Martina News
(January - March 2003)
March 31, 2003: For a nice article on Martina from the 'Sarasota Herald-Tribune,' click here. Martina & Liezel will likely get to play their first match on Wednesday. Their first round opponents will be the match-tough qualifiers, Samantha Reeves & Milagros Sequera who reached the quarterfinals in Miami last week. Recent news reports have indicated that Martina's last appearance at a tour event in Sarasota dates back to her debut year as a 16-year-old in 1973. In that maiden appearance, she lost in the first round to Evonne Goolagong 6-2 6-1. However, together with Marie Newmannova, she made the doubles final where they lost to Patti Hogan & Sharon Walsh 7-5 6-4. In her 1985 self-titled autobiography, Martina incorrectly noted that she won the event. But while she did not win, it was her first-ever final on the professional tour and let us hope she gets to right that wrong on her second attempt 30 years later!
March 30, 2003: The draw for the Sarasota Clay Court Classic was announced today. Martina & Liezel are the #2 seeds and will take on a pair of qualifiers in the opening round. This seeding is Martina's highest-ever at a tour event since returning in 2000.
March 28, 2003: Martina & Sveta crashed out of the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami today, going down to Liezel Huber & Magdalena Maleeva 6-3 7-5. With no seeded teams remaining, Martina & Sveta became the de facto favorites for the title but they blew it. They only broke serve once during match to lead 4-2 in the second set but Martina returned the favor by promptly dropping serve herself. This loss also marks the first time in her career Martina has lost a doubles match to a Maleeva. As mentioned yesterday, Martina's next tournament will be the Sarasota Clay Court Classic which begins Monday where she will be partnering Huber.
March 28, 2003: This press release came out a month ago, but yours truly did not spot it. Martina has entered the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C. next month where she will be partnering Alicia Molik of Australia. Special thanks to Tobificus for the info. For those of you wondering why Martina is not playing with Sveta, here goes: it is my understanding that Sveta, 17, still falls under the WTA Tour Age-Eligibility Rules which stipulate that she can only play 13 WTA Tour events plus the four Grand Slams over a 12-month period. These restrictions apply until she turns 18 in July. As it stands right now, she only has 2 WTA Tour events remaining and they are likely to be Berlin & Rome in May; she will be playing doubles with Martina at both events. In addition to these two, she can also play at Roland Garros & Wimbledon. But it looks like she will not be able to play at Eastbourne. It remains to be seen what will happen there. Should be interesting.
March 27, 2003: Martina & Sveta are expected to play their semifinal in Miami tomorrow. They will either face the #3 seeds, Kim Clijsters & Ai Sugiyama or Liezel Huber & Magdalena Maleeva who will first have to complete their interrupted quarterfinal. For a few more local media articles on yesterday's win, click on the following links: The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post.
March 27, 2003: Martina has entered the Sarasota Clay Court Classic next week where she is expected to partner Liezel Huber in the doubles. For the article from the 'Sarasota Herald-Tribune,' click here.
March 26, 2003: Martina and Sveta upset the #1 seeds, Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez 7-6(7) 6-7(5) 6-3 in the quarterfinals in Miami today. They will next face the winner of tomorrow's quarterfinal between the #3 seeds, Kim Clijsters & Ai Sugiyama and Liezel Huber & Magdalena Maleeva. Back to today's match, Martina and Sveta recovered from 1-5 down in the first set tie-break which they eventually took 9-7 on their third set point. In the second set, Martina served for the match at 6-5 and at 30-15 was just two points away from victory but was broken. In the third set, Sveta served it out at 5-3 for a well-deserved victory. For the transcripts of Martina's & Sveta's post-match press conferences, click on the following links: Martina, Sveta. For a nice column from the 'South Florida Sun-Sentinel,' click here. For photos of Martina from the match, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three.
March 26, 2003: For the second installment of Martina's interview with the BBC, click here. The write-up is also accompanied by a short audio-clip from the interview. Please pay no attention to the attention-seeking title of the article. Martina did not insinuate that she was "better than Serena" in her interview (as the audio clip clearly attests to). It appears the BBC is no better than grocery-store tabloids when it comes to sensationalizing news items of interest. The shame.
