under the shade of the old oak trees, Safina, 24, explained that sometimes the journey takes a little while and a change is a good thing.
"It was a real effort getting here with snow and things coming in from Europe. I've been on the tour for a while and I've never been here.
"When I looked at the schedule there are two tournaments, Brisbane and New Zealand. I've already been to the Gold Coast and although I haven't played at the new stadium in Brisbane I wanted to have a change and start the new year in New Zealand."
And while her 2010 was probably one to forget with injuries and no tournament victories, she feels 2011 can turn things around for her.
"You're looking for good and strong matches before the Aussie Open and that's why I came here to compete."
Safina looked strong in her practice with her coach, former ATP player Argentine Gaston Etlis. Another player who was powerful in her warmup was two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who will be the tournament third seed and is the third of the trio of Russian stars who will make their debut in Auckland next week.
"It was a real effort getting here with snow and things coming in from Europe. I've been on the tour for a while and I've never been here.
"When I looked at the schedule there are two tournaments, Brisbane and New Zealand. I've already been to the Gold Coast and although I haven't played at the new stadium in Brisbane I wanted to have a change and start the new year in New Zealand."
And while her 2010 was probably one to forget with injuries and no tournament victories, she feels 2011 can turn things around for her.
"You're looking for good and strong matches before the Aussie Open and that's why I came here to compete."
Safina looked strong in her practice with her coach, former ATP player Argentine Gaston Etlis. Another player who was powerful in her warmup was two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who will be the tournament third seed and is the third of the trio of Russian stars who will make their debut in Auckland next week.
