Exhibitions 2008/2009

[Barbarella]

Hey guys, looks like bad timing of the russia/taipei match for all of you in the usa! Im not sure if its going to be re-run. it will start at 9am in uk i think and perhaps someone will put in on youtube?

by the way, in the pictures above, note how well Marat has coordinated his shirt to match the colour of his eyes LMAO

[maryb]

Maratsmaiden - discovered by accident that on some of the livestreams, you get the option of enlarging to full screen. There's sometimes 'squares' in the bottom-right corner that you click and then the screen enlarges. You lose a bit of the picture quality - but you don't go quite so cross-eyed either. They had it on the livestream on Monday night.

I love the pic of them together, pretty sweet. Wish he'd play with wee sis a bit more this year. I keep saying that the doubles will help him sharpen his reflexes - why not play with wee sis when he can? Any chance of a Wimbles mixed doubles Big Yin?

PS That left eye looks sore, pet.

[memtennis]

I read this report from "droolv" on WTA and thought it was so cute...


Safin/Safina vs Bolelli/Pennetta

Mixed doubles, like always, is entertaining tennis. Flavia is an amazing doubles player, she hits some fantastic volleys and is not afraid of the male player. She returned everything hit at her and kept Italy longer in the rallies. I hope Maria keeps playing with her as she's an outstanding doubles player. Marat hit some shocking volleys and no wonder he doesn't play doubles more often. Bolelli has a nice one-handed backhand volley while Dinara's four aces (thanks to Hawkeye) was a highlight of the match. Dinara and Flavia were defiantly leading their respective male partners around the court most likely because of their more doubles experience than their partner. Another great moment was when Marat decided to challenge a call with the umpire starting to announce it before Dinara was like "No, no, no we don't want to challenge." Safin was playing weak shots to Flavia all match so she made full advantage of them.

[danni]

Jan 7, 2009 0:00:20 GMT 3 maryb said:

Oh God no, not another match in the middle of the night. I'm back at work now. SKY showed most of the Bolelli match ... after me getting up at 3am to watch it ...

I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed that SKY will show most of the next singles match as well ... well, I would cross them if they weren't blue with cold. It's -7 here ... and I can barely bend my joints as I'm wearing 5 layers when I leave the house in the morning. A sight for sore eyes. ;D Can't complain - it's been
-15 up North. Only +40 in Australia according to the Big Yin.

Rub it in.

Having said that ... night matches in Australia means daytime here. ;D Think I'll get the whole match on SKY then.

Try the same livestream again girls as Monday - sure it'll have the matches showing again. And stick with some strong coffee to keep you going if it's an all-nighter. Failing that, a nice beer.

Mary! Marat is not kidding about the weather, its stinking "HOT" here, very uncomfortable. . I am sort of frustrated that the next 2 matches is at night time as it means that it is not broadcast here, as they are only doing it during the day (about 6 hours of tennis at the moment). Darn, and I just want to see him play. Hopefully they will make it through the final, so I can watch him play live. ;D ;D

[tinuviel]

Yeah I like it. Very sweet - some respect and admiration there.

Not that he's allowed to win of course - however sweet.

[mar!e]

i like simon a lot, i think he is a great player

look what he said in an interview a long time ago

Growing up did you look up to any player(s) and who were your favorite ones?
When I was a child my favourite player was Marat Safin. I've always liked him and I wanted to play like him. I loved his game, his technique and his coolness on the court. But besides him I never really had an idol.

but like tinuviel said: he´s is not allowed to win! ;D

did you find any livestream for the match?

[Alya10]

Jan 7, 2009 14:29:34 GMT 3 davis said:

www.livescorehunter.com/Livescores/Livescore-Tennis.html

Several links here, click on the "video" button to get them. BWIN works, but you have to put money in a betting account first if you want to use their services.

None of those work for me and Bwin is not transmitting Hopman despite being announced...

I also tried this: www.channelsurfing.net/
but its not transmitting.

Guess I'll have to do with the livescores. Dinara just won btw

[Dina]

so people where do you watch the match?

[lolotte007]

Marat won !! 7-6 7-5,

[arwen21]

yeahhhhhhhhh thats my boy!!!!

[SAFINNO1]

Nice Nice Marat

Russia are 2-0 up and won the first set in the mixed doubles - Well Done Safins!

Safin, playing in what he says is his last season, is surprised by his form. "I got inspired by my sister," he confessed.

"Lu is a very complete player, he's smart and fast and good from both sides.

"I had no expectations coming in, with only two weeks of training. I didn't expect at all to win a set, I have had a very impressive performance

[memtennis]

Well, they lost the doubles! I guess maybe they are just too tired after the singles wins... Anyway, a win overall is great - go Russia against France!

[SAFINNO1]

MARAT SAFIN (Russia)
Courtside

Ladies and gentlemen, he’s two from two in 2009. Congratulations to Marat Safin.

Marat, does it feel like the form is improving match by match?

