I managed to catch some of Sam's rather chatty practice session this afternoon. She and David were snarking on the match last night and I think both of them are still wondering how the hell she got out of it with a win.
My favorite exchange:
DT: What happened on that shot? Oh yeah, you shanked the forehand return.
SS: *pause* I didn't shank it *that* bad. [/muttered]
Ok, maybe you had to be there.
Also, another player was wheezing and grunting like a mofo on a nearby court. DT finally snarked, "He keeps going and he'll be Azarenka." Simmone: "He just cracked a racquet."
Yeah, you had to be there for that one.
Pavs was practicing on the next court over and the two kept thwaping balls onto each other's courts. Many a "Sorry!" were exchanged. At one point Sam shanked a forehand (total shank, Sam) that went sailing towards Pavs' brother's girlfriend, who was sitting on a nearby bench. Sam yelled "WATCH OUUUUUUUUT!" Girlfriend didn't flinch and the ball hit the fence, narrowly missing her by inches. Team Stosur just looked at the girlfriend and they all had a laugh.
Fine. I guess you just had to be there to really get any of this.
br>Interestingly, I overheard Sam telling David that she played last night's match the way she wanted to play at the Open, win or lose. So tactically she was hitting the shots and patterns that she wanted to work on and ingrain in her game, regardless of the result. This all was apparently was news to David.
Anyway. It was fun. I've never seen Sam so chatty during a practice session. You could actually hear her talking from across the court. Which, totally rare, guys.
She plays Nadia tomorrow.