March 25, 2003: Martina & Sveta received a walkover to the quarterfinals after their scheduled second round opponents, the #7 seeds Lindsay Davenport & Lisa Raymond, were forced to withdraw due to Davenport's hamstring injury. Martina and Sveta will next take on the top seeds, Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suarez in their quarterfinal match tomorrow. That match has been scheduled first on Stadium Court.
March 25, 2003: Martina announced the nominees for the 2003 Laureus World Sports Awards today in Miami. For an article & photo, courtesy of the WTA Tour website, click here. For photos from the press conference, courtesy of the Laureus website, click here.
March 25, 2003: Martina spoke at length with the BBC this week. And the first part of that interview is up on their website and concerns Pete Sampras and his future. For more on that, click here.
March 25, 2003: In her press conference today, Martina also discussed a few other topics. According to 'The Independent,' she was asked about Jennifer Capriati's choice of music to accompany her arrival on court yesterday. Capriati chose "Bombs Over Baghdad" by Outkast. Apparently, this was Capriati's way of supporting the American troops in Iraq. Ok, whatever. Said Martina, "I wouldn't choose that [music] but it's a question of freedom of expression. If our own President says he wants somebody, dead or alive, then 'Bombs Over Baghdad' is not going that much further. It's Jennifer's choice. I'm not going to criticise that." And referring to the lack of strong leadership on the WTA Tour today, Martina opined, "You know what, there are a whole bunch of tournaments out there, but there is only one Serena Williams... The women have a lot more power than they think they have. They just need to unite." Finally, for a photo of Martina being interviewed by a French journalist in Miami, click here.
March 23, 2003: Martina and Sveta won their first round match yesterday in Miami defeating Magui Serna and Caroline Vis 7-5 6-3. They saved a set point at 4-5 down in the first set. Martina & Sveta will next play the #7 seeds, Lindsay Davenport & Lisa Raymond in the second round.
March 21, 2003: Martina & Sveta will play their first round match tomorrow. They are scheduled to face Magui Serna and Caroline Vis on the fourth match on Court 2.
March 20, 2003: The draw for the Nasdaq-100 Open was announced today. Martina & Sveta will take on Magui Serna and Caroline Vis in the first round. Once again, Martina's bad luck with draws at the big tournaments continues. Sveta and she have been dealt the worst draw possible - they are in the same quarter as the #7 seeds, Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond and the #1 seeds, Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez; and in the same half as the #3 seeds, Kim Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama. Someone please convince me these things are not being rigged. For the complete draw, check out the WTA Tour website here.
March 3, 2003: To read a nice interview with Martina from the 'Tennis Week' website, click here.
March 2, 2003: Martina won both her matches at the Volvo Classic in Tampa, Florida yesterday. In singles, she defeated Tracy Austin 6-1 6-3. And in the mixed doubles, Martina & Jim Courier defeated Tracy & John McEnroe 8-6 (pro-set). For articles, click on the following links: Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times. And here are two earlier articles from the Times, featuring quotes by Martina: Article One, Article Two.
March 2, 2003: Pam Shriver recently spoke to the 'Los Angeles Times,' and one of the topics she discussed was Martina's recent record-setting form. Click here for more.
February 25, 2003: It appears the anticipated Martina-McEnroe partnership won't be happening at the Volvo Classic in Tampa, Florida this weekend. The 'Tampa Tribune' reports that McEnroe will team up with Tracy Austin to face Martina & Jim Courier in the evening's mixed doubles match.
February 23, 2003: Martian & Sveta won their second doubles title of the year in Dubai yesterday, upsetting the top seeds, Cara Black & Elena Likhovtseva 6-3 7-6(7) in the final. Congratulations, Martina & Sveta! Winning this Tier II event marks Martina's first top tier tour win since the Tier I 1994 European Indoors in Zurich with Manon Bollegraf. Martina's last Tier II win was the 1994 Virginia Slims of Houston, also won with Bollegraf. For articles, click on the following links: Gulf News (1), Gulf News (2), Khaleej Times, Gulf Today (1), Gulf Today (2), Agence France-Presse, Associated Press. For photos, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three, Photo Four, Photo Five. The tournament website also added a few thumbnail photos from prior days in the following galleries: Day Five, Irish Village. Martina & Sveta will next play together at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami, beginning March 17. They also revealed that they expect to play in Berlin, Rome, Roland Garros & Wimbledon in the upcoming months. Meanwhile, Martina will be in Tampa, Florida next week for the Volvo Classic where she will take on Tracy Austin in an exhibition singles match and then join Tracy, John McEnroe & Jim Courier in the mixed.
