For Alizée fans only - what really matters in 2012…
Day 29. What’s your favourite tennis surface.
Red Clay.
Another reason why I’d like to go to the French? Because I love red clay. The end.
Day 28. The Grand Slam you would most like to go to.
Roland Garros.
This is a tough one, because I want to attend all four before I die, and I’ve already been to the US Open every year since 2001, so that leaves the Australian, French and Wimbledon. Wimbledon is difficult to get tickets to, and Australia is insanely hot, so combine those two things with the fact that I can speak pseudo proficient French, I’d have to pick Roland Garros. Most of my favorite players play their best on clay, and for whatever reason, it ends up being my favorite Slam overall from year to year that I see on TV. It might even be the aesthetics of the red clay, the players sliding and running for dropshots. Tennis nerds love clay, so why should I be any different?
Obligatory Chocolate Cake Picture #5
Wedding Cake.
Day 27. A match that makes you sad.
2009 French Open Final. Kuznetsova def. Safina
I don’t have the heart, nor the stomach to post a video of this match. It was a day I, as a DinaraKAD, was supposed to remember forever. Here was Dinara Safina, who worked so hard for the last year to become the #1 player in the world, who wanted nothing more than to silence her critics and her doubters and win a Grand Slam and prove that she deserved the mantle of “World’s #1.” I was due to take the ACT that day, but when Dinara made the final, I made a point of taking the day off, because I felt that this was a match I had to see. She in the finals of her favorite slam, on her best surface, in the form of her life, and playing a player whom she defeated on clay in their last meeting, owned in their overall head to head, and was infamous for choking in the big moments.
So as you can imagine, to this day, I don’t know what went wrong.
Day 26. A Match That Makes You Happy.
2010 Madrid: Nadia Petrova vs. Serena Williams
What to say about this match, really? First of all, this was a match that I was convinced Nadia was going to lose; she had beaten Serena in Beijing a few months prior, and even though this was her worst surface, Serena’s 6-7 7-6 7-6 win over Vera Dushevina in the round prior was an indication that, good form or not, she was there to play. And I was already down because this week marked Dinara Safina’s third straight loss, which put us a tournament away from her own career nadir, but we’re gonna talk about Nadia here. Anyway, Nadia had never played Serena on clay, but in theory, this was a surface that should give the Russian an advantage, but in the first set, the surface seemed to be negated, as the two played a set of tennis that might as well been played on a hard court, and Serena won it 6-4. Nadia’s second serve game of the second set (1-1) was to be INSANE. As I remember, it went to nine deuces, and Serena had plenty of chances to break/take complete control of this match. I was so disconcerted at the fact that neither was able to win the game that I went downstairs for something. By the time I’d come back, Nadia had held. Clearly, Petrova was also here to play. From then on, not much changed. The games still went with serve. But Nadia broke Serena twice in each set and managed to stay just ahead for the duration of the match, serving it out to win 6-3 in the third. It was also the day of my senior prom, and I was feeling bummed for an assortment of reasons, so this match really cheered me up. Being Nadia, she would lose the next round to Safarova, but for what it’s worth, I’m grateful for this match.
Day 25. Favorite Tennis Wag.
Kim Sears.
Dumps her boyfriend for playing too much Xbox? I wanna be her best friend.
Day 24. Favourite tennis couple.
Andre Agassi & Steffi Graf.
Token tennis couple. the end.
Day 23. Favourite mixed doubles team.
Martina Navratilova & Leander Paes.
Yeah, phoning this one in. Mixed doubles teams don’t stay the same for long, but I definitely remember this team.
