Tennis Life UK Insider's Blog

10:20 AM

Green Tea frozen yogurt for breakfast; an excellent antidote for last nights Green Tea Martini’s. Healthy and yummy … the perfect way to indulge.

1: 45 PM

OH MY WORD!! Na Li is up 5-0 in the first set against Serena. I’d better go and do some photos. The Chinese are certainly giving Serena a hard time at this tournament.

First Zheng, now Li.

3:30 PM

Well Serena managed to pull out a three set win, but not without a struggle and a lot of AHHHH...ing and UHHHHH…ing. Wonder if all those loud grunts and shouts are intimidating to her opponents. Letting loose with one of those ARRRUGG’s every time she hits the ball is surely saying, “watch out ... I’m hitting the ball as hard as I can”. Personally, I like the way Li goes about her business, quiet, focused and determined. No “look at me” showmanship shouting and antics. She certainly has the game, I wonder if she really believed that she could win. Up 5-0 in the first, she let Serena win 4 straight games, and finally pulled out a 6-4 victory in the first set. Li played a tough second set, but the air went out of the balloon after she lost the tiebreak, and Serena scored a 6-2 win in the third.

Fashion note: Serena left her huge earrings and huge and large diamond cuff in the dressing room, but did sport a smaller diamond bracelet, and check out those orangeday glow nails.

As for Li .. Who needs diamonds when you have a hot little heart and flower tattoo.

6:00 PM

Tsonga and Djokovic proved to be as good for photos as anticipated. Both of these guys give it their all and are fun to shoot. Djokovic has lost to Tsonga four times in a row, so this promised to be an interesting match. Tsonga was tough, but Djokovic was determined, closed out the set, stripped off his shirt and threw it to cheering fans.

10:45 PM

I can’t believe I’m still here, and tennis is still going on. Roger Federer said in an earlier interview that he was looking forward to playing Andy in the quarter final, but he might want to change is tune about now. They’ve split sets and its 2 all in the third. Roddick of course has a huge following here, and he loves the energy of a packed stadium at night.

11:05 PM

Andy is serving at 3-4 in the third. The crowd is going mad. I step out on the media balcony to watch this game, even the usually blasé press is into this match. Every seat on the press balcony is full. Andy wins his serve to make it 4 all and the cheering is amazing.

11:15 PM

Well, what a difference a few minutes can make. Roger just won the third 6-4. The writers are streaming back into the press room to start their stories, and I’m finishing up this blog and heading for the hotel.