February 21, 2003: Martina & Sveta won their semifinal match in Dubai today, coming from behind to score a 4-6 7-5 7-5 victory over Maria Vento-Kabchi & Angelique Widjaja. At one point, Martina & Sveta were down 4-6 1-3 before getting the break back. At 4-4 in the second, rain interrupted play. When the match resumed, Martina & Sveta were able to close out the second set 7-5. In the third, they got an early break and jumped to a 5-2 lead only to see Vento-Kabchi & Widjaja win 3 straight games to tie the set. But Martina held her serve at this crucial moment and they broke Vento-Kabchi in the next game for the win. There was a slight scare midway through the first set when Martina had to call for the trainer for a leg injury. But it looks like it was nothing serious, she got it taped and that was it. For post-match articles, click on the following links: Gulf News, Gulf Today, Khaleej Times (1), Khaleej Times (2), The Independent, Agence France-Presse. Martina & Sveta will next take on the top seeds, Cara Black and Elena Likhovtseva in the finals tomorrow.
February 20, 2003: Martina & Sveta will take on Maria Vento-Kabchi and Angelique Widjaja in their semifinal in Dubai tomorrow. This is the same team Martina & Sveta lost to in straight sets last week in Doha. The match is scheduled second on Center Court.
February 19, 2003: Martina and Sveta won their quarterfinal match in Dubai today defeating Magdalena Maleeva and Trudi Musgrave 6-2 6-0. They will next play either Maria Vento-Kabchi & Angelique Widjaja or Emmanuelle Gagliardi & Kim Grant in the semifinals.
February 18, 2003: Martina and Sveta won their first round match today defeating Nannie de Villiers and Irina Selyutina 6-2 6-1. For a brief report & photo from 'Gulf News,' click here. They will next play Magdalena Maleeva and Trudi Musgrave in the quarterfinals tomorrow. That match has been scheduled third on Court One. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Martina joined Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amelie Mauresmo & Monica Seles for a photo shoot, wearing the traditional festive attire of the Emirates. For photos, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three.
February 17, 2003: Martina & Sveta will play their first round doubles match in Dubai tomorrow against Nannie de Villiers and Irina Selyutina. It is the fourth match scheduled on Center Court.
February 16, 2003: Martin & Sveta are the #4 seeds for the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open starting tomorrow. They will take on Nannie de Villiers & Irina Selyutina in the first round. For the complete draw, courtesy of Aceman Tennis, click here.
February 14, 2003: Martina & Sveta lost their quarterfinal match in Doha yesterday, going down to Maria Vento-Kabchi and Angelique Widjaja 6-4 7-6(3). There has not been much media coverage of this development. However, their earlier doubles win in the first round did get some attention in an article in the Dubai-based newspaper Khaleej Times. And the tournament website has added a couple of photos to their excellent gallery from the opening ceremony as well as on-court pics: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three, Photo Four, Photo Five, Photo Six, Photo Seven, Photo Eight.
February 12, 2003: Martina & Sveta will take on Maria Vento-Kabchi and Angelique Widjaja in their quarterfinal match in Doha tomorrow. That match has been scheduled third on Center Court. For an article from 'The Gulf Times' featuring more quotes from Monday's press conference, click here. Scroll down to the title "The World Has Gone Mad, laments Navratilova." The WTA Tour website has also added a few photos from Monday's opening ceremony: Photo One, Photo Two.
February 11, 2003: Martina & Sveta won their first round match in Doha today beating Jie Zheng & Zi Yan 7-5 5-7 6-4. Hopefully there will be some media coverage of the match available tomorrow. For now, here is an article on Martina from 'The Peninsula' featuring quotes from her press conference yesterday.
