Sveta's selection

January 2006

Favorite song - "Check on it (Beyonce)"

February 2006

Number of MP3s on your iPod at the moment - "I dont have many songs now on my ipod because lately I havent had much time to go to the internet..around 1000 songs"

Last book you read - "The last book i read was Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho. It's very famous."

March 2006

Favorite soccer team - "I am not following so much football, but as I practice in Spain I'm sometimes going to watch Barcelona matches. I think they are such a great team."

April 2006

How did you celebrate your win in Key Biscayne? - "After my Miami win we just went to a Japanese restaurant to have dinner with my coach, my agent and friends. And then we went a little bit out, to a night club, but it was pretty short, because I didn't feel like and I wanted to rest."

May 2006

How does the schedule of a normal day look like when you are practicing in the Academy? - "My day looks like: Wake up at around 8 am, then practice tennis for 2-3 hours. Then I come home, cook my lunch, rest a little or sleep, read or watch tv. Then I leave for a second practice session for fitness ot tennis. After that I do some stuff that i need for my place or go to the supermarket or to see some kind of doctors or physios or to do massage. Then I go to dinner with my friends or cook at my place. Some days i have off or just morning sessions. It depends a lot on the calendar."

June 2006

What does the tattoo you have show? - "The tattoo is a tiger. I have it on the stomach, a little lower than the abdominals."

July 2006

What's your favorite place in Barcelona? - "The favorite place? I guess the sofa of my house to rest heheheh. So I love to go to one Japanese restaurant with my best friend and have a chat there."

August 2006

During Roland Garros, you did a funny karaoke session on French TV. Did you ever sing karaoke before? - "I think it was very bad karaoke. I have never done it before."

September 2006

How much time do you need at the bathroom in the morning? - "In the morning, i need about 10 minutes at the bathroom. I love to do things very fast, because I have many of them to do."

October 2006

What is your task when you are the player representative at a tournament draw ceremony? - "You just have to be there and sit there. And then you have to draw some numbers if they ask you to do so."

November 2006

- Please visit our YEC Special this month -

December 2006

- No questions due to the off-season this month. Please check back in January. -

January 2007

What did you do during the off-season? - "I went to Russia to Saint Petersburg and spent time with my family and my brother's kids. I had fun with friends and was looking for apartments I could get."

February 2007

What's the last movie you watched and how did you like it? - "I watched 'Dreamgirls', 'Blood Diamond' and 'The Pursuit of Happyness. The one I liked most was 'Blood Diamond' because it's very emotional."

March 2007

What do you usually do to make a trans-oceanic flight more bearable/comfortable? - "I guess flights are boring, but with the time I got so much used to it that it's almost never hard for me, because I never count hours. I just keep doing things during the flight, as it's good that you have free time when you fly. So you have time to do things which you usually don't have time for."

Do you have any tips for getting over a jet-lag? - "I try to sleep in flight when it's night time in the next country and stay awake if there is day time. Then, when I come to the tournament and I want to sleep and it's still day time, I would do a maximum effort to stay awake."

April 2007

Do you remember any situation when you were travelling you feeled uncomfortable in and what was it? - "My worst flight was from Hongkong to Sydney this year. I thought I was going to die, I felt so bad, sick, had temperature, a very sore throat and felt very cold. All people around were sleeping and I wanted to but couldn't. It was the worst that happend to me."

May 2007

What do you like the most about being a tennis player? - "About being a tennis player there are too many things to like. First, I'm doing what I love and I love tennis. I travel to many different countries and can learn a lot from other people and nations...then we earn good money which gives you some freedom which is cool. And what is very nice is that we have great fans who help us out and make us enjoy our game even more."

What do you like the least/What don't you like at all about being a tennis player? - "What I dont like is that I can't have the pleasure and fun other guys have at my age. But it's o.k., you can't have all in life. Sometimes it's very hard to practice and travel all the time and have only a maximum of 2 weeks off-time during the year."

June 2007

- Please visit our Birthday Special this month -

July 2007

"Spain is well-known for it's big summer and winter-sales, the 'rebajas'. As you're living there for many years now, have you ever bought anything during the 'rebajas'?" - "When I go to shops, it usually doesn't matter if they have 'rebajas' or not because I don't have much time to choose when I have time to go. And when there is 'rebajas', they are normally sold out of the good stuff."

August 2007

What car(s) are you driving at the moment when you're at home? - "I have a Range Rover Sport Supercharged, red outside, white inside. I'm so much in love with this car. And I have a silver Porsche Carrera S. When I had my best friend in Barcelona one week in April, I let her the car for this time!"

September 2007

What is your favorite meal to cook/bake? Could you give us the recipe? - "I don't cook much. When I get home I'm tired and I would cook very simple things wich I don't need to explain how to cook. But when I was little, I loved to cook an apple cake called 'sharlotka'. You can find a recipe how to cook it everywhere, I don't remember."

Editor's note: You can find a recipe for "sharlotka" at http://www.answers.com/topic/sharlotka, for example.

October 2007

Favorite flower - "Flowers are nice! I guess roses are the best and the prettiest ones."

November 2007

- No questions due to the off-season this month. Please check back in January. -

December 2007

- No questions due to the off-season this month. Please check back in January. -

January 2008

What's the fastest speed you ever drove? - "I was driving my car with about 220."

February 2008

The song that is stuck in your head at the moment - "Ayo Technology by – of course – 50 Cent"

March 2008 Your preferred airline when travelling - "I love russian ones because there are many russian people and all are talking russian and I miss it." June 2010 Sveta's color connotations - As it's 2010 now, we decided to move the Birthday special 2009 here. And as there are still some more colors to come, get sure to come back and check them out!