 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2007 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 09 Jun 2007 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 05 Sep 2007 |
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| 01 Sep 2007 - Flushing Meadows, New York - Ksenia Milevskaya | |
| Ksenia Milevskaya blogs from the US Open |
Saturday
Today is my last blog because I lost today. I am very disappointed with myself becuase I think I should have won. I knew it would be tough against Urszula but she gave me so many chances and I did win the first set. After that I was giving her presents all the time and playing so bad. When I spoke to her after the match we agreed we both played a bad match, giving each other lots of presents. I guess I was just a little bit nicer and gave her more. I had already been mean by beating her two times so didn't want her to be upset! It was another very hot day but it didn't bother me too much. I think maybe I just wanted to win too much. All I have though about for two weeks is winning here, which is why I am very disappointed.
After the match I went to sit by myself. Just me, my towell and my thoughts. I cried a lot and there were even still some tears at the beginning of our doubles final. We played against Kalashnikova from Georgia and Lykina from Russia and both me and Urszula played so well I stopped being upset for a while. We won 61 62, so now I am a Grand Slam champion, but it is a shame I couldn't win the singles as well. I think this may be my last junior Grand Slam so it would have been good to go out on a high.
I am happier now because I know I am going home tomorrow. Unfortunatley I have to go and study hard for the next two weeks and I have a headache just thinking about it! I work all morning at school and then go home and work the whole time there as well. I am trying not to think about that too much, but it will be nice to go back to Belarus.
So, as this is my last blog I want to say thank you to everyone who has read it. I have really enjoyed writing for you and I hope you have got to know me a little better. Maybe you can support me in the future! I am going to watch the women's final now because I can get a seat on court to watch.
Friday
I'm afraid I have to only do a quick blog today because I just got off courst from doubles and have to catch a bus back to the hotel. I am so tired I can hardly remember what has happened today. I just need to have a shower and sleep.
Good news is that I won both my matches again today, both in straight sets. When I played Jess she played really well and went 5-3 up in the first set. She has an amazing forehand that is very spinny and kept pushing me back, so I tried to be aggressive and play more to her backhand. I managed to force a tiebreak and I think she got a bit tight and I won. I the second set I just think she couldn't keep on going mentally. We had a really tough game at 2-1 that lasted about 15 minutes, which I ended up winning and then took the next game quickly. The final score was 76 62.
It was so hot today. When I play tennis I don't usually feel the heat too much but today my feet were burning. It was just like being in Australia - this year there I got big blisters on my feet from the heat and I think that was some of why I lost my semifinal. Hopefully that won't happen to me again here.
After the match I had some lunch (salad) and lay around chilling in the players' lounge for a while. Then I went to watch another Belarussian, Uladzimir Ignatik, playing his doubles match. He didn;t have a good day today because he lost in the singles and doubles. After I watched his match me and Urszula played our doubles semifinal against two Americans - Asia Muhammed and Kristy Frilling. I played so bad. We only won thanks to Urszula, she played really well. I did ok in the tiebreaks but I was so tired by the end I didn't know what was happening. I think when you play a tough singles match sometimes it can affect your body for another match later in the day.
Tomorrow I have to play Urszula in the semifinal of the singles. We played on the second round at Roland Garros this year and I won. Then we had to play doubles together and she was really cool about it and we ended up winning the tournament. Hopefully the same think will happen here.
It is sometimes easier playing somebody you get along with than someone you don't like because you don't put so much pressure on yourself. So wish me luck - tomorrow will be another tough day!
Thursday
It was a tough day today. Unbelievably tough. My singles match was very difficult for me. I knew that Kim was a good player but she came out and played a really strong match, and that took me by surprise at the start. Luckily for me she made a couple of mistakes and I won the first set 63. I expected her to slow down a bit in the second set but she just played even better and I was 1-4 down really quickly - she was hitting winners right and left! Then I tought of a match I played last year in Roehampton: I was 1-5 and 15-40 down in the final set against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the world number one. That time I managed to fight back and win the set 8-6, so I knew I could do the same kind of thing again. I think that was a great experience for me. Anyway, my second set against Kim went to a tiebreak. I think she was pretty tight and i was playing very well, so I managed to close out the match.
After that I went for lunch and I almost fainted in the restaurant! I was tired from the match and from the sun so I slept for 20 minutes on one of the couches in the player lounge and felt much better. Then me and Urszula played our next doubles match against Boczova and Kucova from Slovakia. in yesterday's match we expected to win our match and were surprised they played so well. Today we were expecting a hard match because they play a lot together. They did play well but we were even better and won 62 62.
I came to blog straight from the court so now I am going to go and stretch then get some dinner. The food here is good, although I normally just eat salads, then have lots of protein and energy bars. It is so hot here that I don't feel like eating a big meal. I also eat lots of parfaits, which are like a mixture of yoghurt, fresh fruit and granola. They are really tasty and I have at least two a day!
After that I will go back to the hotel and probably watch some of the Djokovic vs Moya match. Last night I watched Jenkovic against Venus, which was an amazing match. I missed the end of Federer though because it didn't finish until late.
I play Jess Moore from Australia tomorrow. She is a good player so I will have to play my best game. We will also play out doubles quarterfinal...
Wednesday
Hello again. I played my second round matches in singles and doubles today and if you look at the results it was a good day. But if you look at the games it was not really too good. I won my match against Jade Curtis 62 61 but it was much closer than the score says. I started the match feeling tight but managed to hold on for the win. Next I have to play Kim Couts from America. I played her last year at the Orange Bowl and I won (I can't remember the score but I think it was quite close). I have heard she is playing well this week so I will have to play my best tennis against her.