February 10, 2003: Martina & Sveta will take on Zheng & Yan in their first round doubles match in Doha tomorrow. The match has been scheduled fourth on Center Court. Today, Martina participated in the tournament's opening ceremony along with the other players and also held a press conference. Details from the press conference are not available as yet, but for photos, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three, Photo Four. In the ceremony photos, Martina is dressed in the traditional women's festive attire of the Arabian Gulf countries. 'The Peninsula' also has an article on Martina's participation in the event, accompanied by a small photo taken on Martina's arrival at Doha airport. Click here for more.
February 8, 2003: Martina & Sveta are the #4 seeds in Doha and will take on Zheng Jie & Yan Zi in their first round match. I posted the complete draw on the message boards here. According to 'The Peninsula' newspaper, Martina was expected in Doha early this morning.
February 7, 2003: Martina has entered the Dubai Duty Free Women's Open in the Arab emirate of Dubai (U.A.E.) which begins next week, February 17. Her partner has not yet been confirmed but it is likely to be Sveta who is also playing there. For a news report from 'Gulf News,' click here.
February 5, 2003: Martina has entered the Qatar TotalElfFina Open in Doha next week. I expect she will be playing with Sveta. This will mark Martina's first appearance at a tour event in the Middle East.
February 5, 2003: For video clips from last month's mixed doubles final, click here. My special thanks go out to Tom for taking the time to create the .mpeg files!
January 27, 2003: More links! First, click here for the Queen's final column for 'The Australian.' And for some other great articles, click on the following links: Associated Press, The Boston Globe, Indian Express, Outlook India. The 'Boston Globe' article is another masterpiece by Bud Collins and the 'Indian Express' article features additional quotes by Leander from a private interview the day after the victory.
January 26, 2003: Martina completed her fabulous career "Martina Slam" today when Leander and she defeated Todd Woodbridge & Eleni Daniilidou 6-4 7-5 to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title! Congratulations, Martina & Leander! It was Martina's 57th career Grand Slam title and her 8th mixed doubles crown. More importantly, it was the only Grand Slam event to have eluded her in her illustrious career until today. In fairness, it must be said that from 1970 to 1985, the mixed doubles was not held at the Australian Open and thus, Martina was denied a chance to win this event earlier – including a shot at the mixed doubles Grand Slam in 1985 when she won the mixed at all other Grand Slam tournaments. Anyway, with this victory, she now joins Doris Hart & Margaret Court as the only players to have won all events at all the Grand Slams. Martina also set a number of amazing records with today's win: at 46 years and 3 months, she becomes the oldest player, man or woman, to ever win a Grand Slam event. The previous recordholder among the men was Norman Brookes who was a month younger when he won the mens doubles at the Australian Championships in 1924. The women's record was previously held by Margaret du Pont who won the 1962 mixed doubles at Wimbledon at the age of 44 years and 3 months. Secondly, the 29-year span between her first Grand Slam victory (the 1974 French Open mixed doubles with Ivan Molina) and her most recent in 2003 is the longest in tennis history. Prior to this, the record was held by Nell Hopman whose first and last Grand Slam title spanned 24 years, between 1930 and 1954. And finally, Martina is now the only player to have won a Grand Slam event in four different decades. Others have played Grand Slams in four different decades – notably du Pont, Maria Bueno & Billie Jean King – but Martina is the first to win at least one Slam a decade. She just never stops amazing us!
January 26, 2003: Perhaps the best news that has come out of this trip to Australia – besides today’s victory, of course J - is that Martina is planning to continue on the tour past 2003! Let us hope for good results for this year to encourage Martina to keep playing for as long as she wants to. We are behind her all the way!
