Amélie blogs from Luxembourg!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A very good day in Luxembourg today!

I have some friends visiting me here in Luxembourg and they organized some karting, so we went there for about an hour and a half earlier in the day. I had a lot of fun, and the good news is nothing bad happened! It's always a bit of a concern when you do these things, but today was fine. And of course I killed them all so it was even better!! It was a great start to the day. I'm sorry to say I don't have any pictures though We were all pretty focused on the race.

We went shopping in the city this afternoon, even though the weather here isn't so nice. But you can find just about everything within walking distance, so it's very convenient. Some people do a lot of browsing and some people buy a lot of things; I'd say I'm average in that sense. We looked at some clothing and electronics stores, and I bought a few things I needed. I'll admit I sometimes get things I don't really need. Overall it was a really fun day, and we have the player party to go to later tonight, which I'm really looking forward to as well.

I'm excited to see so many of you writing questions in... I'm sorry I can't get to all of them but I'll be doing my best this week! I'll talk to you all again after my first match tomorrow...

Amélie

Which are you most proud of, reaching No.1 in the world or your Grand Slam titles? - Daniel
The Slams, definitely. It was great to get to No.1, and that was definitely a goal for me. I'm very proud to be on the list of No.1s. But when you get over the initial emotions of the No.1 ranking, you find yourself cherishing the Grand Slams a little bit more. I would say I cherish my Wimbledon title slightly more, just because of the way it ended and how I did it, coming back from losing the first set to win... It's a huge adrenaline rush. The ending of my Australian Open title wasn't the same, although of course I still cherish it. I'm really, really proud of both of them.

How did you get interested in Harleys? - Kelly & Hettie
I'm actually not sure how I began getting interested in them. I know I wanted my driver's licence for motorcycles, which is a separate process from regular licences in France (I'm not sure what it's like in the rest of the world). There was a Harley that had just come out - the V-Rod - and I actually went to get my licence for this speficic motorcycle. It was just natural to buy it, and that's the one I'm riding now. I might not necessarily be a true Harley lover, because the V-Rod is more Japanese style. But it's still a Harley! I'm happy to be a part of this big family.

What sports other than tennis do you enjoy? - Connie
I did a lot of downhill skiing when I was younger. That was a really big sport for me until I was about 18. I was skiing when I was two years old, even before I started playing tennis! When I was about 10 or 11 I had to choose between the two. The French Tennis Federation was asking me to go to their academy, and I went. I guess I made the right choice! But when I was a kid I was also doing a lot of other sports too, like soccer, handball, table tennis. I tried a bit of everything. And when I was with the Federation we had opportunitites to try other things too.

What red and white wines would you recommend? - Ellen, USA
I could talk about wine even more than tennis! This is quite a difficult question. First of all, you have to know your price range. You can spend from 10 euros up to a couple of thousand euros. There's a big gap between some wine prices. I'll just give you the names of a few good red wines from Bordeaux, a region I know very well. I would go with either Château Latour or Château Mouton Rothschild - those are two of my favorite wines from Bordeaux.
The age of a wine is very important to me. I really like old wines, especially old red wines. My favorites are from about 1959 to 1982. When you get to about 1990 it's too young, but when it's the early '80s or older, it's the typical taste, color and smell of old wine. It's just amazing. It's such a different experience, and sharing something like that with your friends is really just unforgettable.
Then onto the white wines. I would go with Château d'Yquem, particularly from 1896. I had that wine right at the site - the owner gave us the privilege to taste it right there. It was such a special experience. I bought a 1937 bottle about seven or eight years ago and said I would only drink it when I won a Grand Slam. We waited a little bit before drinking it but in the summer of 2007 we finally did. I shared it with those who helped me get to where I was. Again, sharing something like that with the people who are close to you is an unforgettable experience.