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 Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2008 |  Photographer: Corinne Dubreuil
Date: 21 Jan 2008 | | | | |
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| 20 Jan 2008 - Melbourne, Australia - Isabella Holland and Cesar Ramirez | |
| Cesar Ramirez, Isabella Holland and Tyra Calderwood blog from the Australian Open |
Friday
Cesar
I am here today to say hello and goodbye. Today was an unbelievable day. I had the incredible feeling of playing in my first grand slam final, it was really special. I felt like everything was meant to go to plan and everything was arranged for us to win on my 18th birthday. Unfortunately everything didn’t really go as I wanted and we lost. I am very upset but am also happy that I was able to have this experience. It is just the best thing to be here and participate with the best players and best coaches in the world and make so many great friends along the way. For me everyone who plays at these tournaments is a winner.
So, now I am going to and watch the Federer vs Djokovic semifinal on Rod Laver Arena. My dad and me have tickets, so I am going to try and enjoy the last few hours of my birthday.
Then tomorrow I will fly home and then next month will travel to Canada to play Davis Cup. I have been in the Mexican team before but this time I think I will definitely play. That is really a dream for me. I think that every tennis player has two dreams – to play in a grad slam and to play for their country, so I am very lucky to do both of these.
So I hope you have enjoyed reading my blogs, it was a pleasure for me to write for you. Hopefully you will remember my name when you see me again as a professional player.
Your friend,
Cesar
Thursday
Tyra
Hello again. So last night back at the hotel we played a card game called spoons for a good hour. You all get four cards and have to one card to your left until you get four of a kind. When you have four you have to pick up a spoon and then everyone else has to grab for a spoon aswell, but there is one fewer spoons than people, so whoever doesn’t get a spoon is the loser. Dan Evans was so terrible at it that, even when he stopped trying to get four of a kind and just concentrated of getting the spoons, he still kept losing. He was getting so cross! Vasek Pospisil was probably the best, cos he never even came close to losing.
After that we pretty much all went to bed. Very funny childish games to keep ourselves entertained!
Today I came on site and warmed up Karen Barbat for her match. She was playing pretty well but unfortunately she went down in the match to Yi-Miao Zhou. Then I went into the city with my mum and did some retail therapy. I bought some clothes, a few dresses, pair of jeans. Oh and ate some chocolate (but I probably shoudn’t admit to that in case I get in trouble!). Then we caught the tram back to the tennis centre. Trams are free because we have the accreditation form the AO.
We just did a bit of a photo shoot with some of my fellow tennis players for the ITF. Looking like super models, of course. I’ll probably get a few offers tomorrow! Now I’m just sitting with the amazing Ryan Harrison going through the ITF Junior Circuit 2008 media guide, having a bit of fun and paying out everyone. Some of those pictures really need updating! We will definitely have some fun with that tonight. Of course, there’ll be another game of spoons, now that everyone thinks they’re professionals at it. I’m sure the standard will be higher tonight. Looking forward to the challenge!
I am sorry but unfortunately I am leaving tomorrow to go back home to Sydney. It’s been fun telling you about the last couple of days. Hope you’ve enjoyed my (and Isabella’s) blogs and hopefully I can do another one for you soon. Tyra x
Cesar
Hi everyone. Well, today was a difficult day for me. I feel really happy because Vasek and I won our doubles match today and so we are in the final. But I am also very sad because I lost to Bernard in the singles. Some guys just asked me in an interview how I am feeling and it’s hard to answer – it’s a weird feeling. So, I need to forget about my singles loss and concentrate on the final tomorrow.
After my match I was speaking to Baghdatis’ manager and he told me that Marcos did a blog when he won the junior Australian Open. Hopefully I can follow in his footsteps on court in the future. This year I am going to be training a lot at the Mouratoglou academy in France, so I hope I’ll be able to practice with Marcos there.
