Few days at home.

Sometimes players don't do as well in the tournament as they expect. And the next tournament doesn't start till a week later, that creates some time off. In my case I have 5 days between the tournaments.

What do I do in these 5 days besides practice? Lots of things that have nothing to do with tennis.

One of my other passions besides tennis is decorating. During my one year knee injury (I had an ACL reconstructive surgery in the end of '05, just as I got to my best career rank of 51) I went to study Interior Design.

At the beginning I was scared to go to school again, it has been 12 years since my high school graduation, so my fears were to be the worst in the class. But to my surprise after about two classes I felt like I never left school.

You see, when I first came to United States, my plan was to get a scholarship at the university and study international management. But suddenly I started doing very well on the pro circuit and my decision has changed to pursue my dream, to be a professional tennis player. And it was a decision I will never regret, because not only I got to pursue my dream, but also to travel the world and meet incredible people.

So now that you know on of my other passions I will tell you what I do with it. Well, apart that I could literally live at DCOTA design center and every other furniture and interior design

store, I love painting walls. If I am not mistaken, the walls in my house were painted and re-painted at least 6 times. And right now I am helping my friend to decorate his house.

I have almost finished with a kitchen ( I volunteered to paint) and now off to the living room. So instead of doing upper body exercises I just go and paint the walls!

I have also celebrated my "thirty something" birthday. The party was a bit delayed, because I was playing a tournament.

I was not the only person who had my birthday on January 18th. One of the coaches who I know

for a long time also celebrates his birthday on the same date. And he happens to stay for a few

days with my ex-coach Marco, with whom I have split a while ago. And this gave me a chance to reconcile with Marco, who had a big impact on my life on and off court.

Sometimes we forget to thank people from our past who helped us to shape our future. And I would like to thank Marco for teaching me how to be a better person and player.

Excited to see my new and old friends, I was helping my boyfriend to make hamburgers that we were going to put on the grill...but....the barbecue has "died" just in front of our eyes.

It made a big "PUFFFF" and the flames have disappeared.

Standing in silence in front of the grill, with a big tray of raw hamburgers, we didn't know what to do next. But thanks to my boyfriend's skilled cooking we ended up eating hamburgers in a shape of meatballs. Let me add-great meatballs!

I have one more day before I am off to California,

lets see what kind of fun a new day will bring. Stay tuned!

2010.

January.

I almost forgot how competitive small tournaments are. And how hard I have to work to win them. And because I was sick most of the last year, unable to play at my best, my ranking has dropped and that forced me to play qualifying.

Surprisingly I was not the only former top 100 player to play these events. Many other girls close to my age were forced to start their year grinding in qualifying of small events. Girls like Catalina Castano former top 40 player, Olivia Sanchez, Mariana Lucic, Mashona Washington, Eva Birnerova and even Nicole Vaidisova (main draw) who was top 10 player two years ago! And I am not talking about junior players who are just starting out on tour. Needless to say that it's tough. Not only you have to be in great psychical and mental shape but you also have to be well off financially to travel to all these events, because there is no money in these tournaments unless you win the whole thing. And most of the time you spend more money then you earn.

And of course there are tennis parents. Lots of them! They are even more competitive then their kids. They yell, they scream, they walk around like crazy people talking to themselves when their child is playing. There are constant "come on's and lets go, you can do it and take your time." Then they look at the coaches, who are as nervous as they are and ask "Why is she doing that? How is it possible?" It's a never ending circus which I can't bear to watch. But I am right there in the middle of it. So I tell myself- get your mind together, get as many points as possible and lets get out of these small events to more "civilized" tournaments, where will also be parents, coaches and agents but it won't be so openly dramatic as at the small events.

The off season.

Ahhh, the long awaited "off season"!!!!

I think it's only called that way to make everyone feel like they are resting, but the truth is, it's the hardest practice time for a pro-player!

Everyone has a different time frame for their "preparation." This is going to be my final season playing tennis professionally so I thought that 5 weeks will do just fine for me. And after the final flight of the year (which felt like never ending) I landed on Florida's soil!

