Another great day at Stanford, even if the temps did dip when the sun went down. It's really hard to tweet on an iPhone when your hands are shaking uncontrollably.
- It was the first official day of the tournament. I know this because the media center was humming. Significantly more crowded and lots of chatter.
- Pulled into the parking lot right as Stubbsy was parking her car 20 feet from me. She was walking to the courts with Lisa Raymond. They totes jaywalked.
- Watched 45 minutes of Aga's match. That was about all I could take.
- Ana's attempts at trash-talking are as threatening as you'd think they'd be. She was returning serves against Heinz, who was clearly puff-balling them into the box. Exasperated, she finally issued a challenge: "Come on. Hit one." The crowd oohed and laughed at the challenge. Heinz reached back and smashed a scorcher. Into the bottom of the net. He tried again. Missed. Tried again. Missed. He missed, like 7 straight serves. Finally, Ana, with a wry smile, taunted him. "Is that all you got?" Again, the 20 person peanut gallery laughed. Ana, of course, giggled. Heinz continued to miss. "I'll give you 10 push-ups if you get this one in." Nope. Miss. She finally stepped off the court and gestured for him to serve. He fired one into the box. "Oh, so when I'm standing there it's a problem?" She stood back in. He missed. Ana? You're pretty. It's distracting, even to old men like Heinz. Needless to say, it was not a productive return session. Thankfully, Kleybs pulled a Heinz in their match so returning wasn't really a big deal.
- Watched Melanie Oudin hit for a while. Ok, like 5 minutes. But it wasn't particular compelling.
- I actually spent most of the day watching live tennis matches, as I had missed quite a few practice sessions in the morning. The weather has cooled a bit so it was perfectly pleasant to sit out in the sun.
- Zeljko clearly hasn't learned a thing. After Domi's match, which she won fairly easily, he had her back out on the practice courts hitting some intense drills for over an hour. The dude definitely has a philosophy.
- Liezel's voice will curl your blood.
- I've always wondered how Lindsay and Liezel are buddies. Their personalities just don't seem to mesh. It seems to me that Lindsay would find Liezel kind of dorky and ridiculous and not in a cute and endearing way. Well, I got to see a bit of that today. Lindsay hit an ace that *barely* ticked the net. Liezel called a let. "Oh, come on. Technicality!" "Ok, fine fine fine. It was an ace." "Liezel. I was kidding." Not sure the tone comes across but I laughed.
- Stanford is a "dry" campus. Learn something new every day.
- Funny sight: Dinara, Ana, and Zeljko, on the practice courts, side by side by side. According to @sblily, Team Domi was actually on the center court when Dinara took the court next to them. They proceeded to move to the furthest court down. Ana, being the aloof kid that she is, took the middle court.
- Once again, Vika reminded me how great her hands are at the net. She absolutely carried her team to the decisive win over Dani/Wicky. MaKiri just had to stand there and look pretty. Watch out, world. Wait until Vika figures out how to get to the net. She'll terminate 9/10 of those points. Really impressive touch.
- Masha held an autograph session and the line was looooooong.
- It is *very* difficult to watch your favorite players play and not be able to cheer for them. As those who have attended tennis matches with me know, I'm a yeller. Obnoxiously so. But with that media pass around my neck, that would be pretty damn inappropriate. So I sat. Quietly. Sitting on my hands.
- Ok, I wasn't completely quiet. As @sblily knows, I was totally muttering under my breath the entire time. But no clapping, no come ons, no davis, and no ajdes. It was painful.
- Got to sit in my first presser and of course it would be for Ana. She was as advertised. I've seen enough of her pressers to know what to expect. It did indeed feel like you were sitting in on a therapy session. I didn't ask any questions but that's mainly because the one I was most curious about (her thoughts on the wildcard sitch) was taken care of. No pressers from Dinara or Kimiko. It was quite late. Instead, the WTA went into the locker room to get some quotes from them and then circulated those. Helpful.
- Oh, and I saw Brandi Chastain. That was pretty cool. If it's possible, she's fitter now than she was when she ripped off her shirt in 1999. She was hitting with Bethanie for a media event.
