Shtoo-rill IV: Everyone Else

And now for a melange of other people from the past few days, again courtesy of Pedro Mendes. (He also gives me lifts in his car. He’s like the perfect man.)

Antonio Van Grichen, checking out the craic. Again.

The lovely Bella Bellucci in his match against Frederik Nielsen. He’s in the quarter-finals tomorrow against Pablo Cuevas and keeps wandering past looking infuriatingly handsome when no-one has a camera to hand. Rude.

A small selection of photos of the beautiful Jarmila Gajdosova  (who I also wrote about for tennis.com) from her matches against Voracova and Dellacqua.

Igor Andreev, who was not loving life against Milos Raonic.

Milos Raonic himself, who’s just incredibly impressive in person and is about to take the court against local wildcard Joao Sousa.

Casey Dellacqua, who showed flashes of her old ball-striking in her defeat yesterday to Jarka G. Nice to see her back.

 

Sloane Stephens, who impressed in her defeat to Monica Niculescu. She’s going to be a thing.

Monica Niculescu, who annoyed in her victory over Sloane Stephens.

Romana Oprandi. No words.

Frederico Gil with doubles buddy and pal Leonardo Tavares. Wee Fred, as I’ve started to call him, is a huge star here in Estoril; he’s the highest-ranked player Portugal has ever produced and was their first player to make it to a final at this very tournament last year. He gets mobbed while the likes of Tsonga and Soderling walk past unnoticed. It’s lovely.

Jo himself, who lost to Pablo Cuevas yesterday but was the soul of graciousness in his presser, insisting that Cuevas just played too well. Well played, Jo. Well, not actually well played, but you know what I mean.

Shtoo-rill III: Delpo Time!

Here are some belated photos of JMDP from his first two matches against Sousa and Falla (courtesy once again of the legendary Pedro).

After an initial wobble against Sousa, JMDP looked terrifyingly solid against Falla yesterday and now faces Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals tomorrow. I wrote a sort of thing about that match here on tennis.com; by way of prediction, let me say that on on-court form, JMDP will win. On practice court form, Robin will win. Either way, it’s going to be exciting …

Here is the transcript of yesterday’s (very short) press conference …

Your level today, was it even better than yesterday and how pleased are you?

Yes, I played much better today. I feel confidence with my game and basically with my serve. Always it’s tough to play against this kind of player but I made a good match, I go through and hopefully be ready to play against Soderling.

You’ve beaten him on all surfaces but never clay. What are you thinking of for the next match?

Well, for me, I think it’s going to be different here with different weather, different surface. He’s playing really well this season, he made fantastic results on clay and he’s playing really good tennis. Of course I will try to beat him but I will need to be focused during the match all the time and try to take my opportunities and be in good shape to beat him.

How close do you feel you are to the kind of form you had in 2009, and what aspects of your game need to get better, do you think?

I don’t know, I’m trying to come back at a good level. I think I’m improving very fast and I don’t know if I can play like I did in 2009 or not; maybe I can play worse, or better, this year. But I know it’s a long road to be safety [sic], to be healthy and play on all surfaces against all the players and at a good level too. But I am trying to improve my game, and improve my body, my physique and I will see if I’m ready to play again.

Guess who asked the final, idiotic question? Yes, that’s right. I did. In fairness, I wasn’t expecting to say anything. In fact, I thought seriously that I wasn’t going in for fear of crying or falling over or spontaneously combusting. But then he walked in, all giant and … giant with his tousled hair, and I couldn’t resist. And then nobody else had any questions after the first two and, well, I couldn’t let him leave thinking he wasn’t wanted. In fact, I couldn’t let him leave.

So I said a question, the only question which occurred to me at that point (apart from “So, Juan Martin, how are you so GIANT and AMAZING?!”), and he answered me looking at me all the time with his amazing green eyes – which, in person, are up close and amazing. And I pretended to scribble notes in my notebook and audibly giggled when he said he needed to improve his body, and thanked him very politely after he finished, and then went off and died in a corner.

Oh, and you don’t get the full humiliating force of this story until you realise that I was sunburned at the time, but only on the bits I’d missed with my factor 50, while the rest of my skin continues to be blinding white.

And that is the story of probably the one and only time I will ever get to be in a room with Juan Martin del Potro, let alone have him speak to me or look at me with his huge, amazing green eyes. (Seriously, I think I’m pregnant. With a green baby.) But just in case I do catch him tomorrow (my last day), can anyone think of any sensible/witty/incisive questions I should ask him?

Apart from “So, Juan Martin, how are you so GIANT and AMAZING?!”. Because he is.

Shtoo-rill II: The Verdasconing

Hey, so. I wrote a thing about Heather Watson for tennis.com and another thing about Alisa Kleybanova which should be up soon. But because I love you, here’s some more pictures courtesy (and copyright) of the fantastic Pedro Mendes of the goings-on in Estoril.

Jarmila Gajdosova sexing it up.

Pablo Cuevas. Likewise.

The very cute Tiago Fernandes, who will one day be a thing, mark my words.

Heather Watson, a.k.a. Our Hev, who had a really tough match today against Tamira Paszek and missed qualifying into the main draw. She was understandably gutted, but we won’t forget her.

Adrian Mannarino and Gaston Elias respectively, both of whom lost today.

Antonio Van Grichen, coach of Vika, Vera and Ivanovic, checking out the craic.

Jo and Marc Gicquel checking out the Chardy-Mannarino match.

Bendy Robin, who has been just a beast on the practice courts.

Dimple close-up during the practice match with Verdasco. Believe me, it wasn’t Verdasco’s tennis that was worrying him.

Verdasco wringing out his shirt. Love the expression on Robin’s face in the second photo.

Verdasco using the world as his washing line. He was not looking good in practice today, I’m told. Tennistically, that is.

Gilles and Yves Allergo playing doubles on Centralito. They lost to Pablo Andujar and Daniel Gimeno-Traver, but the most entertaining part of the match was waiting for Gilles to explode in frustration. Which he duly did, yelling “Ah, this fucking bitch of a line!” during the second set. Comedy gold.

Shtoo-rill

That’s how you pronounce ‘Estoril’, apparently, and that’s where I am, havin’ it large (and sometimes small). I’m doing some writing for other sources but I thought you’d appreciate some photo content.

No, they’re not my photos. I didn’t bring a camera – at least, not one that I can hook up to a computer. (I’m bringing the disposable camera back.) These are courtesy of the fantastic Pedro Mendes and I’m sure you’ll agree he’s a handy man with a lens.

The omnipresent Jeremy Chardy, daring you not to look at his bulge.

The very beautiful Jarmila Groth Gajdisova at the draw ceremony.

The very lovely Heather Watson, who had a great win in qualifying aganst Karolina Sprem and was then nice enough to chat to me afterwards. Forgot to ask if she would be stalking Delpo though.

Speaking of which …

The big man was on cheerful form in practice today, generally goofing around and being a bit lazy. He was cracking those forehands, though. And was promptly engulfed by a crowd of autograph-seeking kids as he left the court.

… No comment.  

(These photos belong to Pedro Mendes, so please don’t steal them.)