Italian Open

Rome

Internazionali d'Italia - Rome, ITALY
May 10 - 16, 2004
Draw: 56/48/28
Surface: Red Clay/Outdoors
Prize money: $1,300,000

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LAST COMPLETED MATCH
2nd round	E.Likhovtseva/A.Myskina	7	6	6
2nd round	M.Navratilova/L.Raymond	6	7	3

05-10	The tournament official draw has been released; #3 seeded Martina and Lisa received a first round bye and are not expected to play until Wednesday.
05-11	Martina and Lisa will face Elena Likhovtseva and Anastasia Myskina in the second round tomorrow; the match is scheduled fourth on Pallacorda Stadium. By the way, next morning I and my husband will leave early in order to reach Rome before Martina's match; the journey should take about 7 hours by car...
05-12	Martina and Lisa's second round match was suspended due to rain after the first ten minutes of warm-up; as big drops of rain started falling down, Martina showed her wet glasses to the umpire and waved to the fans saying "domani" (tomorrow in Italian). We were sitting in the front row, behind Martina and Lisa's chair ;-) The atmosphere was still warm, as people (especially children, who were very loud!) were thrilled by Italians Flavia Pennetta's win against Nadia Petrova in the previous match; it would have been a great support for Martina and Lisa, because the public was absolutely on their side! Some hours before, as soon as I entered the Foro Italico, Martina was just ready to leave the court after her practice (I took some photographs you can see in the Picture section below). Martina and Lisa will play tomorrow; again, the match is scheduled fourth on Pallacorda.
05-13	Today the weather was really beautiful, and presented us with a warm spring afternoon. We saw Martina and Lisa practising on Court #1 a few hours before the match. Then, around about 5.00 p.m. the players stepped into the court; fortunately, we succeeded again in sitting in the front row... The scenery of Pallacorda was such a suggestive frame for Martina's last strokes in our country, in Italy: the colossal white marble statues, the ancient sea pines and a turquoise blue sky. Martina showed a perfect shape and played a high level match, really giving her best from the beginning to the end. She hitted some great shots, raising loud cheers from the public. Lisa did her part as well. After having lost the first set on the tiebreak (4-7), they saved a matchpoint, when we thought the match was over by then, and even won the set, on another tie break! The game was really well-balanced, with some tension in addition, as Likhovtseva and Myskina contested several line calls and Myskina almost hit Martina. That's why the four had to discuss for a while immediately after the last shot, instead of giving the usual handshake (but Martina poured oil on troubled waters in her press conference, as you can read below). In spite of all, Martina was so polite to stop and sign many autographs... I remember it was a touching and somehow bitter moment; I think it came from considering that we had already seen the last hits of such a great champion. A champion who first came to Rome in 1973, as she was 16 years old. A champion who 31 years later was still on court to close a chapter of her fabulous career. Thank you, Martina....

The tournament's entrance

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Click here to see the official Draw...

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05-13

Martina's press conference after her last match at Foro Italico.

Press Conference - from ASAP Sports

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[May 12] [May 13] [May 14]

Wednesday, May 12
Martina after her practice on Court #2...

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... and the warm-up suspended due to rain:

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(... by then dark clouds gathered overhead!)

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Thursday, May 13
Walking around at Foro Italico:

Players Lounge

18. © Martina Fan Page webmaster

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Pallacorda Stadium

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The official order of play

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Martina and Lisa's practice on Court #1:

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Martina's last match at the Italian Open:

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Friday, May 14
Early in the morning:

The score boards had not
been changed on Pallacorda yet!

Italian Open score boards showing
Martina's name for the last time

Going sightseeing in the afternoon:

Monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II

Trevi Fountain

and finally, after a thunderstorm,
a nice view from Piazza di Spagna
(always one my favourite spots in Rome...)

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Photographs by:

Lisa, for "Martina Fan Page" - Webmaster
Photos: from 1 to 67

All rights belong exclusively to the above mentioned photographer and website.

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