Hey, guys, I know where you're coming from. None of us want Daniela hurting, and we're all frustrated over the missed opportunities. But, at this stage of her life, tennis is who she is and what she does. We certainly remember how ticked she got over being called Kournakova Lite and the oft-repeated suggestions that fashion, photo shoots, etc., are more important to her than the sport. It was very clear that she wanted to play in Quebec and enjoyed the experience a lot. Can't begrudge her that. With a rare chance to be a #1 seed, and her desire to honor Pavol Demitra, and her usual competitive spirit, I don't have much problem at all with her going out there. We are caring fans of Dani, and we can second-guess (or even first-guess) how she should handle her career, but in the end, it's her career, her life, and she knows her body way better than anyone else. Of all people, we should be, regardless of whether any of us felt she was risking worse injury, applauding the guts it took to win 2 matches, particularly against Czink, and nearly win the 3rd against the player that looks like she will end up winning the tournament. Good gosh, if some of her most devoted fans don't do that, who's going to? That's the area of her career that she's been so wrongly, sometimes maliciously, maligned. You know, if she's been playing the summer with one good foot, posssibly one good shoulder, and even possibly lingering effects of the abdominal, Daniela had a heck of a summer. 3 QF's, a win over a top 10 player, and the doubles run with Aga in New York...not so bad. The one frustration for me is that when she suffered the abdominal, Dani had become one of the best 5 players out there! She'd just beaten Li Na and Venus on consecutive days, and was making the eventual Wimbledon champ look silly at the moment she got hurt. We'll never know what it was leading to. Agonizing? Guess we're used to it.
When you think about it, we are lucky to have Daniela at all at this point. With the many frustrations she's endured, and being the gifted person she is, Dani has a million options for what she wants to do with her life, and she could have walked away from tennis years ago. Pray for miraculously quick healing, and let's savor every second we get that she continues to play, especially if it's at the level she was at much of this year. Let's Go, Daniela!

And when she does, let's hope at least it's with a gold medal in her pocket!