Monday, May 23, 2005

Roland Garros with Arantxa!

The Roland Garros doubles draw was announced today. The big surprise is that Martina's doubles partner this fortnight will be Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario! At #166, Arantxa's ranking was too low to meet the field cutoff so the team was given a wildcard.

Arantxa retired from tournament play after the 2002 season but she returned last year to play few events to prepare for the Athens Olympics. She won Palermo, made the finals in Bali and the quarterfinals in Berlin, so it was not a bad year for Arantxa. This year's Roland Garros though will be her first event of the year so I'm not quite sure what to expect from our team. They take on the claycourt specialists, Lourdes Dominguez Lino & Nuria Llagostera Vives in their opening match. For the complete draw, click here.

And a quick note to all fans... Martina confirmed on the message boards last week that she will not be playing in Eastbourne next month. She has decided instead to compete in the Ordina Open in 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands instead.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Laureus World Sports Awards

Martina was in Lisbon yesterday for the Laureus World Sports Awards. She presented the award for World Sportsman of the Year to none other than Roger Federer. For a photo of Martina on the red carpet, click here. Also check out the Getty Images & Rex Features sites for additional photos. And for a short video clip, click here for the BBC Sport website - the video link is in the top-right corner.


Disappointment in Rome...

Unfortunately, Martina did not have a good tournament in Rome. Francesca & she were upset in their opening match by Maria Elena Camerin & Tathiana Garbin 6-4 6-2. Martina's next event is Roland Garros in Paris in one week's time.

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Finally... Rome!

Martina is back after a long break... has it really only been three weeks since her last event? Martina will team up with Francesca Schiavone next week for the Telecom Italia Masters in Rome. They are the #7 seeds and have a difficult first match ahead of them against the all-Italian pair of Maria Elena Camerin and Tathiana Garbin. For the complete draw, courtesy of the tournament website, click here.