Everything was just fine until I got through the security....then I started shaking. My whole body was shivering and my energy level dropped so much that I was barely pushing my luggage cart.

I don't know how I got to the car rental company....I think I just had enough in me to rent a car and put my bags in the trunk.

For the next four hours I was laying on a declined car seat, shaking all the way to my bones, thinking that I am not able to drive myself home.

Thank God my boyfriend was arriving the same evening and I decided to wait for him and let him drive home.

And that's how my OFF SEASON started! Laying sick in bed for almost two weeks!

At times I would move from my bed to the living room's couch and look outside the window where the sun was shining and luring me to come outside.....The long awaited warm weather, my plans to go to the beach during a week off....I hope the illnesses I had this past year, from vertigo to bronchitis and a horrible flu at the end of the year, are all gone, and next year I will be healthy.

That is one of my wishes for 2010!

Finally after about two weeks of flu, still couching a bit but feeling better, I have decided to start practicing again. I called my fitness coach Jo Jo (or "torturer" my nickname for him) and my tennis coach Nick who has been helping me this year,to set up the schedule for the next few weeks. I was ready to go!

First couple of tennis practices were very short and lacked energy on my part. Of course, I must have lost five or six pounds being sick! I am already having hard time gaining weight as is, (something a lot of women would kill for) and now I have to work twice as hard to gain my weight back plus some extra pounds of muscles.

So here I am on the New Years Eve, it's 6 pm, but I am ready to go to bed. I joke with my friends that in these three weeks of my "preparation" I have moved the GYM I work out at, from the street it stands on, closer to my house.

I have to get dressed for the New Years party tonight but I have no energy to do so. I thought of the small toothless boy who watched me work out today, together with his little friends , he slowly approached me and said: "I was watching you. And I must say you are doing a great job!" Even he understands how hard I worked! And he is like six!!!!

I better do a great job! This is my last year playing professionally and I want it to be a great one! I am ready! I worked my butt off! I was sore and grumpy for two weeks out of three!

I have to be ready and be back in shape!

So please join me in 2010, my last year on the Tour!

I will try to make it fun and adventurous! Come with me to play and travel around the world!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

Europe again!

Europe!!!!

I thought I was going to be in Europe for a few weeks, but it became almost 2 months!

I started in Moscow, then Vienna, Ismaning, back to Vienna, Bratislava, back to Vienna, Moscow. WOW! To long!

I will tell you right away that out of all those places I really enjoyed Vienna and of course being with my family!

Ismaning, Germany is a small and very expensive city close to Munich. I couldn't figure out why is it so expensive until saw a big new football arena just 2 miles away. The Aliance Arena, home of the famous soccer team of Bayern Munich. So that's why! It's a small soccer town! Other then that I don't know what people would be doing there! And the bad fall weather didn't help my impression of Ismaning. Little to say- I am not be going back there! No disrespect to people who live there!

Bratislava!

It is only 45 min away from Vienna however its a different world! Even though Slovakia is a European Union country now, it still feels like it needs a lot of improvement!

There is a lot of crime and leaving the car on the street over night is a big risk. We left our car in parking a garage and still lost a chrome tire! And one of the players (Sandra Klemenschits) got robbed of everything she had with her.

But I must admit, Bratislava's center is very nice and the food was very good and inexpensive!

Vienna!

One of my favorite cities in Europe! And not because my boyfriend is from there but because there is a lot to do and see. During my previous visits I got to see lots of historical parts of Vienna and did it all by foot. This time I have decided to try something new-rent a bike and ride around Vienna!

It's a great system, bikes are parked all around Vienna and by simply creating a profile for yourself and entering your credit card information you get to rent a bike for 1 euro an hour and return it at a different city location.

In the evenings my boyfriend and I usually took walks in the city center. It was a month before Christmas and that meant Christmas Markets were opening all around Vienna. So we would

walk from one to another and drink some punch or snack on fresh bread with home made cheeses and meats! Yummy!

