Chloe Goes to Montreal

[The Chloe]

In the off chance that anybody cares, I'll post a summary of what I did over the last three days. I attended Sunday qualies and Monday and Tuesday of the main draw. Now, if you're looking for match reports, look elsewhere. I don't make notes during matches. My commentary will be people based, not play based Also, if you don't want to sift through boring details of my trip... close the thread now

Moving on, I'll start at day 1 (duh). I still haven't figured out how I will make my pictures accessible to people on this site who aren't MTF members, but I will find a way. For now I'm just going to post them in the MTF galleries, since that is easy to do.

Speaking of my photos... I took about 200. If I missed your favourite player or you don't like that I took 91230483 photos of C Rochus or whoever, that's just too bad It was my first time using my digital at tennis and the photos sort of blow. But I tried Some players I took like 8 of, others only 1. It depends on 1) how much I like them and 2) how convenient their timing was (ie; in the case of C Rochus, which I will explain later)

Now, those of you who have had to suffer through recent conversations with me know how excited I was to see Nicolas Mahut. Anybody who laughs at my shameless Mahut crush must immediately close this thread and never return!!! Anyways, I discovered before leaving to catch my bus Saturday night that Mahut was playing at 10am. I didn't think I would arrive in Montreal until 9:30 and had to check my bags at my hostel first, so I thought that I would miss most of his match. Thankfully, it turns out that I was not supposed to take the greyhound anyways, and the bus line that I ended up taking got me there for 6:30am :rocker2:

After checking into my hostel I walked in a huge circle for half an hour, arrived at the train station, and ate some breakfast before heading down to the metro for tennis.

Since Mahut-Weiner was my first plan for the day, I just unnecessarily camped out on that court for 20 minutes during Ivo Heuberger's practice session and waited for them to arrive.

That ended up being the only qualie match that I watched all the way through. It wasn't very long, so that was nice. My attention span sort of blows, so it's a wonder if I manage my way through an entire match without getting up a few times. Mahut won, so I was pleased. The only thing about the match that sort of irked me was that this 8 year old boy beside me started being very vocal in his support for Mahut mid match. I was like... I can't crush with a child beside me! I felt horribly wrong. Anyways, Mahut is pretty volatile, at least he was both times I saw him. He had to refrain from crushing his racquet several times, was easily distracted (he kept glaring in the distance at some music that was playing), etc. He was fiery! I like my players fiery, so I was not dissapointed

Assuming anybody is actually still reading after that two paragraph gush, I went to watch practices after that match. I saw JCF practicing with.. somebody, I didn't bother to take their picture it seems :confused: Then I watched Robredo practice with Gasquet for a while and took lots of pictures of both, and some of Robredo's coach, aka "Hot Coach". I also so Rochus and Gonzo across from each other on different courts... then I went back to Robredo and Gassy again, blah.

Then, it was Rafa time. He was wearing what appeared to be a red spandex tank top and his painted on black capris. This woman's husband was blocking my view and she saw I was trying ot get a photo so she told him to duck... I told them not to worry about it and she says "oh no, go ahead. Get a good one... it's worth it!" She must have been twice Rafa's age, it was super

Blah, I also saw Grosjean and Paul Henri Mathieu (who I had failed to notice was very attractive the first several tiems I had seen him... who knew?) on seperate courts and have photos of both. Same with Spadea and Soderling who may or may not have been practicing together Maybe it was PHM with Spadea? I should have written stuff down.

Anyways, I resumed watching matches after this. I saw some of Moodie and Wawrinka's match. I also watched most of the first set of Djokovic (who I am now a bopper of) and Sanguinetti. I was tired and left, but I thought Djokovic was going to win at that point, even though Davide had just broken back.

After the tennis I went back to the hostel and then planned to meet up with some MTFers, one of whom was Savestheday or something like that, and the rest whom I haven't bothered to ask if I can name yet. It took a while to meet them since I was on the wrong end of Rene Levesque looking for the hotel. It was not my fault! Um, then we had dinner and booze and stuff, and some people may have rubbed themselves crudely up against a poster of Rafa.

I was in bed by 11 and that was all she wrote.

I will write about the other days soon too.

[Maeby Fünke]

admin said:

I was on the wrong end of Rene Levesque

Good lord.

[The Chloe]

It wasn't my fault, they told me to go to the wrong hotel

Erm, or was there a joke in there somewhere that I totally missed?

[bagel]

I was at the top of court 1 and it was funny seeing you (and I guess one of your MTF friend) alone right in front of an empty court desesperately waiting for Robredo to come.

I might go tomorrow if it doesn't stop raining today. I'll wait to see the OOP to see if they might put Nadal vs Gasquet on court 9.

