NEW YORK, NY, USA - She first cracked the Top 10 back in 2004, and after a four-year absence has now returned to that elite on the strength of some incredible results this season, most recently a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics. Seeded No.8 at the US Open she also brings us her very first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog. Enjoy!
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Saturday, August 30, 2008
Hello again everyone, thanks for reading and I hope you're all doing well :)
Well, today I played my last match of this US Open. Elena and I lost to Lindsay and Daniela in our second doubles match. I don't think either team played its best tennis but they did really well on the important points. We had leads in quite a few of the games we lost, we had a hard time converting on them though. They were too good. Although we lost, I did have a lot of fun on the court with Elena. We always have a good time. We'll encourage each other and on changeovers we'll chat about tennis and other things. It helps take your minds off of any mistakes. Anyway, I had a good time and look forward to our future matches.
Although I didn't feel physically or mentally tired this week, I think I probably was. It's hard to switch your mind from the Olympics to the US Open. It was my first Olympics and I was so excited, and of course getting the medal was such a special moment for me. But coming from such an amazing experience halfway across the world and refocusing on the daily practices, matches and everything else is a bit difficult. Don't get me wrong though - I was very excited about the US Open. It's great to compete at any Grand Slam. I tried my best; unfortunately I wasn't able to make it as far as I would have liked.
There's always two sides to every story. With an early loss there are negatives but you can always take positives as well. For me, this was just an experience. No matter what, I know I tried my best on the court, and that's what matters most. All I can do now is work on my game and try to improve for the next time. You can always find lots of positives even if you lose.
So, I have a flight to Moscow at 8pm tomorrow. I'm spending one more day in New York City before I leave, though! I'll practice in the morning and probably spend the rest of the day exploring the city. I might visit some of my Russian friends, because I haven't really had a chance to see them yet this week. My next tournament is in Beijing, so I'm going to spend a few weeks back home. I have two exams to write when I get back; I was originally supposed to write them in May but I wasn't able to, so they're letting me do them now. School actually starts on September 2 for me - new subjects, professors... I'm really excited!
I'm going to get some blueberries right now... I like raspberries too. I would say that blueberries are my favorite though. I like them so much I use a spoon to eat them :) Anyway, I'm going to answer some of your lovely questions now!
Who are your best friends on the Tour? - Tommy, Indonesia
I'm friends with all of the Russian girls, especially Elena Vesnina, my doubles partner. I'm also good friends with Meilen Tu - we share the same coach and have been travelling together a lot over the last few years.
What's your favorite tournament? - Adelina, Denmark
Definitely Moscow! It's the only opportunity for us Russian players to play in front of our home crowd, and it's really a great tournament. Sometimes we play Fed Cup in Moscow, but this is something we can play every year. I've reached the quarterfinals there a few times; I just enjoy playing there.
What music is on your iPod? - Kevin, USA
I have lots of different kinds of music on it. I'm flexible! What I listen to depends on my mood. I like Roxette a lot, and I've also been listening to the soundtrack of Prison Break. I have a lot of Russian music too.
How do you feel about returning to the Top 10? - Mark, Canada
It's great, but I honestly don't really think too hard about rankings. I'm just trying to do my best out there and trying to improve my game. If your ranking is improving of course it probably means your game is improving, but the ranking is not the most important thing for me. Of course I want to win the tournaments I'm playing, but my main focus is on how I play. For me, one of the biggest dreams would be to win the title in Moscow. It was the first tournament I ever watched, when I was six years old. Doing well at the Grand Slams is exciting too. And the Olympics were incredible. Originally I didn't even think I'd be competing there, and what I achieved was the greatest thing I've ever achieved as a tennis player.
Thank you all for reading my blog - I hope you all enjoyed it. Unfortunately it was a bit short, but hopefully I'll do better and be able to tell you more about myself next time. And there will be a next time, as I'm already looking forward to blogging again. And sorry if I didn't answer your question - I'd like to thank everybody for writing in. And until next time, take care everyone!
Vera
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Thursday, August 28, 2008
It was a tough day yesterday. Unfortunately I lost my singles, although I'm happy I was able to go back and win my doubles. About the singles match, I was disappointed - not that I lost the match, because she's a good player, but more the way I played. My level wasn't quite there from the beginning and I was losing the way I was playing; it was too bad I couldn't turn things around. Tatiana was very solid, and did what she needed to do to win the match. I know I'm capable of playing much better tennis. But this happens sometimes. I'm hoping to work on a few things and next time will be better :)
After the singles I had about two hours before my doubles match. I stretched a little, had some lunch and pretty much just went back on court! It looked like it wasn't going to be my day as we went down 3-0 in the first set, but me and my partner - Elena Vesnina - have a lot of fun on the court and were just trying to laugh about some of the easy mistakes we were making. We like to stay positive on the court. We were also trying to find a way to win that match. After losing the first three games we started finding our rhythm and it started getting a bit closer. I think the other team was up 5-3 at one point, but by then we were playing well. We ended up winning, 75 62, and I'm really proud of that because it was tough coming off a singles loss and staying in a positive mindset again.
By the time I came back to the hotel it was pretty late, about 10:30 at night. I got room service and saw a really good movie on TV starring Nicolas Cage, where he plays a cop, and his dad - who is also a cop - gets killed, and he's trying to find out what happened. When I first started watching it I thought it was a little weird but I couldn't stop watching it! If any of you guys know, tell me!
