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.