Vera's Moscow Blog 10/19/09 - 俄網 Tennis

Monday, October 19, 2009

Hi guys! I'm blogging from my hometown of Moscow this week and am looking
forward to keeping in touch with you all...

I came here from Beijing and have been back for a week already. Switching to
indoor can be hard so I've been practicing at the site. I like this
tournament because it's very rare Russians get a chance to play in front of
their home crowd! I'm really excited about it. I love the support - I don't
feel it's any extra pressure. Fortunately for us, we have a lot of Russian
players here; but for the crowd, sometimes it's hard for them to pick who to
cheer for! My first match is against a Romanian player, Olaru, so hopefully
they'll be on my side :)

A lot of people have been asking me about qualifying for the Sony Ericsson
Championships - Doha 2009. In case you haven't read, there are three of us
still with a chance to get there, and we're all in Moscow - myself, Jelena
and Agnieszka. You know, way back in April, I injured myself in Charleston
and thought my season might be over. I didn't even think I'd be able to
finish the season. I've just been so happy to be able to play since then,
that's all I've been thinking about. To still be in a position to make it to
Doha is just great.

I live in Moscow, but there's a lot of traffic and it's hard for me to stay
at home for this tournament, so I've been at the tournament hotel since a few
days ago. It feels just like any other tournament now - you have your
routine, checking in, taking the official car to the site, going back to the
hotel... it definitely helps me focus on tennis, too. The hotel is different
this year though. We're right next to the Red Square and from the cafe on the
12th floor there's a really nice view of the Kremlin. It's lit up at night,
which is beautiful. Yesterday we had the player party at one of the famous
cafes in Moscow, BlackBerry Cafe. It was great!

Today I had practice at 1pm then did the All-Access Hour. I had a lot of
press attention and one-on-one interviews too, some general media... it went
very well. I also took a few photos and signed a fridge at the Whirlpool
booth - then I went to the lounge, grabbed something to eat and did some
physio for my foot. Now I'm back in my room... so there was basically a
summary of my day :)

I think I'll watch a movie tonight. For the past three months I've been
travelling around with five or six DVDs and I didn't watch any of them...
until last night. I finished watching Surrogates, with Bruce Willis. It
reminded me of iRobot. In the movie no human has to do anything but lay on
their bed, and with their brain they can control a robot who lives their
life. I enjoyed it. I think my next one will be a comedy. I'm not usually a
fan of comedies but there's one I have, a Russian one. In English the title
is translated to something like 'Bride At Any Price'. That's the best way to
translate it, I believe! It's about this guy who wants to get married, no
matter what it costs him. I'll tell you about it tomorrow!

I have my first match tomorrow in the night session. I was in the finals here
last year so maybe that's why I was scheduled at night. Hopefully we'll have
a good crowd. First rounds are always tough. Olaru played well last week and
she's an up-and-coming, talented player, so it will be an interesting fight
for me. I'm going to go out there and try my best, enjoy the moment playing
at home, and we'll see where it goes. It's a great opportunity for me.

Until tomorrow!

Vera


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