Post by Ilhame on Feb 18, 2004 16:10:14 GMT -5
Today I went to the tournament in Rotterdam. A friend of my mom was getting me in for free so we met up at 11. I called her and we went in by the VIP entrance. We had a drink first and then she gave me the ticket to go to my seat and the ticket that would let me in the VIP village. The place looked really nice and there were many cafes for the suits to do some business.
At noon I went to look for my place on centre court, but decided to check the practice courts first. I saw Jonas finishing his session and on other courts I saw Sjeng and some doubles players. I didn’t recognise them lol. I was sitting two rows behind the box seats so I had a good view. On my way there I saw Krajicek and his assistant. He looked great in that suit he was wearing.
The first match that I saw was between Mirnyi and Sargsian. I came in during the first set tie-break, which Sargis won. In the second set I have to say Sargis was the better player. Max went to the net regularly, but Sargis kept passing him. When Max had his first breakpoint in the second set the umpire forgot which language he was speaking and said: “treinta cuarenta!” LOL. Max broke and served for the set, but got broken back. At 6-5 he had a match point, but couldn’t convert. There were some nice rallies in the tiebreak. Sargis could have won, but Max hung in there and won the second set. I was in desperate need of a toilet break and left that match. I wanted to check the practice courts for a few seconds, but I stayed there. Max won the third set 6-1 I heard. Max is athletic and I have this feeling he would be a gymnast if he wasn’t a tennis player.
I saw many people standing around court two and I wanted to see why. Two former number one players were hitting with each other. Ferrero and Hewitt!!! I was happy to see Ferrero since I missed him at Roland Garros. They had some rallies, practised their ground strokes and serves. At one point Hewitt almost hit Juanqui lol. Hewitt’s serves were on the line and luckily Ferrero stopped them all cause I really had the feeling one of those serves would hit me in the face. Hewitt left and Ferrero stayed with the three men he was with and his gf. IMO she has no taste in clothes. Nice shoes (Puma), nice dress or whatever it was, nice bag and nice coat, but not as a combo. She’s pretty and looked interested at times, but she spent most of the time reading a book. At the end of the practice session Juanqui and co played soccer with a tennis ball and the losing team had to crawl to the other end of the court. It was funny to see and the gf took a pic of it. I have some pics of Juanqui, but don’t know whether they’re any good. He signed my magazine, but it doesn’t look like a signature lol. It was more a scratch on a piece of paper.
It was kids day and I saw Jan Siemerink and Paradorn Srichaphan with the children.
I then went back to my seat cause Rainer’s match had already started. He won easily. He played well and Radek made too many errors. Radek kept playing dropshots, but they were either in the net, or Rainer could return them. Rainer hit some double faults, but it was good all in all. He won 6-3 6-3. Radek kept looking at the umpire cause in his opinion the crowd was too noisy. I have this feeling he just wanted to be a pain in the ass cause he was losing.
Before Lleyton’s match I went to check the practice courts again. I saw Alex practising. When he came on court he came to the fans first. He gave me a REAL autograph and I took a nice pic of him. When he signed for me I said: “Gracias!” and he was like: ”De nada!” He touched my thumb with the pen and apologised in Spanish. He’s sweet!!! His clothes were unique to say the least. Bandana, black shirt and some weird looking short.
I went to watch Lleyton versus Gonzales then. I don’t know why, but I was excited about this match. I think I was interested in seeing the hardhitter of the ATP Tour. Hewitt played well and Fernando was too erratic. He hit powerful shots, but they weren’t clean. Many backhands went in the net. He called the trainer in the second set, but I don’t know why. I couldn’t see whether something was wrong with him. It was a quick match, which Lleyton won 6-2 6-1. It wasn’t what I expected it to be, but that’s not strange considering Fernando arrived in Rotterdam late Tuesday night. He might just had one practice session and was suffering from jetlag.
After that match I went to scoop the practice courts one more time and saw Robredo with his coach. He was practising his groundstrokes and wasn’t too pleased I think. Why else would he throw his racket in the net. He likes to wipe hid face with his shirt, which I don’t mind seeing.
Johansson was still playing then, but I wasn’t interested in that match. I was also getting tired and needed to be home in time. I missed Bjorkman’s match cause I wasn’t particularly interested in it.
I had a great day and hope that not ALL of my pics are terrible. I know I’m clumsy and can’t take pics, but I’ll see. I’ll post them later. Good news is that I’m going again tomorrow, but I still have to buy a ticket and I already know I won’t be as good as today’s seat. Who cares, I’ll be there and that’s what matters!
