When in Rome...

Martina & Liezel are the #3 seeds at the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome this week. They have received a first round bye and their opponents in the second round will be either Marta Domachowska and Emmanuelle Gagliardi or Dinara Safina and Roberta Vinci. For the complete draw, courtesy of the WTA Tour website, click here.

Prague wrap-up

Well, as most of you know by now, Martina & Barbora lost their quarterfinal match in Prague on Thursday, 6-4 6-2 to Ashley Harkleroad and Bethanie Mattek. It is very sad that Martina's first WTA Tour event in her country of birth ended like this but perhaps she might have another chance next year.

For two English-language articles, click on the following links: Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, CTK.

There have been some great photos added to the gallery on the tournament website. Check out pages 2 and 3 especially for the recent ones. Some of them can also be found on the WTA Tour website with English captions (select Prague from the drop-down menu).

For a few Czech articles, click on the following links: Mlada Fronta Dnes, CTK, Moje Noviny.

Radio Prague has a wonderful interview with Martina on their website. You can also listen to the audio clip with Real Player. You can also listen to a Czech interview with Martina on Radio Prague's website after Thursday's loss. It is always fascinating to hear Martina speak in her native language - even though I don't understand a single word!

There's another interview with Martina on the Mlada Fronta Dnes website here.

Another early link that I had missed previously. Eurosport has a nice AFP article in French featuring a number of quotes from after Martina's first round victory here.

Click here for an article in Czech on Martina & Katerina Newmannova. From the photos on the tournament website, it looks like they had a joint autograph session together. It also appears that Martina played an exhibition match in Prague with Lucie Hradecka against up-and-coming Czech youngsters, the twins Karolina and Kristynia Pliskova per this article in Czech from Mlada Fronta Dnes. The match score, I think, was 7-6 7-5 but I'm not sure who won! Martina also got to practice with old rival, Helena Sukova (see photo on tournament website).

And you can read the transcripts of the chat with Martina on the Idnes.cz website here.

Quarterfinal in Prague

Martina & Barbora have a difficult quarterfinal match ahead of them tomorrow. They are scheduled to take on Ashley Harkleroad and Bethanie Mattek on CEZ Koloseum.

A few Czech links from Mlada Fronta Dnes. Here's one and here's another. And I think there's some sort of online chat planned with Martina sometime this week because of this link - there seems to be a list of questions submitted by fans to Martina, at least I think that's what it is. Martina was on the front page of the print edition of the newspaper and that was very nice to see. You can see a copy of the front page here (pdf file).

I found some photos of Martina on a website called Protennis. There are a few photos of Martina in that nice gallery.

And here is an English translation to an earlier Czech article by the CTK. Some nice quotes by Martina there.

First round win in Prague

Martina & Barbora won their first round match today, defeating Olga Blahotova and Ahsha Rolle 6-2 6-3. There was a lot of media coverage of today's historic match - Martina's first ever WTA tournament win in her country of birth. No doubt, it was a day of high emotions for her. For a few English-language articles, click on the following links: Reuters, Associated Press, BBC.

For photos, check out the following links: Associated Press & Reuters photos on Yahoo! News; Getty Images, the official tournament website and Mlada Fronta Dnes.

For Czech articles, here are the links: Mlada Fronta Dnes, CTK, Lidove Noviny. I was also able to locate an additional few interviews with Martina in the Czech media: Mlada Fronta Dnes, the Czech tabloid Blesk, Hospodarske Noviny and Lidove Noviny. Again, if anyone can help with the translation, I would be most grateful. Thanks.

First round in Prague

Martina & Barbora play their first round match tomorrow against Olga Blahotova and Ahsha Rolle. It's scheduled last on CEZ Koloseum. You can read a Czech article from the CTK here. And there's a new photo of Martina from a practice session today on the official website here.

Meanwhile, the Written Voices Radio website has added an interview with Martina to their site where she talks about her new book "Shape Your Self." You can check that out here. Click on "Audio Interview." My special thanks to Yolanda for alerting me to this link.

Prague draw is out

The draw for the ECM Prague Open was announced today. Martina & Barbora Strycova are the #1 seeds and will take on Olga Blahotova and Ahsha Rolle in their opening match. For the complete doubles draw, courtesy of the WTA Tour, click here (page 3).

And click here for a nice article on Martina on the USTA website to help kick start National Tennis Month in the USA. Thanks to Andee for the link.

Martina in Prague!

