Eva Asderaki-Moore:The Greek freak!

Eva in the Us Open Men's Final

This Us Open came to an end two weeks ago with Flavia Pennetta accomplishing to win her maiden Grand Slam title in the most surprising Grand Slam since the 2013 Wimbledon! However,this time my blog will feature something that took place in the men's final!Eva Asderaki of Greece became the 1st woman to rule a men's Grand Slam final,while with Marija Cicak, they became the first all-woman set of umpires in the 2 Grand Slam Singles Finals!!!!In this article,I will focus on Eva and her illustrious career in umpiring.

As a youngster
Eva was born in Chalkis, the biggest city of Euboea,the second biggest island of Greece. From a little girl she loved sports. Till the age of 11 she was practising rhythmic gymnastics  and later on she started liking tennis. She managed to be one of the best 8 Greek players from the age of 16!Her first  experience on tennis court in a role other than a player was in a tournament organised in her hometown in which she was line judge.She then decided she wanted to become an umpire.

Her first years in umpiring

She was awarded the White badge in 2000 and then she was allowed to start her umpiring career. Her first WTA tournament was at Doha in 2001 and her first Grand-Slam was Wimbledon in 2005. She was awarded the Bronze badge in 2002,the Silver in 2005 and the Golden in 2008.After being awarded the Golden badge she entered the elite of the world umpiring(currently there are only 28 umpires with the Golden badge by the ITF).

Eva in a match of the WTA Finals 

Her first Grand Slam final and the argument with Serena Williams
Eva was selected to rule the US Open Women's Singles Final in 2011 between Sam Stosur and Serena Williams.The final was running well until a specific point. Serena hit a powerful serve,Sam answered with a short return and then Serena attacked. The shot was going in and Serena screamed "Come On". However,according to the rules,you aren't allowed to say anything(especially shouting) until the point ends.So,Eva correctly gave the point to Sam who broke Serena's serve to make the score 6-2 2-0.Serena didn't agree with that and asked Eva why she gave the point to Sam and the Greek umpire explained. In the changeover,Serena told Eva some really bad things(don't look at me,you are a looser etc.).Serena took a fine of 2.000 dollars,however she claimed that she mistook Eva for the umpire of her semifinal match in 2009 when she got disqualified. This surely wasn't the Grand Slam final debut that Eva was dreaming for,but she never let down 


Her second Slam Final:Wimbledon 2013
They were needed 2 years for Eva to rule again a Grand Slam Final,this time in the Wimbledon Championships Women's Singles Final between Marion Bartoli and Sabine Lisicki. The final was good, without controversial calls or arguments.There was though a wrong call from a line judge that Eva didn't overrule but it was really far from her so she trusted the judge.

Eva in the Us Open 2015 Men's Final

Writing history...
Eva was selected to umpire the Men's Singles Us Open Final two weeks ago.Eva became the first woman to umpire a men's Grand Slam final,which was her dream come true as she had mentioned in an interview last year.Eva not only ruled the final,but she had absolute success.She did 13(!) overrules,all of them being CORRECT. Everyone praised her in the social media from tennis fans,to journalists,legends and professional players!!!!Even,the bad boy of the tennis world John McEnroe said that she was on fire!



What Eva's success means to me 
Eva made a breakthrough that Sunday when she became the first woman to rule a Men's Grand Slam final. Her selection to rule the final is a proof that women and men are getting more and more equal in sport.Us Open was the first tournament in which men and women got equal prize money and now it becomes the first Grand Slam to select a woman to rule the men's final. Eva,herself,said that she has never faced racism and sexism in her career so far,nor has she ever got treated differently by a male player on court cause of her gender. This is really important about gender equality in our sport.Moreover,this meant a lot to the Greek tennis fans .We have to see success in tennis since Lena's Daniilidou and Marcos Baghdatis prime years,so Eva's success was really important for us. I remember when I first saw Eva umpiring a match in the Brussels Open in 2013 and I was really happy that we had another representative in the sport even without knowing her success.I was thrilled when she ruled the Wimbledon Final and some WTA Finals matches and in general, it means the world to me when I hear good comments about her on social media.



THANKS FOR MAKING GREECE PROUD EVA!!!

#tbt:My first Grand Slam,my first US Open

I first became a passionate tennis fan during the summer of 2012.I was playing tennis back then so  I was really interested to watch how pro players are playing. During the summer we established satellite TV and I was watching the big tournaments before the US Open(the WTA ones). When I saw the Us Open add I was really excited about it.Watching the tournaments I had fell in love with Aga's game and that is why she is still my top fav.As the days were passing I would become more and more thrilled and pumped to cheer for Aga.

Us open 2012,the first slam I watched

The first matches

When the US Open started I just sat in my couch and watched as many matches as I could.Fortunately,I was able to watch Aga's opener against Bratchikova. Aga played really well and won her opponent 6-1 6-1. Next,up on Ashe was Kim Clijsters. I didn't know her back then but I learnt a more about her in the process. She was playing Vicky Duval. When I heard how old was Vicky Duval I was stunned.How can a player that is only 6 years older than me(I was 11 then) play in the biggest tennis court in the world. Kim won easily,but Vicky showed good signs in her game.At the end Kim hugged her younger opponent and she asked from the crowd to cheer for her saying some really good things about her. When I saw this I was really sad that I was present only to the last matches of this sportsmanship legend.

