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Anastasia Rodionova Cheering Thread!!

160K views 3K replies 129 participants last post by  Daebak. 
#1 ·
She beat Jennifer Hopkins 6-1 6-1 today at first round Quebec.... :eek: Faces Meilen Tu or Brie Rippner next.... (Good luck Brie) ;)
 
#1,328 ·
Re: Anastassia Rodionova Cheering Thread!!

King abt doubles match:


I am playing this week with Anastasia Rodionova; it is our first time pairing together and we had a bit of a rough start. I just came yesterday afternoon from Tokyo so I didn't get too much practice on the courts and I was a little unused to the speed of the ball. We got down a set and 4-0 but we managed to come back and win! Luck was definitely on our side
 
#1,329 ·
Re: Anastassia Rodionova Cheering Thread!!

Russian's green and gold ambitions
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tenni.../2007/10/24/1192941152325.html?page=fullpage#
Linda Pearce
October 25, 2007


Anastasia Rodionova is hoping to eventually play for Australia.


ANASTASIA Rodionova's ambition is to play at the Australian Open as an Australian. Rodionova is a Russian with a world ranking of 76, but she also owns a house in Caulfield North with her Australian partner and was granted permanent residency in August.
If Rodionova, 25, was to gain Australian citizenship tomorrow, she would be the country's fourth-ranked woman player behind Sam Stosur (45), Alicia Molik (67) and Nicole Pratt (71).
That will not happen, not least because of the July 1 tightening of the immigration rules requiring aspiring citizens to spend three-quarters of their time here. As a touring professional, most of Rodionova's life is on the road. Yet she is committed to the process that began almost three years ago and also, Rodionova insists, to her adopted nation.
A letter explaining her circumstances is being sent to the International Tennis Federation seeking special consideration, and her Melbourne-based boyfriend, Lorne Padman, this week spoke to Craig Tiley at Tennis Australia to follow up the initial contact from almost two years ago. "I've been based in Australia for the past three years, even more, so I've spent two off-seasons in Australia and I really like the country," Rodionova said from Slovakia, where she is contesting an ITF event.
"After the US Open I came back to Australia to receive permanent residency, so that was great for me. So I'm really excited and I hope it will all come through. I'm looking forward to playing for Australia, if I can."
And, eventually, Fed Cup? "If they'd like me, of course I'd be happy to play."
None of this, it must be emphasised, was Tennis Australia's idea. At their first meeting with Tiley, Rodionova and Padman asked how the Russian native could become an Australian, and were told that nothing could be done without citizenship.
"In Anastasia's case, it's good to hear that she wants to play for Australia, but we can't support that until she is a resident and legally accepted as an Australian, and that's something she has to do on her own," Tiley said.
"We just totally go along with the schedule of the Immigration Department, and then, if that was to happen, we would see whether she is eligible for the Tennis Australia program, and to do that she would have to meet certain criteria.
"Athletes over the age of 23 get assisted through coaching support and access to our training facilities, so she could come and use the courts for free, but we do not provide any direct funding."

Rodionova insists that is not her motivation. "I think I can manage it myself," said the baseliner, whose ranking peaked at No. 63 in April this year. "Of course, if there will be help I'm happy if it's possible, but I'm not expecting to get some help, that's definitely not the reason why I'm going to Australia."
For now, she is going nowhere, with the plan to lobby the ITF unlikely to fast-track her desire to change nationality. For both the ITF and the WTA, residency is insufficient.
Sydney-based Slovakian Jarmila Gadjosova is much further along in the queue, but is still yet to be officially accepted as an Australian.
Unlike Jelena Dokic, for example, who has dual citizenship and has therefore been able to swing back and forth between Australia and Serbia to suit her mood. Back in the 1980s, Czech Hana Mandlikova married an Australian restaurateur and was soon representing his country; it would not happen so quickly today. More recently, Australian-born-and-raised Andrew Thomas announced at the US Open that he now intended to compete for Cyprus, the country of his mother's birth, but is still listed as Australian on the ITF juniors website. Tiley said yesterday that nothing more had been heard from Thomas regarding his flag of choice.
For aspiring "Aussie Anastasia", that decision has been made. It is only the process that remains frustratingly incomplete.
 
#1,330 ·
Re: Anastassia Rodionova Cheering Thread!!

Linda Pearce
January 7, 2008

WHEN world No. 78 Anastasia Rodionova arrived for a practice session at Melbourne Park yesterday, the Russian-born baseliner was shocked to walk past a framed photograph of herself on the wall showcasing the Australian top five.
Rodionova's bid for adoption has been a long process, but finally, it seems, a successful one, and by the time the Australian Open begins next week the host nation's painfully thin female ranks will have officially swelled by two.
Slovakian Jarmila Gajdosova last week had the letters AUS attached to her name, and although the WTA rankings list is yet to be updated, Gajdosova played the WTA tournament on the Gold Coast last week as a local.
Ranked 143rd, down from a high of 64 last October, Gajdosova was yesterday awarded Tennis Australia's last remaining discretionary wildcard into the Open's main draw.
Cynics would suggest that this smacks of a struggling tennis nation taking the easy option of importing what it is unable to produce. In truth, neither European was recruited; both initiated the move independently. Still, neither was turned away.
Rodionova, 26, earned direct entry into the main draw.
She has not been informed officially of her changed status, so is cautiously excited about making her grand slam debut as an Australian, although she was encouraged — as well as stunned yesterday — to see her face on the wall outside the locker-room.
"Definitely, I was very surprised to see myself there, and 'Victoria' was right under my name, so that was cool," Rodionova said. "All the girls asked me if I am playing for Australia now, and I said, 'I hope so.' I'm just waiting for it to be confirmed, and I really hope the Australian people will embrace me."
Rodionova has lived in Australia for three years, or at least for as much of the time as her travelling commitments have allowed. She has bought a house in Caulfield North with her Australian partner, Lorne Padman, and was granted permanent residency in August.
That was enough to qualify as an Australian — but Rodionova thought she needed an Australian passport. Only once Rodionova realised Gajdosova was playing as an Australian on the Gold Coast did she become aware she could ask for a "change of nationality" request to be sent to the WTA by Tennis Australia.
That should be a formality, and there is now pictorial evidence that makes it safe to assume that this stage of the process is complete. Thus, two more names have been added to an Australian starting list for the Open that includes direct entrants Alicia Molik, Nicole Pratt and Casey Dellacqua, and wildcards Christina Wheeler, Monique Adamczak, Sophie Ferguson and Jess Moore.
"I'm completely thrilled that I finally get to play under the flag of my home country," Rodionova said. "I had no idea that I could have done it before now … but it's good it's happening right before the Australian Open."
OUR TOP WOMEN RANKING
1. Samantha Stosur 50
2. Alicia Molik 57
3. Nicole Pratt 75
4. Anastasia Rodionova 78
5. Casey Dellacqua 85
6. Jarmila Gajdosova 143
 
#1,336 ·
Re: Anastassia Rodionova Cheering Thread!!

Good luck Nastya, she should make it through to atleast the second round!
 
#1,341 ·
Re: Anastassia Rodionova Cheering Thread!!

anyone see the interview with her on seven just then? she was quite cute. said that her favourite thing about australia was the people, and her second favourite thing was koalas :lol: hope she behaves herself in front of her home crowd today
 
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