today's physically demanding game is taking its toll on young players. The era of teen stars is over and now the upcoming generation doesn't achieve their first titles until they reach their twenties.

On the other hand, we could speculate if taking a sabbatical is a reasonable thing to do at such a young age. Just to compare, Heather Watson is now roughly the same age as Anabel Croft who quit tennis at 21 for similar reasons. When she was asked about her early retirement she commented that the tour was stressful and it was like " having an argument every day and preparing for another one tomorrow."

Will Heather Watson go down that road? Hopefully not. May the time off help her find her passion again. Return soon, Heather. :-)

source: BBC

Justine Henin is a mum to a baby girl

2013-03-20T22:26:00.000+01:00

So,Justine Henin's biggest dream has come through. She has become a mother to a baby girl Lalie. Justine and her partner Benoit Bertuzzo shared the happy news via her Facebook page.

"We were anticipating this so much, and now it has happened, this afternoon a little fairy arrived to illuminate our lives ... She is called Lalie, she is in top form and we are really delighted! Justine and Benoit,"
she wrote on her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

During her tennis career Justine always did a lot for children,especially the children who were in need. Also, she loved to take care of children of her former coach Carlos Rodriguez when they were travelling the world in search of big victories.

photo: tennisnews.gr

Wozniacki,Radwanska vs tennis legends at Hong Kong exhibition

2013-03-04T23:05:00.002+01:00

On 4th March Hong Kong hosted one of the popular exhibition tournaments BNP Paribas Showdown. The participants were all household names in the world of tennis in both current and former era. Agniezska Radwanska challenged her rival and friend Caroline Wozniacki on the ladies side and John McEnroe played against his foe from the past Ivan Lendl.

In the womens match Radwanska came on top defeating Wozniacki for the fourth time in a row. They played nine times on the tour so far so it looks like the tables have turned in this match-up and Wozniacki is now the one who is getting at the short end of the stick.

Some tough preparations...

Anyhow, this night was more about fun than games and the two friends did not neglect the fun element as they took the umpires and ball boys away from their usual duties to dance with them on the court.

... for a night of fun

Fiery McEnroe back in a day

The match against the two legends of mens tennis, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe ended up with the American adjusting the H2H more in his favour (Lendl is still leading 21-16). McEnroe won 8-5 showing the audience his tennis weapons - lefty serve and volleys. Apart from great tennis he also created some drama on the court with his signature antics which were always a part of it all during his younger days.

photo: wtatennis, reformacancha via Twitter

The new faces of 2013: Karolina Pliskova

2013-03-03T23:57:00.001+01:00

Czech republic is one of the countries which, despite not having the most expensive facilities in the world, has managed to produce top class tennis players who have made history on the womens tour. The successful young generation has a main representative in Petra Kvitova, however, recently there has been another addition to the winners circle: Karolina Pliskova.

Karolina has become the surprise of the tournament in Kuala Lumpur winning her maiden WTA singles title here. Her opponent in the final was experienced Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who is still chasing her first WTA singles title after five final appearances.

Thanks to denying her opponent the win the young Czech made a big move up the rankings going from 127th place to no.84.

Karolina Pliskova took up tennis at only 4 years of age. She's shared her interest in the sport together with her twin sister Krystina, who is also a professional tennis player.

Together with a twin Krystina

As far as her junior career, the main highlight is a Junior Australian Open title which came in 2009. Results at the senior tour also show a lot of promise. Since turning professional there's not been a year when Pliskova would go without a title. So far her title collection has grown to a total of ten trophies the most important one being her title from Malaysian Open.

If she keeps her consistency and will be continuously improving,who knows, Petra Kvitova may soon have a company at the big stage...

TITLES

WTA Singles

2013 Kuala Lumpur

ITF Singles

2012	25k Grenoble; 25k Zawada
2011	25k Makinohara; 25k Hamanako
2010	50k Gifu; 25k Glasgow
2009	25k Grado; 25k Noto
2008	10k Bol

ITF Doubles

2012	25k Andrezieux-Boutheon - w/K. PLISKOVA; 25k Grenoble - w/K. PLISKOVA; 25k Zawada - w/K. PLISKOVA;
2011	25k Rancho Mirage - w/K. PLISKOVA; 25k Prerov (CL) - w/K. KRAMPEROVA; 100K Vancouver - w/K. PLISKOVA;

Happy news for Kim Clijsters

2013-02-25T20:03:00.002+01:00

Kim Clijsters, a former tennis great from Belgium, has recently announced via Twitter that she is expecting her second child:

Kim Clijsters ‏@Clijsterskim
Hi everyone, we have some exiting news to tell you... Jada is going to be a big sister :-) ! Xxx Kim , Brian and Jada

Kim has retired last year after US Open, the tournament which undoubtedly has a special place in her tennis career. When she won the US Open as a second tournament after her return the images of her and little Jada with the trophy have become iconic and inspired many women striving to manage both family and demanding career.

