[croat123]

Planning on skipping class to see Sanda tomorrow! Will probably stick around to see Silvija as well! Going to the draw ceremony and stalking K-lina all day long (just hope i don't end up like anna k.'s stalking )

[Jerraj]

Originally Posted by croat123

Going to the draw ceremony and stalking K-lina all day long (just hope i don't end up like anna k.'s stalking )

I think she wouldn't mind

[AjdeNate!]

tell K-Lina we all love her and stuff!!!

[croat123]

OK, day 1 (i'll do it in order, croatian stuff only, but YES, I DID SEE K-LINA AND I TALKED TO HER):

Got there around 10:45 and ran to court 10. sanda was up 5*-4 against yakimova, but she was complaining that yakimova was receiving coaching from her mom. sanda played a very poor 2 games to go down 5*-6. she hit a couple of big first serves to get into a tb. at 0*-1 the two played an amazing point and sanda had it on her racquet, but she netted an easy volley with an open court. he went on to miss a few backhands and hit 2 costly dfs to lose the tb. sanda picked up her game in the second, getting more first serves in and dominating with her forehand. she hit the most amazing shot of the day in the first game at game point. she hit a second serve and moved in about two feet inside the service line. yakimova blasted a backhand down the line and sanda hit a reflex stretch bh volley crosscourt for the winner. at the begining of the third set, sanda got cramps in both legs she could hardly walk for the rest of the match. yakimova continued getting help from her mom and sanda kept complaining about it, but the ump never paid attention. when yakimova was down bp while serving for the match she literaly walked over to her mom for instructions and the ump didn't notice sanda couldn't do anything though because she was in a lot of pain. at one point in the third she looked at her coach and said that she couldn't even walk still, she put up an amazing fight and still could have won the match despite the cramps. what i really liked is the fact that she changed the pace a lot by hitting deep moonballs and by coming into net.
next croat: roko karanusic. got there at 7-5 3-2 for roko. he plays a lot like coria - gets a lot of balls back and then attacks. good effort from him, depite the fact that he went from 5-3 and 40-15 to 5-5 and 15-40 before closing out the second set (his coach told him that there's a cold beer waiting for him if he closes this set out ).
last match of the day: talaja vs. czink. awesome first set from silvija, only a few errors and many down the line winners. czink picked it up at the beginning of the second and started to attack more. silvija dozed off for a while, but regained control with some nice drop shots and passes. she ened the match with an ace. her coach was really cool. i talked to him the whole time and he introduced me to silvija after the match
finally, i saw K-lina she was on practice court E at around 3 pm with her hitting partner (honestly, she kicked his ass). if she plays anywhere near the level she did in practice, i can see her getting deep into the draw. only problem is that i was talking to her second coach (she has two bikic and this other dude) and he said that her problem was transferring her game from practice into matches. i liked the fact that she was hitting lots of angles and drop shots and even coming into net. she had to share the court with els callens and lindsay lee waters (i met her husband and 7 year old daughter ). she didn't want to finish practice even when her coach said that it was over (she had to win the last point against her practice partner for good luck). then, the wierd second co-coach dude (whatever you want to call him) introduced me to her and i wished her the best of luck and we talked tennis a bit. she likes her draw because she feels confident about winning her second round match and she feels that, if she can get some momentum, she can beat hantuchova as well.


anyways, can't go tomorrow unless there's a croat playing from 12:45 to 2:45 or after 5... (because classes suck at life). going all day wednesday though!!

[croat123]

btw, K-lina hits the ball a million times harder in real life than she does on TV. simply amazing

and, also btw, silvija couldn't hit an overhead if her life depended on it. she netted just about every one she got to hit and the one that she hit over the net hit the nasdaq100 sign all the way in the back of the court

[AjdeNate!]

Thanks croat! Sooooooooooo amazing you got to talk to K-Lina, I hope you were sure to tell her she has many fans that love her

[croat123]

yeah i did. also gave her the link to the website!!

[AjdeNate!]

[Jeff]

Hey Croat! Yeah I saw Karolina at Indian Wells last week. She really does hit the heck out of the ball. You really cannot tell so much unless you are sitting on the sidelines

[CooCooCachoo]

Thanks Was a nice read

[drive-volley]

Thankyou for this report, that changed my point of view. I thought Sanda lost her match because of her inconsistency. It obviously wasn't easy to be consistent and fight in such a tough match with cramps in both legs. But I see Sanda didn't give up to te end, so respect for her.

[King Aaron]

Originally Posted by croat123

finally, i saw K-lina she was on practice court E at around 3 pm with her hitting partner (honestly, she kicked his ass). if she plays anywhere near the level she did in practice, i can see her getting deep into the draw. only problem is that i was talking to her second coach (she has two bikic and this other dude) and he said that her problem was transferring her game from practice into matches. i liked the fact that she was hitting lots of angles and drop shots and even coming into net. she had to share the court with els callens and lindsay lee waters (i met her husband and 7 year old daughter ). she didn't want to finish practice even when her coach said that it was over (she had to win the last point against her practice partner for good luck). then, the wierd second co-coach dude (whatever you want to call him) introduced me to her and i wished her the best of luck and we talked tennis a bit. she likes her draw because she feels confident about winning her second round match and she feels that, if she can get some momentum, she can beat hantuchova as well.

Since Bikic is/was there, is there any chance you know why Jelena wasn't in Miami?

[Principessa]

Great report!
Too bad Sanda got injured, she could have won that match.
And awesome you got to talk to Karolina.

[croat123]

Originally Posted by King Aaron

Since Bikic is/was there, is there any chance you know why Jelena wasn't in Miami?

don't know, sorry

[croat123]

Ok, i caved and skipped two classes to at least see some tennis today. Got there at 9.
Saw Mario Ancic. Wished him luck, he seemed pretty shy. He hit with Robredo and they played a miniset to 4 which mario won easily. Watched Roko play. He started off amazingly well with some great bh dtl passes, but clement was just too good. Roko came into net a lot, but clement always had the answer. Best match of the day that I saw, long rallies with both guys doing a lot of running. Too bad that Roko couldn't hold onto his break in the first. I got introduced to him after the match cause my friend who I was watching it with met him yesterday. Really cool guy. I ended up eating lunch with him and his coach. He was really mad at himself for losing such a close match.
Then I saw Silvija Talaja play . Poor, poor preformance. She played so much better yesterday. She can't hit an overhead Missed 7 of those badly. Didn't get many first serves in and also missed a lot of returns. Credit to Peer though, she kept the errors down and came into net a lot. Talked to Silvija's coach again for a good part of the match, he's a really cool guy.
Anyways, that's it for today cause i had to leave at 2:30 to make my last class. No K-lina sightings (even though i tried my hardest).