Estoril Open 2006

[marats]

Nice pics !!!!!!!!!!

[kuniochi]

Here is a liitle audio interview with Marat after the game. ;D

www.estorilopen.net/en/players/audio/

[Giselle]

yse said:

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO

Thats my coach telling me "keep your eyes on the freacking ball"

Great pics thank you guys!

[Tita]

Back to Braga...

Been there, seen the man. Wish I could have stayed longer. Let me tell you how it went. *sigh*

Got to the courts at around noon. First thing I see is Marat's coach. Then look a little to the right and 'OMGOMGOMGOMG, MARAT' followed by Gasp Gasp Gasp Giggle Giggle Gasp Deep Breathe Gasp Giggle BIG Smile. Grabbed my friend's hand and started running walking fast towards the court. Marat and Tursunov were training, shirtless. DAAAaaaaAAAAAAAAmMMMMmmmmMMMMnnnnnNNN!!!! YUM. I couldn't stop smiling, I couldn't believe it he was right there in front of me. First thing I noticed was how tall Marat was and how damn yummy Tursunov was. (I thought he was Davydenko - hey, was seeing from behind!! - but then Davydenko walked right by me to enter the court. lolol )

So, there I am, staring at Marat, smiling, smiling, smiling (my friend told me I wasn't in a Pepsodent advert so I could stop that, to which I replied "I CAN'T " LOL). When they left the court, 10min after I arrived -awww- they walked towards me 'cause I was right at the entrance door. I thought yay, this is my chance, I'm gonna talk to him and take a pic yayayaaaay ('cause some kids were also stretching their arms for Marat to give them an autograph - so I thought he'd stop and sign for the few kids that were there). Wrong. I was right at the entrance and I didn't want to stand right in front of him so I stepped aside for him to close the door and walk if he didn't stop but I never thought he wouldn't even slow down when the kids were there asking for an autograph. He did grab one of the balls and signed it but kept walking fast and turned his back. My feet were stuck to the floor, my mouth fell. He walked *right by me*.. But was arrogant, feeling 'the man'. Even later on, when he and Tursunov were playing against the others. I only watched him get on court and warm up (had to leave to Braga 15min after when they got in ) but when the crowd cheered for him and yelled his name, he had such a cocky smile on his face and turned to Tursunov and said sth like 'they love me, I'm so hot, they can't resist me'. I expected him to be a little more humble.. But then again, might just have been my fantasies and expectations... meh, I still love him.. but... urgh... I love him yeah. damn you Marat...

It's weird... It's not like I don't like him anymore, or I think he's an ass for doing that, but I *never ever* thought it would be like that. I don't believe he is like that. It's weird, I felt weird... Still do. Meh, can't put it in words.
What I know is that next year I want to go there again (hope he comes) and prove he's the friendly amazing great guy I KNOW he is.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention: he has the most beautiful smile and sounds way adorable when he speaks Russian. eheh


Sorry for the rambling...

Here are some pics of Marat training and the few I got when they played doubles. Also some of Tursunov alone, since I see he's popular around here. DaAAaaaaAAmmmMMnNn! lol. Next year I'll get a better cam, this is what I got. Hope you like them. I also have a 3min video, might post it later.

img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/lightningb/Marat%20Safin/Imagem005.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/lightningb/Marat%20Safin/Imagem006.jpg
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img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/lightningb/Marat%20Safin/Imagem089.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/lightningb/Marat%20Safin/Tursunov.jpg
img.photobucket.com/albums/v75/lightningb/Marat%20Safin/TursunovSafin.jpg

I know it's a pain to have to click every single url to see the pics, but it'd be messy if I post them all (esp. for ppl with slow connections) and I can't remember any good site where you don't have to login to view an album (photobucket... : sorry for that.

[LaFFy TaFFy]

thanks tita for all the great pics
safin shirtless! couldnt ask for more ;D

[Giselle]

pic 12 its awsome! thanks so much!

[sabz]

i agree with giselle - pic 12 is great!!! ;D
thanks so much tita for all the photos!!!
and thanks to emma for all hers

here is the order of play for tomorrow - eurosport viewers will be able to watch marat's match again!! YAY!!! ;D

Central start 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - Second Round
(1)F Pennetta (ITA) vs M Ani (EST)
Not Before 14:00 PM
Men's Singles - Second Round
(4)(WC)G Monfils (FRA) vs A Portas (ESP)
Not Before 16:00 PM
M Safin (RUS) vs (2)N Davydenko (RUS) ;D ;D ;D
G Muller (LUX) vs N Lapentti (ECU)

