NALBANDIAN WON BUENOS AIRES!!!!!!

WOOHOOO!!! Nalbandian won Buenos Aires. I like Chucho (Acasuso) just fine, who he beat in the final, but I LOOOOVE David!
I wish I had been there. I am going to Buenos Aires in a few weeks. But I bet David will be off somewhere else, playing tennis. Sigh. What I would do to be with David in Argentina...

Sadly, I have been watching live scoring on the computer. This makes me feel like a complete loser. But, hey, there's no tennis during the week on the tennis channel. I need to give them a million dollars so they can do better at covering events.

I watched Sharapova beat Zvonareva. Nice handshake. Good to see Zvonareva playing well. But man, what happened in the 3rd set? Oh well.
Yours Truly,
Paula

The Final of Delray Beach

Wow. Kei Nishikori played some great tennis. I like James Blake a lot, so I was sort of sad to see him lose. Blake didn't NOT play well- Kei was just amazingly aggressive, hitting weird angles, taking control of points. And it's not Blake's fault there is a curse at Delray- The number one seed has never won the championship.
Yours Truly,
Paula

Open de Gaz Final

Go Chakky! A fun three setter, where Chakky beat the up and coming, or already arrived, number 20, the Hungarian Szavay. I liked Szavay's Fila look, like I like Kuzy's Fila look. I like Fila. That said, her hair was pulled back soooooo tightly, a la Jankovic, that it hurt to look at her head. Because it looked like her head was hurting.
Chakky looked like she was on the verge of tears the whole time. I just love her face. And her extreme Western grip. I will say this- she hits the ball hard and deep- and she should come in after more of those shots! If you hit a ball hard in a corner- come in. Once, I even saw her move up to take a short ball and then- nooo!- move back to the baseline. Gotta come it.
Anyway, I really like watching these ladies smack the living Christ out of those balls. It was inspiring. I want to go hit balls really hard. Fun!
Yours Truly,
Paula

Davis Cup Quarterfinals

Well, this isn't going to be a very long post. I watched the US beating Austria and it made me sad (I'm Austrian). But Melzer fought hard.
Then I watched Serbia and Russia. Russia won. Djokovic didn't play the first singles match and to his credit, Troiki played well. But Russia pulled through.
Honestly, I didn't get very excited about the Davis Cup. After all the drama in Israel during Fed Cup, I felt it was a bit snoozy.
Yours Truly,
Paula

Fed Cup

Well, I watched Maria Sharapova womp two Israelis in a row. The crowd was making her squealie noise when she did at one point and she still managed to win. I think when she put the hot womp on Peer, she was getting revenge. Peer and her benchmates were laughing and clapping when the crowd was mocking her squeal. I think Maria saw that and decided to get revenge. Boy did she. She was so fierce, so focussed. I kind of gained a new respect for her, for some reason. Maybe because Yuri wasn't there. Also, to see the whole crowd against her- you had to kind of pull for her. I also think that winning the Australian has given her momentum.
Here's a badass quote from after her second win: "If she needs the crowd to win..." and then something like, "It motivated me to play even better and I can win justwith my tennis." Sorry, not an exact quote! But you get the idea. Basically, she said to Peer, Fuck You.

I also watched as Lindsay lost to the German Lisicki. That baffled me, sort of, but also I've seen Lindsay fall apart on the court before. Also, I must give some credit to Lisiki. That broke my heart. I want her to do well, I really do. I missed Ashley Harkleroad's win but am happy about it. She's a cutie.

Right this second, I am watching Obzilier, the Israeli, beat up on Chakvedatze. Bummer. I guess I am rooting for Russia, although that is not reallymy style. I normally root for the underdog. Oh well.

Wow. The chair gave two points to Chakky! That's how bad the crowd is. And Chakky handles it my fistpumping like mad! I love Chakky. The crowd hurt their girl. The crowd bummed me out. I guess it's different and maybe that makes it exciting, the whole Davis and Fed Cup noise and er- patriotism - but it's not my favorite thing. Unless the Spanish are singing "Ole, Ole Ole...". But otherwise, I get really irritated by rude crowds, Fed Cup or not.
Here's a quote from Chakky after the match,"the crowd started to get aggressive... I liked having the crowd against me...it motivated me..after that, I think I only lost a few points..."
Again, with the fighting words! These women are FIERCE competitors.
Yours truly,
Paula