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drake3781 · Aug 21st, 2009, 02:03 AM

Here is what I wrote about Alisa in my Cincinnati tournament thread, including what she had to say to her fans here on TF!

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I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Alisa Kleybanova today. I saw her doing stretching and a bands warmup outside the practice courts as I was entering today. When I went over there, she was still working with the bands, outside the end court (where Sugi/Dulgheru were practicing).

(I had to ask who Dulgheru was because I recognized Sugi right away but not Dulgheru. By the way it was Sugi serving, Dulgheru returning, and her coach giving advice on her return of serve. I think Sugi was alone at her end.)

So I debated whether Alisa would mind being bothered or not, then decided to go ahead and ask if I could take her picture - I meant a pic of her working with the bands. She said sure, very friendly and no attitude, then her coach told me to come over and he would take a picture of her with me.

I asked her if she would like me to pass on any message to her fans on Tennis Forum.

She took a minute and I thought she maybe didn't understand me or know what that was. Then she said: it's good to have fans, she appreciates it very much, and thanks us so much for supporting her. And she told me/us that she hopes we will enjoy the tournament very much. I wished her good luck - knew she had a doubles match later today.

(In fact it just ended now - Monday night around 9:30 PM as I'm writing this - after the rain delay, and she won it - partnered with Makarova. She has her R1 Singles match Tuesday morning, so this has been a long day with an early start tomorrow, due to the rain.)

She looks great - not glamorous but just very cool pretty looks which I really like - and she is big but in a just right way for a pro athlete, not fat or overly bulky. She is very nice and down to earth. She speaks very good English which is only lightly accented. Her voice is deep, and friendly, and she is really very nice to be around.

Also her coach was super friendly and helpful with information. I really like it when coaches are like that - like to talk about their players and make contacts and network a bit - enjoy themselves and bring down the barriers between players and fans.