Feeling angry...

I just had to vent how frustrated I am right now about the World Tour Finals. Del Potro just beat Federer 6-2 6-7 6-3 and both have them have got through to the semis, but if Del Potro had won the last set 6-4 instead of 6-3 then Murray would have qualified instead of Del Potro. How can getting through come down to four points?! It seems ridiculous! I know rules are rules and that if Andy had got through I would have been pleased, although then I still would have felt that Del Potro was hard done by.

I don't know if it's ever come down to one game before in the tournament previously, but it seems a very unfair system. I guess it won't ever change as long as the tournament is played in a round robin format though, so I'll just have to accept it. Grrr...

Rafa answered my question!

I am very excited right now as I just saw that Rafa answered my question on his Times Online blog. Here it is:

What do you think of the crowd being in the dark at the O2 and all the focus on the court?
Lisa, London

RN: Funny, you are right. I think the court and the stadium looks really great.

Here's the link to the post.

I know it might not seem like a very big deal to some people but I think it's awesome as it means I've communicated with Rafa! :) I actually got to see him play at the O2 on Monday against Soderling, and even though Rafa lost 6-4 6-4, it was still great to see my hero in person!

I also saw Verdasco vs. Federer and Djokovic vs. Davydenko, but I'll write about the whole O2 experience when I have more time.

Yesterday I set up a youtube channel to go with this blog: http://www.youtube.com/user/hitittennis so check it out!

Weekend Winners

So Rafa beat Marat 6-3 6-1 in the Beijing QF. I managed to see the 2nd set, and then watched the tournament's farewell ceremony for Marat: 1 and 2 - very emotional!


Cilic beat Rafa 6-1 6-3 in their SF (I was a bit surprised about that result although I didn't see the match) and then Djokovic beat Cilic 6-2 7-6 to win the Beijing title. Novak will now go back to no. 3 in the world as a result of his win and Andy Murray not being able to defend his Madrid Masters title from last year due to injury (now the Shanghai Masters takes place at this time of year).


In the women's tournament Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-4 for the Beijing title. Agnieszka is now back in the top 10 as a result of making the semis in Tokyo and the final in Beijing, good for her!


In Tokyo Tsonga beat Youzhny 6-3 6-3 in the final, so I'm very pleased for him! There are only 3 places left for the Tour Finals in London so hopefully Tsonga will qualify, it would be great to see him play!


I'm looking forward to watching the Shanghai Masters and WTA Linz this week!

Safin in Beijing

I was really pleased when I found out earlier that Marat Safin had beaten Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 6-4 in the 2nd round in Beijing today. I like Gonzalez but this is one of the few times that Marat has won back to back matches this year, and it's nice to see him winning matches so near his retirement. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch the match, but hopefully I can see some matches tomorrow - there are some really good QFs - Rafa vs. Marat and Verdasco vs. Djokovic, as well as Davydenko vs. Cilic and Soderling vs. Ljubicic. Obviously I love Rafa but it would be really cool to see Marat go far in this tournament!

I was sad that Gilles Simon was beaten by Mikhail Youzhny in Tokyo in 3 sets, so now I'm rooting for Monfils, Tsonga or Gulbis to win the tournament. Tsonga and Gulbis are playing each other in the QF, and it should be interesting as they played each other last week in Bangkok (Tsonga won) and it was a great 3 set match!

I just remembered another player I want to see more of, Grigor Dimitrov! He walked right past me when I was at Queen's but I didn't get to see him play.

Anyway here's a pic of Marat from Wimbledon earlier this year:

First post!

So... this is my first post for my new tennis blog, Hit It! I was trying to think of a cool name and that was the best one I could come up with, Andy Murray shouts it quite a lot during his matches :) My fave players are Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray, Gilles Simon, Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic. I also really like Novak Djokovic, Marat Safin, Marin Cilic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Mario Ancic, Fernando Verdasco, John Isner, Ernests Gulbis, Andy Roddick, Zheng Jie, Victoria Azarenka, Sabine Lisicki, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Ana Ivanovic, Na Li, Maria Sharapova and Sorana Cirstea. And players I want to see more of are Jeremy Chardy and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova! Anyway there are probably more players I like that I've forgotten right now!


My best tournament experience was earlier this year at Queen's when I got a photo with Marat Safin :) The whole reason I went was to see Marat as he's retiring at the end of this year. I also went to Wimbledon this year and saw Marat's last grass match when he lost to Jesse Levine in the 1st round :( I'm also going to the ATP World Tour Finals in November which I'm really excited about, as I'm hoping to see Rafa play!

Anyway that's all for now!