[netphobia]

Celebrities always have weird narcissism complexes too. Perhaps it has something to do with being known mainly for your looks.

Originally Posted by Petronius

But please don't get injured while doing so.

No kidding. I am so torn as to whether I should think of 2012 as the 'sophomore slump/figuring things out' year, or if I should really be nervous for 2013 and expect it to go just like this year...

[Petronius]

Originally Posted by honzaneumannn

I am another one to join that alerting club !!!

BTW, maybe another Petra is in the works? Kateřina Siniaková (born 1996, Czech mother and Russian father) fell just one match short of finishing the season as the world #1 in juniors and spent one week practicing at the Bolletieri academy, with Sharapova working hard on the adjacent court

Her main goal is Wimbledon so what about a Kvitová-Siniaková Wimbledon final in 2017?

[/delusion]

[Petronius]

Originally Posted by bruce goose

We'll have to find out which U.S. city has the strongest Czech community,and then we'll let Petra serve as honorary cheerleader for one of the NFL games there....This assumes that it's not some dead-end place like Allentown,PA that has the tightest Czech community

Funny idea. I think Chicago has always been the city with the strongest Czech community in the US (Barack Obama even referred to this during his Prague speech on nuclear disarmament). In early 1930s there was even a Czech-born Chicago mayor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Cermak). Poor guy was assassinated while shaking hands with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at Bayfront Park in Miami, Florida, on February 15, 1933...

[JarkaFish]

Haha.

[18majors]

Originally Posted by Petronius

BTW, maybe another Petra is in the works? Kateřina Siniaková (born 1996, Czech mother and Russian father) fell just one match short of finishing the season as the world #1 in juniors and spent one week practicing at the Bolletieri academy, with Sharapova working hard on the adjacent court

Her main goal is Wimbledon so what about a Kvitová-Siniaková Wimbledon final in 2017?

[/delusion]

There have been no shortage of good athletes and tennis players from Czech but Katerina will have a tough competitor in Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who won both Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl at age 14.

[Excelscior]

Originally Posted by netphobia

No kidding. I am so torn as to whether I should think of 2012 as the 'sophomore slump/figuring things out' year, or if I should really be nervous for 2013 and expect it to go just like this year...

I guess we won't know for sure, until another 3 years.

Hopefully, we'll find out a lot sooner--meaning she'll be playing an an elite level again. However, like you alluded to, there's so much going on, beside the requisite transitional/adjustment year.

We'll see?

[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by Petronius

Funny idea. I think Chicago has always been the city with the strongest Czech community in the US (Barack Obama even referred to this during his Prague speech on nuclear disarmament). In early 1930s there was even a Czech-born Chicago mayor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Cermak). Poor guy was assassinated while shaking hands with President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt at Bayfront Park in Miami, Florida, on February 15, 1933...

Funny that you mentioned that;our middle-school history teacher told us that it was the governor of Illinois(where Chicago is located) but I never actually bothered to look it up.According to our teacher,the Czech fellow had the misfortune of looking very much like President FDR,and the assassin was some nutcase who had intended to kill the president and simply couldn't tell them apart...talk about bad luck,huh?

As you might guess,I was joking about Petra serving as honorary cheerleader,but the Chicago Bears were the original dynasty in the early years of the NFL.It's still a town with lots of rabid,savvy fans,but championships have been scarce in the modern era.IIRC,they won a title in 1963 in the pre-Super Bowm era and then won SB20 in Jan. of 1986...and that's been it in the last 50 years.Obviously,if Petra DOES become a fan,we won't look for her to duplicate that infrequency of championships

[Petronius]

Originally Posted by bruce goose

Funny that you mentioned that;our middle-school history teacher told us that it was the governor of Illinois(where Chicago is located) but I never actually bothered to look it up.According to our teacher,the Czech fellow had the misfortune of looking very much like President FDR,and the assassin was some nutcase who had intended to kill the president and simply couldn't tell them apart...talk about bad luck,huh?

I checked their photos and they really looked quite similar

Bad luck for the Czech, good luck for FDR.

[Petronius]

Originally Posted by 18majors

There have been no shortage of good athletes and tennis players from Czech but Katerina will have a tough competitor in Ana Konjuh of Croatia, who won both Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl at age 14.

I agree. Yugoslavia have been always very good at sports. It's a shame that this country has been split into so many states, sometimes in a violent way.

[ShiftyFella]

When does Extraliga starts is it on 13 or 15?

[Petronius]

Originally Posted by ShiftyFella

When does Extraliga starts is it on 13 or 15?

13th

http://www.tenisovaextraliga.cz/

Check the Liberec roster, they have Pironkova

It's also funny that the sister of 1996 Wimbledon champ Richard Krajicek is listed as a Czech (she's fluent in both Dutch and Czech) to comply with the maximum of three foreigners in a team

BTW, shame that Radwanska and Cetkovska are on the same team and can't play against each other

[TimeyWimey]

Originally Posted by Petronius

13th

http://www.tenisovaextraliga.cz/

Check the Liberec roster, they have Pironkova

It's also funny that the sister of 1996 Wimbledon champ Richard Krajicek is listed as a Czech (she's fluent in both Dutch and Czech) to comply with the maximum of three foreigners in a team

BTW, shame that Radwanska and Cetkovska are on the same team and can't play against each other

Michaela? I heard the news she won't be able to play until next March

[TimeyWimey]

also last year massive withdrawal i remember, Caro, Aga, Dani......

[bruce goose]

Originally Posted by TimeyWimey

Michaela? I heard the news she won't be able to play until next March

Now THERE'S am easy name to forget.As I recall,she won about 3 titles when she was only 16 or so,and then she became surprisingly irrelevant.I joked with one of my friends that Michaella availed herself of too much of that free marijuana they give the young people in Holland(though I might be thinking of the wrong country))

Petra is a marked contrast there in that she won relatively little in her teens,when young players often begin blooming,and then suddenly shocked many folks with an impressive rise in her early 20s

[Petronius]

Originally Posted by TimeyWimey

Michaela? I heard the news she won't be able to play until next March

I've heard the same.