PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Formidable players in both singles and doubles, Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko are one of the rare sibling acts to find major success in the tennis world, and this week the dynamic duo writes their second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog straight from the ECM Prague Open.
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Saturday, July 18, 2009
Hi everyone!
Well we didn't play in Prague today. It was raining almost the whole day, and the doubles final will be tomorrow now. We waited around at the club all day playing PlayStation, listening to music, reading... I listen to music on my Sony Ericsson phone, actually. I'm happy they're our title sponsor :)
I'll miss my boyfriend's birthday tomorrow because we had to reschedule our flight :( But I'll be back home on Monday. Princess is going home tomorrow though - Alona's boyfriend, who was here this week, will be flying home with her, and Alona and I will stay here to play the final.
We didn't end up doing much today. We got sushi for dinner. This time we brought enough money (actually we brought a credit card this time!) Now I'm just relaxing in the room a little bit before bed.
Because we're going to be rushing after the match to get to the airport, I won't be able to write tomorrow night, but I really wanted to thank everyone for reading and thank you all for your questions all week. I'll do it again next year for sure.
Take care and talk to you all soon :)
Kateryna
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Friday, July 17, 2009
Hello again everyone :)
Sorry I wasn't able to blog yesterday, it was very busy here and I couldn't get online for some reason... Anyway, I won my second round match yesterday, which I was happy about, but today I lost to Schiavone in the quarterfinals. I just didn't do enough. It was an okay week in singles, I guess. It could have been better, but it could have been worse, too. But we have won all of our doubles matches so far this week and tomorrow we have the final against Benesova and Zahlavova Strycova. Then we're leaving Sunday morning to go back home. It'll be my boyfriend's birthday that day, so I'm pretty excited!
After my singles match yesterday, people from the Ukrainian embassy here invited us to visit them and go sightseeing in Prague a little bit. So we went and spent time with them all, talked about life as usual and saw a lot of the old city. We went to the Prague Castle - it was very nice. There's a church and houses next to it and it just looks amazing. The view from the top is unbelievable, you can see the whole city. There's another castle nearby too, and it used to be in a different country. It was my first time seeing any of this so I enjoyed it a lot!
For dinner last night we were going to get sushi, but we didn't bring enough money with us :S So we went to the grocery store and bought some stuff. It's probably good we didn't go out to eat because we're on a little diet! Today we got room service for dinner again. Maybe tomorrow after a winning doubles final we'll go out somewhere to celebrate :)
Princess is biting my finger right now. She bit my sister's boyfriend's hand and it was bleeding, and he taped his hand... She's a little bit out of control! I'm not sure if this is the first time she has been doing this... maybe the second week. She's just trying to have some fun but it's not as fun for everyone else!!
Until tomorrow!
Kateryna
Which country would you like to visit that the Tour doesn't bring you to? Louise, Ireland
I would like to go to South Africa, just to see how it's like. There are tournaments in Italy but as far as cities, I really want to see Venice, too. I've seen pictures and it looks beautiful. I'd also like to go to Fiji on vacation but it takes a whole day to fly there, so maybe I'll just wait until my tennis career is over :) That's just too much.
I noticed in a photo you had a vibration dampener with a sad face. Do you change between happy and sad dependent on the match? Jamie, Australia
I like the faces. When you don't feel happy you can just put the sad face and it just makes you smile a bit. It does help keep you positive a little bit.
What is your favorite surface? Ihor, UK
A few years ago it was clay, but then I decided that I prefer hardcourts, because it's much faster and you can win points much faster. I like all the surfaces though. I just like tennis. Especially when you play well, it doesn't matter. I like indoors too, because there's no wind, no Sun... everything is just perfect.
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Hello again everybody :)
I woke up in the middle of the night last night because it was raining really hard and it was very dark outside, but eventually I got back to sleep... the rain was still going when I woke up but about an hour before our match it all cleared up and it was sunny skies. Alona and I won our doubles quarterfinal in straight sets. The first set was difficult but we were fine in the second. I went for half an hour of physio afterwards, ate a little bit at the club then came back to the hotel.
I was reading a book since I got back, it's a detective novel. Actually I've finished it now. I like this type of book, they can be funny but also I find it very interesting how they solve the murders. The ones I read are Russian. My favorite writers are Akunin and Doncoa. I have a few more but that's good for now :)
Since I finished the book I've been playing with my dog and watching TV. My dog loves to bite. I don't know why. She's actually biting me right now as I'm writing this. I push her away but she runs back to me and bites again. It's more playful than violent, but I have scratches on my hand and it's sort of red right now... She's doing much better than she was yesterday though! The doctor told me not to feed her as much as I was. Maybe it's because I'm not giving her as much food that she is biting me now. I really want to give her food!