One of the days we decided to research traces of Da Vinci Code in Vienna! It took us almost the whole day to find the church that held mosaic replica of "Last Supper" and when we finally found it I was very impressed by it!

The church was empty and silent when we walked in.

So I whispered to my boyfriend: "Where is it?"

"Here"-he whispered back. I turned to my left and saw a huge mosaic of the "The Last Supper" in front of me. I didn't expect it to be so big! I stood in silence taking it in. I wonder how long it took to make it?

The original Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is located in Milan, Italy at Santa Maria delle Grazie dining hall. After the original mosaic, Vienna is the only place that has the one to one replica of "The Last Supper."

After Vienna I flew home to Moscow to visit my family for a few days. As always my brother would pick me up from the airport. Usually it would take us an hour to get to his house

But this time it was different. We were in traffic for five hours! It took me less time to fly from Vienna to Moscow!

The next day my brother drove me to my parents house outside of Moscow where I stayed four days.

As always I had nice time being home with my parents. However this time around the weather didn't cooperate with our plans being more outside. But I went to my parents concert, did I tell you they sing? Yes, they do. And they are quite good at it.

I also spent some time helping my mom doing house stuff and looking forward to returning to Florida, to warm sunny weather, because all I saw in Europe was rain, low dark clouds and cold.

So when it was time to fly back to America I was excited to go!

Mexico.

Before Moscow I went to Mexico City, Mexico. I love visiting Mexico, I always have great time there.

Usually, during the tournaments I stay at the hotel, but because of lots of kidnappings, and swine flu I asked to stay with a family. Families in Mexico are always friendly and make you fell like you a part of their family.

My "Mom" for a week was Graciela or Grace in English. And although she spoke English I asked her to speak Spanish to me so I could practice it. ( I speak four languages: English, Spanish, Italian and of course Russian).

Grace and I got along very well, speaking about everything in this life. I also told her my life story, how I became a professional tennis player and all the hurdles I had to overcome along the way. Grace listen with tears in her eyes as I was telling her how I got out of Russia and how my family struggled during the Communist Era. And when I told my parents that I must leave Russia in order for to have a future. When I was finished Grace asked if I ever thought about writing a book. "Maybe one day I will"-I answered.

My story is one of many incredible life stories on tennis tour that should be told, so maybe one day I will share it with everyone.

Smaller ITF tournaments are usually not well organized, but people in Mexico really care about their organization. The tournaments are usually held at private clubs and people really come together to put up a great event. All week long we had everything from ball kids to TV commentators.

Mexico City is in high altitude so if you are not in good shape and try to play a long point your lungs will feel it big time! Even for me it was hard to breath for a few days, not talking about putting the ball in the court. But I did ok in the tournament getting to quarters in singles and doubles final.

During the week, my host family took me to different Mexican restaurants where I got to try all kinds of Mexican food. And it was great! I must say though, I was very courageous to eat

Mexican food the way mexican people do. And I must say it was SPICY!!!!

Here are some pics of the foods I enjoyed during my stay in Mexico City.

Back to USA!

And I am back to USA!

Since my last trip I spent time home in Florida relaxing a bit, training and trying to get rid of remaining symptoms of bronchitis I suffered from the whole European trip.

I played LA on the way home, where I flew in from Istanbul (the last tournament in my European and I guess a bit Asian tour).The decision to play Istanbul was made at the last moment, a night before the tournament start.

I was feeling very sick and haven't hit in fours days. But even though I didn't hit for a while and kept coughing like crazy I did well there. I qualified, beating good players and even coming back from being 3 match points down in my past round of quali. I also got to play doubles, getting in at the last moment with a partner that was also picked at the last moment. I got some points and enjoyed myself. And what not to enjoy! When I stayed in 5 star hotel, ate all day at 5 star buffet and even had time to visit Istanbul a bit. Of course I didn't go alone, I went with two other players.

