TOKYO, Japan - Elena Dementieva has fond memories of Tokyo. A year ago, she won the biggest of her now-six career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour titles in the Japanese capital. This week she returned to the $1.34 million Toray Pan Pacific Open looking to defend one of those titles for the first time; she's also the very first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blogger in 2007. So sit back and enjoy, as one of the world's best brings you along for the Tier I ride in Tokyo this week!
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Saturday, February 3, 2007
Hello everyone,
Although I'm disappointed that I lost today, I was happy to win the tournament's ACES Award for the off-court work I've done this week. At least I did something good for the tournament! It's very nice, and I'm happy to have won such a gift. I think I'll work harder for every other tournament now! It makes me feel a little bit better, especially after such a disappointing loss.
I was very disappointed in my game today - I made so many unforced errors. I was really expecting something better from today's match and I really wanted to defend my title... but, I guess I'll try next time.
I still have some good memories from this tournament, though. I met so many good people and friends here, and after my matches the fans were even giving me stuffed animals. But now I guess it's off to the next tournament. Today will be my last day to get some sushi in Tokyo!!
Thanks for reading my blog this week and I'll talk to you all soon!
Elena
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Friday, February 2, 2007
It was hard to wake up today. We went to bed very late. Vera Dushevina and her coach came up to our room and we were just talking and enjoying the view (our room is very high up in the hotel and we have a beautiful view, especially at night) but then we realized it was 12:30am! I had lost track of time. So, this morning I had trouble waking up. But I realized I'd be late for the breakfast if I didn't. I had to have my favourite, leche, which you can get in the buffet here. I love it. I eat a lot for breakfast here actually, because my mom forces me to!
When we came to the tournament today it was a very long first match - Sugi against Sharapova. It was like two hours. I was watching a little bit of the first set. It was funny - Sugi asked for her mom to come to the court at the end of winning the first set, then she lost the next two sets. We were laughing a bit about that. We were waiting and waiting for that match to finish, then Martina finished really fast. I went on court at about 6pm and won in straight sets, so I was pretty happy about that. I was trying to be fast because I didn't want to miss my dinner!
If you go down the streets here there are so many restaurants and bars - it's all about food here. They put pictures of the food in the window. All you have to do is point to the food to get it; you just want to take all the samples too because they look so good, but the food in the windows is plastic so I guess you can't eat those. It's getting late now, so we're probably just going to order room service.
We went out for dinner last night, though. Before seeing them at the hotel, we went out with Dushevina, her coach and my doubles partner, Olga, to get sushi. Dushevina was leaving to go back home and we were saying our goodbyes, although we'll probably see each other in Moscow in a week or so!
I'm playing Martina Hingis in the semifinals. She says she loves this tournament because she loves the city, that it's like home here. It's funny, last year in the first round I played a three hour match with Katarina Srebotnik, I even had a match point against me, then Martina came off the court after winning 60 60 and said how much she loved playing here. I was like 'What? How can you love it here!' Of course I was telling her how difficult it was to play here. But, after I won the title, I can now say I love it here too. I wouldn't say it feels like home, but I really like it becaure it's very different and interesting, and the people are so polite. They are all so supportive. It's really a pleasure for me to play here.
I'll talk to you all after my semifinal!
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Thursday, February 1, 2007
So we didn't end up going to the French restaurant for dinner last night; instead, we went to the Japanese buffet downstairs in the hotel. We had to wait quite a bit, like an hour and a half - it was quite long but it was very good.
Today I woke up at 8am, then caught the bus to the tournament at 9:15am. There are no individual cars here - it's one big bus. Normally, me and my mom are always in trouble because we're always late, and the driver is waiting for us for 20 minutes. But knowing how keen all the players are about getting to the tournament, we were on time today. I'm trying really hard to be on time here.
Once we got to the tournament, I had to rush to get ready for my match. I was the second match on the schedule and the first match went really quickly, so I didn't really have much time to warm up. Actually, I don't think Elena Likhovtseva had much time to warm up either. The match was tough; I was 6-3 4-0 up and then she won five games in a row. It was a real roller coaster for us. It's okay though - when two Russians play against each other, that's normal! At the press conference I was asked a really good question - they asked if I thought Martina Hingis helped me to win this tournament last year by beating Maria Sharapova in the semifinals. I said 'Don't you think so?' The reporters really enjoyed that one!
I had a long gap between my singles and doubles matches today. I was last on in doubles, so I took a little nap. I actually fell asleep on the massage table... I don't toss and turn much in my sleep so I didn't worry about falling off.
I've been on site all day. It's so difficult to stay indoors all the time, you feel like your eyes are getting really tired. You want to feel the fresh air. So, during the day, you can go on a run on the track outside. Another thing I've been doing to keep myself busy is thinking about the sumo wrestlers and practicing the moves. But I guess you don't have to go outside for that.
I'll talk to you all tomorrow after my quarterfinal!
