Happy New Year in deed!
Happy New Year! 2006 is a week old now, and so far so good. This year has been short so far, and it started off with a record. Sydney got its hottest ever New Year's Day ever, and its second hottest ever day since temperatures were recorded. The day was 44C (111F), even until 6pm. Air-con in the house was no use because it simply wasn't powerful enough so cool, so for the whole day I had the biggest fan in the house strictly blowing at me. It was the most unbearable day ever, luckily humidity was low, around 10%, but that meant fires could've easily started, and they did, about an hour away, some fires are still burning around the state. Later on New Year's Day, at around 9pm, a much anticipated cool change had arrived, cool wind which felt much better than air-con was blowing strong, cooled everything down. The next day the temperature only reached 22C (around 70ishF I think), much much more pleasant.
It's January, and this means the beginning of the tennis season here in Australia. First up is the Hopman Cup. It's not an official ATP or WTA event, but players enjoy going to the event in Perth because it's a relaxing event since no points are at stake, and it's not knockout so they're guaranteed to play a few matches, which is exceptional preparation for the Australian Open. It's a unique event, a male and female player from eight selected countries compete in two groups, with singles and later mixed doubles. The event has everything because it's always interesting to see what new sexy outfits the girls wear, there is also the big serving exhibition provided by the men, and the mixed is great entertainment that is only otherwise played in the Grand Slams and rarely seen on TV. It would bring delight to you that the USA last night won the final, defeating the Dutch. Personally, my favourite was the Argentinian duo, for obvious reasons!
In addition to tennis, there's also cricket. The traditional New Year's test at the SCG. This year the test was interrupted by a rainy day or two, but in the end, the South Africans declared sportingly, which led to a victory to the Aussies, with captain Ricky Ponting scoring centuries in both innings.
This week wasn't only composed of plenty of sport on TV, I played my weekly tennis also. For the past few months I've had problems with consistency. I knew there were flaws in my action, but I couldn't quite identify the problems, yep, there were more than one. My confidence was low and my temper wasn't good. However, whilst watching the Hopman Cup, I took note of the commentary, and on Tuesday night I decided to implement some changes. My biggest problem was my serve, I changed my action slightly and things were going good. Later, I had thought of a slightly different swing to my forehand, my other problem, and on Friday, I tried to implement that, and things there worked too. Together with my serve, I played the best I've played in months. I haven't been able to take a set off this friend I play with for months, and this time, I performed well and won both sets. My serve continued to improve from Tuesday. I used to rarely serve any aces, it was always more double faults than aces. I rarely had one ace from a few hours of play, and this time, I can recollect six, from two sets, and only two double faults. And in tennis, usually when the serve is working well for a player, other things tend to too. There were errors, everybody has those, but I was very pleased with the way I played, but there are still other areas to be worked on, such as a stronger second serve, better volleying and most important, on court movement and agility. It should be great with the remaining few weeks of tennis available on TV. In addition to TV, I will be going to the Sydney 2000 Olympics site to watch players practice and play next week. It continually amaze me how well they hit the balls, it's like every time they swing, the ball comes off the middle of the racquet. Every time I go, I learn new things, take plenty of photos, get numerous autographs, and have a wonderful time! Even though once I was badly sunburnt, skin was peeling everywhere! Even the top of my head!
Next week should be exciting!
It's January, and this means the beginning of the tennis season here in Australia. First up is the Hopman Cup. It's not an official ATP or WTA event, but players enjoy going to the event in Perth because it's a relaxing event since no points are at stake, and it's not knockout so they're guaranteed to play a few matches, which is exceptional preparation for the Australian Open. It's a unique event, a male and female player from eight selected countries compete in two groups, with singles and later mixed doubles. The event has everything because it's always interesting to see what new sexy outfits the girls wear, there is also the big serving exhibition provided by the men, and the mixed is great entertainment that is only otherwise played in the Grand Slams and rarely seen on TV. It would bring delight to you that the USA last night won the final, defeating the Dutch. Personally, my favourite was the Argentinian duo, for obvious reasons!
In addition to tennis, there's also cricket. The traditional New Year's test at the SCG. This year the test was interrupted by a rainy day or two, but in the end, the South Africans declared sportingly, which led to a victory to the Aussies, with captain Ricky Ponting scoring centuries in both innings.
This week wasn't only composed of plenty of sport on TV, I played my weekly tennis also. For the past few months I've had problems with consistency. I knew there were flaws in my action, but I couldn't quite identify the problems, yep, there were more than one. My confidence was low and my temper wasn't good. However, whilst watching the Hopman Cup, I took note of the commentary, and on Tuesday night I decided to implement some changes. My biggest problem was my serve, I changed my action slightly and things were going good. Later, I had thought of a slightly different swing to my forehand, my other problem, and on Friday, I tried to implement that, and things there worked too. Together with my serve, I played the best I've played in months. I haven't been able to take a set off this friend I play with for months, and this time, I performed well and won both sets. My serve continued to improve from Tuesday. I used to rarely serve any aces, it was always more double faults than aces. I rarely had one ace from a few hours of play, and this time, I can recollect six, from two sets, and only two double faults. And in tennis, usually when the serve is working well for a player, other things tend to too. There were errors, everybody has those, but I was very pleased with the way I played, but there are still other areas to be worked on, such as a stronger second serve, better volleying and most important, on court movement and agility. It should be great with the remaining few weeks of tennis available on TV. In addition to TV, I will be going to the Sydney 2000 Olympics site to watch players practice and play next week. It continually amaze me how well they hit the balls, it's like every time they swing, the ball comes off the middle of the racquet. Every time I go, I learn new things, take plenty of photos, get numerous autographs, and have a wonderful time! Even though once I was badly sunburnt, skin was peeling everywhere! Even the top of my head!
Next week should be exciting!