Martina is in Prague right now for next week's ECM Prague Open. This will be Martina's first ever WTA Tour-level event in the Czech Republic. Previously, she played the Federation Cup in Prague in 1986 and while she did play the Bratislava International in 1973, that was in current-day Slovakia. Click here for some photos of Martina practicing from the Associated Press courtesy of Yahoo! News. More photos from Martina's practice session and press conference can also be found on the official tournament website.

As to be expected, Mlada Fronta Dnes has excellent coverage of Martina this week. Unfortunately, all articles are in Czech so I would really, really appreciate it if someone could help me out with the translation. Thanks in advance! Click here for an article from Thursday, here's one on Martina's arrival and click here for an interview with Martina today. I'm dying to know what Martina said in that interview, besides her comments on Czech President Vaclav Klaus - which have made the English-language news wires (more on that below). Click here for an earlier article, announcing Martina's doubles partner for this week, Barbora Strycova.

The official tournament website also has much on Martina, but again, it's all in Czech. And click here and here for articles from the Ceska Televize website. And one brief piece from Denik Sport. All in Czech - help, please!

More Czech articles - here's one from Ceska Tiskova Kancelar (CTK - Czech News Agency) that basically appears to cover Martina's comments in her interview today with Mlada Fronta Dnes. But I like that photo of Martina at the airport. Earlier articles from the CTK can be found here and here. There's something about the Czech cross country skier, Katerina Newmannova in there but what it says exactly, I don't know. It's also in this other article from Denik Sport. Again, if you can help with the translation, please czech with me - ok, bad joke but I couldn't resist :-)

Fortunately, I was able to find two articles in English! Click here for a nice article from the Prague Post and here for one from the AFP on Martina's comments on Czech President Vaclav Klaus.

Catching up...

Ok, I have some catching up to do...

First off, Martina was in Warsaw earlier this week for the J&S Cup. Unfortunately, the stay was brief. Martina & Liezel were upset in the first round by Ana Ivanovic and Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-4. Martina's visit to Poland did receive a lot of media attention so that was nice. Lots of photos available on the official tournament website (search by player) as well as the WTA Tour gallery and the Associated Press on Yahoo! News. Martina also appeared on Polish TV reading a passage from a children's book as part of a "Read to Your Children" initiative.

There are a couple of interviews available online. One with the Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza and another with Telewizja Polska (Poland's public television). And another short write-up from Polska Angecja Prasowa (scroll to the end). Unfortunately, all are in Polish. Could anyone help with the translation? Thanks in advance. And here are two brief articles, also in Polish, with photos from Telewizja Polska and Polska Angencja Prasowa.

Now for some alarming news. Martina's 1979 Wimbledon doubles trophy and her 1976 & 1980 Wimbledon semifinalist medals were placed up for auction on Lelands.com, a sports memorabilia auction house and last week, they fetched more than $39,000 collectively. Needless to say, Martina is very upset over this; she did not authorize this auction and how her trophy ended up there remains a mystery. Lelands.com is refusing to publicly reveal the name of the thief who stole these treasured items from Martina but have provided the name to Martina's attorneys. Click here for an article from USA Today to read what Martina had to say.

Miscellaneous links

Click here for a Q&A with Martina from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The article mentions that Martina has returned to the Czech Republic to be with her mother who is gravely ill.

Click here for a nice article on Billie Jean King by the Associated Press. Martina is quoted in that piece. A clarification: the photo on ESPN accompanying the article is actually from 1975 and not 1970.

Finally, the World TeamTennis schedule for 2005 was announced yesterday. Martina is playing two matches for the Boston Lobsters this year, on July 14 and July 24, both in Boston. More details can be found on the WTT website.

All West Coast appearances cancelled

Unfortunately, Martina had to cancel all West Coast appearances this week in the Bay Area & Seattle due to an illness in the family. Please ignore my entry from last night below. News on the rescheduling of some of the dates will be available soon. My special thanks to Jeremy for alerting me to this.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Martina and her family at this time.

Martina goes West...

Ok, I was almost done with the latest blog entry when my browser errored out on me and I had to close it, losing everything in the process; and now I have to start all over again. Grrrrr....

Martina is on the West Coast this week. Today, she was at a book signing in Westlake Village, California. On Tuesday, she will be in San Francisco and on Wednesday, in Seattle. If you live nearby and can attend, please do so and share your reports with us on the message board.

Tomorrow, Martina will be on Martha Stewart's show. Please check your local listings for timings. You can watch a short preview clip of Martina's appearance on Martha's website here.

