ESTORIL, Portugal - With the beautiful Portuguese scenery in the backdrop, Australian Sony Ericsson WTA Tour player Bryanne Stewart's creative side comes out in her Estoril Open player blog.
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Friday, May 5, 2006
I put my alarm on early this morning so I could wake up and read Dmitry's ATP blog hot of the press. I didn't want to miss any time and was looking forward to spending my whole day planning and thinking of what to write in response. According to him that is all my day consists of. I really doubt he prefers tournaments that aren't combined with the women as each day I see him enjoying lunch surrounded by an array of different girls.
This morning, after I read the abuse in the blog I went for a jog along the beach opposite my hotel, and I was tempted to jump in for a refreshing dip but the cold water turned me off pretty quickly. Instead I headed back to the hotel, showered and went down to get a ride to the courts.
As the tournament is nearing an end, the normal pushing and shoving to get a seat on the bus is over and it's just me waiting. Today, the female face pulling up to the curb looked familiar... it was the infamous flirt Marta, AKA Miss Michael Schumacher, screeching to a halt. Nervously I got in the car and we both started laughing. She seemed not to have taken any offense from my mention of her driving and instead we chatted about which players are the nicest and who is cute and my home down in Sydney where she is to visit later in the year (I might stay off the Sydney roads that week).
We made it to the courts safely and I headed to my living room for the week, the media tent, which I have affectionately renamed the Nerd's Den due to the amount of computers and gadgets running at one time. I soon find out that the blogging war that Dmitry and I have started is causing quite a stir and they want to film us today. My immediate thoughts are I haven't done my hair! And as Dmitry doesn't have a match today I imagine him back at the hotel glamming up especially for the event, manicure, mud mask, ultra conditioning hair treatment; all part of his routine, similar to Derek Zoolander from the movie Zoolander, who he obviously idolizes! Have you seen him in the magnum pose on his ATP profile?
Lucky enough for me I am at a tournament that goes above normal requirements and there is a Dessange hairdresser available for players on site so I rush over for a quick makeover. Another reminder that I am in Europe is that there is a guy in the salon patiently having foundation applied while relaxing with a cigarette. You wouldn't see that too often in Australia. The salon is located in the sponsor's pavilion, which is amazing, the size of two football fields and decked out in luxurious furniture and exquisite food; jam packed with the best dressed who's who of Portugal. Yesterday after the fashion show I met a few of the male models and had a photo with one of my favorites. Today I am offered champagne, which I politely refuse, because unfortunately I have to practice later. If they had asked me a second time I would have felt bad refusing the hospitality and joined the glamorous crowd for a bubbly or two. However they must have seen my player badge as I wasn't offered again!
My hair is done and I am ready to face Dmitry but I haven't spotted him yet; maybe he has gone all out today and made an appointment for a spray tan to avoid any unslightly tan lines showing up on the TV?
Later that same day...
The highlight of my week by monstrous amounts was the afternoon I spent clowning around with Dmitry in the kiddy world. It was supposed to be a chance where the blogging score could be settled, however we both ended up finding our inner child and played the games even after the cameras stopped rolling. I think we better stick to tennis and a bit of blogging on the side, as most of the kids outdid us in all the activities, especially the hoop throwing. Dmitry thought he was quite the expert and proceeded to give me a lesson in the fine art of the bow and arrow, something about squinting and focusing with the other eye were his tactics. I thought he looked pretty silly so I just aimed and released, I was pretty happy with my last shot. No need to mention the first 20 attempts, it's really not that easy! I won't be cast in any Robin Hood movies in the near future.
After the filming finished, I convinced the cameraman to let me have a sneak peek of what they had just captured, and by accident he showed me the footage filmed earlier that day in Dmitry's hotel room. There he was wrapped up in a fluffy white bath robe and a head wrap for his freshly washed hair, filing his nails while typing away at his blog. What a sight! Don't think he is ever going to live that down. You will have to look out for Dmitry and my mini flick on the website very soon.