January 26, 2003: Here are the links of interest following today’s historic win. First, to read the transcripts of Martina’s & Leander’s post-match press conference, click here. For wire reports & articles, click on the following links: Reuters, Associated Press, AAP, BBC, ausopen.org, The Age, The Melbourne Herald Sun, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Hindu. The BBC article is accompanied by a nice Real Audio clip of a BBC interview with Martina after her victory. See the top right part of that page for the link. And now for the photos. I reckon there must be more photos of Martina from today’s match than there were for the entire 2002! Click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three, Photo Four, Photo Five, Photo Six, Photo Seven, Photo Eight, Photo Nine, Photo Ten, Photo Eleven, Photo Twelve, Photo Thirteen, Photo Fourteen, Photo Fifteen, Photo Sixteen, Photo Seventeen, Photo Eighteen, Photo Nineteen, Photo Twenty, Photo Twenty One, Photo Twenty Two, Photo Twenty Three, Photo Twenty Four, Photo Twenty Five, Photo Twenty Six, Photo Twenty Seven, Photo Twenty Eight, Photo Twenty Nine, Photo Thirty, Photo Thirty One, Photo Thirty Two. Phew! My special thanks go out to all Martina fans who sent me links or posted them on the message boards. You know who you are, your support is invaluable to me. Thanks!
January 24, 2003: Here are a few links of interest from today's match. For wire reports, check these out: Associated Press, Reuters. For photos, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three, Photo Four, Photo Five. The mixed doubles final will take place tomorrow before the men's singles final.
January 24, 2003: Martina & Leander won their semifinal mixed doubles match today defeating the #5 seeds and defending champions, Daniela Hantuchova & Kevin Ullyett 6-3 6-1. They will next play Todd Woodbridge and Eleni Danilidou in the finals. This will be Martina's first Grand Slam mixed doubles final since Wimbledon 1995.
January 23, 2003: Martina & Leander won their quarterfinal mixed doubles match today, defeating Mahesh Bhupathi & Iroda Tulyaganova 6-4 6-3. They will next play the defending champions and #5 seeds, Kevin Ullyett & Daniela Hantuchova in the semifinals. This will be Martina's first Grand Slam semifinal since the 1995 Wimbledon mixed doubles.
January 21, 2003: Martina's latest column for 'The Australian' can be read here.
January 20, 2003: Martina & Leander won their second round mixed doubles match tomorrow (Australian time J), upsetting the #3 seeds, Elena Likhovtseva & Mark Knowles 6-2 6-4. This marks the first time Martina has reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam mixed doubles event since Wimbledon 1996. They will next play Iroda Tulyaganova & Mahesh Bhupathi, both former doubles partners of Martina's.
January 19, 2003: Sadly, Martina & Sveta lost their third round match at the Australian Open today to the #1 seeds, Serena & Venus Williams 6-2 6-3. It was really bad luck for our team to have drawn the #1 seeds so early in the tournament. Said Serena afterwards, "It's a shame both of us couldn't have won and gone on." Martina is still alive in the mixed and will probably play her second round match with Leander on Tuesday. To read the transcripts of Martina's interesting post-match press conference, click here. For photos from today's match, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three, Photo Four. Check the Getty Images site for a couple of thumbnail pics too. For a few articles, check out the following: The Australian, The Age. Martina's isn't sure if she's going to play any tournaments between now and the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami in March. She will be checking with Sveta and her schedule to decide if she wants to play somewhere in the upcoming weeks. Just some fyi: Sveta has committed to playing tournaments in Paris, Doha & Dubai next month.
January 19, 2003: Click here for an interesting article by Christopher Clary of 'The International Herald Tribune' on the current state of the WTA Tour management (or lack thereof). The link is from the website of 'The New York Times.' In the write-up, the author also talks about the advantages of having Martina play a key role in any future reorganization of the WTA Tour. Martina served three terms as President of the WTA Tour Player's Association in 1979-80, 1983-84 & 1994-95. She also served as Vice-President for the 1993-94 term. The Player's Association was disbanded in 1997.
January 19, 2003: Yesterday, Martina & Sveta won their late-night second round doubles match at the Australian Open defeating Alice Canepa & Milagros Sequera 6-2 6-1. No articles or photos from the match unfortunately. However, here are two photos from Martina's & Leander's first round mixed doubles match the other day, courtesy of the tournament website: Photo One, Photo Two.