The farewell of a legend

Kim Clijsters waving to her fans after the final match of her career

The next match I saw was for me one of the best matches of the tournament.It was the first tennis match that put me in the edge of my seat and made me love this sport even more.Kim Clijsters would meet Laura Robson in the 2nd round with the Brit trying to be the one to end Kim's career. I started watching this match hoping for Kim to get through it easily.However Laura was playing a great match and the 2 players were going hand to hand in the score.The first set went to a tie-break in which Laura shined and won eventually the first set. After that I was even more worried.In the 2nd set neither player was letting back and it went as well in the tie-break. It was a really intense set where the set points of Kim and the match points of Laura fell the one after the other due to a great display of tennis between the youngster and the legend.The tie-break was a nail-bitter.I was watching Kim being points away from the end of her career to the hand of the young Brit.In the end an error by Kim ended her illustrious career,as Laura Robson won 7-6 7-6. Laura was really happy after that win and of course sad that this was Kim's last match.Kim praised her opponent as she was always doing and in the end she gave a speech thanking all her fans for their support. Kim's career officially ended after she lost in the Mixed Doubles event too. Even if I watched her in only two matches,her great sportsmanship and athleticism stole my heart and I was really sad I wouldn't watch her playing again.

In the process...

Sara Errani,one of the big winners of the 4rth round

The tournament went on well with the seeds advancing to the 4rth round.The only seed to fall was my fav's nemesis during the US hard courts,Li Na,who lost to Robson who had taken out Kim Clijsters before! Aga won her matches against JJ and CSN,however losing sets to her tricky opponents.Serena and Vika were cruising while Masha wasn't at her bests.Masha lost set to Petrova and in my view she would have lost if rain hadn't come to suspend the play when Petrova took the 2nd. The next match I saw was Aga's.It was the first match of Aga I was able to see since the first round. She was taking on to Roberta Vinci(who is currently semifinalist of this years US Open).Roberta's slices were working perfectly well and in a match between two very intelligent players,Vinci was the most effective outlasting Aga 6-1 6-1.It was a real surprise for me as I was feeling really sure for Aga. Next,I saw Sam Stosur ending Robson's fairytale run in probably the best tournament of her career. Vika and Serena were great as well with the latter double bageling Andrea Hlavackova. Also,Ana Ivanovic won setting a clash with Serena. Marion Bartoli edged Kvitova in a crazy scoreline 6-0 1-6 6-4 ,if I remember well.Sara Errani was the last player to advance beating Angie Kerber in a great 3-setter.

Sam-Vika, the reason why I loved tennis so much


As the QF took place,I watched Errani,Serena and Masha winning, securing their place in the semis of the Grand Slam event.Masha took advantage of another rain break after she was down 0-4 to Bartoli in the first set to win this in 3. Sara won her best buddy and doubles partner Roberta Vinci in a match I was dying to watch but I didn't. Also,Serena cruised against Ivanovic. The next match saw the world no1 taking on the defending champion. I missed he first set which was won by Vika 6-3.Sam's power prevailed in the second winning it 6-1.The 3rd set saw both of the players at their bests and taking this battle to the tie-break.Sam was really unlucky there with the net cord playing rough games to her so Vika jumped at the chance wining it and proceeding to the semis. I felt really sorry for Sam but for me Vika was the one who should pass to outlast Masha,who had gotten into my nerves after all those wins accomplished due to the rain breaks.This match was my favourite of the US Open and made me love tennis even more.I wasn't able to watch another match in this years US Open,but I learnt that Vika vs Serena was eventually the final with the latter prevailing after a huge comeback in the 3rd set(you can say it was a big choke by Vika)
P.S.:Most of the images are from Getty

Guest blogging:Caroline Wozniacki;the strong outsider of the WTA Tour

Hey guys, I decided to invite a friend to write an article in my blog.Her name is Nora and she is a tennis fan since 2012.Enjoy...

Caro Wozniacki as a Runner-Up in the 2009 Us Open

      Born in Denmark ,almost 2 and a half decades ago,Caro-as she is called by her fans around the globe-is currently world no4. Her most impressive achievement,though, is that she has once been in the first place of the WTA Rankings.However,how is it possible for a player who has never won a Major title to remain in top 10 or even in top 5 for the last 5 or 6 years?
       Lets examine all facts one by one from the beginning. Wozniacki managed to be formally considered the best female tennis player on planet in 2010, benefited by the following situations.
First of all,legendary Serena Williams would suffer from an extremely serious lungs disorder back then.In particular this health problem has put her life in jeopardy. As a consequence, the American was experiencing the worst phase of her career. Except for that another great athlete, Maria Sharapova,wasn't in perfect shape too.So, with those sports women not doing well, the Danish rose to the occasion and by acquiring some satisfying results in Grand Slams, she made it to the top.
 

Wozniacki with her New Heaven trophy

      However,this big success was never followed by tennis experts' positive remarks regarding her game. On the contrary, they would say that there was plenty of room for improvement for her in numerous fields.For instance, some of them claimed that she played boring tennis as she was a defence-oriented athlete who lacked impressive offence skills. Some others supported that her inexperience due to her young age wasn't a drawback you could easily ignore especially when she faced older tennis players such as Maria Sharapova.
   

Caro as a Runner-Up in the Us Open 2014

    All in all, from my angle of view it's crystal clear that deciding whether a tennis player is good or not isn't black or white. Actually, there are many grey areas in it and that is the same with Caroline.By this I mean that its true that Wozniacki lacks a real champion's trademark shots, but she manages to win the vast majority of her opponents by taking advantage of her speed and stamina. Also, she is admittedly one of the fittest players in the tour(she even crossed the finished line of NY marathon last year!).So, as you have probably already understood, Caro is a sports woman who adores running a lot in court- and makes her opponents do the same,too- but she often finds it hard to win aces or lots of winners. In other words, she is a female Ferrer.Her latest great victory in a Grand Slam was against Masha about a year ago in the 4rth round of Us Open. She also won her a few months later in Singapore.