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Post by Ilhame on Feb 14, 2005 15:54:23 GMT -5
Today I went to the tournament in Rotterdam. I was lucky enough to get in for free. At 11am I met up with the lady who got me in. We went for a quick drink in the VIP village and then I went to watch tennis. I met up with Francine on the practice courts. Andreev was warming up with Davydenko. Some of the doubles players were on the court next to it, but as always I don’t remember who they are. Berdych was playing against Soderling on centre court, but that wasn’t interesting imo. After Andreev Sluiter came to practice. He was followed by Coria and Ferrero who hit for like 30 minutes. Ferrero actually took time to sign for fans, but stupid me didn’t go take a pic with him or get his autograph. After that practice session I went to centre court where Srichaphan and Andreev were about to start. I watched a few games and left again. It was a bit boring. The rallies were nice, but there were also some silly errors. I knew it was going to be a long match when both players had chances and didn’t take them. Back to the practice courts where Nalbandian was with his coach. He was hitting with Schalken. They played some games and then Schalken left. He also took the time for fans. Nalbandian is popular in Rotterdam and many people wanted his autograph. He obliged, but asked us to be quick. I took a pic with him and after that he left. There was a doubles match going on on court 1. Grosjean and Llodra played against Suk and Vizner. They were in an exciting tie-break when we wanted to go there, but we had to wait till it finished. Llodra showed how good he is in doubles, but it wasn’t enough to win. There were some great points being played and I have to say I would not want to be on court against him. They play dangerous tennis!!! We left after Llodra lost his serve half way through the second set and went back to centre court. We did hear him swear in French first. Andreev and Srichaphan were in a third set. It was 4-3 I think when we came in. The match was getting more exciting as the end was near. Srichaphan put the pressure on Andreev and managed to get match points on his serve. Both match points were second serves of Igor and long rallies followed. Paradorn made an error on the first mp, Igor on the second. I would have liked to see Igor win, but maybe next time. Next up were Coria and Sluiter. The match started immediately after the other one and we stayed for the first set. Raemon started nervous and Guille took advantage of it by breaking in the first game. The first set had some great rallies and nice points, but Guille was the better player. He served well and didn’t whine at all. He’s a great player to watch imo. After that set we went back to court 1 to see Johannson (Thomas). He won the first set 6-2 and was trailing 4-1 in the second. I watched two games before checking the practice courts. Federer was there with an unknown (for me) French speaking Swiss player. He’s even great in practice. They played some points and they were nice. I got my pic taken with him afterwards. Rogi is smart, he came out to practice while all people were watching the local hero on centre court. We headed back to court 1 to finish that match. Thomas was leading against Beck in the third set. Beck is a cutie and he looked so sweet. He got a bad line call against him and couldn’t forget about it. The umpire was Dias I think and he didn’t do anything about it. Beck smashed his racket, but it didn’t break. He needs to meet up with Marat I think. Thomas won and then we found out Coria had just won as well. Some doubles players were practising, so was Wessels and Nalbandian came out again. Other players I saw today: Rochus and Dent practising together. Stepanek was around all day. Watching, practising, watching, practising,… Hrbaty getting dressed on court. I like looking at men, but sometimes they show too much… Kiefer practised in the morning. Verdasco was there. He seems to have a pretty gf. I have no pics cause I took even worse pics then last year. And yes it was with my new camera. I’ve got a ticket for tomorrow evening and for Wednesday. They aren’t good seats, cause the tournament is pretty much sold out. I’ll go sit wherever and I’ll notice when I’ll be sitting in someone’s place.
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 14, 2005 15:55:31 GMT -5
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 14, 2005 16:14:08 GMT -5
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Post by Brinyi on Feb 14, 2005 16:16:41 GMT -5
woohoo! Dave looks like someone just stepped on his toe.
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Post by TennisHack on Feb 14, 2005 16:23:29 GMT -5
Federer was there with an unknown (for me) French speaking Swiss player. He’s even great in practice. They played some points and they were nice. I'm going to hazard a guess and say Chiudinelli. Was he tall, kinda blond short hair? Clear complexion? (that's what gives Wawrinka away ). Thanks for the reports!! Fatty is looking rather svelte these days ;D
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 14, 2005 16:34:32 GMT -5
I googled both players and it's Wawrinka. He wears Adidas.
