KNOCK ON WOOD: From 2001 to 2008, the Bali tournament was played on outdoor hard courts.

This year, due to it becoming a year-end championships played in the rainy season of November, it is being held indoors at the Convention Center of the Westin Hotel.

The court may appear bit unusual to fans, as it has no doubles lines. It is also an unusual surface for the players, with wooden boards laid over the center's carpet.

The first to try it out Wednesday in competition were Sabine Lisicki and Aravane Rezai.

"It plays very fast but the ball bounces very low," Rezai said.

"But I like to play fast so it was fine with me." It was also new to Lisicki. "I've never played on a court like this before," she said.

STICKING TOGETHER: Vera Dushevina is not one of those players with a long list of former coaches.

The Russian, the substitute at the Bali event in case one of the players has to pull out, has had the same coach since she was young.

"It may be different for other players, but this is what works for me," she said Wednesday during a coaching clinic, conducted with Australian doubles great Todd Woodbridge and Indonesia's former national number one Angelique Widjaja.

Woodbridge, who had the same coach for much of his career, joked that players with a revolving door of coaching help are often those who don't like to "hear the word no. When they do, they decide they'll find somebody else *who will agree with them*."

For otherplayers, it's a case of father knows best in the world of tennis. Sabine Lisicki of Germany, top seed Marion Bartoli of France and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium are all coached by their fathers.

OLDER AND WISER: Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm has made a successful comeback to the tour at the age of 39.

She was giving up 19 years to her opponent on Wednesday, Yanina Wickmayer, but that does not mean she would like to recapture her youth.

"I was too young for the tour when I played before," the winner at Seoul in September said.

Getting older has also taught her that losing, which she did in straight sets to Wickmayer, is not the end of the world.

"I still get upset about losing, but not like I used to," she said. "Now I am playing with nothing to lose."

But she could still smile about being the sentimental favorite with the Bali crowd.

"They are probably wondering what this 39-year-old woman is doing out there, and if I can still play."

- JP/Bruce Emond

Popular

Volcano erupts in North Sulawesi, hundreds evacuated

Dubai roads, airport reel from floods after record rains

Ramadan boosts consumer confidence, retail sales