08-08-2006, 03:04 PM
Deze week Hrbaty:
Hi everyone,
I arrived into Toronto Friday evening from Washington and basically it was my day off. In Slovakia we have a celebration on the Catholic Calendar - it was my name day, so I celebrated over a sushi dinner with my coach Tibor Torth.
Having battled the heat and humidity in Washington it's like a holiday to come here. When I walked onto the court for my first practice Saturday I sat down and thought to myself that I could just sit here, drink a coke and do nothing other than enjoy the sun. It was around 29 Celsius and dry. Just perfect. In Washington the humidity was so bad that I needed to change my shirt after the warm-up!
I knew that I was playing a qualifier most likely Monday, so on Saturday I had a couple of easy practices for an hour - with Bjorkman in the morning and later with Grosjean.
In the evening we went to a restaurant in Masaryk Town where they have really good Czech food. I love it and there are very few times in the year when I can find a Czech restaurant. I went for the roasted duck with a big apple dumpling cut into pieces and some sweet cabbage. I ate like half the duck so my coach had to roll me back to the hotel.
They are closed on Monday and Tuesday so we'll have to find somewhere else to eat the next couple of nights. Unfortunately I'm not a big enough star for them to open the restaurant up for me especially. Maybe if I win the tournament they'll open it up next Monday night for a celebration!
The restaurant is owned by a Slovak person but he has Austrians, Slovaks and Czechs working for him. One of the guys in the restaurant said he saw our Davis Cup semifinals and final - I'm not sure if he was on site or if he saw it on TV. But I got him a ticket to the Rogers Masters and he came out to support me today. There were quite a lot of Czech people in the crowd today. Where ever you are in the world you'll find Czech people supporting Slovak people and Slovak people supporting Czech people.
On Sunday night we went to a modern Italian restaurant where they gave you giant plates with tiny meals in the middle. I'd need to eat five main courses just to get a decent feed at this place! I felt like I needed to call into McDonald's on the way back to fill my stomach. We won't be going back there - that's not enough food for a sportsman.
Today after my win I received text messages from my family and girlfriend. I switch my phone on straight after I finish a match and either start reading or sending a message on the way back to the locker room. Ninety-nine per cent of the time I normally send a message to my parents and girlfriend first and, depending on how long the walk is, I may have sent a message before I even arrive at the locker room. I just say basically the result and what I felt I did well in the match. I also usually talk to my father.
I play doubles tomorrow, third from 11, so I'll make my next post after that.
Thanks for reading.
Dominik
Hi everyone,
I arrived into Toronto Friday evening from Washington and basically it was my day off. In Slovakia we have a celebration on the Catholic Calendar - it was my name day, so I celebrated over a sushi dinner with my coach Tibor Torth.
Having battled the heat and humidity in Washington it's like a holiday to come here. When I walked onto the court for my first practice Saturday I sat down and thought to myself that I could just sit here, drink a coke and do nothing other than enjoy the sun. It was around 29 Celsius and dry. Just perfect. In Washington the humidity was so bad that I needed to change my shirt after the warm-up!
I knew that I was playing a qualifier most likely Monday, so on Saturday I had a couple of easy practices for an hour - with Bjorkman in the morning and later with Grosjean.
In the evening we went to a restaurant in Masaryk Town where they have really good Czech food. I love it and there are very few times in the year when I can find a Czech restaurant. I went for the roasted duck with a big apple dumpling cut into pieces and some sweet cabbage. I ate like half the duck so my coach had to roll me back to the hotel.
They are closed on Monday and Tuesday so we'll have to find somewhere else to eat the next couple of nights. Unfortunately I'm not a big enough star for them to open the restaurant up for me especially. Maybe if I win the tournament they'll open it up next Monday night for a celebration!
The restaurant is owned by a Slovak person but he has Austrians, Slovaks and Czechs working for him. One of the guys in the restaurant said he saw our Davis Cup semifinals and final - I'm not sure if he was on site or if he saw it on TV. But I got him a ticket to the Rogers Masters and he came out to support me today. There were quite a lot of Czech people in the crowd today. Where ever you are in the world you'll find Czech people supporting Slovak people and Slovak people supporting Czech people.
On Sunday night we went to a modern Italian restaurant where they gave you giant plates with tiny meals in the middle. I'd need to eat five main courses just to get a decent feed at this place! I felt like I needed to call into McDonald's on the way back to fill my stomach. We won't be going back there - that's not enough food for a sportsman.
Today after my win I received text messages from my family and girlfriend. I switch my phone on straight after I finish a match and either start reading or sending a message on the way back to the locker room. Ninety-nine per cent of the time I normally send a message to my parents and girlfriend first and, depending on how long the walk is, I may have sent a message before I even arrive at the locker room. I just say basically the result and what I felt I did well in the match. I also usually talk to my father.
I play doubles tomorrow, third from 11, so I'll make my next post after that.
Thanks for reading.
Dominik
"Hij heeft misschien nog weinig tegenstand, maar dat is wat anders. En ook niet waar trouwens".
Mooi van Isner, maar nu wel erg jammer dat Russell niet mee doet. Maar wel gunstig voor Querrey. Jammer dat Anderson niet doordrukte, maar dat kan Zeballos mooi doen.
Stunt Wawrinka zou leuk zijn, maar niet als ie vervolgens verliest van Djokovic. Maar als die dan weer verliest van Berdych, maakt het niet uit. Dus vannacht is inderdaad cruciaal.
Mooi van Isner, maar nu wel erg jammer dat Russell niet mee doet. Maar wel gunstig voor Querrey. Jammer dat Anderson niet doordrukte, maar dat kan Zeballos mooi doen.
Stunt Wawrinka zou leuk zijn, maar niet als ie vervolgens verliest van Djokovic. Maar als die dan weer verliest van Berdych, maakt het niet uit. Dus vannacht is inderdaad cruciaal.