I feel refreshed after an enjoyable holiday. I think it is a great idea to have this mid-season break, as part of the Roadmap, and it has given me time to rest and reflect on my game. More importantly, of course, it has allowed me to get fit again after my injury.
Wimbledon seems like a long time ago. I did some fitness work during my holiday in Scotland and I've been training this past week in Spain. I am now on my way to America for what should be a six-week stay at least. I will play tournaments in LA, Cincinnati, Toronto and then the US Open.
It was a very disappointing end to Wimbledon. I think I have quite a high threshold for pain and have got through quite a few matches when I wasn’t feeling well, but on Monday the pain was too much. I couldn’t carry on.
On the positive side, the injury isn’t very serious. Unfortunately I had to wait almost four hours to see a doctor, which was quite stressful because I didn’t know how serious it was. Luckily it’s just a small tear and I’ll be able to train again in a week.
I’m very pleased with how the first week of the tournament went. I obviously didn’t plan on having to save match points in my first match, but it was a great match to come through and I have improved with each match since then.
I was especially pleased with how I played on Saturday against Samantha Stosur. She’s a very dangerous player but I felt like I did almost everything very well and didn’t give her a chance to play well. It was one of my best performances of the past few months and gives me a lot of confidence for my match against Venus today.
I’ve had a lot of tough, close matches in my career and yesterday’s was definitely one of them. It’s always extra satisfying to win a match when you have been match point down.
I’ve done it quite a few times in my career, and a few times here actually. The most important thing in this situation is to try and play without emotions. If you think, “I must win this point” or “I must break her here” then you are putting extra pressure on yourself and that’s never a good thing. Instead, you have to concentrate on your tactics: what you have to do technically to win the point.
I’ve been in England for almost two weeks already. I practised at Roehampton before playing Eastbourne. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t so good to begin with, so I wasn’t able to practise on grass as much as I had planned.
Eastbourne is a cute place. I love the sea, so I enjoyed being so close to it during this tournament. The Devonshire Park club is also very nice and the quality of the grass there is fantastic. It’s a shame I couldn’t stay longer.
I was quite pleased with my first round match yesterday. I served well for most of the match and I hit a lot of winners. There is a lot to improve on, but for a Grand Slam first round, it was pretty good.
My opponent Sara Errani played very well. She wasn't making many mistakes and gave me a tough match. I'm happy to be through and playing my next match on Wednesday.
I'm still pretty excited following our Fed Cup tie at the weekend. I was happy to contribute a point to the team, and Jelena did a great job in winning both her singles matches. I'm proud that we're finally in the top division of this competition.
I enjoyed the team atmosphere. We have good team spirit and it makes a nice change to be able to speak your mother tongue while at a competition, because usually I am speaking only in English when at tournaments.
I've made a good transition from hard courts to clay. It's physically one of the most difficult times of the season, because you have to work on movements that are specific to clay and require a lot of strength in the legs.
I'm happy with how it's gone and I'm continuing to enjoy working with Craig. He will be present during the Fed Cup tie against Spain in two weeks, by the way. I'm sure it's going to be a great event and it's a wonderful opportunity for us to win promotion to the main World Group, to give ourselves a chance of winning the trophy next year.
Coming to Indian Wells is always a pleasure. This is one of my favourite tournaments for a few reasons. First of all the organization is great, the stadium seems very new and everyone is so welcoming.
The crowds are great too, even for practice. Then you have the breathtaking views of the mountains and the fresh desert air. I find it very relaxing.
It's a lot different to the other cities we play in: so quiet and peaceful. I'm sure it helped me last year when I won the tournament, and obviously my goal is to win it again.
I’m looking forward to playing Serena again on Monday night in New York. It’s a little strange that we play each other two times in a row, considering that I only played her once in a number of years before this month. I really enjoyed our match in Dubai and felt like I had my chances.
