Friday, June 26, 2009

Big babe tennis.




Daniela Hantuchova from Slovakia. I have been a fan of hers for a while, starting when she was around 19 and won Indian Wells in 2002, beating Martina Hingis in the final. Big serve, lethal backhand. Not exactly fleet of foot though, probably due to her nearly six foot lanky frame. Daniela has struggled pretty much ever since that first big title. She got too thin after reaching the spotlight and being hailed as a glamour girl (I resisted the glamour shot, but google...there are plenty!), and then actually got a little chubby trying to recover from that. She appears to be very fit right now, but with Daniela, a lot of the time the struggle comes from between the ears.

Daniela is an excellent doubles player with a couple of Slam titles to her credit there. Despite her height, she has remarkably "soft hands", meaning her net game - where volleying comes into play - is very good. Doubles play will develop that, as it is a fast game with lots of volleys, but generally you have a real talent or you don't.

Anyway, she'll face Serena Williams in the next round of Wimbledon, where I'll definitely be rooting for her. She's very capable of producing the upset in that match.

ADDED: Oooh...forgot to mention the drama involved the last time these two played each other at Wimbles. Dani was playing a spectacular match and then Serena sustained a cramp in her leg and was looking finished, but hobbled through - sometimes just laying on the court clutching her leg - until a rain delay suspended the match. Some thought that was a bit of gamesmanship, and it (natch) got into Dani's head and she fell apart, losing the match after they resumed play. Come on, Dani! Revenge time.

7 comments:

chickelit said...

(I resisted the glamour shot, but google...there are plenty!)

Tennis babes: I think that Trooper missed an entire niche here. link.

blake said...

I'm not sure they're Troop's type.

He's more into wrestlers, I think. And roller derby queens. NTTAWWT.

chickelit said...

Blake,

But that's just one tennis babe. The possibilities are endless.

Trooper York said...

Hey what kind of talk is that? I posted a bunch of tennis babe photo's you just have to follow the links.

It's just that things haven't been the same in the tennis world since Evonne Goolagong retired.

Trooper York said...

Walkies!!!!

chickelit said...

I posted a bunch of tennis babe photo's you just have to follow the links.

Indeed you did.

Darcy, Troop: don't forget that Blake scored a major coup in this genre: link

Actually, Blake's link can be traced to Simon on Twitter, where all real news breaks.

Darcy said...

You have great taste, Trooper. Goolagong was gorgeous.