January 19, 2003: This one got lost in the mail! Click here for the transcripts of Martina's press conference in Sydney at the Adidas International from nearly two weeks ago after she lost her first round match. My apologies for not posting this sooner. I only found out about it today! One of the most interesting things about that interview was Martina's revelation that she might open a tennis academy one day; she has just bought some property near Sarasota, Florida. She is also helping out a couple of junior tennis players at the moment.
January 17, 2003: Martina & Leander won their first round mixed doubles match over Scott Draper & Lisa McShea 6-3 7-5. No reports on the match unfortunately but there are a few thumbnail photos in the Getty Images gallery. Here are a couple of other links of interest. Martina's latest column can be read here. Australia's number one Nicole Pratt who has reached the fourth round of the tournament in singles said that Martina's love for the game and her dedication to fitness was an inspiration to her. To read more, click here for the AAP article. And it appears yesterday's links to the Associated Press photographs are no longer functioning. Here are the corrected links: Photo One, Photo Two. My special thanks to Toby for pointing out this error. Martina & Sveta take on Alice Canepa & Milagros Sequera in their second round doubles match tomorrow.
January 16, 2003: Some links of interest re: the first round win. First, here are the transcripts of Martina's & Sveta's post-match press conference from the official site here. As always, Martina does not disappoint. For a few good articles, click on the following links: The Age (1), The Age (2), Tournament website. And here are a few photos: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three. The Getty Images site also features a few thumbnail pictures - the only drawback is you'll have to scroll through the various pages to locate them. Martina & Leander play their first round mixed doubles match against Scott Draper & Lisa McShea tomorrow on the Margaret Court Arena.
January 15, 2003: Martina & Sveta won their first round doubles match at the Australian Open today, scoring a come-from-behind 5-7 6-1 6-3 victory over Myriam Casanova & Nicole Pratt. In the final set, Martina & Sveta were down 1-3 and a point away from going two breaks down at 1-4. However, they recovered to win the next 5 games in a row and finally won on their third match point. They will next face Alice Canepa and Milagros Sequera in the second round. Meanwhile, the mixed doubles draw was released today. As expected, Martina is playing with Leander Paes and they will face Scott Draper and Lisa McShea in the first round. For the complete draw, courtesy of the tournament website, click here.
January 14, 2003: Click here to listen to a very recent 15-minute interview with Martina by ABC Grandstand in Australia. If the link does not work, try saving the file to your hard drive first and then opening it. To save, right-click on the following link and select "Save target as..." (or "Save target link as..." for Netscape users).
January 14, 2003: Martina was quoted earlier this week talking about men's number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. Said Martina, "Andre Agassi has a better chance than Lleyton Hewitt of winning this year's Australian Open... There's going to be so much pressure on Lleyton and that can get to you. Although he copes so well with that, the most difficult thing is to win in your home country." Last week, Martina also had a few words of praise for Australia's number two women's player, Alice Molik. Read more here.
January 14, 2003:You can get a look at one of Martina's work out sessions with her trainer Giselle Tirado in the February edition of "Tennis" magazine. Click here for the complete article with photos.
January 14, 2003: Here are a couple of photos from the WTA Tour website. First, last Friday in Sydney, Martina joined Russian number one Anastasia Myskina, the World number one men's wheelchair player David Hall and Australia's number one wheelchair junior Ben Weekes for an exhibition mixed doubles match, won by Myskina & Hall. For photos from that event, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two. And yesterday, Martina joined Evonne Goolagong at the Fed Cup morning tea in Melbourne. I'm not exactly sure what this event was about but I suspect it was some sort of reception for the Aussie junior girls. Evonne is the Fed Cup captain of Australia. And here are the photos: Photo One, Photo Two, Photo Three.
January 13, 2003: The women's doubles draw at the Australian Open was announced today. Martina & Sveta are the #16 seeds and have a tough opener against Myriam Casanova & Nicole Pratt. For the complete doubles draw, courtesy of the tournament website, click here. There will be more updates with articles & photos tomorrow.