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Post by ILR on Feb 14, 2005 16:39:32 GMT -5
Cool pictures Ilhame! ;D And you saw Igor too! Pity he lost...
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Post by TennisHack on Feb 14, 2005 16:50:24 GMT -5
I googled both players and it's Wawrinka. He wears Adidas. He was a ST boy in juniors! Hehe, well that's interesting. Feds & Marco are friends, but if he's mentoring the boy who's probably going to take his spot in Davis Cup singles in a few weeks...good on him!
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Post by Francine on Feb 14, 2005 17:46:29 GMT -5
I stayed to watch Juan Carlos. He started out horribly, missed a lot of easy balls but found his rythm after a few games. In the end it was a pretty easy match, he played well throughout the 2nd set. I'll watch Wessels and Nalby tomorrow, probably won't stay for the doubles. Some side notes: - We were stalked by Stepanek, if he does it again tomorrow I'll turn him in. - Juan Carlos is travelling with Andres, quite a few girls asked him for pictures and autographs as well -"one second, one second, yes one second" -> Roger strugling himself through a bunch of fans who all want to take a picture with him. - I counted ( :red: ) and only 38 people were watching Thomas vs. Karol Beck, this was without Ilhame who was watching Roger practice at the time. Our other 7000 friends were watching Sluiter getting trashed by Coria. Court 1 is actually so much nicer than CC; Becks monologues were quite entertaining to listen to
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Post by Lee on Feb 14, 2005 18:27:25 GMT -5
Thanks for the report, Ilhame and Francine!
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Post by Choupi on Feb 14, 2005 19:55:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the reports and the pics... So you get the chance to see Mika and Séb play doubles? I wish I was there with you...And you heard some French swearing...How weird! Longing for your next reports..Have fun girls!
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Post by TennisHack on Feb 14, 2005 21:45:47 GMT -5
I stayed to watch Juan Carlos. He started out horribly, missed a lot of easy balls but found his rythm after a few games. In the end it was a pretty easy match, he played well throughout the 2nd set. Well that's good to know Still not terribly promising vs Nalby or Stepanek, but at least he's starting to find his game again. Ugh! Of all the players to follow you around... Well I guess they can't say the Dutch aren't patriotic ;D
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Post by Patrik Sjöberg on Feb 15, 2005 2:22:10 GMT -5
Thanks for the reports keep them coming.
Stepanek is a great guy, though I want a performance like he produced against Cañas at the AO, when he plays Nalbandian. From what I heard his performance against Dent was horrific in Marseille time to improve that now.
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 15, 2005 3:51:27 GMT -5
I stayed to watch Juan Carlos. He started out horribly, missed a lot of easy balls but found his rythm after a few games. In the end it was a pretty easy match, he played well throughout the 2nd set. I'll watch Wessels and Nalby tomorrow, probably won't stay for the doubles. Some side notes: - We were stalked by Stepanek, if he does it again tomorrow I'll turn him in. - Juan Carlos is travelling with Andres, quite a few girls asked him for pictures and autographs as well -"one second, one second, yes one second" -> Roger strugling himself through a bunch of fans who all want to take a picture with him. - I counted ( ) and only 38 people were watching Thomas vs. Karol Beck, this was without Ilhame who was watching Roger practice at the time. Our other 7000 friends were watching Sluiter getting trashed by Coria. Court 1 is actually so much nicer than CC; Becks monologues were quite entertaining to listen to Who has an observing eye now Francine? ;D There were actually more people then I thought. :red:
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Post by Partridge In A Pear Tree on Feb 15, 2005 8:10:14 GMT -5
thanks for the reports, girls!
love your pic with Roger, Ihame... :lust:
and Francine, be careful of your stalker! ;D
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Post by freudo on Feb 15, 2005 11:22:03 GMT -5
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Post by Vera on Feb 15, 2005 12:38:55 GMT -5
Thanks Ilhame and Francine for the reports and the photos. Rogi looks cool and Fatty looks clueless, lol. I hope Juanqui will kick horseface out of the tournament so he won't be stalking Francine anymore.
