Patty Schnyder's Blog

MASON, OH, USA - It has been a year since Patty Schnyder brought the first official Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blog from the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open. This year the Swiss returns to Cincinnati and will defend her blogging title, as she eyes her second career title at the $175,000, Tier III hardcourt event.

Unfortunately I lost to Akiko Morigami tonight. I'm kinda upset, mainly because I didn't get to play the way I wanted to. In the rallies I was hitting too shots and missing too many forehands, too many for one match. She's playing really well though. She's playing the big points well. If I was playing as well as she was it would have been a much better match. But sometimes that's just the way it goes.

Next it's Stanford for the Bank of the West Classic. I like it there. I've done well there the last few years. I might be getting a first round bye, so maybe I won't have to play my first match until Wednesday or Thursday. We'll see. We haven't booked our flight out of Cincinnati yet but we'll probably leave on Sunday.

Every loss is tough. I'm disappointed because I think I had a real chance at getting to the final here again. But life goes on. After the match we went out to get dinner and now I'm watching a bit of TV... hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I'm not sure if I'll be back next year - I think the Olympics are at the same time. But I really want to be a part of the combined men's and women's event here in 2008; we'll see how the schedule works out, I'm not really sure right now. To me the Olympics are very important. I was told they were the same week anyway...

Well thank you for reading this week, I had fun writing the blog for the second year from Cincinnati, hopefully I'll talk to you all again soon!

Patty

Well tonight was a special one. It was just like playing an old colleague again. We didn't see much of her for so many years but tonight she showed her serve is still one of the best out there. We didn't say too much before or after playing tonight but I've spoken to her a few times since she came back and you can tell how serious she is about it. It may be tough for her now, because people can get big serves back because a lot of players serve big; but she's having fun and is entertaining the crowd too and the people like it.

As for me, my game was all right. I just needed to rally and make her move, and just try not to miss much, and I was able to do that. I got her serve back with some blocking sometimes, not really good swings, but that was all I could do in some of the situations so that's okay.

I stuck with similar routines to the other days here today. I worked out at the gym in the morning and then, because it was raining a lot, there wasn't much to do. It was a big thunderstorm with lightning and everything. It started raining when I was supposed to practice so we got out kinda late. Rainer and Roger were helping dry the court for me which was really nice! But the rest of the day, we were just relaxing and playing some computer games and listening to music. Then I went on not too much after I was scheduled to play, maybe 45 minutes.

I like listening to dance music, trance, techno... at the moment I'm listening to an Airwave mix; Rainer has a friend who runs a big club and they always send music from the parties. Marcel Woods is always mixing and DJing from that club. Every weekend we get new stuff. Lots of songs and good beats. When I'm here, I listen to Kiss FM on the highway. There's lots of hip-hop and R&B on the road, but not on the iPod! I do like Rihanna... but that's maybe one in 100 songs on the iPod!

I play Akiko Morigami tomorrow night. She's a really tough player and has been playing some good matches recently, especially against the top players. I've got to be ready because with her two-handed shots you don't really see where she's going. I need to serve well and move well. The year I won here, I beat Morigami in the final, and it was a good final for me. Hopefully it'll turn out the same.

It's about midnight, I'm still up, and the computer is still on. I don't really feel like sleeping yet though. Maybe I'll read a few more pages, we'll see. But I'll talk to you guys tomorrow night!

Patty

Although it was tough to fall asleep after a long night of tennis, I managed to get to sleep last night and slept in today until about 10am. I'm actually not a morning person, more of a night person. So that's not too unusual.

We went to the tournament around 2:30pm, and I was there in the afternoon doing some drills on and off the court. I did some sprints and reaction drills in the parking lot actually, catching some balls for hand-eye coordination and sprints over short distances too. At 4pm I had some on-court practice - we worked on my forehand mostly, getting ready for some of the slice I might see from Brenda in the match tomorrow night. We played some billiards afterwards then came back to the hotel, which brings me to right now!

I just heard about what happened to Anastasia Rodionova yesterday, that she was defaulted. Rainer and I were talking to people who saw it and it sounds like it was a bit of an over-reaction from the umpire or referee. I don't think she did anything really bad. Sometimes people get angry and hit the ball like that and it hits people, but that didn't happen. I don't believe she should've been defaulted. And now it's being played up a lot by the media... but what can you do?

On a nicer note, I read today that Lindsay Davenport is coming back to the Tour. It's really cool. I don't think she ended her career like she wanted. She had all those injuries last year that kept her from her best tennis. She's a really nice character. Whether she wins titles or not when she's back, when she's healthy she's always a dangerous player, and has some of the biggest shots. She's also a great champion. Hopefully she'll be able to get back to her best level!

