The WTA tour heads to the US for the summer hard court season with Stanford and Washington starting next week… and with that, i’m back! I was spent after a busy Spring and three very hectic weeks of blogging through Eastbourne and Wimbledon. I’ve enjoyed the break and have been on a tennis detox, barely watched any tennis over these past two weeks. I have spent more time on the tennis court – I played my first ever mixed doubles match on Saturday for my club.
My partner and I were supposed to play two matches but only played one as the weather didn’t co-operate. I was a bit nervous as we had played a practice set in the week and got bagelled. To the surprise of both of us, we managed to win, 7-6(4) 6-2, and came back from 2-5 down in the first set! I was really tentative in the first set but grew in confidence in the second and was a bit more comfortable at the net. There were lots of tight games in the second set but we battled really well to win most of them. My brother and his partner also won their match so we won the tie! There was much merriment last night… 🍹😂
I’ve also been busy in the kitchen and have started baking again. Next on the agenda is to practice pastry!
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While I haven’t been watching, I have been following the scores from the past two weeks of WTA tournaments. In the week immediately after Wimbledon, Kiki Bertens and Irina-Camelia Begu won the International tournaments in Gstaad and Bucharest respectively.
Katerina Siniakova and Peng Shuai both won their second WTA titles to claim Bastad and Nanchang respectively.
This was wonderful, Caroline.
It was great to see Alisa Kleybanova back in action for the first time in 20 months! Alisa reached the final at the ITF tournament in Hua Hin where she lost out in three tight sets to Luksika Kumkhum.
From the World TeamTennis season, I really enjoyed this interview with Venus Williams.
There was some good news on the streaming front as the WTA announced the immediate release of WTA TV. This came completely out of the blue and cheered me up after a long week. I have purchased a yearly pass and will post some updates over the next few weeks of how I am getting on with the product for anyone that may be on the fence.
It doesn’t sound too promising though in terms of there being an app for WTA Live.
Post-Wimbledon is the time for WTA weddings with Agnieszka Radwanska, Yanina Wickmayer and Andrea Hlavackova all tying the knot.
I’m *really* looking forward to this US summer hard court season and all the entry lists are out. The wild cards have been announced for Cincy – loving the choice of Marketa Vondrousova!
A few interesting doubles pairings for the next few weeks – Lucie Safarova will team up with Barbora Strycova for the Toronto-Cincy double.
New Haven, the week before the US Open, is looking good!
As mentioned above, Stanford and Washington are up next week and i’ve written previews for both draws.
Sadly, Victoria Azarenka was forced to pull out of Stanford due to a viral illness.
A few final wrap-ups from the grass court season – Jo Konta did a live Facebook chat with BBC Sport where baking came up many times!
I really enjoyed this piece with Garbiñe Muguruza – she’s a baker as well!
The classic trophy shot with Garbiñe and Roger.
If you ever fancy reading up about my experiences of visiting tennis tournaments, you can do so by clicking on “Tournament Experiences” at the top of the page. All of my posts from the 2017 Aegon International in Eastbourne can be found at the link below.
It’s only taken me a month but I have finally finished processing all my photos from Eastbourne! I’ve already booked my hotel for Eastbourne next year and will be going Saturday to Wednesday.
A final album from Eastbourne is up on the MTB Facebook page.
My next live tennis experience will be from Australia 😍! I’m going with my brother and have used these past two weeks to book all our flights and accommodation. We are going to Perth, Sydney, the Whitsunday Islands and Melbourne, with the intention of visiting three tournaments including completing the Career Slam with a few days at the Australian Open. I am SO excited!
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Enjoyed your photos from Eastbourne, especially the pics from between points when the girls were looking pretty.
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