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Post by Francine on Feb 15, 2005 13:47:53 GMT -5
Day 2: I arrived a bit late, cos I missed my train. Wessels had just won the first set against llodra, that match didn't really interest me so went over to the practice courts. Grosjean was practising with a young boy who was later interviewed by German television, I'm still not sure who he was. After Seb left I went back to CC and watched Nalby . He played wel in the 2nd set, but the 1st and 3rd set were really dissapointing. Stepanek played really well (which worries me) but David missed a lot of easy shots and his groundstrokes weren't threatening at all. I went back to the practice courts, Juan Carlos and Joachim were training, not with each other but both with really young players, I think one of them was Wrawrinka, not sure. I watched Juan Carlos for about 45 minutes, he left to watch Feliciano Lopez which was the last match being played so I went with him. The match was played on court 1 and JC stood there courtside drawing al ot of attention to himself, he left after 4 games or so. I only watched a few games, Rochus won, he's fun to watch Spend a lot of time watching practice sessions today, tomorrow's oop is terrific, so I'll be around CC more.
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 15, 2005 17:46:12 GMT -5
I went to the tennis again tonight I saw the first set of Henman-Kiefer. They played some nice rallies and hit some good winners, but it wasn't all that. Errors from both players and they had almost equal chances, but Tim prevailed. I left after the first set btw. There was a doubles match going on as well. On court 1 Verdasco and Lopez won the first set when I came in. Andreev and Davydenko played better in the second set and won it easily 6-1. The Spaniards were erratic while the Russians weren't. It seemed that Igor was the better player on court. The outfits were normal and I haven't seen anything weird from the metro Spaniards. Lopez is alright, but Verdasco is not good looking imo. I took a walk around the place and went back to centre court. Tim had just won the match and a bit later Mario and Taylor came on court. They were playing some exciting tennis and hit great winners. Both had chances, but it went to a tb. Mario won it and that was the end of my evening. I went with my sister and best friend. It's the last time I'm going to the tennis with my sister. If she wasn't so bloody tired I would still be there. I'm going again tomorrow for the day session and I'll try to sneak in at night.
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Post by RogiFan on Feb 15, 2005 17:59:05 GMT -5
Ilhame! Thanks for posting your lovely pix! I'm jealous! Rogi looks so serious tho and so does David.
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Post by Choupi on Feb 15, 2005 18:15:40 GMT -5
Thanks for your reports, Francine and Ilhame.
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Post by TennisHack on Feb 15, 2005 21:48:02 GMT -5
Thanks for the reports! Good to know Ancic-Dent was good, as those serving contests can be error-fests as well. Stepanek I'm with Lee, hopefully Juan Carlos will do us all a favor tomorrow *fingers crossed* What's this about Martijn winning a contest? Did you guys see/meet him, or Legolas?
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Post by Kiro on Feb 16, 2005 1:05:19 GMT -5
Thanks for the reports Ilhame and Francine! I watched Andreev-Srichaphan and Coria-Sluiter on TV. I agree with Ilhame, I like to watch Coria's game. He's got great touch in those defence and counter-attacking shots. Andres How I miss him! He's definitely one of the nicest ppl I've ever met.
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 16, 2005 3:22:50 GMT -5
Martijn entered all kinds of competitions and won tickets. I haven't met them, but did see some of the MTF people walking around.
I'll look out for Andres today. He's HOT! ;D
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 16, 2005 13:26:05 GMT -5
The tennis is over for me. I'm supposed to leave now, but hope I can sneak in somehow to see Juanca one last time. I was with Francine again and it was great. More when I'll come home.
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 16, 2005 16:29:47 GMT -5
No time to chat or even write a report tonight, but I will tell you this I went to watch tennis on court 1 and found myself the greatest seat, two seats away from Llodra. He was just sitting there watching Seb. Francine would be there later and came in during one of the change overs. Mika stood up and I was trying to look past him so that Francine could see me. He looked at me for a sec, probably thinking I was staring at him. Later Ollie and coach came to join Mika and coach. Ollie said something in French (I couldn't hear it cause I wasn't listening into their convo :red: ), but it was about me. It was something like you already have a nice lady sitting next to you or whatever. Mika replied with something like "You're already at it early". It seems they have lots of fun together. Too bad I couldn't get my pic taken with either player cause I would have LOVED to ask for it in French. ;D
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Post by Ilhame on Feb 16, 2005 16:31:03 GMT -5
BTW I ran into a high school friend and she'll get me in tomorrow!
