Pre-Tournament Report
by Craig Thomas
The couple of days before a tournament begins often provide a
great opportunity to see not only young up and coming players as
they battle their way through qualifying, but also to watch some
of the big names on the practice courts. Often top ranked players
will hit with each other, exchange jokes and clown around, showing a
side of themselves which is rarely seen on the court in the tournament
proper or in front of the world's media. This year's Australian
Open was not an exception to this rule.
Both the Saturday and Sunday before this year's Open were hot, with
temperatures comfortably over 30 degrees centigrade (86 degrees
Fahrenheit). This seemed, on the Saturday at least, to prove to be
some irritation to Marat Safin during his practice session with
Nicolas Kiefer. Several times he cried out, complaining about the
heat, and also asking why it is always so hot in Australia! Finally
a combination of the heat and his erratic form got the better of
him and he vented his frustration on a racquet, smashing it into the
ground about five times till he got the desired result -- he rendered
it unusable! But his outburst had a positive side for a young fan
who was the glad recipient of the wrecked racquet, which Marat was
kind enough to sign for him at the end of the training session.
Perhaps there was also something else behind Marat's annoyance --
he was complaining about losing $300 at the Casino the previous
night!
Later in the day, way out on Court 15, in the furthest corner of the
Tennis Centre, the two Belgians Sabine Applemans and Kim Clijsters
arrived for a practice session. There was much laughing and joking
prior to them starting. Sabine trained for about 30 minutes, while
Kim worked for another half hour with a couple of hitting partners.
While they were both still on court Elena Dementieva and Daja
Bedanova arrived on the court next door. When Elena realized there
was no water available on the court, she wandered over to Court 15,
gave Sabine and Kim each a friendly smile and a wave, and asked them
if there was any on their court! Told no, she headed back to join
Daja in a warm up exercise which involved them throwing an American
gridiron football back and forth to each other the full length of the
court! And Elena has a pretty good arm!
Also training together on the Saturday were Todd Martin and Nicolas
Lapentti. They played a set, with several of Nicolas' family members
calling the lines from the photographer's pit! After a couple of
close calls which went Nicolas' way, Todd looked closely at the
impromptu linespeople, frowned, and said "Yeah, I guess they look
trustworthy", causing everyone to break into laughter.
On the Sunday, while there were even more of them out training
together, players seemed far more serious. With a Grand Slam
tournament starting the following day it's probably not surprising
that the players begin to focus much more intently. However, there
was still some fun and games taking place. Patty Schnyder was
training with Chanda Rubin when they decided to start playing
points. Patty played the points very seriously, running Chanda
wide, making her rush forward to reach drop shots, and really making
her work very hard in the heat. After about the fourth point like
this Chanda cried out, "No, Patty, no, why are you so mean?", causing
Patty and her coach to laugh, during which Chanda's coach replied,
"No Patty, you keep making her work!".
In the afternoon the hottest player on the tour at the moment,
Justine Henin, the winner of the lead up events on the Gold Coast and
in Canberra, did a publicity shoot in the grounds of the Tennis
Centre. This seemed to mainly involve cuddling her boyfriend and
sipping champagne. Such is the price of success!
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The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine.
https://tennis-ontheline.com/01aocm1.htm © 2025
Last updated 26 September 2015
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