OMG! adidas! Sale! Up to 50% off! Selected stores nationwide! Until September 30 only! Aack!

*sigh*

Another reason why I hate being stuck here. :(

Is there anybody out there who could buy me Justine's gear from adidas? I will love you forever, I swear.

And throw in a tennis racket while you're at it to complete my tennis buff look. :P

Dear Justine,

Congratulations on being only the seventh woman since 1968 to reach the finals of all four major Grand Slams in the same year. You join the ranks of Martina Navratilova (quite a mouthful, isn't it?), Monica Seles, Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis. Granted, being second place is probably the most disappointing place ever, but no one can’t deny that you have had the most impressive season so far. No amount of bananas or pretty shirts can buy you that.

Kisses, Pau

a long and rambling post

Part I

I blame my father for making Justine drop a set in her semi-finals match against Jankovic. He kept saying she’ll double fault, or her return would be too long, or Jankovic would hit a winner. He was just sending negative vibes to NY that I was thankful he went to bed at the start of the second set. So there I was at around 2:30 am this morning, rooting for Justine. Jessica Zafra has this theory about tennis players and their fans. Something like the fans can actually will their player to win. And not just the fans in the stadium itself, but the millions worldwide watching the match live on TV. More on that next time.

Anyway, that this morning’s two-hour semi-final between Justine and Jankovic is thrilling is an understatement. More like cardiac arrest-inducing. At least for a JHH fan.

During the first set and early in the second set, Justine was clearly frustrated. Jankovic was on a roll from her previous matches with top 10 seeds, so she was more relaxed, therefore played well. It was also her first time to reach the semi-finals of a major tournament, so she was understandably excited and bubbling with energy.

I think I actually burned calories just by watching the match. My heart was pounding so fast; I don’t know if I’d ever been that nervous before. At one point (probably when Jankovic was leading 3-2 in the second set), my hands were shaking that I almost dropped a glass. For several moments there, I thought Justine was going to lose in straight sets.

But Justine showed her maturity and experience as she began to turn the match in her favor in the middle of the second set. She was down 2-4, but she broke Jankovic’s serve. Justine regained her composure and seemed more relaxed from then on. She went on to win the second set 6-4. Justine then held all her serves and broke all Jankovic’s in the third set, clinching the match at 4-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Anyway, during the first half of the match, it seemed to me that Jankovic wasn’t playing so seriously. It was as if she was more concerned with putting a show for the crowd. Jankovic’s theatrics probably rankled Justine, who may have wanted to scream at one point or another “A Grand Slam title is at stake here! Focus, girl!”

But really, you cannot possibly know how nervous I was while watching the match. I knew that anything less than the finals in the US Open would be disappointing for her. Plus, I didn’t want her to lose to the 19^th seed who had this 0-10 losing streak earlier this year. If Justine had to exit before the finals, I’d rather have her lose to, say, Davenport or Dementieva (Jankovic’s opponent in the quarterfinals). At least they’re established players.

Told ya Jankovic’s luck would run out when she meets Justine. Allez, Justine!

Part II

Jankovic is such a brat. I was reading the transcript of her interview after her loss to Justine in the semi-finals, and Jankovic really sounded like a whiny loser. She kept complaining about the umpire and implied that Justine was just faking her back pain in the first set and half of the second.

JJ: I was up 4-2 and lost my concentration with the umpire, and then with her, she was kind of saying, Oh, I have pain in my back, I can't do this and that.
And then when she started winning, she starts playing all of a sudden so good, so well, and serving big and everything changed.

Q. Did you hear her say anything when you say, Oh, my back? Did she actually say her back hurts?
JJ: No, but she was like (bending over holding her back). … But I think from my point of view, I think you should play fair. And if you have pain, you have pain. But then when you if you have really pain, then you gonna have pain when you're winning, as well. But then how come when she's winning, she serves like 120 mile serve, and then when she's losing, she barely pushes it back? Just to kind of say, Oh, that's why I'm losing or something.