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Post by Lee on Feb 16, 2005 16:52:22 GMT -5
BTW I ran into a high school friend and she'll get me in tomorrow!
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Post by Francine on Feb 17, 2005 4:30:30 GMT -5
Report Wednesday:I got there around 11.30 and immediately went to court 1 to meet up with Ilhame. She was sitting next to Llodra and in front of Rochus, best places on the whole court Grosjean was playing Wrawrinka, the young Swiss played really well and he won the first set in a tiebreak. Ilhame and I went to the training courts to see who was training. Llodra and Rochus had just started with T. Johansson and a young Swede training on the same court. I didn’t recognize Thomas at first, he was wearing his cap backwards and looked like one of those homies from Kriss Kross (jump jump) luckily Ilhame did ;D. I still don’t know who that Swedish kid is; he wasn’t in the qualifying draw or anything so I guess he’s just traveling along with the Swedes these weeks. Ilhame wanted to get a picture with Michael, but he escaped us. There were a lot of children there because it was kids’ day and there were all sorts of activities scheduled next to the training court, Michael probably meddled in and was nowhere to be found anymore. After that we went to watch Guillermo, he won the first set pretty easily when we left for the training courts again. Tim was training so we stayed and watched him before we went back to Guillermo’s match again. He lost; it was quite an entertaining match to watch with nice rallies, in the end Paradorn played better. Back to the training courts, I’m a bit lost here cos I don’t remember exactly who we saw there, maybe we didn’t see Tim until after Coria’s match, don’t remember anymore :\ We watched Sjeng’s match from somewhere halfway in the 1st set, he didn’t play well at all and when he lost the 1st set we left for the training courts again, but no one interesting was on there so we went back immediately. Sjeng picked up his game in the 2nd set, he trailed 0-3 in the decisive set but broke back and broke again by hitting a net ball. It was a really close match and I feel like Pavel had a few disputable calls against him. Sjeng’s foot was bothering him again and he didn’t look to happy on court but in the end he pulled through. The atmosphere was great, we did a wave with all the little children, and there were quite some college students yelling out idiotic things. The match didn’t end until 18.45 so there was little time left until the evening session started. At this point Ilhame left, I don’t think she got in for the evening session anymore since they were checking everybody’s tickets. I met up with my family for the evening matches. We first went to see the double on court 1 and left after the first set to see Roger’s match. This was quite an entertaining match, Ulihrach played well and had chances to break early on, but Roger started playing better didn’t give any chances away anymore. He broke one in each set and didn’t have any trouble in his own service games anymore. He probably had a rusty start because this was his first indoor match in a long time but I really can’t see anyone stopping him from winning the tournament. Ferrero vs. Stepanek . Juan Carlos didn’t stand a chance in the first set, Stepanek was serving to well and JC made a few errors early on to get broken which costed him the set. The second set was amazing. Juan Carlos broke and leaded 5-2 when he was broken back again. At the end of the set both players played incredibly well, long rallies which I was happy to see Juan Carlos win at the decisive moments. The crowd really got into it, I was happy to see about 95% supported Fererro ;D He won the tiebreak 8-6 after fighting off two matchpoints. At this moment my parents wanted to leave because they had an early morning the next day. I won’t get into details but ended up swearing I would never go to a tournament with them again and they called me a spoiled unthankful brat. They don’t quite understand my tennis fascination and making me go home at this point in Fererro’s match was cruel. I found out he lost when we got home Stepanek played really well, especially in the first set. I thought JC was going to lose in two sets and his comeback in the 2nd set was a positive surprise. I hope he can take a lot of positive things out of that set because it seemed to me he was his old self again except for not serving it out in the end maybe. So that was Rotterdam for me, I'm jealous Ilhame gets to go again today. Sorry you don't get to see Juanca We looked for him yesterday but he didn't show his face at the training courts at all.
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Post by Choupi on Feb 17, 2005 6:16:27 GMT -5
Thanks for the report Francine. Too sad that you don't go there anymore...but great for Ilhame! Ok, if I get the chance to take pics with Michael at the DC, I'll think of you...
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