(Marat) Well, I get inspired by the girls, with the match before. My sister and her opponent played incredible tennis. I think we both enjoy it here, and we got inspired. We were both looking at the match in the lock room and we were shocked by the level of the tennis from the girls. So we tried to do a little bit better.

And Lu was a particularly difficult opponent to break down, wasn’t he? He’s got a great game.(Marat) I mean he’s very complete player. He’s very smart, very fast, good from on the sides. He’s with the game real well. His participation is incredible. So it’s quite tough to break him.

2009 you’ve said is going to be your last year. Which sort of events have you targeted? I mean, I’m thinking the Australian Open, which you’ve won before. Must be high on your priorities.(Marat) Well, first of all I didn’t think I had any coming out here because I had only two weeks of practise. And I didn’t touch the racket for two months. So it was really tough for me to, to win a match. And I didn’t expect at all to win a set, so a pretty impressive performance here. I’m looking forward to Australian Open and hopefully I’ll have quite good draw. I don’t know who gonna make it, but I really hope for the good one.

Can I show you something from the first set? Tenth game from the set when, we just saw that your mobility, and your speed around the court, and all the shots are still there. It’s a sign of great encouragement for you for the coming year.
(Marat) Oh, I have nothing to say actually.

But you got there.

(Marat) It was pretty fast. It was pretty fast. But I was lucky there. I normally close right into the racket, so it was pretty impressive for me.

I’m sure you know your own fitness and your preparedness for a season. How are you feeling compared to years past?
(Marat) Well it’s a little bit tough to work out everyday. Day-by-day especially when the years pass by and after a lot of years, per year it’s quite tough to wake up in the morning and try do something. To go to the gym. To run for half an hour. And then practise for another four hours. So it’s pretty tough. And, but I’ve been working out pretty hard. I come here with my fitness coach, this bald guy over there. He’s with me for 13 years. So I think he’s really done a great job. We’ve had some great moments, some bad moments and he’s still with me. So really give him a credit with that. He’s a very good coach, and a very good listener, and a good advisor. I think it’s the right person to have by your side when it’s professional career is on the rise, and when it’s ending. So I think it’s the right time.

And you’ve got Dinara’s mixed to look forward to in the next match. You gonna get one on the board here?
(Marat) Well yeah, I hope somebody gonna stay and watch it. Because it’s, we’re going to try and do our best. I hope you don’t get bored and we’ll try, try to do something sort of funny. I don’t know. Make it interesting.

I’m sure we won’t be bored. We’re looking forward to it. Thank you Marat.

(Marat) Thank you.

[SAFINNO1]

Some match Stats
12 Aces, 4 DF, 3/8 BP Converted
1st Serve -44%

Session 8 - Russia 2 d Chinese Taipei 1
Dinara Safina d Hsieh Su-Wei 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
Time: 125 minutes, Umpire: Carlos Ramos
Marat Safin d Yen-Hsun Lu 7-6 (8/6), 7-5
Time: 112 minutes, Umpire: Kerrilyn Cramer
Safina/Safin lost to Hsieh/Lu 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8/10)
Time: 69 minutes, Umpire: John Blom
Full match stats »
RUSSIA's brother-sister dream team of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina has survived a strong challenge from Chinese Taipei to win 2-1 and remain unbeaten at the Hyundai Hopman Cup.

Coming off an opening Tie win over Italy, the Russians didn’t have it all their own way against Su-Wei Hsieh and Yen-Hsun Lu, but won both singles matches before losing the mixed doubles in a match tie-break.

However, they will need to back up against the highly-rated French team of Alize Cornet and Gilles Simon on Thursday night to guarantee qualification.

A French victory will mean that France, Russia and Italy could all be on two victories by the end of the Round-Robin series and the finalist from Group A will be decided by the calculator.

World No. 3 Safina began slowly against Hsieh, who made the fourth round of last year's Australian Open, losing the first set 4-6. She fought back strongly taking the second 6-2, but then once again struggled in the third. She battled through to claim it 7-5.

Safin then stepped back onto court to see if he could continue his form from Sunday and while Lu gave him a good fight, Safin prevailed 7-6 (6), 7-5. Chinese Taipei's top-ranked player was serving for the second set, only for Safin to break his serve and win the last three games.

Safin, who has announced that 2009 is his final year on Tour, didn’t find things easy against Lu, but is delighted to begin his Australian summer with two wins.

"He's a very complete player, is very smart, fast and good from all the sides. He seems to read the game well, his anticipation is incredible and it's quite tough to break him," Safin said.

"I didn’t have any expectations coming here because I only had two weeks of practice after not touching a racquet for two months. I didn’t even expect to win a set, so to win two matches is a bonus and it's an impressive performance so far."

Both countries returned for the mixed doubles to make it three straight nights going well beyond midnight, and it went the distance. Russia claimed the first set 6-4, but then lost the second 3-6 and match tie-break 10 points to eight.

Tonight's Session to decide the finalist from their Group will now be sure to showcase some tremendous tennis.

The Russia-France Tie will be on Centre Court, with Italy taking on Chinese Taipei on Court One, but with three teams still in the running it will be a Session worth checking out.

[SAFINNO1]