Centralito start 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - Second Round
E Daniilidou (GRE) vs M Diaz-Oliva (ARG)
Not Before 12 NOON
(WC)P Suarez (ARG) vs (2)G Dulko (ARG)
Men's Singles - Second Round
J Gimelstob (USA) vs (7)N Massu (CHI)
Women's Doubles - Second Round
(1)Yan/Zheng vs Dulko/Sanchez Lorenzo
Men's Doubles - First Round
(WC)Marques/Tavares vs Gimelstob/Portas

Court 1 start 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - Second Round
A Serra Zanetti (ITA) vs Z Ondraskova (CZE)
Men's Doubles - First Round
(WC)Gil/Nicau vs (2)Dlouhy/Vizner
Azzaro/Marin vs Sabau/Spadea
Women's Doubles - First Round
Beygelzimer/Birnerova vs Foretz/Serra Zanetti
Men's Doubles - First Round
Garcia/Sluiter vs Marcaccio/Saretta

Court 2 start 11:00 NOON
Men's Doubles - First Round
(1)Fyrstenberg/Matkowski vs Berlocq/Wang
Women's Doubles - First Round
(Q)Uberoi/Uberoi vs Grandin/Schwartz
Women's Doubles - Second Round
Kloesel/Rodionova vs Martinez Granados/Vento-Kabchi or Mattek/Stewart

[tina]

tita - thank you so much!!!

and sabz :-*thank you

[curls]

Tita!!! Wow! How brilliant ... to see the smile in real life would be enough for me LOL ... thx for your report & pics

[avalon]

Hi Tita, I am so happy you got to see the Man.
Hey don't feel too let down. . Remember we don't really 'know' these people and yet we see them on TV, in magazines and read about them all the time and we tend to make up our own version of their personality. Most of the time, people can never live up to our expectations!! .
It sounds like Marat and Dima are having a ball of a time and they seem to be acting like real 'boys'. Goodluck to them!

Hope you do get back there next year. Checking out the photos it looks like lovely weather, I might even try to get there next year .

Thanks for posting all the photos

[LaFFy TaFFy]

dima's lastest blog





Got up this morning around nine! I have a late match so getting up early doesn’t really make sense because… I don’t like to get up early! I really like sleeping!!! That is quite possibly the only thing I’m really good at and my philosophy is that you should focus your attention on your talents.

I got out on a balcony! The day is beautiful and it’s nice to be able to enjoy the weather and the view and not have to rush out the door to warm up or practice. I also took my laptop with me so I could check up on how my “Magnum” modeling shot (“to anyone who saw “Zoolander”) looked like when downsized to a web page size. I must admit I am a freaking handsome devil! Just not very photogenic!!!

To my surprise there were loads of emails this time and when I opened my mailbox; most of them happened to be from Marat! Apparently he felt I was really downplaying his ability to hit forehands in the middle of the court! I would have to disagree with him on that! I was just being factual. I even gave him a compliment! He did serve a couple of good serves at 7-8 in the ‘breaker! But anyway, I felt kind of bad so I went to have breakfast with him as an apology!

We sat on the terrace and had a good conversation. I ordered hot chocolate and he had coffee with milk. I apologized, and then we talked strategy for our next match and it was so great to really have a good heart-to-heart talk without all the girls running over and handing phone numbers to me and asking me to pass it to Marat! Towards the end of the breakfast we really bonded and I felt like we became a REAL doubles team. I braided his hair and he talked about this cute bag he bought at Louis Vuitton store! Unfortunately he had to leave soon for a warm-up so I hugged him good bye and wished him luck! He is soooo cute when he pouts!!!

The ride to the courts is similar to the one on Monday. We are pushing the boundaries of physics and I can’t help but wonder if we are riding on Firestones. Seems to me that the drivers read my blog and are trying to get their name on pages of my blog by driving as crazy as possible! Surprisingly you never feel like they are out of control. They are very good actors!!!

My first hit of the day is supposed to be with Tomas Zib. I say that because that’s who I signed up with but when I got to the courts I was in for a surprise. Partially it was my fault, like most mishaps, but this one I didn’t think all the way through. You see, on Monday I went to the practice desk to sign up for a warm-up for Tuesday and the girl who works there told me to write my name myself. So I decided to play a prank on her and instead of my name wrote “Thomas Zib + Bill Clinton” and left after that. This morning when I showed up to see what court I was on, I see, “Thomas Zib + Bill Clinton + Nicholas Massu” Apparently, Thomas thought it was a joke, (I guess he was correct in that assumption) and in fear that he was going to be left without a hit decided to hit with Massu.

