Women’s Tennis Blog is back from vacation. I spent more than two wonderful weeks in China and now it’s time to resume posting. Thank you all for being so supportive and not minding the long break without women’s tennis news here.
First of all, I would use this opportunity to once again thank all of you for voting for Women’s Tennis Blog in 2009 Baseline Awards, as thanks to you my blog won the in the Best Tennis Blog category.
Secondly, I missed quite a few tennis events and stories during my time off, and I would like to do a little wrap-up of what happened while I was away. The Brisbane International and the ASB Classic are over and here’s what happened there.
Brisbane saw an all-Belgian epic final, with Kim Clijsters defeating Justine Henin 6-3 4-6 7-6(6). En route to victory Clijsters saved two match points and wasted three.
Just after the Brisbane final, Henin withdrew from the Sydney International because of the left leg injury sustained in that title match. Henin wanted to make sure she was healthy for the upcoming Australian Open.
The other WTA tournament I skipped to cover was the ASB Classic in Auckland. The titlist at the event was Yanina Wickmayer who defeated top seed Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-2 in the final. The victory was the best moment of Wickmayer’s career as she entered the Auckland draw after a court overturned a year’s ban imposed by the Belgian doping authority.
The most exciting off-court piece of news is that Nike signed an eight-year, $70-million endorsement deal with Maria Sharapova. In addition, the Russian will be getting a percentage of sales from the line she’ll help develop. Wow! And by the way, Sharapova beat Venus Williams 6-3 6-4 at an exhibition event in Thailand.
Feel free to mention in the comments some stories that I missed to write about that you find interesting. I would love you to enrich this post by your links and perspective on the past two weeks.
It’s great to have you back Marija! I’m glad you enjoyed your vacation 🙂 It sounds wonderful.
Clijsters played brilliantly all week, she really should have won in straight sets against Justine, but none the less I think it was brilliant that we had such a match between these two at the very beginning of the year. I can’t see past either Serena or Kim for the Australian Open, but there’s always a surprise I suppose…:)
Hi Maria, hope you had a nice hollidays. I would also like to see some of the exotic Asia one day.
I saw the second and third set of that fantastic match, it was better than grand slam finals last year. This is what I was waiting for. I think Justine has had a great comeback, I hope she didn’t lose her confidence because of the loss. Who should feel nervous is probably Ana Ivanovic who is not looking good! She completely fell apart against Justine. I hope she just got “queen-fright” and that it’s not an omen of what she is going to be like for the rest of the season. Sponsors are watching… After what we saw at US Open I can see Justine pulling off the Australian. Serena will go far but I think Kim and Justine are just too good. As Kim said they set the bar pretty high.
Or it can be a surprise winner! Maybe the slamless crowd pull themselves togehter and we’ll see some of them getting a title.
Hey Marija! Hope you had a great time. I went to China with school in 2008, it was alot of fun… I went to Sydney, and met, Sabine Liscki, Flavia Pennetta, Daniela Hantuchova and Camile Pin. I also got all they’re autographs… Victoria Azaranka has a new coach by the way… Unfortantly, my camera broke so i got no photos, i’m sorry. I’m going to the final tomorrow, Williams Vs Dementieva – how exciting !!! xx
Bróna, Marine, Jacob, thank you guys. My holiday was amazing. I was mostly in Shanghai, but I visited Beijing and Hangzhou as well. Frankly, I’m very sad to be back home, especially having in mind I started working within 15 hours of my return.
I picture the final between Clijsters and Henin was cool. I missed those types of encounters, and it’s nice we have those “fresh” faces.
And you Jacob, I’m so sorry your camera broke. You know I used a lot of your last year’s photos on my blog.
Mairja, I’m going tomorrow night, i’m trying to get a camera!! And have abit of a break, i bet your very tired from the plane, and cold – coldest in europe for 100 years!? wow! its 40 degrees here in australia, you should see my tann. Go rest up, there is no pressure on you for doing this blog. i appereciate your work on here, but i understand its not your job, make sure your well being, social life, work life and uni life, come first 😀
Jacob, I’m not tired from the plane, but I have a lot of things to do right now. Actually, I think that it’s warmer here in Serbia, than where I was in China. Actually, I think everything is warmer than Beijing.
I think I’m balancing all the aspects of my life pretty well. Some things sometimes get neglected, but it’s normal.
Have a great time at the final!
Oh i never knew, China must be very cold. Sydney has started to cool down now, which is good. Hopefully it wont be to hot in Melbourne, but i will admit i do sometimes like watching tennis players struggle in the heat – am i evil? I will have a great time, thanks.
You are evil actually. 🙂
Sydney was amazing! Im glad Elena won, shes so cute. Did you watch her speech? Difinition of diddums. haha!
Сиднеј је невероватно! Им је драго Јелена победила, Схес тако сладак. Јесте ли гледати свом говору? Дифинитион од диддумс. хаха!
I watched only highlights but even from that it was clear she played some great tennis out there. Definitely a well-deserved victory.
Jacob, I didn’t watch the speech. Can you share the link?