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Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm - Source: Reuters -
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The Bond villain and the never-ending
story
Day two brought more fun and games at the ASB Classic, with a bowls
player masquerading as a tennis coach, a bond villain in the
umpire's chair, a tough welcome for an Israeli journalist and the
never-ending answer.
The Bond villain
The umpire in the Tuesday's Marina Erakovic match made her mark with some contentious line calls at crucial times.
But what really attracted the attention was her wonderfully Eastern European accent and heavy intonation.
It was the voice of a female bond villain as she gravelled out " Game Ee-raa-ko-vitch.
The phantom coach
At the end of the first set, Frenchwoman Natalie Dechy calls for her coach during her first round match versus Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
This is normal enough, given the new practice of on-court coaching on the WTA tour.
But instead of her coach, the man who emerged onto the blue court four was possibly a runaway renegade from the New Zealand bowls championships, also held in Auckland this week.
A sunhat that was surely purchased in DEKA, white socks pulled up just below the knee, black leather shoes and standard issue bus driver walk shorts.
This mystery made never be solved, as Dechy lost her first round match and will be on the next plane to Australia.
Welcome to New Zealand
An Israeli journalist, in New Zealand to follow the progress of fifth seed Shahar Peer, got more than he bargained for after being introduced to the rest of the New Zealand media.
After some of the normal pleasantries were completed, a verbal barrage shot from the back of the room.
"Okay, now we are going to throw rocks at you - and you can respond with more sophisticated weaponry."
He took this bad taste joke in good humour and his initiation was over.
The never-ending answer
The presence of 38-year-old Kimiko Date Krumm at the 2009 ASB Classic resulted in a considerable posse of Japanese media at the tournament.
The Japanese veteran is indeed quite a story - retiring at the age of 26 after a successful career on the WTA tour before making a quite incredible transformation from housewife to tennis professional twelve years on.
After some protestations, Date Krumm agreed to be interviewed in English.
We served up a fairly simple question.
"So what did you do in the last twelve years you were away from tennis".
What followed was a verbal encyclopedia.
"In the first two years I didn't do anything. I just relaxed, stayed at home because I never stayed at home when I was a player. So there were no sports - I never watched tennis anymore - I just enjoyed staying home, being with my friends, cooking, watching movies and just enjoying my life."
00:30
"After two years I started kids tennis - for the young children from the age of three to ten years old. I just enjoyed playing with the children."
"Then from 1998 to 2002 I continued to teach tennis"
1:00
"at the same time I start to do commentary for TV. I went to Grand Slam tournaments working for television"
1:30
"I also started to enjoy playing sports - jogging, swimming and in 2004 I went in the London marathon"
2:00
"so I started to love sports - after a few years away from it all. Still I continued to sometimes do one hour runs and recently I like to do Pilates. I also gained a Pilates instructor licence"
2:30
"then sometimes I started to play tennis with my husband. I married him in 2001 and then I started to enjoy playing tennis again"
2:45
"Then I played other tennis players and continued to play tennis. So yeah like that".
Thorough, polite, professional - but a tad more information than the average impatient journalist is used to.
Play of the day
This is a lay down misere, no contest.
The eighth game of the Marina Erakovic - Nuria Llagostera Vives first round clash was a beauty.
The tiny Spainard with the longest name was at 40-0, on serve, when Erakovic started her fight back.
Three points to get to deuce, then she forced a breakpoint, which the 28-year-old Spaniard saved.
Another break, another save. The pattern repeated, with Llagostera Vives denying Erakovic on five separate occasions before taking the game.
Erakovic admitted afterwards that sometimes it can go like this.
"I was going for it on the deuce point but then would tighten a bit on the ad point."
