The groups have been announced :)

Yellow Group:

- Amelie Mauresmo
- Justine Henin-Hardenne
- Nadia Petrova
- Martina Hingis

Red Group:

- Maria Sharapova
- Svetlana Kuznetsova
- Kim Clijsters
- Elena Dementieva

What do you guys think about the draw?

I'll post my thoughts later :ok:

The yellow group is gonna be more competitive. The other group should be interesting.

I think yellow will be more competitive. Gotta say it looks good for Justine in that half if she can play well.

I don't think Elena or Svetlana have much of a chance to be honest.

Martina does have a chance, she could beat Petrova and/or Amelie if she played well :)

I'm pretty interested in how this tournament wil unfold this year... The top group looks tres interesting.. Hingis maybe in for a rough ride. I know Sharapova is in form but I don't think she can pull off a win here.. as in a title.

that is as good as it could get for Hingis. Mauresmo and Henin are not fully fit, but will be a hard challenge, and I don't think she's ever played Petrova, but she should still be able to beat her.

I think Sharapova and Kuznetsova will get through the red group. I'm gonna stick out and say Hingis and Petrova for the yellow group. B)

MADRID, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Male models being used as ball boys at this week's end-of-season WTA Championships need to keep their minds on the job and not be distracted by the female players, world number eight Elena Dementieva said on Monday.

"We were practising the other day and I don't think they really know what they have to do on the court because they are too busy watching the players," the 25-year-old Russian told reporters ahead of the Madrid event, which starts on Tuesday.

"We'll have to see if it will work out or not but I think it will be a distraction for them to do their job.

"I don't think that they realise what they have let themselves in for and that they will have to be very careful about what they are doing on the court.

"The players are so focused and sometimes they get crazy with the ball boys so they don't know what they will be facing in a couple of days."

Organisers decided to use male models as an answer to criticism over the use of female models as ball girls at the men's Madrid Masters.

Kim Clijsters, who won the tournament in 2002 and 2003, said the initiative had been a talking point among the eight players taking part.

"I was talking to Maria (Sharapova) in the taxi and she said they looked nice," the world number six said. "I'm excited about it, although it is going to be strange. As long as they do a good job, that is all that matters."

Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne, who is bidding to wrap up the year-end number one spot at the Championships, joked that her husband had warned her to be on her best behaviour.

"I'm very excited but I'm married so I can look but not touch," she smiled.

Martina Hingis added it would give her a chance to get even with boyfriend Radek Stepanek, ranked 19 in the world.

"Radek played here in Madrid in the past so now it's my turn," she said.


Justine :lol:

And Kim's made another friend :rolleyes: roflmao

Isnt Kim exciting with her words:

' they looked nice '

:rolleyes: roflmao

Well she is engaged, so she can't say too much ;)

Apart from it was Maria who said that not Kim :D

when I saw the 'get even' part, I thought it meant they were over, sadly it's not :(

I forgot Kim's betrothed, she'd had so many men :lol:

Do you suppose, if I were a ballboy, any of the players would "get crazy" with me? ;)

Nadia's full of excuses. Do you think that when she loses a match she'll blame it on the models? roflmao

roflmao roflmao Good one nick... but if you look anything like Kournikova then you are in luck...not just the ball boys, I am sure the commentators and just about any full blooded male out there...

:rolleyes: anything like Mauresmo... then you can expect a few cat calls from the girls in the crowds.... roflmao personally I will settle for the former plus some better tennis skills.... :)

Sharapova's hardly the benchmark on correct post-match interviews :rolleyes: roflmao

Petrova leads 62 52

Petrova beats Mauresmo 62 62 :o

GSM Petrova 6-2 6-2.

Very good performance from Nadia; her serve looks as good as ever and her all-round game was just too much for a clearly rusty Amelie.

I'm not surprised :shrug:

see, I said 2-0 to Petrova , and you all laughed at me B)

No we didn't, we laughed at your prediction for today's final match ;)

you said no matches will be straight-sets, and Petrova did, and Screechapova will probably too. Anyway, you only laughed coz you love Henin, so you think she'll slaughter Hingis, when she won't. B)

I don't think she'll slaughter Martina, I'm expecting a couple of tight sets...

And I predicted that Maria will beat Elena in straight sets, so I think you're confusing me with someone else ;)

I see you voted that Henin will win on wtaworld :cry:

What did you expect? ;) :lol:

Anyway, Dementieva's losing 1-6 0-1 - what a competitive match :rolleyes: roflmao

I ain't watching it, me mum's wathcing Eastenders ( :rolleyes: ), and then my brother wants to watch football. But hopefully I'll be able to watch the Hingis match. :clap:

I'm spying on the score on wtaworld. B)

You're not missing much, just Elena self-destructing on serve :wacko:

It's been a better start to the 2nd set from her though. The crowd are definitely on Elena's side; everyone just wants a good match.

Maria's 2-1 up in the 2nd now, on serve (not that it means much when it comes to Elena :lol: )

I really hate one-sided matches.

Especially in the YECs :angry:

I really hope the Justine-Martina match is better :unsure:

It should be. It will be a proepr tennis match. B)

I got put on pre-mod on the BBC (again), because I said bo11ocks roflmao

Sharapova def Dementieva 6-1 6-4.

What an error-strewn match :wacko:

Elena's first serve % was 38% and she hit 16 DFs :rolleyes: roflmao

Hingis is gonna be given her lunch. A hot bread stick by the ever so kind Justine roflmao

Well, no breadsticks were given out, but Justine sure seemed to be cruising in that match. In fact, they were all a bit one-sided today, weren't they? :huh:

:o But it's not over yet! Seems Hingis is trying to come back and take this second set.

Too be honest i am qutie disappointed with the first days action!

Mauresmo clearly wasn't herself and Nadia just trounced her! :( :(

Oh and sharapova! all i can say is :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

Well i leave to go bed with the hingis match 1 set all!
Got to get a good nights sleep geology test tomorrow! B) B)

What exactly was justine smoking in that second set? Nice to see the short stubborn belgian back :D

too bad. hingis came up short 1-6 in the 3rd.

good luck today against petrova :pray:

:devil: :coffee: :devil: I soo want Kim clijsters to be a spoiler for the 3 girls trying to be number one..... :P ...

but they are all playing real easy except for momo...she probably hasn't woken up yet...

We'll see ...but to be fair..Justine deserves amongst all of them..... a surprising outcome will be just wonderful... :)

I think Justine deserves this title most. And juding by form so far I think it's hers to lose unless she gets injured. Petrova is a danger for her and Maria has beaten her recently, but I can't see her losing to them again this year.

Martina should hopefully get into the swing of things too. If she could take out Petrova that would be huge!

Another typically lacklustre performance from Elena whenever she meets Sharapova. first serve percentage is just never good enough, and where was her backhand last night? All over the place, she must realise by now that she has the groundstrokes to hurt and beat Sharapova, but it never really materialises. Sharapova played a decent match though, but i did see major signs of tension at 5-3, the forehand started getting very hooked again, as when maria gets tight the forehand technique breaks down, and the feet stop moving. Still good performance by maria. Still serving well which is a worry for the rest of the players.

Justine was :o for a set and a half. To all credit Hingis came back with some devilish angles, but it was Justine really breaking down on the serve, her first serve dropped around 20% i believe throughout the course of the second set. I was actually hoping for a great third finale, but hingis serve just couldnt suffice under Justine's awesome returning, and more superior combination of shots.