LOS ANGELES, CA, USA - As of the end of 2005, Shahar Peer was making a name for herself as a future star of women's tennis, with six quarterfinals and a Top 50 ranking already to her credit. But after winning three titles and subsequently moving into the Top 25 this year, she has proven that she is not a future star anymore - she is already here. Although the Israeli teenager has been to Los Angeles many times previously, this week marks the very first time she contests the JPMorgan Chase Open presented by Herbalife, so read on as Peer brings us along for the ride in the latest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog from sunny Los Angeles.
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Thursday, August 10, 2006
As you may have seen, I lost to Elena Dementieva today, 75 63. It was a good match. I didn't start very well, though; I was 4-0 down in the first set. I came back but I couldn't win the set in the end. The second set was a bit up and down. I was having problems holding my serve, which was key.
Of course I'm disappointed - I hate to lose any match. But I am okay because she is a great player, she was playing well, and I give her all the credit. I try to take positives away from losses, as well as wins. I was playing well, just not well enough to beat her today. Coming back in the first set was good, too. But for next time I will try to finish off better.
Getting motivated for the next tournament doesn't depend on a loss from the week before; whenever I go to a tournament I want to do well and do my best on the court. Speaking of my next tournament, I am leaving tomorrow for Montréal. We'll be getting there Friday evening, and then on Saturday I'll start practicing.
As for today, I practiced a bit after the match, did some fitness, stretching and biking, and then later we're going to go and get dinner. We're going to go to a steakhouse. It's not really good to eat steak during a tournament but once you are done you can do that, and I am really excited!
I was really happy writing the blog this week. It was a good time. I would definitely do it again. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it; next time I hope to be able to write it all the way until Sunday!
Take care and talk to you soon.
Shahar
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Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Hey everyone. I'll just continue where I left off yesterday. After writing my blog entry, we went back to the hotel, got ready and went to PF Chang's, a Chinese restaurant. Although we had to wait 20 minutes to be seated it was well worth the wait because it was really good. After that, we went back to the hotel to sleep.
I like to sleep a lot, between eight and 10, 11 hours. Usually it's more like nine or 10. I definitely notice a big difference if I'm not sleeping enough. It's obviously harder to wake up in the morning, but also I feel tired during the day, and I yawn a lot, and that's not very good for when you are playing! But I try to forget about that when I go on the court.
So I woke up today at about 8:15am. We got breakfast next to the hotel - a big breakfast. Usually I like to eat cereal, eggs, fruits and yogurt, but today I also had other things, like home fries. And orange juice. After that we went on site and warmed up, I ate some pasta for energy, then I went on court.
I was playing really well against Paola Suárez. Although I had a hard time serving, it got better at the end. I think she had some blisters on her hand, because she called for the trainer in between sets, but she was really tough in the second set and I was really happy to win. She's a good player.
Next I'm going to play Elena Dementieva. I beat her at the French Open. It was my first Top 10 win, and it meant a lot to me. I was playing really well and it was my first time getting to the fourth round of a Grand Slam. But I'm not going to think about that this time. Every day is different and I just have to go out there and do my best again. She probably has in her mind that I beat her last time and will be prepared. It's also hard for me to think about an old match when I'm in the middle of playing one; every match I try as hard as possible to win no matter what the score is anyway. I haven't really thought about my tactics yet but I'll talk about it tonight with my coach.
This tournament is very nice. Good hotel, good location and lots of restaurants. The people at the tournament are very nice, and it's great that my dad and coaches are here with me. I like a lot of the players too, although the girls who are my best friends on the Tour, Tzipi (Tzipora Obziler) and Anna (Smashnova), aren't here. Tzipi is a good friend; whenever we travel together it's great. And Anna I've known a while, we're really close. She just won her 12th tournament and is now 12-0 in finals; I'd love to have that record someday! Unbelievable. We all see each other a lot in Fed Cup. We're all doing really well actually. Tzipi just won a big ITF tournament and recently has been improving a lot.
Now I'm going to just go back to the hotel, look at the schedule, eat dinner, relax and of course, sleep! Pretty much the same routine as yesterday.
I'll talk to you all after my match.
Shahar
