Article by Pierre Cantin

Wednesday in Hamburg

As I arrived on the site of the tennis tournament this morning, once again clouds were all ovr the sky and looked like it would be another very dark day but fortunatly things improved and weather got better! Anyway, I first went to see the match between Patty Schnyder and Anca Barna, a very interesting match that I left in the second set when a friend came to tell me Jelena was practicing with Conchita on one of the few practice courts available to the public... Well by the time I got there, she was gone..needless to say I was very sad about it but what could I do ?

So I simply waited until later in the afternoon when Jelena and Conchita played together in doubles on court #2, a very nice court where it was easy to get close of the action and take a few good photos (or so I think..lol).. So they faced Rossana de Los Rios and Iroda Tulyaganova (that I also like a lot but of course I was rooting for Jelena!). Tulaganova is a player that hits very hard and forces thing, exactly the thing to avoid on clay courts and Jelena knows that very well so when I heard her tell Conchita that they just needed to keep the ball in play, it was no surprise at all!

They struggled in the first set as many points were very long especially because of errors and although it felt like Jelena and Conchita were dominating, the scoreboard was not so clear... but they finally regrouped to take the first set 6-4 and from that point never looked back as the second set (6-2) was all Jelena-Conchita, a 6-4, 6-2 match that was tougher than the score might indicate (it took 1h14 which also gives a better idea).


It was great to see Jelena have a lot of fun on the court, smiling at both good and not so good shots, just enjoying herslef... Things will be different tomorrow though as she faces Conchita in a second round match to be played late on center court, the fourth match to be played there... I will be there and will take some notes to let you know what happened, hopefully everything goes well!

So see you all tomorrow!

Pierre