Tags
Agnieszka Radwańska, Ana Ivanović, Dinara Safina, Dominika Cibulková, Elena Dementieva, Francesca Schiavone, Kimiko Date Krumm, Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli, Melanie Oudin, Victoria Azarenka, Yanina Wickmayer
For nearly a year, my excitement could not be contained! I constantly talked about it, annoying everyone but myself. I am, of course talking about tennis. I know, more tennis talk when I said I would only blog about it for a few days. So this overflowing excitement was all about the Bank of the West Classic at beautiful Stanford, where beautiful tennis players compete for the title.
July 2010
Maria Kirilenko of Russia, practicing with Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan. Date Krumm was the oldest in the tournament. We watched her beat former #1, Dinara Safina.
I love this shot I took of Dinara Safina (left). I think she has a perfect serving pose, if you will. The picture on the right is Victoria Azarenka. She defeated Maria Sharapova in the championship. My mom and sister watched the match. We, however, watched it on TV in Maui. Below, is Agnieszka Radwanska.
I was not at first familiar who Samantha Stosur was. She somehow escaped my tennis radar until her winning streak at the French Open last year, eliminating a lot of big names. Unfortunately, she lost to Francesca Schiavone in the championship match, who is now my hero (more on her later). Just minutes before her match, my daughter asked for her autograph. She did not decline and even posed with my mom–rather, my mom stood next to her. We could not get enough of her, so we waited for over an hour after her match to get her autograph–again!
Elena Dementieva, though did not speak to her fans, kept a smile on her face signing tennis bags and balls, hats and magazines. The picture on the top right is Yanina Wickmayer. She had just won a match that day and was all smiles posing with her fans including that kid who has no idea who she is. Marion Bartoli, defending champion of the Bank of West Classic.
Melanie Oudin, top left, who rushed past me headed to the locker room. Minutes later, we found her on the court, warming up. Top right is Dominika Cibulkova. I was not familiar with her, too back then. Bottom left is Kimiko Date Krumm. There’s that kid again who would rather not ask players for their autographs. Ana Ivanovic, practicing.
Well, there you have it! This was such a fun experience for me, my mom and especially my daughter, bored as she was during some of the matches but behaved herself excellently with the promise of food. I cannot wait for the next tournament in July. Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova will be there.