After my singles I had some lunch and went to watch Mahut and Benneteau in their doubles match. My coach is friend with them because they are the same age and are also French, so he wanted to watch. I only saw the first set (I think they lost it) and then had to play doubles. All through the match me and Urszula were almost asleep and we played pretty bad in the first set. It was a little better in the second set and we won 75 62. It is nice to win even when you play so bad. I will make sure I rest a lot for the rest of the day and have lots of sleep tonight so I will feel better tomorrow.
I really like to go out but you can't do that if you want to win tournaments. You have to be really disciplined. Staying out late uses up all your enery and you end up losing too early. I hope I will be able to go out after the tournament though.
My coach was teasing me while I blogged today so I had to send him away. Now I will go and find him and maybe try to go and get a massage. Then I will go back to the hotel to relax and watch the Federer match...go Roger!
Tuesday
I finally played my first match today and I won, so I'm feeling happy. Yesterday was another day of waiting and I got very bored. I just practiced twice again and prepared for my match. I think I will play every day from now on, and that's good because I don't like to wait around too much.
I had heard a lot about Tamaryn before we played. She is one of the rising stars and trains at Bolletieri in Florida (Nick Bolettieri was here today watching some of the matches). So, I tried to focus hard because I was expecting a really tough match. The first match in a tournament is always difficult but I played well and won 61 61. I pushed hard and didn't let her play her game, so I'm pleased with the result.
Next I play Jade Curtis from England. I played her in Australia this year and I won 64 62, so hopefully I will do ok tomorrow. I'm just excited to get out on court because I am really enjoying playing tennis at the moment. I also really like the US Open. A couple of years ago I hated playing on hard courts but recently I have improved a lot, so I want to get out and try to be even better.
Even more good news is that me and Urszula also won our doubles. When Urszula's sister Agnieszka beat Sharapova this week she promised to buy Urszula a new handbag, so they both went shopping after our match. Urszula was quite excited so wanted to get the match finished quickly and we ended up winning 61 60. I play well with Urszula and we have never lost together, although the only tournament we have played is Roland Garros.
Even though today was a big success I am not going to go out and celebrate properly until I win the US Open. Instead tonight I will have some dinner and go back to the hotel. Then I want to watch the Nadal vs Ferrer match on TV. I like watching Nadal because he plays with so much energy but my favourite player is Federer. I watched some of his match yesterday but went to bed after the first set because he was playing quite badly and I didn't want to see him lose. Of course he did win in the end - that's why he's world number one!
So wish me luck against Jade tomorrow. I'll let you know how I go...
Sunday
Hello again. After I finished writing last night I went back to the hotel and then went out for the evening with my mum. All the players stay together at Grand Hyatt hotel in Manhatten and it's mum's first visit to New York so we went out to have a look around. I'm not really sure where we went, we just walked and looked at the city. It's nice to get out and do some exploring.
Today I got up at around 9am and caught the 10am bus out to Flushing Meadows, where I hit for about an hour with my friend Ksenia Lykina from Russia. Then I watched Urszula in her match (which she won - well done Urszula!) and after lunch I had another practice with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The doubles draw was today and Urszula and I are the second seeds. In the first round we play Tanya Raykova from Bulgaria and Nadja Lalami from Morocco. I don't know them very well but hopefully we will be able to play well together.
Tomorrow should be the end of the first round singles matches. I'm glad I play tomorrow instead of today because when a tournament starts I prefer to play every day. That is much better than having days off because you can lose some rhythm.
Right, now I think I will have some dinner and then go back to the hotel. I don't many plans but will probably spend some time with the other players and then maybe watch a movie. I'll let you know tomorrow how I get on in my match. Wish me luck!
Saturday
Hi everyone, I’m Ksenia Milevskaya (but my friends call me Ksyusha) and I will be one of the bloggers during the junior US Open.
I’ll start by telling you a bit about myself. I’m seventeen years old and am from Belarus. This is the third time I have played the US Open, and it’s probably going to be one of my last ITF Junior tournaments, so I really want to do well because the last couple of years I lost pretty early on.
I arrived in New York last night and checked into the player hotel. I am here with my mum and my coach, who is called Nicolas Beuque and is from France. We had a terrible day of travelling yesterday: We got up at 4am but missed our flight and couldn’t get another one until the evening, which meant I didn’t arrive at the hotel until night time. I am really fed up with airports now!
For the last couple of weeks I have just been practising, so I feel quite well prepared for the tournament. Last week I was at the Saddlebrook Academy in Florida and before that I was in France at the Mouratoglou Academy (where Marcos Baghdatis used to be based). Before that I was just on holiday, so I’m feeling well rested! After this tournament I have to go back to school to start my final year, which I think will be hard. I think today is the first day of term, so I’m glad to be out here but will have some catching up to do next week!
Since I arrived here I’ve met up with all my friends. I get along well with most of the other players, especially the Polish girls – I’m playing doubles here with Urszula Radwanska. Last year I was a member of the ITF touring team, which was really great fun. The coaches were very professional but were also really friendly and fun to be around. I made some good friends during the year. I didn’t play on the team this year, because you have to play so many junior tournaments and I want to start playing more professional events. I’ve only played five pro tournaments this year but have done quite well and my ranking is now up to 340.
We just had the player meeting and the draw was published. I have to play Tamaryn Hendler from Belgium. I haven’t played her before (or even see her play) but I’ll just do my best and see how it goes. You have to beat everyone to win so this is the first step.
Right I’m off back to the hotel now. I don’t know if I’m playing tomorrow but will let you know how everything goes…
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