I mean, duh! First off, Justine has every right to stretch her back in between serves. The commentator was even saying that Jankovic should thank Justine for making her serve wait. Jankovic had time to catch her breath and relax a bit. Besides, what can you expect of Justine during the first half of the match? Her service is a disaster, her opponent is completely dominating the rallies, and she’s racking up unforced errors. Of course she’s gonna feel her pain more acutely than ever. Later, when she had gained her rhythm back, she could ignore the pain, coz, hell, she’s winning!

And there was that crap about the physiotherapist. So what if Jankovic had to see a physio after her doubles match? Justine had to see a medical trainer during her match with Davenport. That levels everything off. It’s just so annoying of Jankovic to insinuate that Justine acted that she was in so much pain to deliberately throw her game off. I mean, wow, how unprofessional could you get, right? Jankovic was right when she said she could’ve won the match, only that she lost her focus during the latter half. But by complaining about the umpire, the wind, Justine’s “acting skills,” it was like she was blaming everyone but herself for her loss. I understand that she was disappointed, but she crossed the line by making those disparaging remarks. She just came off as a sore loser.

What really pissed me off was what she said in the end of her interview. “… I don't like to talk about the other players. I prefer if I can say something about the player, I prefer to say something nice. I don't want to say any negative stuff about the players.”

Oh, really now? Grr...

Part III

Justine will face Maria Sharapova in the finals. Interesting tidbit: Win or lose, Maria will still remain as number 3 in the world. However, if [when] Justine wins, she’ll climb to the number 1 spot again. Ooh… so exciting. Another cardiac arrest-inducing match.

on to the [semi]finals

Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Lindsay Davenport 6-4 6-4 in the US Open quarterfinals. Justine will face 19^th seed Jankovic in the semis tomorrow, Friday.

Yay, Justine! Damn, she’s so good.

I did find the channel covering the US Open. Good news: they broadcast the matches live, then replay it several hours later. The catch: the live broadcast is on 11 pm, and the replay 7 am (usually) the next day. Haha. The matches start at 11 am in Flushing Meadows, NY kasi, so there’s (more or less) a 12-hour time difference.

I was so frustrated because I wasn’t able to catch any of Justine’s first four matches. I did see her third round match against Ai Sugiyama but it was a replay in this Japanese channel, so obviously they showed most of the first set (coz Sugiyama won it) and only bits of the second and third sets. I actually got out of bed early yesterday (like 7 am) because Justine and Lindsay’s quarterfinal round was originally scheduled in the night session (7pm in NY). But it rained and rained in NY so all matches were suspended. Their match was moved to the afternoon the next day. So I stayed up until around 4:00 am this morning watching Justine play.

It was worth the wait, of course. Actually, people weren’t expecting Justine to win in straight sets, thinking that Lindsay, who won the US Open in 1998, would at least take a set. But I guess Justine has the advantage of relative “youth” (she’s 6 years younger than Lindsay) and more time on court this year (she’s been to the finals of the three Grand Slams this year plus several lower-tiered tournaments, while Lindsay hasn’t played in months). I’m not saying that Justine shouldn’t have won. It’s just that Lindsay is taller and more powerful than Justine so she could’ve had put up a stiffer resistance.

Anyway, she’s facing Jelena Jankovic (pronounced as ye-LE-na yan-ko-vich) in the semis. To tell you the truth, I’m more scared of Jankovic than Davenport. Jankovic is younger (and taller) than Justine, and went to the famed Nick Bollettieri tennis school (Sharapova was one of her “batchmates”). Jankovic already disposed three top seeds to reach the semifinals: Vaidisova, Kuznetsova and Dementieva. I was able to watch her matches with Kuznetsova and Dementieva, and I was struck by how cool and calm she was. In contrast, her opponents were obviously becoming more nervous and frazzled as the match progressed, racking up lots of unforced errors. Jankovic is really on a roll in this tournament. But of course, as a dedicated JHH fan, I know that Jankovic’s luck (how else will you explain her streak?) will run out when she meets Justine in the semifinals tomorrow. For sure. :D

Allez, Justine!