NEW HAVEN, CT, USA - Lisa Raymond has fond memories of New Haven. She is a two-time doubles winner here, winning in 1999 with Rennae Stubbs and last year with her current partner, Samantha Stosur; and in 2004, she made an exciting run to the singles semis. The Philadelphia native is also in good spirits with the year's final major in New York, her favorite city, being just a week away. This week, Raymond brings us along with her Pilot Pen Tennis experience in the latest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog.
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Saturday, August 26, 2006
Welcome back :-)
It's finals day and it has a different feel to it than most finals. This is the only event we play where the finals are at night so your preparation is a bit different than usual.
So, how did Sam and I spend our day you may ask? At the laundromat for starters. Now, anyone who knows me has probably already fallen off their chair after reading that. Let's just say I am more the "let's send the laundry out at the hotel" kinda girl. Unfortunately, the laundry service that the hotel uses had a fire so there was no laundry being done there. Plan B... we walked to the laundromat, started a wash and then went and had some breakfast. Came back, put the clothes in the dryer and then went and did a little shopping at Urban Outfitters while we waited for the clothes to finish. We certainly had a few good laughs at the laundromat, and the good news is that not only do we have clean clothes, but a couple new hoodies from UO. Good plan :-)
After the laundry adventure we headed over to the courts for a hit. As we were walking in we heard the news about LD having to retire. I couldn't believe it. Hopefully she won't have to play her first round until Tuesday and can get as fit as possible. Fingers crossed, LD!
Now, I am back at the hotel packing and soon will be leaving to head back to the courts for another light hit before tonight's final. We are leaving right after the final for NYC which means I won't be able to blog and tell you about the match. Guess you will just have to check out our results on the website. Hopefully all will go well and it will be a very enjoyable ride to NYC. The US Open... I cant wait! I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE New York City. Living so close to the city, I spend a lot of time there throughout the year. My favorite haunts are down in the West Village, my favorite part of NYC. It has more of the neighborhood feel to it with its tree-lined streets and corner cafes. Plus, you are only a few blocks from Magnolia Bakery which has some of the best cupcakes in town!
I just want to say thanks to everyone for reading my blog this past week. I have had a ton of fun writing it and I hope you have all enjoyed having a bit of an insider's view of what goes on out here on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Bye for now :-)
LR
I will leave you with one final download. "This is the Last Time" by Keane. Great song, great CD. Enjoy...
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Friday, August 25, 2006
Hello everyone :-)
What a day! 10:15pm and I am just getting back to the hotel after a long, rainy day at the courts. Mother nature wasn't too friendly for most of the day, raining and postponing matches for hours at a time. Sam's semi against Lindsay didn't start until close to 4pm, four hours after the scheduled time. So what do players do on such a long delay? Sit around and gossip of course :-) I would catch up with LD for a while, then chat with Sam, caught up a bit with MJ (Mary Joe Fernandez, who does TV work for ESPN) then a bit with Rennae, then back to LD, Sam again... It was one constant chat session. It certainly made the time pass a bit faster. The toughest part for players is when to eat during such a delay. You want to make sure you have a nice sized meal before you play, then if it keeps raining maybe some nutrition bars or bananas or something light. Gotta keep the machine running.
When the rain finally stopped, the match went on. It was some great tennis out there. Lindsay came away with the victory, 7-6 7-6. Sam played as well as I have seen her play and Lindsay just picked it up that little bit when she needed to, and that was the match. I have to say it was a total nightmare for me to sit there an watch. They are both my friends and all I wanted was a good match. No cheering, no coaching, just sitting on my hands and watching. No fun :-(
Within 90 minutes we were back out there playing our semifinal doubles on the grandstand court. I just want to say a special thanks to all the die-hard doubles fans who stayed and watched us play. It was great to see you all out there and I know all four of us appreciated it more than you know. The match was your typical nail-biter. We won, 6-7 6-4 6-2. As I said in an earlier blog, the four of us always have tough matches and this was no exception. Sam and I were down 4-1 in the second, and clawed our way back and took it in three. Those are always nice ones to win. It's never fun beating friends but it's bound to happen. The final is tomorrow night against the Chinese pair of Yan/Zheng. We lost to them in the finals of the Aussie Open this year after having three match points, so Sam and I are very much looking forward to that one.
One thing that I have forgotten to mention is the great gifts that we receive every day here at the Pilot Pen. As long as you are in the tournament, each day you receive a new gift from a sponsor. We have gotten gifts from Dooney and Burke, Citizen Watches, Lux Bond and Green, and Brooks Brothers, just to name a few. Each day brings a new gift. Nice perk :-) Today we received an anti-aging creme from M Lab. Are they trying to tell me something?? Must admit, I LOVE lotions! I am a product junkie! One of NYC's best-kept secrets is the basement at Bergdorfs. It is a product junkie's dream. My latest obsession is a new lotion from Laura Mercier called Almond Coconut Milk... It's to die for!!!
I think my bed is calling my name. Sweet dreams and chat again tomorrow.
Nighty night :-)
LR
FYI... Today I downloaded "Wonderwall" by Ryan Adams. His version of this song blows Oasis's version away!