After my interview I went to the Australian Open shop with some of the journalists and they gave me a birthday present, as it is my birthday tomorrow. I’m excited that I’ll turn 18 – I get to vote in my country and will be considered a man, not a boy anymore. Anyway, in the shop they said I had $300 to spend but in the end I just got a shirt for my little brother and a hat for me to wear in the final tomorrow.
So before the final I think I will do the same as every other day. I am quite a superstitious person and everything has to stay in the same routine so that I can keep on winning. I like to get the same bus to the site, eat at the same time, go to bed at the same time… Even in the shower I have to keep the soap in the same place, otherwise I get a bad feeling and worry that it will stop me from winning.
So, now I am eating some dinner, then I will go back to the hotel and probably watch the first set of the Federer match and then play some poker with my friends. Tomorrow I will have most of the day free, so I will come and practice in the morning, then go back to the hotel and rest for a while and prepare myself for the match. It is my first grand slam final so I will try and cherish the occasion…
Wednesday
Tyra
Hello adoring public, my name is Tyra and I’m here today to do the blog because Isabella has departed Melbourne to go back to sunny Queensland. First of all I want to pay tribute to Heath Ledger, as we are all pretty upset today to hear the terrible news. Isabella found out when she got on site this morning and was particularly upset. So it wasn’t a good start to the day.
Anyway, this morning I came in to the tennis centre at about 9.30, where I warmed up with my doubles partner the Hoff (Nikola Hofmanova), with Mr Hoff helping us out with some doubles drills. We were hitting for about an hour then went back down into the player’s restaurant. The first matches today went pretty quick, so we thought we were gonna be on pretty early, but three hours after the first match had finished we were still waiting. We just sat down in the players’ café chatting with Isabella and Sally and some ‘internationals’ from the country we smashed in the cricket (England), just having a bit of fun. It’s always entertaining when we’re all sat around in players’ cos we’re all great friends and we can tell stories about the past and there’s always lots of funny things to talk about.
Eventually after about 3 ½ hours we got on court and played our match on Show Court 3. There were a few people there watching and supporting us, which was nice. The most exciting thing was when we walked on court and saw we had Australian Open towels (we normally just have to use plain white ones). The ball kids usually take them from us after the match but this time they were definately not getting their hands on them. I think they would have given them to us anyway, as they came up and spoke to me a few minutes ago asking where the Hoff and myself live. They said they would move to Austria and that they had wanted us to win. They were throwing the balls harder at the other pair. Unfortunately that didn’t help us win but it did make me smile.
So, tonight I will go and have dinner with my mum, who’s staying with me. I played some cards last night with a couple of the lads (downstairs in the lobby, not in anyones room!). Of course I won, but tonight I think they’re planning to play poker. No money, so no gambling involved!!! Not sure how good I’ll be at that though, but I'll give it a shot. We normally watch the big tv in the bar where we can watch the night matches and the boys love watching the slow-mos with the players' facial expressions and muscles popping out. After that probably to bed.
I’ll be back tomorrow for another blog to tell you about the evening’s fun and games.
Cesar
So I am really happy today because I played really good in singles and doubles and also because Nikki (Hofmanova) was watching and supporting me when I was on court. That put a lots of pressure on me but I managed pretty well. Also because all my family and a few friends all met up and were watching my matches. There were people with Mexico hats and flags singing “Mexico, Mexico”. That kind of thing really helps.
It was a nice day: it was really hot, but for me that’s ok, I like to play when it’s hot.
Today it was funny because the press had to wait for more than three hours for me to arrive, because I had to play doubles so soon after my singles. But when I finally got there, because it is my birthday the day after tomorrow, my friend from Argentina Miguel Simon, who works for ESPN said if I win tomorrow he will give me a birthday present and give me a load of money to spend in the AO shop here on site.
