NYC Baby!

So today my mum and I booked flights to NYC. I'm so excited!!

Yes, I know I've only been home a few months from my US adventure. But mum has only been home from her US adventure for 3 days! HAHA

Being the tennis freaks we are, we're heading over for the US Open. I've already been, but after this mum and I will both be able to cross it off our "grand slam tour". We both want to be able to say we've been to all four grand slams!

We're going for long enough that we will get to shop and enjoy NYC as well as enjoy the tennis.

I'm very excited and can't wait to get back to NYC!!

xx love Breanna

Day Twenty-Two: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

How on earth can you go past "the voice" ?? Kader Nouni of course!!!


No need to watch the whole of this clip - a few seconds will give you all you need to hear :)


xx love Breanna

MIAMI BABY!!!

My beloved Miami Heat won the NBA Championship on Friday, 4 games to 1 over the Oklahoma City Thunder!!

And boy did they win it in style!! It was so nice not to have to worry about which way the result would go in the last few minutes of the match! The Heat were far enough in front that they were able to take DWade, LBJ & Chris Bosh (their "big three") off the court with about 3 minutes to go!

After the disappointment of losing to Dallas in the Finals last year, it was awesome that Heat could win this series!!

Such a great day!

Bring on next year!! 2013 Champs too? A girl can dream! haha

xx love Breanna

Day Twenty-One: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Women's Slam Champion


For me, this is a tie between Sam Stosur and Kim Clijsters.

Sam because she is my favourite player, and being there to watch her win at Flushing Meadows was a truly awesome experience.

Kim because she's "Aussie Kim" and her comeback and subsequent win at Flushing Meadows two years in a row is truly amazing!

xx love Breanna

Day Twenty: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Men's Slam Champion


How can you possibly go past Roger Federer?!

An absolute gentleman of the sport. More slams than anyone else.

A great player, a great champion.

xx love Breanna

Day Nineteen: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Which men's and women's player was world no.1 on the day you were born


The players who were world no.1 on the day I was born were:

Ivan Lendl and Steffi Graf.

Anyone (who doesn't know me) want to guess when my birthday is?!

xx love Breanna

Day Eighteen: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Men's Outfit


I think it's pretty hard to screw up a t-shirt and shorts combo...

But Dominik Hrbaty managed to wear an outfit at the 2006 Australian Open that raised many an eyebrow:

Yes, those are cut outs in the back of his shirt...

I know it's hot when they play in Australia, in January... But seriously?!

I guess when it comes to men's outfits, I prefer classic, with a twist. Andy Roddick's Lacoste collections over the last few years have been my favourites:

xx love Breanna

Day Seventeen: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Women's Outfit


I can't say I really care too much about what the players are wearing... More often than not, I only remember the truly horrendous outfits!!

Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki - I'm looking at you:

She is wearing bike pants in this, but you really have to look hard to see that...

In terms of outfits I actually like, I think Adidas have produced the nicest outfits in recent history.

I really liked the purple and green number that Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova wore at the 2011 Australian Open:

xx love Breanna

Day Sixteen: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Most Attractive Male Player


Has to be John Isner. I think he's very good looking.

He's tall (6'10" ish), dark and handsome: just what I like in a guy!

The Final Four: Fernando Verdasco, Juan Martin Del Potro and Mario Ancic.

xx love Breanna

Day Fifteen: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Most Attractive Women's Player


Definitely Daniela Hantuchova. She has an absolutely smoking hot bod!

She's 5'11" and 62kgs.

What more can you say?!

She's even had a spread in Sports Illustrated:

xx love Breanna

Day Fourteen: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Non Grand Slam Tournament

I've always been a fan of the Legg Mason tournament held inWashington D.C. 

I'm really disappointed that it's not called Legg Mason anymore and that the format has changed.

What can you do?!

Juan Martin Del Potro playing at Legg Mason in 2009

The Final Four: Brisbane International, Queens, Hopman Cup.

xx love Breanna

Day Thirteen: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Grand Slam


This is a hard question, is it my favourite slam to go to? Or my favourite slam to watch on TV? How on earth do I choose?!

I've been lucky enough to go to the Australian Open 3 times and the US Open once.

I have nothing but good things to say about Flushing Meadows, except maybe the weather! (It was rained out 2 of the 4 days I went).

And how could I go pass the Aus Open. My first live tennis tournament. Countless amazing memories.

But how can I not mention Wimbledon when it comes to my favourite slam....

Because it's my "home nation" grand slam, I think I'll have to go with the Australian Open... But Wimbledon is definitely a very close second!!

xx love Breanna

Day Twelve: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

A player you aren't a fan of, but respect


Ok, so I know she is retired now, but for this question I'm going to have to say Justine Henin.

I've never really been a fan of hers. But you have to respect the career she had! All of her success, followed by retirement only to come back and have another crack. Much respect!!

xx love Breanna

Girls Weekend

This weekend D, Siany, AB and I headed up to Moffat's Beach to celebrate the long weekend.

The weather was awful, but it was so lovely to spend quality time with some of my favourite ladies!

Here are a few photos from the weekend:

On Saturday afternoon we went for a walk along the beach... 

The weather turned from grey and dull to "it's going to pour" very quickly... 

But one family we passed still flew their kite! 

 D, AB, Siany and I

On Monday, before we headed back to Brisbane we went to Mooloolaba. 

We walked out to the mouth of the river. This photo was taken there, looking

out at Point Cartwright.