Kim Clijsters has always expressed a wish to have a big family and even adopt a child in the future.
Clijsters' older daughter Jada Ellie,with whom she travelled the world during her second career,is going to turn 5 in March.

photo: flickr

Is Petra Kvitova coming back?

2013-02-23T22:54:00.003+01:00

The career of Petra Kvitova has been a pretty topsy-turvy path. After the rapid rise in 2011 when she ended up her year with six titles the media, fans and also some former players saw her as the future of womens tennis,the main rival of Serena Williams and,of course, the future no.1. Talking about the ranking, Kvitova was seen as a no.1 already and not only by casual tennis fans but also by former tennis champions such as Martina Navratilova.

Well, all the Kvitova enthusiasts were let down a bit in the following season. The no.1 never happened, neither did multiple wins over Serena or domination of the tour. Kvitova has clinched 2 titles but none of them was a Grand Slam and ended up her season 2012 as no.8 in the world.

After a slow start into the current year her first title finally came in Dubai when she defeated Sara Errani in a lopsided three-set affair 6-2 1-6 6-1.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that her run in the tournament included wins over Caroline Wozniacki and Agniezska Radwanska who is currently one of the most consistent players on the tour with 2 titles to her name and an impressive 16-2 W/L record.

So, what can we take from this victory? Hard to say. It could be a sign of Kvitova returning to her best as well as her having a short spell of good form.

Anyhow, the improvement came when the time was right. The win in Dubai will help her remain in top 10 and give her a lot of much needed confidence to challenge the big 4.

Vera Zvonareva's recovery still continues

2013-02-13T20:03:00.003+01:00

Since Vera injured her shoulder she vanished from the courts and for quite a while there's not been any news about her. I was therefore pleased to come across an update about her recovery that she recently shared with fans via her official website.

Hi my dear friends, fans and supporters!I know it had been a long time since I last gave you an update on my return to competition but I was waiting for a moment to be certain about it. I would like to inform you that yesterday I underwent a surgery on my shoulder. As you know, I have been away from competition since Olympics and also had to miss a part of the beginning of the season last year. I took my time to rehab and have done everything that was possible to avoid a surgery but at this point it felt like it was the best solution. So now I will do everything that is possible to get back to competition again as soon as possible but it could still take few months to be able to compete at highest level. You, guys, my fans, are keeping me motivated to achieve a goal of getting back to 100% and become even better. I miss you a lot and hope to see you soon! Hugs, Vera.

Hopefully, the recovery will go smoothly and we will soon see Vera showing off her feistiness and determination which has brought us so many interesting moments.

photo: guardian.co.uk

The new faces of 2013: Ana Konjuh

2013-02-10T19:12:00.000+01:00

After focusing so much at young players who achieved success at the senior tour this year I decided to change the focus and write more about those who are still achieving success in juniors and so far have not built a name for themselves in a senior completion.

The first choice was really easy. The season 2013 slightly reminds me of last year’s run by Victoria Azarenka – in a junior version.

The focus of today’s post, Ana Konjuh, is a 15-year old from Croatia has recently won both singles and doubles at Junior Australian Open. And, as a cherry on top, she also got to a no.1 in ITF junior world rankings.

Beginnings

Ana was inspired to play tennis by her older sister Andrea who was the first in the family to take up the sport. Little Ana often watched her on the sidelines while she was training at courts nearby their house. After the older sibling finished she would borrow her racket and play by herself in the family garden.

At the age of 7 she first started to train in a tennis club alongside Andrea. Training in the club alongside the older sister her passion for the sport grew and so did her ambitions.

After some time their parents found a sponsor who helped the sisters to leave the local club and move to Zagreb which offered better conditions to train. The move proved to be the right one and brought the youngster a sweet taste of success.

Career highlights

Ana Konjuh won several national championships in Croatia (10-12 yr olds, 14 and under, 16 and under, 18 and under). In 2012 a big win came at the prestigious junior tournament Orange Bowl which takes place in Florida.

With the Fed Cup team

The current season 2013 also couldn’t have started better for Konjuh as she has become a junior grand slam champion in singles (def Katerina Siniakova 6-3 6-4) and doubles (w/Zhao def Korashvili/Krejcirova 5-7 6-4 10-7)

After this followed an invitationto play Fed Cup for her homeland for the first time in her career. The young talent did not disappoint and showed some great form beating more experienced opponents. The most notable victory was the one over Urszula Radwanska, WTA no.37 whom she beat in tight three-setter 2-6 6-3 7-6.

photo: itftennis, twitter