We visited The Grand Bazaar! So much excitement and anticipation of something GRAND, but when we got there....well...we were not so impressed.

There were rows and rows of stuff! Some was not good quality and some very expensive. And because most of sellers were men they didn't like bargaining with three young women dressed in short shorts. Although we got lots of compliments which came in some sort of invitation to their shops. The best ones were: " Did you come from heaven?" " Are you miss Universe?" and

being call Angelina Jolie and Julia Roberts.

I haven't bought anything at the Bazaar, even though I saw some nice pottery and lamps. I was just happy to find the way out of there, thinking that for me, China is still number one for shopping at the markets and bargaining!

After Istanbul I decided (also at the last moment)to fly to LA and play a big tournament there. I knew I was tired and battling bad cough but I was happy to be playing well again and wanted to continue in this good path.

I bought tickets, reserved hotel and left Istanbul on time thinking I was going to arrive to LA just on time to have a day off and practice too.

But the first hiccup started in Paris where my flight was canceled! "Ok"-I said-" I just fly the next day.

The next day I got to Chicago late and missed my flight to LA. I asked to put me on the next one. It was full. And the flight after and the next day. The only way was to fly to Las Vegas. And from there to LA. "Ok"-I said-" it will take longer but I still get there a night before my match." Haha!

Not a chance! My flight from Chicago to Las Vegas was late and I missed my LA connection. It was the last flight of the day and I was offered to fly at 7am next morning! I wasn't even offered a free hotel room. Just a discount. And there was no food because it was 11.30pm. I was trying to stay calm, it was kinda easy, because I was SO TIRED!

The next day, deprived on sleep but still trying to stay strong I took a flight to LA crossing my fingers to get there on time to play my match!

I got to LA on time and tournament transportation dropped me off at the tennis club 3 hours before my match. One word "Zombie", that's how I felt!

I played Melanie Oudin, who two weeks later got to the quarters of US Open, I had a lot of chances to win the first set but didn't use them. And when the second set started my body just said "enough is enough".

That night I just dropped in bed fully dressed at 7pm and slept for 14 hrs straight. I don't think I ever had such a long travel, even the Bali trip was shorter then this!

Kremlin Cup.

I am back in Moscow. Sorry I didn't write for a while, had to many things to do lately.

I am at Ritz Carlton Hotel right next to Kremlin Square. I love it! In front of the hotel is "Zara",the store I love to shop at. Maybe I go visit it later today.

I also love the toiletries in my bathroom it's "Bulgary" and I LOVE Czar's breakfast menu for a very cheap price of 90.000 rubles (3.103 dollars)! I want to have it every day now! NOT!

First couple of days I stayed with my brother. We had a lot of fun together going shopping for 6 hrs, going to restaurants and riding bikes in a near by park. My brother is a nature lover, so if there is an outside activity he always joins in.

This is my second time playing Kremlin Cup after my knee injury. My knee is OK now, but somewhere in the back of my mind I am still cautious when running. So the first couple of practices I try not to run full speed.

I love playing in Moscow! It's my home town, so all my family and friends are coming to watch.

And this year it was more special then ever because my brother came to watch me play for the first time ever. He was asking a lot of question in regards of rules and lines and score and I was more then happy to answer them.

Even though I arrived five days before the tournament I had hard time falling asleep. I have noticed that the older I get the harder it is to overcome a jet leg. And unfortunately no posh hotel or hot bath with aroma therapy can help.

So when time has come to play my first round match I mentally prepared to run for every ball and fight for every point despite the luck of energy. I wanted to stay in my favorite tournament as long as possible.

I struggled at the beginning of the match but then picked it up and looking at players box filled with my family gave me a lot of energy.

The next round was a bit tougher and luck of energy and sleep won against my desire to win. And as tough as I can be mentally my body just shot down on me in the 3rd set. Falling asleep every night at 4 am for a week is a bit tough. But I was happy to be playing in Moscow once again and hopefully I can do it again next year.