As luck would have it, there was a Tier II WTA event in Filderstadt, Germany, while we were over there, so being the huge tennis fans we are,
we couldn't pass up the opportunity to drop by.
We got to see five great matches the day we were there!
To start the day we watched American Lindsay Davenport, the number one player in the world at that
time, make short work of Francesca Schiavone, 6-2, 6-2. (Lindsay has since retired to become a mom,
but is thinking about coming out of retirement and returning to tennis soon.)
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| Lindsay Davenport | Francesca Sciavone |
The second match of the day pitted Russian star Anastasia Myskina, winner of the 2004 French Open,
against the feisty Dinara Safina. Myskina won in a nail-biter, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5.
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| Anastasia Myskina | Dinara Safina |
Next up were Daniela Hantuchova, who we saw in person defeat Martina Hingis in the final on our first trip to Indian
Wells back in 2001, against Swiss Patty Schnyder. Hantuchova won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
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| Daniela Hantuchova | Patty Schnyder |
In spite of her "home-court advantage" in Filderstadt, Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany couldn't manage to do much against
tough top-twenty Russian Nadia Petrova. The match was mercifully quick, 6-3, 6-2.
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| Anna-Lena Groenefeld | Nadia Petrova |
And, finally, in the last match of the day, my favorite player on the tour, Belgian Justine Henin, suffered
a huge upset in losing to Flavia Pennetta of Italy, 6-4, 6-3. My consolation, however, was that after the match Flavia hit
three autographed balls up into the crowd, and I snagged one.
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| Justine Henin | Flavia Pennetta |
In between matches, we went to an autograph signing. One of the most likeable players on the tour, Kim Clijsters,
signed a picture for me. I have gotten several autographs from her over the years and she is always very gracious!
Since this photo was taken, Kim has retired from tennis (at age 25) to get married and start a family. She is expecting her
first child in the fall of 2007.
One more thing before we leave Filderstadt -- For some reason we couldn't figure out, they still
had this old scoreboard up on the wall behind the bleachers...
If you follow tennis at all, you wouldn't have to see the year on the scoreboard to know it was really old.
Check out the names -- a blast from the past if you ever saw one! Pam Shriver is now a tennis commentator for ESPN, Zina Garrison
does some coaching for the Williams sisters (or at least last I heard she did), Gabriella Sabatini is probably enjoying retirement
somewhere in Italy, and Martina Navratilova is still playing great doubles at major tournaments! Martina turned 50
in December 2005! What an inspiration to all us "old folks"!