Thank God, there was my second round doubles nemesis Mariusz Fyrstenberg bumming around otherwise I’d be in trouble. Actually, people always ask me, “Who do you like on tour? Who is nice?” Well to answer your question, Mariusz is a great guy! He is nice and has a good sense of humor. His only problem is it’s impossible to spell his name properly. He should make it like Yeu-Tzuoo Wang or something…

After the warm-up came the usual trip to the lunch table. Got some greens and a little bit of pasta. I had a match coming up pretty soon so I don’t want to eat too much because you only get one toilet break and you want to use it wisely!

Right before the match I tried to do some sprints and some jumps to get the blood going, then I stared into the mirror and said, “You talking to me?!” When you are playing someone who is 15, it’s always good to scare the life out of them the moment you get out on the court!

IT HAPPENED!!! They told me, “Just keep pluggin’ alone and you will win a match!!!” and it happened! Of course the kid was 15 but c’mon! I’m blond! We all have our excuses… I don’t care what anyone says. I matched my best clay court season record so from now on it can only get better! The match wasn’t too long and I tried to work on some things as it progressed. It was a bit tough, though, because the crowd reacted to every mistake by me as if the guy hit the shot of his life, so you don’t want to lose a single point because they are eating you alive. I guess that kinda goes with the territory when you play a local kid and they want to show him that they are backing him up!

After the match I went for a little run in the park and then got a massage and a stretch. I’d say that’s the hardest part of the day. You know… The massage… We are all fighting in there for massage time and fans don’t really see it but there are some scary cat fights between Marat and Massu. Jerry Springer should have a “Locker Room Special”

When I’m finished with that, they take me to the press room for an interview! Today is a change of pace! The lady really felt embarrassed when she found out I mentioned her in my blog so I will mention her again today! Yeah, you know which one!!! The, “What do you think about Marat?!” one. Today she came prepared. She started the interview and today she asked, “What do you think about Gastao?!” Ahahahaha!!! She is going to hate me tomorrow! But it’s true!!! That’s what she said!!! After today’s blog they won’t ask me to show up at press conferences anymore. They will be too scared of me. They’ll just say, “You know Dmitry, just talk about something you want to talk about! We’ll just listen!!!”


Similar ride back! We are at 160kph now! I love it!!! I’m tired of going in a van though! We should take the C-Class. See how fast that thing can go!!! The funny part is that it’s the women drivers that go nuts behind the wheel in this country! So much aggression!!! Maybe it’s because Marat is in the van! Hehe…In any case, no doubt they win “The Best Women” prize in my book! Not only they aren’t afraid to drive that fast but they can also text on a cell phone at the same time!

8:30 Ride to the Players Party! Once we get to the place we get these really cute wristbands. They were orange! Really would look good with Marat’s orange adidas wristbands… Anyway, inside is a lounge filled with glamorous people all having glamorous conversations with each other and couple of crazy photographers running around like tourists frantically firing away at the shutter! I feel like it’s a strobe light at the disco!!! Models scattered all over the floor! Still standing, however! Perched up against the bar and the wall!!! Some players got there early and setting up warm-up times for tomorrow! Lukas Dlouhy, rejected by all the models, is playing Tic-Tac-Toe with himself. Women’s coaches pacing the floor, monitoring their players with proximity sensors. Of course everyone is looking nice and sparkly, but I’m starving!!! At this point the models pose only a nutritional interest and since that is the case I move closer to the chubby ones!

Once they open up the food table, models set a new world record on a short distance sprint and attack the water and salad bar but soon realize that the salad already has dressing and the water is not diet! (I hope I won’t get sued by the modeling agency for this!) Anyway, after we had some food and flirted with random people we had to leave. It was fairly early in the evening but Marat has a match tomorrow and I have to report to you guys!

On our ride back we finally break the sound barrier banging our heads to Guns N’ Roses’ – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Luckily no one answered

[yse]

Tita for the pics

[annie]

hehehe....

We sat on the terrace and had a good conversation. I ordered hot chocolate and he had coffee with milk. I apologized, and then we talked strategy for our next match and it was so great to really have a good heart-to-heart talk without all the girls running over and handing phone numbers to me and asking me to pass it to Marat! Towards the end of the breakfast we really bonded and I felt like we became a REAL doubles team. I braided his hair and he talked about this cute bag he bought at Louis Vuitton store! Unfortunately he had to leave soon for a warm-up so I hugged him good bye and wished him luck! He is soooo cute when he pouts!!!

best one yet....ahahahahaha

[marats]

Thanks a lot TITA !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Annie]

Tita Tita Tita thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great report, amazing pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Mitya...as always....THUMBS UP FOR THE BLOG!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D