Practise Makes Perfect?

For the first time this week, the practise courts weren't in use much today. It was a different story earlier in the week, as many players vanquished in the early rounds remained at the tournament, presumably considering the courts good preparation for Wimbledon. They included James Blake, Caroline Wozniacki, and Shahar Peer. And there was the great experience of seeing the retired Amelie Mauresmo hitting tennis balls again - and playing football -with Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra.
The happiest sight of all had to be Nicolas Almagro yesterday, a day after being stretchered off court with a suspected groin injury. Hopefully the injury wasn't nearly as serious as first feared. He seemed to be swinging and moving unhampered. Obviously a practise is very different to a proper match, but the chances of him making Wimbledon looked a lot more promising than 24 hours earlier.

Let the Music Play!

"Please don't stop the music," trilled Rihanna on one of the tracks played on Centre Court today. Not everyone's sentiment. "Too Americanised," is how some have described the atmosphere between matches.
Of course, many American tournaments play music each changeover. Personally, I love it, I feel it adds to the entertainment and emotion of a match. But I appreciate it isn't everybody's cup of tea, and wouldn't quite suit the ambience of many tournaments, including Eastbourne.
But I feel the idea of music between matches works fine. Okay, as you'd expect there are song choices as obvious and cheesy as a Richard Curtis film soundtrack - how many times do you hear "The Power" by Snap at a sporting event? But already this year there's been a wider range of music than the automatic rock classics. I wouldn't've bet on Norah Jones' "Sunrise" cropping up, but it did.

Ticket Prices

One of the talking points around the grounds this year has been the increase in ticket prices, and the new system for buying them. Many people have been dissatisfied with the new system, and the prices have dissuaded some regulars from buying tickets.
An Eastbourne resident wrote to the local newspaper in March to say that, having been notified of the new prices, neither she nor her friends who regularly travelled to the tournament would be attending this year. I met people today who usually buy tickets but are only here this year via spare tickets from friends.
The grounds seem as busy as ever, but the Centre Court not so.
I know some people have had problems posting comments on this site, but if you can, it would be good to hear your own comments and experiences.

Men's Main Draw Begins

The men's main draw got underway today. Although it was mostly qualifying matches, there was a smattering of first round ties and even a doubles match.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez has significant rankings points to defend, having reached the semi-finals here last year. He narrowly avoided an upset, overcoming 33 year old Frenchman Marc Gicquel 7-6 in the third, after over two hours. In that decisive tie-break, Gicquel was persistently complaining a la Andy Murray. Not quite sure what about - my guess is he may have felt, at nearly 7pm, that the grass was becoming slippery; or it may have been line calls. The absence of hawk-eye was noticeable last year, as it was earlier this year in the similar Brisbane tournament.
Due to the late-finish to this match, the doubles -originally scheduled for Centre Court - had already been moved to Court 1.
British pair Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski have surprisingly risen up the rankings in recent months, and won ATP titles in Metz and St Petersburg towards the end of last season. They took on Israel's Andy Ram and Austria's Julian Knowle.
Accomplished doubles player Ram has also made an impact in singles in Eastbourne before. In the 2006 Davis Cup tie, he won the first two sets against Andy Murray, before the Brit came back to record his first ever five-set victory. Ram received some vocal support from a few in the crowd this evening, but it was the British pair who recorded another impressive win - 6-4, 7-6.

First Day

So it's here! After 51 weeks, it's that time of the year again, and the gates to the Aegon International are open.
The first day was sunny but cool. The most high profile names on the match courts - as opposed to the practise courts - were probably last year's semi-finalist Alexandra Wozniak versus former world no. 7 Alicia Molik. Wozniak won in straight sets. All qualifying today. More tomorrow, but also the first matches in the men's main draw.
Don't forget that both days this weekend you can see all matches -including those on Centre Court - with a ground pass.
Kim Clijsters struggled momentarily with her daughter's buggy and the bumpy pavement as she left the grounds after her practise session this evening. And that reminds me to warn you, if you don't already know, that parts of the pavement all round the outside of Devonshire Park - College Road, Blackwater Road, etc - are uneven in places.

Wozniacki's ice creams, Devonshire Park preparations, and The Sound of Music!

Hot weather is back again in Eastbourne! After a week of more familiar coolness, the last couple of days have been a bit of a scorcher by UK standards.
The proof? Last night it was still warm enough at 7pm to eat an ice cream in the sun on the seafront. I got the ice cream from the parlour opposite Devonshire Park so raved about by Caroline Wozniacki.
At the famous "a star is born" press conference after her breakthrough win against top seed Kuznetsova during Eastbourne 2008, she commented: "There's a great ice-cream place just across the road from here!"
After her run to the title at last year's event, the cafe's been displaying a newspaper cutting, from a national broadsheet by the looks of it, reporting on Wozniacki's love of their Casablanca ice cream, declaring it one of her favourites in the world.
Devonshire Park is now closed to the public as the preparations for a world-class tennis event hit their stride.
Meanwhile, despite scaffolding covering the entrance to the adjacent Congress Theatre, this is no deterrence to all the eager fans entering to see the touring production of The Sound of Music. It stars reality-TV winner Connie Fisher, and former Dynasty star - and Eastbourne college pupil - Michael Praed. The show runs until Eastbourne finals' day. No Sharapova or Kirilenko on the entry list, but there is Martinez Sanchez, so maybe there will be a problem like Maria to solve! Ba-boom!

Schiavone's stunner!

Well, who'd've predicted this? Francesca Schiavone, French Open champion!
29 years old, 5'5" tall, a one-handed backhand, a gritty competitor, and emotionally demonstrative on court - mainly in a positive way, when things are going well. Always good to watch, but usually overpowered by the top players, and never beyond the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam before.
True, she didn't have to beat Henin and Serena (Stosur did that), Dementieva pulled out injured in the semis, and Stosur didn't play as well as she can in the final. But Francesca played brilliantly to beat Caroline Wozniacki in the quarters, and her tactics and execution in the final were close to perfection. To play one of the best matches of your life in such a high-pressure situation is some achievement. Her adrenaline in the second-set tie-break, as she won the match 6-4, 7-6 (2), and right through the presentation ceremony, was infectious.
Hopefully tennis will get some overdue attention in her native Italy, despite most eyes being on the country's soccer team's attempts to retain the World Cup.
Her net play was exceptional, suggesting that she could be a force to be reckoned with at Eastbourne and Wimbledon. But Eastbourne organisers must be hoping she won't still be partying this time next week, and decide to pull out of the tournament.

Could Eastbourne help Almagro breakthrough on the fast stuff?

As expected, Nicolas Almagro didn't have enough to beat his fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the French Open quarter finals today. He lost in three close sets: 7-6(7-2), 7-6(7-3), 6-4. But with his big serve and aggressive groundstrokes - including a powerful one-handed backhand - it's surprising he hasn't had more success on faster surfaces.
The majority of Spanish players will probably always be best suited to clay, but the stereotypical view of a Spaniard thinking "Grass is for cows" seems to be firmly in the past. These days it's rare to find a Spanish player not wanting to develop an all-court game.
As an Eastbourne entrant, the tournament provides the perfect opportunity to take his game to the next level. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, another Spaniard with a one-handed backhand, had a surprise run to the semi-finals last year, and his game isn't nearly as big as Almagro's.