Cheers to a fabulous weekend with my beautiful Bellas!

xx love Breanna

Day Eleven: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

A player no one would expect me to love


I don't really know how to determine whether people would expect me to love a player or not... But I guess a fairly random favourite player of mine, in terms of the fact that she's never been that highly ranked, she isn't Australian and she hasn't had any "great" success in terms of top level tournament wins, would be Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

I first became a fan of hers when she played Hopman Cup for the USA in 2010.

She is so much fun to watch, and is not your typical tennis player. She's loud, in her personality, and expresses that with colourful outfits.

Bethanie's trademark would have to be her knee high socks.

xx love Breanna

ps. you may have noticed a "slip" in posts in the last few days, so I apologise. Life got in the way! Back at now though!

Day Ten: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Retired Women's Player


Steffi Graf. Easy. Always loved watching her play, nothing more to say!! See Day Seven for more info :)

xx love Breanna

Day Nine: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Favourite Retired Men's Player


I'll be honest... I had a little bit of a crush on Mario Ancic while he was running around on the ATP World Tour... So the day he announced his retirement was a sad day for me :(

More than his looks (and height - ha!), I really enjoyed his style of play. Unfortunately due to so many injuries, bouts of mono, and other illnesses he never quite lived up to his potential.

I was lucky enough to see him play live at the 2009 Australian Open, before he retired.

Sucks his career was cut short. But he definitely had a good run while it lasted!!

Here is a photo from the 2009 Australian Open:

Miss you baby Goran!

xx love Breanna

Day Eight: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Earliest Tennis Memory


My earliest memory coincides with my Day Seven post! My earliest tennis memories are those nights spent sleeping in front of the fire while Wimbledon was on my TV screen!

Great memories!!

xx love Breanna

Day Seven: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

First Player I Became A Fan Of


So growing up, a little tradition we had in our household coincided with Wimbledon. Every June/July school holidays, my brother and I were allowed to drag our mattresses into the lounge room, where we have a fire place, to stay up late and watch Wimbledon in front of the fire!

It was fun, because it meant we a) got to stay up late, b) got to sleep in front of the fire (which seemed so cool when we were like 10!) and c) mum and I and occasionally grandma would watch Wimbledon until I fell asleep!

From this little tradition, I would have to say my favourite player to watch was Steffi Graf. I may not have had any real concept of the sport, or known the rules or really cared that much, but I distinctly remember being excited to watch Steffi every time she played! I'd even make a special effort to stay awake longer if she was playing!!

I also really liked watching Pete Sampras and Andrea Agassi.

xx love Breanna

My 100th Post!

If you'd told me when I started this thing, that I'd make it to 100 posts, I wouldn't have believed you!

But here we are! Here's to the next 100!!

On a completely unrelated but equally awesome note: MIAMI WON TODAY!! 

Miami are currently defending their Eastern Conference Title against the Boston Celtics! Miami finished the shortened regular season in 2nd and Boston in 4th. So Miami get the home court advantage. They kicked off their title defence on Tuesday (Aus time) with a nice win at American Airlines Arena in Miami! They backed it up today with a come from behind win that went to OT. It was such a nerve wracking match - as the 4th quarter was coming to an end and the entirety of OT passed, my heart was racing!!

I'm so glad they made the most of their home court advantage. They head off to Boston now for the next two matches in the Finals series. They just need to win 2 more matches to secure the Conference Final and make it through to playoff against the best from the west! 

A photo I took of LBJ at the Staples Centre in January

Let's go HEAT!! I'm hoping MVP LBJ will finally get his first ring this year ;)

xx love Breanna

Day Six: 30 Days of Tennis Challenge

Your Most Memorable Match


My most memorable match would have to be the three day epic that John Isner played against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010.

Any tennis fan knows about this match! But for those who don't, this match started like any other in the history of tennis, but it quickly (or not so quickly ;)!! ) became a match that will be remembered forever!

A single break to Isner in the first set was all he required to wrap up the first set. The second set went to Mahut with a single break of serve. This break of serve would be the last break of serve in the match until Isner broke in the final set to win! The 3rd set was won by Mahut in a tie breaker. Similarly the 4th was decided by a tie-breaker, this time in Isner's favour. At the end of the 4th set, umpire Mohamed Lahyani suspended the match due to darkness.

The next day on June 23, the players resumed play on Court 18. What was to come, no one could have predicted!

At Wimbledon they play final set advantage, ie first to six and up by two. So it could be 6-4, 7-5, 10-8 16-14 etc. Once both players get to 5 games each, the pressure is really on! Any slip on your service game and the match is all but over, particularly if you're serving second!

John Isner kicked off the set and everything progressed as you would expect with each player holding serve. The first break point opportunity came for Isner when Mahut was serving with Isner up 10-9. The players both then held serve convincingly until Isner had a further break point when he was up 33-32. Play continued to progress with no break point opportunities until Mahut was serving to tie it up at 59-all. Isner had a further break point at 59-58. Mahut aced him and the match was tied again 59-all.

Lahyani then had to suspend the match for darkness again.

The players returned to the court on June 24 and played for more than another hour before Isner finally broke Mahut to win the match. The final score in the fifth set was 70-68 and over the three days the players played for 11 hours and 5 minutes.

In the process, both players broke every record known to man kind.

I managed to watch the majority of the match, despite the absurd hour of the mornings it was played! It will definitely be a match that stays with me for a long, long time to come!

xx love Breanna