January 7, 2003: Unfortunately, Martina & Alexandra crashed out of the Adidas International earlier today, going down to Myriam Casanova and Evie Dominikovic 6-3 6-2. The loss ends Martina's 59-straight doubles match winning streak in Australia which dates back to 1981. Martina will next head to Melbourne for the Australian Open where she will be playing with Sveta. She revealed that she will be driving there from Sydney because her new pug, Froddo, is unable to fly in an aircraft cabin per Australian aviation regulations. For articles, click on the following links: AAP, Reuters, Agence France-Presse. Martina is also quoted in an article in today's 'Sydney Morning Herald,' here. Scroll to the end of the article for Martina's quotes. For photos from today's match, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two. The Getty Images gallery also has a thumbnail photo of Martina in action today here.
January 6, 2003: For an article on Martina from 'The Sydney Morning Herald,' click here. Martina and Alexandra will take on Myriam Casanova and Evie Dominikovic in their first round doubles match in Sydney tomorrow.
January 5, 2003: It turns out Martina's column for 'The Australian' is available on the Internet! To read her latest, click here. Martina reveals she is considering bypassing Roland Garros this year but expects to play at Wimbledon & the U.S. Open. For another article from 'The Australian,' click here. A slight addendum to the article: Lisa Raymond & Rennae Stubbs have ended their doubles partnership and will not be partners at the Australian Open next week.
January 4, 2003: Martina will serve as a guest columnist for 'The Australian' newspaper during her stay in Australia. Unfortunately, it looks like her columns will be restricted to the print edition and not on the newspaper website. This might be difficult but if anyone is able to share the columns with us, please let me know. Martina shares her views on current women's #1, Serena Williams in today's edition.
January 4, 2003: The draw for the Adidas International in Sydney was announced today. Martina & Alexandra will take on Myriam Casanova & Evie Dominikovic in the first round. For the complete draw, courtesy of Michael Blue's site, click here.
January 4, 2003: Martina & Sveta won their final match at the Uncle Toby's Hardcourts in Gold Coast earlier today with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Nathalie Dechy & Emilie Loit. Congratulations, Martina & Sveta! This marks Martina's 167th career doubles title on the WTA Tour and she extends her record of being the oldest tour winner with this victory at 46 years. For articles on the match, click on the following links: The Queensland Sunday Mail, AAP. The Getty Images site has many photos from both during and after the match, here. Unfortunately they are all in thumbnail format. Martina flew straight to Sydney afterwards for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation dinner.
January 4, 2003: For an earlier article, courtesy of the 'Gold Coast Bulletin,' on Martina's & Sveta's semifinal match win over Schett & Schnyder, click here.
January 3, 2003: Martina & Sveta are through to the finals in Gold Coast after defeating Barbara Schett & Patty Schnyder today 6-4 7-6(5). They will next play Nathalie Dechy & Emilie Loit tomorrow. For articles on the result and other topics discussed by Martina afterwards, click on the following links: Reuters, The Melbourne Herald Sun, The Age.
January 2, 2003: Sorry for the delay in posting this news. Martina & Sveta are through to the semifinals of the Uncle Toby's Hardcourts in Gold Coast. In their opening match, they defeated Evgenia Koulikovskaya and Tatiana Poutchek 4-6 6-3 6-1. They received a walkover in their quarterfinal against the top seeds, Meghann Shaughnessy and Ai Sugiyama after Meghann withdrew with an injured ankle. Tomorrow, they will take on the #4 seeds, Barbara Schett & Patty Schnyder in the semifinals. For articles on the first round win, click on the following links: The Courier & Mail, The Age. For photos from the match, courtesy of the WTA Tour website, click on the following links: Photo One, Photo Two. The first photo shows Martina & Sveta signing autographs after their victory; and in the second, Martina is being interviewed courtside by Craig Willis after the match. More photos can be found on the Getta Images site here. You'll have to scroll back to some of the earlier photos as the gallery is constantly updated.
January 2, 2003: A mixed bag of links. For another news report from 'The Australian' on Martina's participation next week at the Adidas International in Sydney, click here. Martina has also reiterated her support for the no-let rule. Read more about that in 'The Daily Telegraph,' here. And finally, here's a follow-up on the interesting story on the gift of mangoes sent to Martina a few days ago: The Townsville Bulletin.