Tomorrow I play against Australian Bernard Tomic on Show Court 2. It will be the first time I have ever played on a show court, so to do it in the quarterfinal of a grand slam will be pretty special. Bernard is the 5th seed and will have a lot of support from the crowd, but I will do my best and I hope I will be ok.
So, I am blogging outside in the sunshine today and Isabella just ran by. This will probably be her last appearance in the blog, because she is on her way to airport to go home.
Now I am going to have a massage then go back to the hotel and watch some of the night matches on the tv in the hotel, then later on go and play some poker on the internet with Nikki and Milos (Raonic).
Wish me luck in my matches tomorrow. I will have the first match on court, then the doubles semifinal quickly afterwards. I’m sure it will be another tough day…
Tuesday
Isabella (and Tyra and Sally)
Deepest apologies I didn’t blog yesterday. Unfortunately it wasn’t a good day for me. I played my singles match on Show Court 2, which was great, but I couldn’t bring my best tennis forward and had a loss. Then, to finish the day off we had another loss in doubles against the No. 2 seeds, Halep and Piter. We had a set point in the second and saved a match point but couldn’t convert it. In doubles we had to play sudden death deuce, which we really don’t like because you put so much pressure on yourself. We all much preferred the old way. So now I am quite shattered, but that’s tennis for you, you have your highs and lows. To top a ‘delightful’ day off we celebrated dad’s birthday down at the beach in St Kilda. A nice family get together.
So, to carry the flame and make the blog more interesting, I have recruited two of my fellow Australians, Sally Peers and Tyra Calderwood. They will be taking over from me, as I may have to leave tomorrow to go back home.
Well, today was a tough day for us Australians on court, and even though we had some losses, we did bring some hot shots to the court. Tyra has doubles coming up later this afternoon with Austrian partner THE HOFF (Nikola Hofmanova), so hopefully they’ll be putting another doubles win on the board. Although Sally lost her singles today she was very grateful that so many of her school friends (being a local) came and gave her full support, with signs and everything. Then, when we got back to the locker rooms there were a few girls pumping out their music and ripping out some Michael Jackson dance moves (obviously very high quality). Madison Brengle has her iPod in there with speakers, so everyone is always in there dancing. It’s so much more fun than the boys’.
So this evening we might go and see a movie just to have a relax. Maybe 27 Dresses.
Anyway, I have to go now. Today I’m blogging from interview room 2 with T & S and we’re loving the spinning chairs. So peace out brothers I hope you enjoyed my short sweet blog entries and if I’m not around tomorrow, I now pass you over to my competent fellow Australians. T & S (if you watch Gossip girl you’ll understand!) bid you farewell until tomorrow. Au revoir x x
Monday
Cesar
Hello again. So, I don’t think I introduced myself properly yesterday so here is a little more information about me: I am from Veracruz in Mexico and have come all the way to Melbourne with lots of family and friends. I am here with my dad (and coach) Cesar, my uncle Ignacio Ruiz, my aunt Dulce Marquinez and my cousin Ignacio Jr. There is also a Chilean guy who I keep seeing everywhere, who has been giving me a lots of support. We are all staying together at the Bayview on the Park, which is the official tournament hotel, with all the rest of the players.
I am lucky to be the number one seed for the tournament, and I’m just trying each day to keep wining my matches. I am a baseline player, was born in 1990 and I love soccer – my teams are Tiburones Rojos in Mexico and Barcelona in Spain, since they have two great Mexican players who play for them.
Right, that’s enough personal details.
Today was a very active day. There were lots more matches and everyone trying to survive to play another day at the Australian Open. Last night, just like usual, everyone was together in the hotel lobby, joking around with friends and entertaining themselves on the computers. It really seems like there are Serbian girls everywhere, especially Julija Lukac, who seems to always fall over in front of everybody. She had a fall at Nottinghill last week and did it again today in the player lounge. It was very funny and she was pretty embarrassed.