At noon I went to look for my place on centre court, but decided to check the practice courts first. I saw Jonas finishing his session and on other courts I saw Sjeng and some doubles players. I didn’t recognise them lol. I was sitting two rows behind the box seats so I had a good view. On my way there I saw Krajicek and his assistant. He looked great in that suit he was wearing.
The first match that I saw was between Mirnyi and Sargsian. I came in during the first set tie-break, which Sargis won. In the second set I have to say Sargis was the better player. Max went to the net regularly, but Sargis kept passing him. When Max had his first breakpoint in the second set the umpire forgot which language he was speaking and said: “treinta cuarenta!” LOL. Max broke and served for the set, but got broken back. At 6-5 he had a match point, but couldn’t convert. There were some nice rallies in the tiebreak. Sargis could have won, but Max hung in there and won the second set. I was in desperate need of a toilet break and left that match. I wanted to check the practice courts for a few seconds, but I stayed there. Max won the third set 6-1 I heard. Max is athletic and I have this feeling he would be a gymnast if he wasn’t a tennis player.
I saw many people standing around court two and I wanted to see why. Two former number one players were hitting with each other. Ferrero and Hewitt!!! I was happy to see Ferrero since I missed him at Roland Garros. They had some rallies, practised their ground strokes and serves. At one point Hewitt almost hit Juanqui lol. Hewitt’s serves were on the line and luckily Ferrero stopped them all cause I really had the feeling one of those serves would hit me in the face. Hewitt left and Ferrero stayed with the three men he was with and his gf. IMO she has no taste in clothes. Nice shoes (Puma), nice dress or whatever it was, nice bag and nice coat, but not as a combo. She’s pretty and looked interested at times, but she spent most of the time reading a book. At the end of the practice session Juanqui and co played soccer with a tennis ball and the losing team had to crawl to the other end of the court. It was funny to see and the gf took a pic of it. I have some pics of Juanqui, but don’t know whether they’re any good. He signed my magazine, but it doesn’t look like a signature lol. It was more a scratch on a piece of paper.
It was kids day and I saw Jan Siemerink and Paradorn Srichaphan with the children.
I then went back to my seat cause Rainer’s match had already started. He won easily. He played well and Radek made too many errors. Radek kept playing dropshots, but they were either in the net, or Rainer could return them. Rainer hit some double faults, but it was good all in all. He won 6-3 6-3. Radek kept looking at the umpire cause in his opinion the crowd was too noisy. I have this feeling he just wanted to be a pain in the ass cause he was losing.
Before Lleyton’s match I went to check the practice courts again. I saw Alex practising. When he came on court he came to the fans first. He gave me a REAL autograph and I took a nice pic of him. When he signed for me I said: “Gracias!” and he was like: ”De nada!” He touched my thumb with the pen and apologised in Spanish. He’s sweet!!! His clothes were unique to say the least. Bandana, black shirt and some weird looking short.
I went to watch Lleyton versus Gonzales then. I don’t know why, but I was excited about this match. I think I was interested in seeing the hardhitter of the ATP Tour. Hewitt played well and Fernando was too erratic. He hit powerful shots, but they weren’t clean. Many backhands went in the net. He called the trainer in the second set, but I don’t know why. I couldn’t see whether something was wrong with him. It was a quick match, which Lleyton won 6-2 6-1. It wasn’t what I expected it to be, but that’s not strange considering Fernando arrived in Rotterdam late Tuesday night. He might just had one practice session and was suffering from jetlag.
After that match I went to scoop the practice courts one more time and saw Robredo with his coach. He was practising his groundstrokes and wasn’t too pleased I think. Why else would he throw his racket in the net. He likes to wipe hid face with his shirt, which I don’t mind seeing.
Johansson was still playing then, but I wasn’t interested in that match. I was also getting tired and needed to be home in time. I missed Bjorkman’s match cause I wasn’t particularly interested in it.
I had a great day and hope that not ALL of my pics are terrible. I know I’m clumsy and can’t take pics, but I’ll see. I’ll post them later. Good news is that I’m going again tomorrow, but I still have to buy a ticket and I already know I won’t be as good as today’s seat. Who cares, I’ll be there and that’s what matters!
Gugaaaaaaaaa 
Surprised she was there, tho!
I would've loved to see that. I agree about his girlfriend, I saw a pictures of the both of them when they were attending some kind of car rally and she was wearing this horrible white top and ugly white skirt. She looks sweet though, she was cheering him on pretty fanatically during his match yesterday.
I went there five days and I didn't see them in doubles, cause of school 
