The final pre-game day is done

Hello, I’m Alisa Kleybanova and I’ll be doing the blog for Sports.ru from Roland Garros. I’d like to thank Hôtel Lancaster for the help in organizing my blog.

Today’s training wasn’t so intense, most important for me now is to get enough sleep and be maximum vigorous. Weather is Paris is hot and it makes it hard to play, yet it’s not Australia, so that’s sort of dribs and drabs. Anyways, I didn’t stay to watch the games and went to have some rest to the hotel right after practice. Actually, I never watch games during competitions not to waste my energy.

I’ll also play doubles at Roland Garros, we’ll be playing with Jelena Dokic. Schedule was announced today, but I didn’t give it a look. Doubles are in a few days and I have to concentrate on the singles. To the point of singles – I’m playing against Polona Hercog, we met in Marocco three weeks ago where I won 6:3, 6:4, but that wasn’t the easiest match. Overall women’s tennis today has developed a lot and there are no easy matches. One should do his best to get ready for every match. So I’d go sleep, to be fresh and rested.

Let tomorrow be a good day for everyone!

But first i’ll answer your questions:

1. Question from AlterEgo about my favourite Grand Slam tournaments

My favorite Grand Slam is Wimbledon, second is Australian Open. The thing is not that I played best at these two. Logistics and comfort are most important for sportsmen during the tournament. I love nature a lot and therefore I enjoy playing at Wimbledon much.

2. Question from Ukka

– Every big tournament, and Grand Slam of course – is a madhouse: lots of people, journalists, competitors, coaches, relatives, managers. While moving from changing rooms to the court you are stopped ten times and asked how you are, who you play against and so on... It’s very tiresome. So it’s a holiday for fans ad spectators, but for the competitors it’s huge stress and responsibility. It’s like taking an exam every day.

– Lancaster Hotel is right on the Elysian Fields. It takes 15 minutes by car to get to Roland Garros from the hotel. It’s elite five-star hotel with large rooms, great breakfast and ice personnel. And these are parts of good rest after hard work. I’m very grateful to the hotel for their hospitality.

– I want to win against every opponent, I never think if he’s significant enough. On a whole I try not to think who’s on the other side. That’s why we practise many hours a day – to play our game and not dance to the opponent’s tune.