[The Chloe]

bagel said:

I was at the top of court 1 and it was funny seeing you (and I guess one of your MTF friend) alone right in front of an empty court desesperately waiting for Robredo to come.

Yeah, I will post about that later. ;D

We got stood up twice! First by Djokovic then by Robredo. SIGH.

I might go tomorrow if it doesn't stop raining today. I'll wait to see the OOP to see if they might put Nadal vs Gasquet on court 9.

Tomorrow will probably be super good now. I remember that happened a couple years back.

Nadal will always be on center though

[bagel]

Except when he's on court 9, like tomorrow when he'll play against Gassy.

I like those 8$ additionnal charge when you buy your ticket online. And you can't even get the -10% student price.

[janie]

Woohoo, great stuff! Keep it coming, Becca! I will read every word. You post too, Dr. Bagel!

And Chloe, never forget: a person who is merely twice Rafa's age is still a youngster!!

[Tennislurker]

rafa is overpowering mello with his ugly power!

cheat!

[bagel]

I saw Mello against Bester and in the first set, he returned about half of Bester serve into the net! He's really a mediocre returner, from what I saw of him.

I'm too lazy to write a report, I'm not great at it anyway. But the best match I saw was Gaudio against Sanguinetti. It's really too bad Sanguinetti started cramping at the end, he really gave everything he had in that match.

[janie]

Aww, poor Davide. Is he cute?

[The Chloe]

Davide must have started greying at 25. Not that this makes him unattractive, though I don't think he really is.

The woman was probably actually three times Rafa's age janie, I was just being polite And I know that when I'm her age i will probably do the same ;D

[The Chloe]

And then it was Monday.

Monday was a short day. This time Mahut didn't play until the second match on court 9, so I watched people practice until that point.

To start the day, Jess and I went to watch Robredo and Mahut practice on court 1. Robredo and Hot Coach were stuttering around in their nakedness, and Jess was unable to contain herself as she took 500 photos of both. Mahut had clothes on, and Jess held back insulting him which I muchly appreciated. Because, in case I haven't made it very clear, there will be no insulting Mahut in this thread or around Rebecca EVER. Or like, ELSE. Anyways, I took a few of Robredo and Hot Coach and probably a couple photos of Mahut and they will all be put up with the rest of Monday's photos soon.

After that I went to watch Coria practice. I got some decent shots of him, which is nice since I seem to have crap photos of everybody. He was practicing with Acasuso. Then I saw Clement, Chela, Gaudio, Gonzo, all in some order or other. I saw Agassi too, but didn't watch his practice since I had other things to attend to. My photos of him aren't awful, I guess.

After this I went over to court 9 where C Rochus had just lost to Pavel. I watched Malisse and Soderling practice on court 10 from the top of court 9 until Oliver Rochus and Mahut came on. What luck that Mahut drew somebody else that I happen to love, albeit in not in quite the same way. I figured he was going to lose anyways, so at least it was to somebody I like

Like Sunday, Mahut proved to be tempermental. But again, that's cool with me. If it wasn't, would I love Coria? I think not. Rochus must have lobbed him about 37 times. The best part about this match was probably the handshake, which I did take a photo of. Mahut is at least a head taller, and you can't even appreciate it from that photo. You had to see them walk by each other on the changeover. Anyways, I determined that despite my Mahut love I wouldn't want to go near him in a dark ally. Dude has a scary mean face when he's pissed off! Meow! It kind of scared me. And that was hawt. Um, moving on.. I saw lot's of players at this match. I took some photos of Gasquet since he was right across from me. I was embarassed doing so and hoped nobody would notice, but who really cares Benneteau was also there, but the pictures of him are blurry since he was far away. C Rochus was sitting right behind me with who I assume was Ollie's coach and they were very vocal in their support for Ollie. I have no photos of that since they were RIGHT behind me and I didn't think I could pull that off without being noticed

After that it appears that I went ot see Arthurs and Luczak practice, or at least walked by and took photos. What was Luczak doing there?

Then it appears that I peaked over a big crowd at Roddick on a far court and Coria on a close court right beside him. The Roddick photos suck, and in the process of trying to get them I got Coria ass photos, which, okay. I kept them in the off chance there is somebody on earth who thinks he has a good ass.

I watched Nalbandian beat Chela on the big screen over the cheapest yet most expensive poutine ever. I also watched the third set of Robredo and Kim, joining the people I knew who were already there.

Um, so that was Monday. I was interested in the night matches so I took off around 430pm. I left at some point and joined some people I met at McDonald's then went back and debated waiting for Novak Djokovic... but didn't. I should have

End.

[TennisHack]

So Mahut's a whiny bitch, eh? ;D Kidding, kidding!

You said you saw some of Wawrinka-Moodie. How was Stani's attitude? He's been known to blow up a time or two.

