Day 6

Today started off as a dreary day as the unpredictable weather forced us to cancel practice in the morning. We woke up to rainy conditions which lasted until about 9 am, after which the sun came out and began to dry everything. Our practice was scheduled for 10 am and it looked as though we may have a chance to get it in. Only ten minutes later, it began to pour once again! To say the weather is peculiar is an understatement. As a result we stayed in our hotel room for the rest of the morning and I did lots of homework. We watched some of Sharapova's match with Kirilenko before we had to practice with Nick Chappell at 4 pm. It was quite windy once again, but at this point that is a given. I am beginning to play better and better which is obviously good, but the important thing is maintain it so that I play my best next week. Following the practice, we went to the nearby track to do some fitness. We ran some short sprints and did some footwork for about 35 minutes before we headed into town to meet up with Nick and his coach for dinner. Apparently today is Australia day so we ended up having to eat chinese food since nothing else was open. I am beginning to wonder why we don't have America day? It seems that these people work 4 days a week and rest 3 days, compared to the lack of rest in the United States. After dinner, we came back to the hotel and watched the Nadal-Lucsak match which is quite interesting. One of the things that it interesting about the international competition is the different ways the various countries' players practice. The Koreans, Chinese, Colombians and many other South American countries are on the all day practice schedule. They are the first to arrive at the courts and last to leave. They practice ALL DAY LONG it is insane. The Australians practice quite leisurely as they show up late sometimes and only really practice when they need or want to. The French are perhaps the most interesting as they only practice when they really want to. However, what sets them apart is that they want to look good when they practice. They are always very loose which makes for a very relaxed practice atmosphere. This can be good and bad as while they always make tennis pretty, they struggle in less than perfect conditions. The Czech team keeps to themselves and no one really talks with them. While they are not very sociable, they practice hard although neither of the two Czech players look like they should be playing tennis. The Brits are very focused in their practices and work hard but you can be sure to hear screams of frustration throughout their practices. This is one of the major differences that you can see between the countries and while all seem to work, some are more effective than others. We will be heading to Melbourne on Wednesday so I am looking forward to that!!