This weekend, Martina also praticipated in the Pro/Celebrity race at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach where she finished an impressive 3rd! Well done, Martina! I couldn't find any articles on the race with quotes but there are pictures available. Check out Getty Images and two from Reuters and one from the Associated Press on Yahoo! News.

In other developments, Martina explained her renewed association with the Rainbow Card in this article from the Bay Windows newspaper of Boston. You can visit the official website of the Rainbow Card here.

I just noticed this recently. The SPRI website has a nice section on Martina and the products recommended by her.

Martina's next tournament will be the J&S Cup in Warsaw which begins May 1.

Martina on The Early Show

You can watch a clip of Martina's appearance on CBS' Early Show today at this link.

For the transcripts of her appearance on CNN's American Morning, click here.

Martina on the Today Show

You can watch Martina's appearance earlier today on the Today Show on the official website here. You need to have Internet Explorer as your browser to watch the video. It doesn't work with Firefox...

Martina is on CBS' Early Show tomorrow and American Morning on CNN.

Rodale, the publisher of Martina's new book, have the entire first chapter of the book, up on their website. Click here to read it.

Once again, click here for the comprehensive listing of Martina's upcoming appearances to promote "Shape Your Self".

Oh and by the way, Martina and Liezel lost their final match in Miami yesterday at the Nasdaq-100 Open, losing 6-4 7-5 to Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur. Martina and Liezel were up 5-2 in the second set but inexplicably lost 5 games in a row. For the transcripts of the post-match press conference, click here. And there are a few photos available on Getty Images and two from the Associated Press.

Semis in Miami

Martina & Liezel won their semifinal match yesterday, coming back from behind to defeat the #8 seeds, Shinobu Asagoe and Katarina Srebotnik 6-7 6-1 6-3. Martina & Liezel wasted three set points in the opening set but turned things around after that. This is Martina's first final in Miami in 19 years. They next face the ultimate test in the final against the #1 doubles team in the world, the top seeds, Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur.

Miami update

Click here for an article in today's Miami Herald, purportedly about Martina agreeing with Chris Evert's recent open letter to tennis great Serena Williams. However, only 2 direct quotes attributed to Martina can be found in the article, the rest is just useless fluff. If Martina sounds harsh in her comments, she could very well have been taken out of context - not the first time that's happened. Anyway, read it with a grain of salt. And there's a nice photo on that page from yesterday's match.

Martina & Liezel's semifinal tomorrow will be a night match on Stadium court. There have been no easy matches this week and tomorrow is no exception - they take on the #8 seeds, Shinobu Asagoe and Katarina Srebotnik.

Win in Miami

Martina & Liezel won their quarterfinal match at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami today, defeating Ting Li and Tian Tian Sun of China 7-6(3) 6-4. There are a few pics from the match on Getty Images.

WTT draft

The 2006 World TeamTennis draft was done yesterday. No surprise, Martina is playing WTT again this year for the Boston Lobsters. The WTT press release indicates this will be Martina's 18th WTT season but I think it is actually her 19th - 1976-78, 1981, 1991-96, 1998-present.

Martina's teammates on the Lobsters roster will be Todd Martin, Nicole Pratt, Amir Hadad, Kristin Schlukebir and Thomas Blake. Schlukebir & Blake are returning members from last season as is the Lobsters coach, Dr. Anne Smith.

More Martina...

More good news. Click here for a comprehensive list of all Martina's upcoming promotion activities for "Shape Your Self" - the file is in Microsoft Word format. Once again, I have to thank Martina's agent, Jeremy, for compiling this excellent list for us!

Looks like Martina is going to be all over the airwaves next week on shows like The Today Show, The Charlie Rose Show, Best Damn Sports Show Period, The Early Show, American Morning, Cold Pizza, Martha and many more; in addition to numerous radio appearances. That is just wonderful...

Click here for transcripts from Martina's press conference at the Nasdaq-100 Open yesterday. Martina & Liezel play their quarterfinal match on Stadium Court tomorrow!

More "Shape Your Self" updates...

First off, click here for a great article from the latest issue of Time magazine.

And good news for the Bay Area fans - Martina will be in San Francisco on April 11 for a book signing at 12:00 noon at 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books' (yes, that really is the name of the bookstore!)

Click here for a Microsoft Word document summarizing the dates, places & times of Martina's book signings starting next week. My special thanks go out to Martina's agent, Jeremy, for compiling this list for us.

And finally, many of you have probably already gotten your copy of "Shape Your Self" by now or will be getting it soon. I am looking for fans to write your own book reviews to post on my website. It doesn't matter if its just a few lines; I just feel it would be great to get some fan reaction to help spread the work about Martina's new book. Please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts and opinions. Thanks!

