Tuesday’s Hear Nothing, Say Nothing
Cornet unleashed her frustrations on her coach
Tuesday’s Nine
Not only a title of an upcoming movie musical starring Daniel Day-Lewis, but also the number of games Fernando Verdasco won in today’s first round before his opponent Pablo Cuevas got on the scoreboard.
Tuesday’s Juggler
Nikolay Davydenko said that his real preparation for the US Open just started this week. Davydenko noted that the last two weeks, tournaments were played with Penn balls. As New Haven and the US Open are both played using the Wilson brand, “you have to change everything.”
Davydenko won in New Haven in 2006
Tuesday’s “My Exit Music, Please!”
Davydenko also emphasized the importance of the tournament for his ranking. With the changes to the ATP World Tour schedule this year, there are fewer opportunities for him to gain ranking points he missed out on by skipping three months due to injury at the beginning of the season. Thinking about the injury must have put Nikolay in a bad mood, as he became frustrated when a reporter (not this one) asked him a previously answered question in Russian. After a “How is your season going?” follow-up from the same enquirer, Davydenko sarcastically said in Russian, “I missed three months, it’s going amazingly well!” and left the room.
Tuesday’s Wise Guy
Fabrice Santoro looked to be in pain today, as he kept grabbing and stretching his back, despite defeating Italy’s Potito Starace 6-3, 6-0. When asked if the back pain was an issue, Santoro replied, “Nothing bad. Just age.” The veteran will play his 69th(!) and last Grand Slam tournament at the US Open next week.
Tuesday’s Bring Your Pet to Work Day
An interesting sight awaited fans at the practice courts today as Kateryna Bondarenko brought her chihuahua to training. The dog later made an appearance in Kateryna’s purse at her sister Alona’s match against Amélie Mauresmo.
Letting the dog out of the bag
Tuesday’s Boxing Day
After defeating Lucky Loser Edina Gallovits 6-0, 6-0, Defending Champion Caroline Wozniacki discussed her newly acquired passion for boxing with the media. On suggestion from good friend and boxing Champion Mikkel Kessler, Wozniacki began training with a boxing coach following this year’s Wimbledon. She credits boxing with making her quicker and raising her endurance. The Dane refused to admit to picturing any WTA Tour opponents when hitting a punching bag, however. “I’m afraid I’m not a hitting kind of person,” she said.
Tuesday’s Overheard in the Press Room
At 6-3, 5-2 to Rajeev Ram in the last match of the day, a source personally familiar with last year’s finalist Mardy Fish remarked, “Fish is a little… ‘damaged goods;’ he’s not coming back.” Not clear whether the speaker referred to Mardy’s fractured rib or to his career outlook. Fish lost the second set 6-3.
Svetlana Kuznetsova greeted some loud tournament guests from Girl Scouts today
More photos from the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament.
Photos: Mariya Konovalova