Tomorrow I play Kristina Barrois. I'll do my best. If I play like I did against Alona, I think I will win. Barrois is a strong player with a very good serve. We'll see how it goes tomorrow! I'll talk to you all afterwards :)
Kateryna
Who was your tennis idol as a teenager? Marwan
Thanks for your question! My favorites were Steffi Graf and Kim Clijsters. Graf because she won so many Grand Slams and was No.1 for so long, and Clijsters because she was playing amazing. I didn't really model my game after any players though. I have my own game... at least I hope so :)
Which one of you is calmer, on and off the court? Ben
In everything, I think I'm the calmer one and Alona is more energized. It works well when we're playing doubles. But off the court can sometimes be a problem :)
Are you excited about the summer hardcourt season? Nadia
We're always excited to go to America. We like it very much. But after a month there we sometimes get a bit bored and miss home, and we want to come back! But right now we're very excited. It's like travelling any other place too, America, Australia, Asia... This time I'll have my dog with me so maybe I won't miss home as much... Alona's was in the hospital a few weeks so I don't know about hers.
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Hey, it's Kateryna here again...
My singles match with Alona was difficult for me. It's always tough to play your sister. I was just trying to play well and not think about the situation. Before and after the match we were normal though - it's not like we don't talk to each other before or after we play. After the singles we warmed up together for the doubles and won that match, 75 64. We were down 5-2 in the first set and 4-2 in the second set, but fought back to win. We were getting along just fine :)
We had to go to the vet today because my dog was coughing a little bit. The doctor gave her an injection and she's better now. They said she was maybe eating too fast and was trying to throw up, maybe. Anyway, we came back to the hotel and had room service in our rooms again. Nothing special!
I don't play singles tomorrow but we have our second doubles match against two Polish girls. I actually know Brozda - we used to live in Poland, and I played her in juniors. My mom went to Poland to coach and brought us with her to practice, we were there for about a year and a half. They wouldn't let me stay home :) I went to school there and everything. We have lots of friends there. And there are a lot of girls on the Tour who are Polish or who have Polish families, and we speak with them in Polish. It's nice.
Tomorrow we'll just have a nice breakfast then watch some TV in our rooms during the day. We warm up at 1:30 and have our match at 2. It's so easy to watch TV here because we have all the Russian channels! You can stay in the whole day and just watch them. We'll see what else is happening tomorrow...
Kateryna
Do you two ever share things, like clothes or tennis stuff? - Kate
We do share a lot. We buy clothes we both like all the time, then one of us will decide it'll be hers, and then we'll ask each other to borrow it later. And on the court, when we're sitting on the changeover in doubles, we ask each other for stuff. Water, overgrips, strings... We're sharing all the time!
What do you miss most from home? - Anne
My house, my family, my boyfriend, basically everything. And I just love Kiev. Well we don't live in Kiev but we live right next to it, and I love it. It's a really nice city. Sometimes it's nice to walk around in the evening when the whole city has lights up. I really miss all of those things.
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Monday, July 13, 2009
Hello from Prague :)
It's Kateryna here. It's a little bit late and I'm not sure if Alona is still awake (we have separate rooms) so I'll start the blog tonight!
We just came from Budapest, where we were runners-up in doubles. It could have been a better ending but it could have been worse. We're still happy we made the final. We hope to do the same or better this week in Prague. Our doubles was better last year than this year but we've made two finals this year so we're happy, and we hope for a few more. We are also trying our best in singles.
We're very excited to be in Prague. Today we did a lot of sightseeing. We walked all over downtown, it's a really beautiful city. We really liked the old buildings. We've been here a few times before but we never spent so much time looking around. We were out for about five hours - we left around 2pm and got back around 7pm, and we were so tired. We just had dinner in the room, nothing special. I have been looking for a gift for my boyfriend and I found one today, so I'm happy - it was a big problem before!
You may or may not have seen this, but Alona and I are playing each other in the first round tomorrow :( I don't like it. I never like playing my sister. If it's a final, it's a different story. But first round... neither of us are very happy! I don't like losing to anyone, but I guess I'd rather lose to her than anyone else, because I'll be happy for her to be in the second round. We also have our first doubles match of the week tomorrow, so it'll be a long day of tennis.
My puppy, Princess, is here with me this week :) She couldn't go to Wimbledon because we couldn't take the dogs to England, but she's here in Prague. She's actually sleeping next to me right now. In Paris we each bought a dog - I got a chihuahua and Alona got a Yorkshire Terrier. Alona's dog was a bit sick so she left her at home this week, though.
We'll talk to you again tomorrow night... send your questions in :)
Kateryna
