FÈS, Morocco - It has been a tough last few months for Sania Mirza. After winning 10 of 14 matches to start the year and reaching semifinals at Hobart and Pattaya City, she injured her right knee in late February and has been out of the game since to recover from the subsequent surgery. But this week the Indian star returns to action as the top seed at the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, and brings us along in the latest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog.
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Saturday, May 19, 2007
Hello again everyone!
Vania and I won the doubles title in Fès today, and I'm obviously very happy. It's always good to win a title, and more so because we were a last-minute pairing. When we came here we didn't know who we'd be playing with! But I'm especially glad about winning here after two or three months away. It's just great to finish a tournament with a victory. Already I feel I'm moving a lot better, my hand-eye coordination is getting better and I am feeling confident. Hopefully I can keep improving. It's my fourth doubles title, and interestingly my first outside of India!
Today we played very solid, the most solid of the week. Although the score made it look pretty easy it wasn't at all. Four of the games in the first set went to deuce with no-ad, so anything could have happened. We played well on the important points. And we had more confidence going into the second set. This is the best I've felt all week. We volleyed, served and returned well; everything you need to play good doubles. This is what playing matches will do for your confidence. And the more you play doubles with the same person, the more comfortable you get.
The trophy presentation was nice, but afterwards we didn't really celebrate. I went to the gym for around an hour and a half and had a hard workout, actually. That was my celebration! We were going to go shopping, but it was getting dark. So we came back here and I got some treatment. I'm pretty tired. We went to the Vietnamese restaurant for dinner again. I'll probably have an early night because we are driving to Casablanca in the morning for a 1pm flight to Istanbul.
Turkey is a beautiful place. It's great because it is both Westernized and cultured, like a mix of two worlds together. I played the Istanbul Cup last year so this will be my second time. I'm playing doubles there with Chan Yung-Jan, who made the Australian Open doubles final this year, so I'm pretty excited about that. That was last-minute as well! I had nobody lined up and was desperately texting around for a partner from miles and miles away out here... luckily, she was available!
Doing this week's blog was really enjoyable. I think it's important to let the fans know a tennis player's thoughts and how they feel at the end of the day, so I think it was great. And it was nice to hear from my friends who were reading it, like Liezel and Mahesh. I hope everyone enjoyed it. I'd love to do it again.
Thank you for reading and I'll talk to you all soon :)
Sania
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Friday, May 18, 2007
So today we never got to play our semifinal match. Vania and I were supposed to play against Sequera and Pin, but after they played their singles quarterfinal they were both very sick. I think the heat really got to them - hopefully they're better soon. I know I said I wanted as many matches as possible now but a walkover is never bad. We're in the final - that is the bottom line. Another day's rest today as well, which is always good. We still had two practice sessions though, a doubles one in the morning and singles in the evening. I went to the gym before morning practice as well, and spent a bit of time at the tournament, when we thought we'd be playing. The first match was so long; every 20 minutes I was calling Tony from the WTA at the tournament asking for the score, so we'd know when to head out there! It lasted about two or three hours. When we got there, we saw some of the Sequera and Pin match, then found out we had the walkover afterwards.
One of the worst parts about being a tennis player is the waiting. I hate waiting! Sometimes you have to wait indefinitely when it's raining, and it's worse when you're staying somewhere further away from the tournament. I'm pretty close to the tournament here so that's good but at other events it's not so convenient. Our doubles final tomorrow is at 1pm, so that's great because now we haven't played since yesterday and I am looking forward to it! Also, it means I can wake up late and still practice and get something to eat before the match. It'll be pretty hot and dry at that time, which will be tough, but I'm just excited to be there.
We're playing Andreea Ehritt-Vanc and Anastasia Rodionova tomorrow for the title. I've never played Andreea; I've played Anastasia a few times but she wasn't with the same partner. They are both very experienced players though and have both been around a long time. They've also been playing together a lot this year, whereas Vani and I are playing for the first time, so it should be interesting. We'll just have to play our game and not worry about them. I'm just very excited.
When we came back to the hotel tonight, all the Mercedes were gone, and so I think the king is gone now! The hotel is pretty empty again. I never saw him while he was here, but I'm pretty sure those signs are pointing to him not being here anymore... Anyway, we stayed in for food tonight, no restaurant; I ordered a salad from room service. I used up my bad meal yesterday so I am back to good eating again! I'm just going to relax tonight to be fresh for tomorrow.
I'll talk to you all after the final...
Sania