I didn't have any matches today, so I've been doing other things. I started off my day by going to the gym for half an hour then grabbing a big breakfast at the cafe across the street from the hotel. Actually I had my food there, but got my drink at Starbucks - and it wasn't a coffee this time, it was a Berry Blosson team. Very nice! Then I went to the Chinese embassy here in New York to get my visa, so I can play in Beijing next month. There was a HUGE line-up and I wasn't sure which line to get into, so I asked the security guy, and he goes 'I remember you, you come here every year!' It was pretty funny. And it's true, I do go there for a visa every year. I went back there in the afternoon to pick the visa up.
I just got some things from the pharmacy and will head to the tournament for practice. Elena is playing tonight at 7pm against Serena. I'll probably be done and gone by the time she starts but I'll definitely catch it on TV. I'm not sure if we play our next doubles match tomorrow or on Saturday but it's going to be a tough one too, as we play the winners of Davenport and Hantuchova against Perebiynis (who beat me in singles!) and Koryttseva. We'll see who wins that then discuss how we'll prepare for it. We will definitely need to be ready!
As I spend more time in New York I realize how much I like it. And there's a few reasons for that. I was born and raised in Moscow, and it's a bit crazy out there as well, so I'm totally used to this environment. And we really don't have to deal with too much of it as players - we get a car - a Lexus, too - to and from the tournament whenever we want. But even if we didn't I wouldn't mind it. After the traffic in Moscow, where you're sometimes stopped for up to two hours, it's not a big deal at all! Especially when I have my iPod, it's all good :)
Speaking of iPods, I've already lost two Shuffles... I had a pink one and lost it. I had a purple one and lost it. Now I have a blue one, and I'm trying hard not to let what happened to the other ones happen to this one! There's an Apple store a few streets away from the hotel that I may go to before I leave. If any of you have suggestions for the color of my next iPod, I'd love to hear them!
I'm probably just going to take it easy tonight. I might be going out for dinner - every year I get invited to this restaurant, a steak house, and I've gone every year except for last year, so maybe I'll make my comeback tonight :) Other than that I might try and find another good movie on TV and, like I said, try to catch some of Elena's match. That's all for now... I'll talk to you guys after our match!
Vera
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Welcome to my blog everyone!
This is my first blog for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully you will all enjoy it.
Well, it's the last Grand Slam of the year, and I'm very excited about it. I'll catch you up about the Olympics first - it was a GREAT experience. Just playing it was amazing, but to win a medal was one of my best results. I really enjoyed my time over there. The village was very nice, and it was cool to be around so many other athletes. It was a great atmosphere and something I'll remember forever.
I came here straight from Beijing last Tuesday. I tried to get a flight that had a stopover in Los Angeles, but it was all booked, so I ended up coming here direct! Luckily we had a tail wind, so that flight was just under 13 hours, when it normally takes 14. I tried to sleep on the plane but only got a couple hours of sleep. I'm still a bit jetlagged - sometimes I'm finding myself falling asleep at 9pm and waking up a bit too early in the morning - but it's definitely getting better!
I took a day off right when I got here. It was good to have a break from tennis but I also really like this city. I come here once a year and it's so different from everywhere else. I usually like to walk around the city and sometimes browse in stores, but I don't normally buy anything! I just like looking around mostly. I do enjoy Starbucks, though :) There are about four of them right near the hotel, and lots of players go there for breakfast or coffee. I wouldn't say the coffee is the best in the world - it's good, but a lot of other places have good coffee too - but the atmosphere in there is so nice. So it has become a bit of a routine, going to Starbucks every day! They're everywhere. It's never a problem to find one.
I played my first match of the tournament yesterday, Monday, against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. She's a very good player. I've known her for years because we played in the juniors together. I knew she was a good competitor going into the match. Luckily I was able to win, and in two sets too. I came up with the good shots when I needed them and I think everything worked out well for me.
Playing on these courts was actually quite an adjustment. It's different from Beijing - the courts, the balls, the atmosphere... Fair enough, it's obviously a different continent :) But it has taken some time to get used to it. I feel very good now though. Those days of practice last week and over the weekend paid off.
Today I actually had the day off. Sometimes when I'm exhausted, the best day for me is just staying in bed at the hotel and watching TV or movies! Sometimes, I feel like going out and doing things. I'm not really a sightseeing person. I can go somewhere for maybe 15 or 20 minutes, but I can't do tours or stay anywhere too long. I like walking around New York and going to the stores. This is one of the best cities for shopping. I said before I don't normally buy much, and I didn't buy anything today, but I did look around. I will definitely let you know if I do get anything. I also like reading. I'm studying international economic relations at University right now and I have a lot of books I need to read, so I usually read a few hours every day to stay on top of things. Whenever I go back home I have exams, so I really don't want to fall behind! Of course, it's tough to remember everything afterwards :)
I finished practice about an hour ago and am about to leave the site for the day. I'll probably go back and grab dinner somewhere around the hotel, then go back and watch a movie or something. I'm not sure which one - it depends what's on TV. I was watching the Olympics the last few days, but now that it's over I'll have to find something else. I'm feeling like maybe a comedy... I can watch anything new that's coming out of Hollywood though. The only type of movie I don't like is horror. I'm not sure why, but it's probably something to do with me getting so scared of them when I was a kid :( I just avoid them altogether now!
I have my second round against Tatiana Perebiynis tomorrow. I've known her for a long time. She comes from Ukraine so we speak the same language. I also remember her from the juniors. She's a very nice girl but a tough opponent. I know I will have to try my best. We'll see how it goes!
I'll talk to you all afterwards!
Vera
