Ok well today was a day of lessons!
1) After talking to that nice American woman sat behind us in Centre, I set out early in the morning to find out how the hell to have sports-style photography! Apparently it’s NOT as easy as switching it to Sports Mode... oh no no... (well obvs, huh!)... I had to find some “Burst” setting ... anyway it seemed to work so...
2) Lesson #2 – get there as close to 10:30 is normally the plan because you kinda think “ooh time for a cuppa and some scones before a gentle amble to an outside court”... not today.
Regular readers to the Rozzie blogs might remember the whole walking in the rabble thing that goes on as they bring all the queue people in... so as we were strolling to Cafe pergola... there was a line of Security People leading a bunch of people in. And they were ALL aiming to get to Court 12. As were we! So... screw cuppa and scones... we turned tail and followed the rabble!
Anne is a big draw – everyone was scampering to Court 12 as fast as they could... I got a text from one of a couple of friends going saying they were dividing and conquering and one of them was on their way to 12... “look out for her in a Wimbledon Straw Hat”... you know HOW MANY people have those? Let me give you an idea... EVERY OTHER PERSON! But by some miracle they had half recognised me as they came up the stairs and I had left a space between me and mum because of some sleazy middle aged geezer and his extremely much younger, wispy haired girlie with big hats sitting right in front of me... as an aside – girl you need hair product. A lot.
So friend joined us and we nattered a bit – turned out she’s been in the same row as us the day before on Centre – a fair way along though...
While waiting around on Court 12... we spotted Serena knocking up ahead of her opening match
Anne and Rodionova arrived to huge applause - which was good to hear... and we thought this was a winnable match for Anne
Took her some time to find her range a bit – long first service game but she held so good start
Rodionova has some decent passing shots in her armoury but was also taking a bit of time to settle in and Anne broke her to love
Annnnd this is where we got into WTA Classic mode... Anne had hard service games – getting broken back immediately and was still struggling with her range – but was very committed on her shots.
Rodionova is a real mutterer – friend pointed out her Clown Shoes to me (and apparently Serena is sporting an identical style of comedy sneakers!
So comparisons with the other Brits? Anne scurries about a lot – some great retrieving skills and you can see her building a point – Elena I think can construct her points but yesterday she always seemed maybe too hesitant to go for a shot – there was a chance yesterday to bury a drive volley but Elena had just let it bounce to give herself more time and then ... UE-ville!
That being said – Anne was under pressure most times in that first set on her serve, and then would get broken, and then break straight back. She has great defensive/counter-puncher style and can slug away at the baseline quite happily.
She put in some variation in another tough service game but Rodionova is pretty good at the net so ... another break against her!
And went and broke Rodionova straight back – who gave herself a REAL talking to!
Anne started her service game for the set struggling again – but dig in to take the first set – HUGE cheers. We had to leave to get to Court 1 – but this (like Bally’s match) looked to be in the bag... uh huh... not so much!
Poor AKO. That was horrible for her. =(
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