Another win in Miami

Martina & Liezel won their second round match at the Nasdaq-100 Open today, an impressive 6-3 7-6(2) victory over Iveta Benesova and Barbora Strycova. They have another difficult match ahead in the quarterfinals against the reigning Olympic champions, Ting Li and Tian Tian Sun of China.

Free tickets to see Martina!

Some great news here for fans in the New York City/tri-state area. Martina will be appearing on Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, a sports talk show on ESPN2, live, on Monday, April 3, at 4:00 p.m. The studio is located in the heart of New York City, across the street from Madison Square Garden.

The audience producer of the show has been generous enough to offer all interested Martina fans FREE tickets to attend the show! If any of you are interested and would like to attend, please e-mail me and I will send you the contact information.

Also, don't forget Martina's appearance the same day at the New York Times' TimesTalks event.

First Round Win in Miami

Martina & Liezel won their first round match in Miami yesterday at the Nasdaq-100 Open, with an impressive 5-7 6-2 6-2 victory over Nadia Petrova and Patty Schnyder. This was Martina's first match win of the year. They have another difficult match ahead of them in Round 2, against the Czech team of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Strycova.

Nasdaq-100 Open draw

The draw for the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami was done on Tuesday. Martina is playing with Liezel Horn-Huber again and they are seeded #7. They have a difficult first round match against Nadia Petrova & Patty Schnyder. For the complete doubles draw, click here.

"Shape Your Self" updates...

A couple of updates on "Shape Your Self"...

First, you can read an excerpt from the book on the website of Written Voices Radio. If that excerpt is anything to go by, I think it is safe to say we are really going to enjoy this book...

Depending on where you live, I have good news on Martina's upcoming book tour for "Shape Your Self". Here are a few more dates...

Martina will be in New York City on April 4 for a free book reading at 1:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble Fifth Avenue.

That same day, she will also make an appearance in Huntington, Long Island, New York at the Book Revue for another signing at 8:00 p.m.

Moving out west, Martina will be in the Los Angeles area on April 9 for a book signing at Costco in Westlake Village at 3:00 p.m.

And on April 12, she will be in Seattle, Washington at Borders on Fourth Avenue at 12:00 p.m.

This is all I am aware of at the moment. Once again, if any of you are aware of other stops on Martina's book tour, please let me know. At present, we are aware of five appearances - the above four and Madison, Connecticut on April 5. Thanks!

In addition to her appearances on NBC's Today Show and CNN's American Morning, Martina will also be appearing on CBS's Early Show. Exact dates are not available at the moment, but I will keep you posted...

Magazine interviews

Just a brief heads up... an interview with Martina is featured in the latest issue of Tennis Week. And you can catch another interview in the May edition of Shape magazine.

Martina on the Today Show! (and much, much more...)

Ok, I've got a lot to report on Martina's new book coming out within the next few weeks, but her upcoming Today Show appearance is certainly something to look forward to. It's scheduled for April 3; she will be there to promote "Shape Your Self." So North American fans, make sure you don't miss this.

In addition to the Today Show, Martina will also promote her book on CNN's American Morning (probably the same day?) and the New York Times' "Times Talk" - tickets are available to the latter, check their site here. I love that picture of Martina they have on that page.

To those of you who get "Fit TV", their "Art of the Athlete" series will feature Martina on April 6 at 8:00 p.m., Eastern time. It's an hour-long program.

We don't know the details of Martina's upcoming book tour just yet, but here is one stop that has been confirmed. She will be in Madison, Connecticut on April 5 at R.J. Julia Booksellers. Check the site for ticket information.

Here's a link to an interview Martina did for the Washington Flyer. My thanks to Sam for posting this interivew on the message boards.

And here's some more good news. Martina has come up with a comprehensive exercise program to accompany her book and has teamed with SPRI to develop retail packages of fitness products used for the various exercises. You can read more about that in this SPRI press release.

Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race

Martina will be in Long Beach, California next month for the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race (car race, that is!) to be held in conjuction with the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the first race of the Champ Car World Series. For those unfamiliar with the Champ Car Series, check out their Wikipedia entry.

Check out the press release announcing the participants, including Martina. Qualifying begins April 7 with the real thing the following day.

This sounds like a fun event and it is for a good cause, but PLEASE BE CAREFUL, MARTINA!

Another first round loss

Martina & Liezel lost their first round match in Doha today, knocked out 5-7 6-3 7-5 by Eleni Daniilidou and Anabel Medina Garrigues.