I want to say bad luck to some of my friends who did not manage to win today, like Niki Moser, Vasek Pospisil (my doubles partner), Ilja Vucic and Marko Djokovic (who is Novak’s brother). They all had great matches, so congratulations to all their opponents.
Luckily I did manage to win today in singles and in doubles. It is really great playing here with such a good atmosphere, and so many people coming to watch the matches.
So tomorrow I play my second match against Clifford Marsland from Australia. I will come back tomorrow to tell you how it goes…
Sunday
Isabella
Hi everyone, I’m Isabella from Australia and I’ll be your blogger for the week. I’ll try and keep it entertaining for you.
I’m originally from Brisbane but spend lots of time down here in Melbourne because my coach, Jason Stoltenberg, is from down here. I’m here with my mum and dad, my younger brother Charlie, who’s 14, and my Grandma. We’re all staying together in a house in South Yarra that we’ve rented for a month while the tennis is on. It’s nice staying there as it has a really homey feel. My older brother Oscar, who’s 20, is on holiday in Stockholm at the moment. I’m half Swedish (my dad is from Stockholm) so Oscar is over there visiting relatives. We normally all go over about once a year and I think we’re going again this year after Wimbledon and the tournaments in Europe.
So, I’ve been down here for a while playing tennis. This is my third junior tournament of the year, but I’ve also played a few other events at the Australian Open. I played in the wild card playoffs for a spot in the main draw and also played the qualifying event last week. But the best was today when I played in the mixed doubles with my parter Brydan Klein, who won the junior event here last year. He’s an incredible doubles player – he has really good hands and always seemed to cover me when I missed. We played against Kveta Peschke and Martin Damm, who are ranked 12 in the world and have a great Grand Slam record together. It was so exciting, but I was nervous beforehand because it was my first time playing in a senior Slam. It was an edgy first set that we lost 61, but we had a lot more opportunities than the score says. Then we really seemed to click in the second and took them to a breaker, which we were winning 3-1 but couldn’t hold on. I reckon if we play again a few times we’ll be beating players like them in no time. It was a great experience.
So, now I’m off to watch Casey Dellacqua in her match against Jelena Jankovic. Casey is really an inspiration to all of us juniors – I had a tear in my eye when she beat Mauresmo in the last round. Seeing her do that really gave me confidence and self belief. So good luck to her tonight. I’m going to have to watch the match from home though, as I play my first round tomorrow. I’m playing Lesley Kerkhove from Holland. I’ve never seen her play but have been asking around for tips. I’m just going to keep an open mind and go out and do my best.
Anyway, I’m going to have to love you and leave you because my dad just called to say dinner is on the table. My parents own a restaurant in Brisbane and he’s an excellent cook- I especially love his fettucini carbonara.
I’ll be back tomorrow. Wish me luck…
Cesar
Hi everyone, I’m Cesar Ramirez from Mexico. Today is the first day of the first grand slam of the year in Melbourne and I am going to blog for you and tell you all about life as a junior at the Australian Open. It’s a lot of fun, especially for the first few days, because at the beginning all of the players are around and I’m here with loads of my friends.
This morning was pretty interesting because it was raining a bit so we had to practice on wet courts. I didn’t have a match today, so I have spent most of the day relaxing, mainly in the players lounge and restaurant underneath Vodafone Arena. As always Romana Tabakova, one of my friends from Slovakia, was there just fooling around all over the place. It was nice today though, because now I have arrived here I was able to eat normal food for the first time in ages. For the past three days I have been with my doubles partner, Vasek Pospisil from Canada, who had been making me eat Chinese food all the time – sometimes two or three times each day. It’s just too much!
Anyway, I will leave you now because I need to go and watch all of my friends playing in their matches. It’s a great atmosphere, and while we are all sitting in the stands watching the matches and having a great time, they are out on court fighting to survive another day. Right, so wish me luck for my match tomorrow. I will play against Niall Angus from Great Britain. I will come back tomorrow to let you know how I get on...
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