Behind the Scenes at the Libema Open

Transcript

I wouldn't have thought that I would be here again. The one who loses jumps into the river, or the lake. Don't know what it is. A pond? A pond. The calendar for tennis has a lot of events. Players travel from one country to another, creating their own schedule and trainnings. We only see the created beautiful picture but what happens behind the task of making a big tournament like the Big Slam or 250? There is a huge team work behind each tournament preparing the court, attending the players, working with the fans and the partners. We will show you the behinds the scenes of a tournament, starting with Hertogenbosh. Do you treat this tournament as a kind of preparation or an exercise for Wimbeldon or each match counts? And you prepare thoroughly for each match? Well, maybe for the first time in my life I would say that I treat a match like an exercise. Before I wasn't so experienced or mature enough, I guess. To balance out my forces the mental ones and physical. I used to give each tournament my 100%. Here on this tournament I feel comfortable and I try to treat it as a kind of preparation tournament for bigger games. Here in the Walk of Fame among those who have won these games, and we have a lot of winners here but who is the most exciting winner, who would you pick? Who is closer to your heart, maybe? I have to check again who is there on display. But I remember that this tournamnet was won by by Justine Henin and Pat Rafter the tournament is held for many years already, many champions have gone through these games. Besides the grass season is not that long. I have won in 2007, the same year Ivan Ljubičić have won. I was cheering for Pat Rafter in my childhood years. I'll pick him then. Karen, you have just played an exhibition match tell us, how do you prepare for the grass season. And this match, do you treat it as just an exercise? How do you feel about it? I would say it's a mix. Me and my team, we were deciding, after Roland Garros, we had an option not to play at all before Hali and make another block of training sessions 10 days on hard in Barcelona. And to go to Hali and then take a break and Wimbledon or to go here, play on grass and continue training getting ready for grass season. And I think that grass, the grass court is very specific, I think you remember. You can do well but lose the game or vise verca feel yourself not confident but play well. It is a very unpredictable court type in terms of results besides your athletic form. So my coaches have also considered that training on grass would be mpre productive. To play the games and see how things turn out on first tournaments. I have been working on this tournament for more than 20 years. I am in charge of everything about players their training sessions, hotels, food etc. Grass is, I guess, the most difficult court in terms of organisation of training sessions that exist on tennis tour. As you see, here in Holland we have great weather. I think the most unusal thing that have happened here is we are one of a few tournaments that have held it's finals on Monday we were in such a rush then with our schedule that we had to play on Monday. It is the strangest thing that have happened here. We have a lot of Russian speaking players here It is nice. Dinara Safina, Anna Chakvetadze Daniil Medvedev, who has been connected to this tournament for many years. And now Karen, and it is so nice To speak Russian and be able to help. There are players who come with their own expectations which may not match the tournament 250. I can recall Fernando Verdasco asking for a white pineapple delivered to his room. And the directors car for a ride. And then we were searching for him across the whole Holland. Because he really got lost with that car. I recall romance that were beginning on our tournament I am in charge of hotel booking and I know this kind of stuff. And I may know of some relationships that are just beginning before the press. I really like the way it is organized especially for the fans for those who come here with families and kids. There are different activities for the kids. Well, really nice. If I lived here with my family I would come here with pleasure.