!@#$!%#@$^@#$!!!

Doha: Tuesday order of play

The Order of Play for Doha tomorrow is out. Good luck, Martina & Liezel!

Doha draw

The doubles draw for Doha is out. Martina & Liezel are the #4 seeds again and have another difficult first round match on their hands, this one against Eleni Daniilidou and Anabel Medina Garrigues. For the complete doubles draw, click here.

Tennis - Give it a shot!

On Wednesday, Martina participated in a press conference in Dubai to announce tour sponsor Sony Ericsson's support of a tennis initiative for children called "Tennis - Give it a Shot!" Martina & Lucie Safarova engaged in a few mini-tennis drills with children at the City Centre Mall in Deira (north Dubai) and posed for pictures afterwards. Click here for a short article on the program from the Khaleej Times. And here to visit the WTA Tour's photo gallery for pics (select gallery Dubai2).

1st World Outgames in Montréal

Martina will be involved with the World Outgames to be held in Montréal this summer. The Outgames is a new event on the LGBT scene and comprises of 35 sporting disciplines and 4 cultural activities, to be held July 29 to August 5. Prior to the Games, Martina will participate in the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights. The conference is expected to adopt a final resolution affirming LGBT rights entitled the 'Declaration of Montréal.' Martina will read this declaration at the Games' opening ceremony.

You can read more in the press release on the Outgames website here. For more information on the origins of the Outgames which arose after a dispute with the Gay Games license holders, check out this Wikipedia entry. The Gay Games will be held a week earlier in Chicago. More information on the conflict and the two competing Games can be found here. FYI, Billie Jean King serves as an ambassador to the Gay Games along with Melissa Etheridge, Elton John, Rudy Galindo and others.

Looking at the tennis calendar, Martina's participation at the Outgames means she will definitely not be able to play the Bank of the West Classic in Palo Alto, California that week. Which ordinarily shouldn't be a surprise given that she hasn't played there since it moved from Oakland 10 years ago; but then she told Out Traveler last year, it was one of her favorite tournaments!!????

Upcoming schedule

Now that I'm back, I think I need to summarize Martina's upcoming schedule for those who might not be in the know as yet...

Like I said earlier, she is playing Doha next week with Liezel Horn-Huber.

Martina will not be playing Indian Wells this year...

She will be in Miami next for the Nasdaq-100 Open. Martina has not missed this event since 2001.

She is definitely not playing Amelia Island or Charleston this year.

There is a possibility Martina will make her claycourt season debut in Warsaw in May for the J&S Cup. This would mark her first tour appearance in Poland since winning the European Amateur Championships as a 17-year-old in 1974 in Wrclaw - a result that has since been carelessly omitted from her WTA Tour record.

Martina will be making a return to Prague in May for the ECM Prague Open. This will be her first-ever WTA Tour event in Prague. The news attracted a lot of media attention as the following sources will attest: Reuters, AFP, The Prague Daily Monitor. The original articles in Czech from Mlada Fronta Dnes can be read here and here. Martina last played competitively in the Czech Republic in 1999 in Prague, an exhibition mixed doubles match with Jan Kodes against Helena Sukova & Jiri Hrebec. Martina & Jan won the pro-set match, 9-6.

Rome follows with the Italian Open. Martina has never skipped this event since her return to the tour in May 2000.

Roland Garros, of course, is next.

Martina confirms she will be returning to Eastbourne this year. Last year, she opted to skip Eastbourne for 's-Hertogenbosch.

To be following, naturally, by Wimbledon...

Besides Doha - and perhaps Prague where she might play with Kveta Hrdlickova-Peschke - we don't know who Martina's doubles partner is going to be at the remaining events. She has indicated that she would like to play a few events with Martina Hingis...

Disappointment in Dubai

First post of the year!

Martina made her 2006 debut this week in Dubai at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. She was seeded #4 with the South African Liezel Horn-Huber. Unfortunately, they were upset in their opening round match, going down to the wildcard pair of Jelena Jankovic of Serbia & Montenegro and Na Li of China 1-6 5-7. Martina & Liezel served for the second set at 5-4 and had two set points but failed to capitalize.

Information on yesterday's match can be found in the following articles from the Emirati media: Khaleej Times, The Gulf Today. Scroll down a bit to get to the relevant news. Check out Getty Images for photos from yesterday's match and a pic of Martina from the tournament's player party in Dubai.

Martina next heads to Doha, Qatar for the Qatar Total Open where she is also expected to play with Liezel.