I'm really excited about tomorrow's match against Schultz-McCarthy. It's always special to play at night, and playing her feels more special. I'll need to hold my serve because she serves so well. After a few games maybe she'll seem like a normal opponent... because at first it still seems funny that we're playing for the first time in more than 11 years. Hopefully that will go away after a while. I just want to win and keep going in this tournament!

If you read my blog last year you'll remember I always play an arcade game they have here... last year I set the high score but when I came back this year, the high score was higher. Someone beat mine! I don't know who that was but I can't beat it! My personal best is going higher but I haven't caught this one yet...

Well we're going to dinner now and just relaxing this evening. I'll talk to you all tomorrow after my match!

Until tomorrow,
Patty

I won my match against Adamczak tonight, 62 75. It was only in the last two games that I felt comfortable, though. I was struggling a little bit. It was my first hardcourt match of the summer and along with that there are some adjustments you have to make, and I had a hard time tonight. Also, going in I didn't know how she'd play against me exactly, but I was surprised she was playing so aggresively. She took the balls so early and even her one-handed backhand was great; she was taking her shots on the rise and going crosscourt which was not typical. It was a good idea for her, of course! She was moving much better than me, too. She had a set point on my serve in the second set. I started rallying, and when I get into a long rally I'm comfortable.

It was nice to play under the lights. Here with the heat, it's nice to play when it's a little cooler. The crowd was good too. It's tough to see all the people in a huge stadium like this - they vanish a little bit - but they were all happy and it was a good crowd for my first night session. It's always special to play here at night.

After the match I was lucky; there was only one journalist to talk to, so I could rush to the Starbucks before it closed at 11! We got there at like three minutes to 11. We're so happy that they've opened a standalone Starbucks. We don't have to go to the supermarket like we did before. As you can see, my routines from last year are pretty much the same!

I play Brenda Schultz-McCarthy in my second round, which will be on Thursday. It's funny because I had a feeling I'd play her in my first round and sometimes you have a hunch which qualifier you're going to play but I guess I was just one round off. I think I've played her before but I'm not sure... I'll look it up now...

Well, I have played her once in Berlin, 10 years ago! And I lost in straight sets, although I don't remember it at all. It's not many times you'll play an opponent 10 years later. It is a different game now; back then her serve was so big and really it was unique because nobody else had one like it. Now with the Williams sisters and the other strong girls it is something I see regularly, so hopefully I can read it a bit better than I did back then. She is really enjoying being back on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour so I'm happy for her. It'll be a good match!

I have Wednesday off. There are some things I want to work on before my next match so we will probably have two sessions tomorrow, one on-court and one off-court. I want to work on sprints and footwork, just reacting better on the court.

But it's getting pretty late right now so I'm off to bed!

Until tomorrow,
Patty

Hello again everyone!

It's good to be back and writing the blog again. It has been an interesting year since the last time I was here. I had some really rough weeks at the beginning of this season. I had some bad luck in some of my losses and it was not easy to keep positive, but the clay courts were great to me. And actually I just played my best Wimbledon ever, reaching the fourth round; that was a big surprise for me because I don't really like playing on grass. But this year somehow I managed to rally back in a few matches and fight hard to make it there. Playing Justine on Centre Court was a very special experience. It was my first time on that court. But it was windy and she was just too good, so it was tough for me to get into the match. I still prefer the main courts at the other Grand Slams!

I took lots of days off after the French Open, so that was my vacation. After Wimbledon I was at home training. It was a bit unlucky with the weather; it was raining a lot so I couldn't do much fun stuff, so I ended up doing a lot of working out. I have a physical coach who keeps me busy with lots of new and different exercises. I've always got something to work on and it's helping me a lot.

We came here last Thursday. I have Rainer and my hitting partner Roger with me. Since getting here I haven't been able to play too much because it has been raining; but I've had enough time to get a bit used to the court, balls, weather and heat. I've also gone once to that Thai restaurant I talked about last year!

There were some players in the qualifying I hadn't ever heard of, but Monique Adamczak I've heard of before. She usually gets some wild cards during the Australian season so I know her a bit. I'm playing her on Tuesday night and I want to focus on my game and playing a good hardcourt match.

It's too bad Serena wasn't able to come this year. She's just a great champion. You want to see her play here because she's an ambassador to our sport. But there are two sides, because I don't know if I really want to play against her :)

Until tomorrow,
Patty