[TennisHack]

What was Luczak doing there?

Losing in the first round of qualifying.

[The Chloe]

Wawrinka is fiery , yes ;D

[The Chloe]

tennishack said:

What was Luczak doing there?

Losing in the first round of qualifying.

Ah. I was too lazy to look that up, I didn't realize he got in

[The Chloe]

For those who can see MTF, here is my gallery of Monday and Sunday: www.menstennisforums.com/photos/showgallery.php/cat/500/page/1/ppuser/144

Tuesday will go up later.

Sorry for the 200 of Robredo and Mahut but it's MY camera Um, and the ones of Robredo's coach which I shall not explain.

I took photos of everybody I mentioned in the above reports.

[Tennislurker]

this is the best picture so far

www.menstennisforums.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/13086/cat/500/ppuser/144

[Tennislurker]

JAJAJAJAJA!!!

www.menstennisforums.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/13061/cat/500/ppuser/144

[janie]

omg :lust:

[freudo]

that was a fun read, thanks, off to hunt the pictures

[adeegee]

Did you not get to see the wonderful Kevin Kim?

[The Chloe]

I didn't see Kevin Kim practice, but did see the end of his match!

Lurker - for some reason, Coria was really cooperating with my camera. Gaudio was a bit too.

[The Chloe]

tennislurker said:

JAJAJAJAJA!!!

www.menstennisforums.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/13061/cat/500/ppuser/144

Um, I think that I have like 5 photos of the two of them ;D

[janie]

Becca, how about you take TR and I'll take the coach ...

[The Chloe]

I don't know Janie, I think I like Mariano better than Tommy

Tuesday is about to come, as soon as I copy and paste it from MTF

All photos are now up on MTF at the link I already posted.

[The Chloe]

And then it was Tuesday.

On Tuesday I decided to leave my hostel just after 9 so that I would be at the tournament when the gates opened. I ended up having to wait 20 minutes at the gate, but that's okay. I bumped into some MTFers I had met in the days before, so I had company.

The first thing I did was check the practice schedule - in fact, this was the first thing I did every day. WHY does Toronto not put a practice schedule out? Lleyton was listed for a 10am practice on court 2. I don't care much for him but decided to go anyways. As it turns out, he didn't show, and given that he retired from his match I think we all know why. So I waited for Nadal to practice instead, as he was due up at 1030 on the court just across from where Hewitt was supposed to be. Christophe Rochus was practicing right in front of me, beside Rafa's assigned court. I think he was practicing with Seppi. Seppi, btw, was everywhere, practicing with everybody, over the three days I was there. I only sorted out who he was at this very moment. Nadal came out a few minutes later and I watched him and Berdych practice for a short while before heading over to court one where the rest of the MTF gang I had met were camped out for Kiefer and Massu. On my way over there I saw Andreev and Melzer practicing and took some pictures. The Melzer ones are okay, but Andreev kept like, petting himself, so his arm was in front of his face too much and I just gave up.

I only stuck with Kiefer and Massu until 4-3. It wasn't a bad match, but my attention span bites. I decided that life would not be complete without a visit to the All Sex Match, Soderling versus Stepanek. Soderling was down a break in the second when I arrived, but that quickly was shot to Hell as he broke back. I don't remember anything else aside from how Soderling served out the match - 3 aces and a service winner. Rivetting stuff! Radek, for all the talk about him being a bit of a brat (and he can be on court), was very nice after the match, chatting with Robin on the way out and even holding the door open for him. Awwww

Either before or after that match I came across Pavel practicing. I couldn't figure out if it was Pavel though, because I can't make out faces from very far away apparently. So I asked the people who I was with, and they were no help It was Pavel though, so all was good and I was not taking photos of somebody I had never heard of. Not that it would be the first time.

During Pavel's practice, Robredo was due to practice across from us on court 8. I don't think I stuck that practice out very long, it was a bit boring. In fact, this must be where I went to Radek-Robin. Indeed, reviewing my photos, it was

After Radek-Robin I returned to where RObredo had been, because Mario Ancic and Novak Djokovic were due to appear. In the meantime, I took some pictures of Youznhy, who was practicing right in front of us, because I know that the poster Leo likes him Bob Bryan came out right after Misha, then Mario and Novak followed. I'm not like, going to elaborate on this any, but I am now a Djokovicbopper and anybody who has a problem with this can get out of my thread. We sat out the entire practice, and then followed him off court, even after he was clearly trying to avoid us. Why? Because we are awesome.

At some point during this mess I appear to have seen Knowles and Nestor.

Now it was doubles time. Puerta-Nalbandian vs Lopez-Gaudio. I waited half an hour for this because it was on the worst court ever, with no seats, and only one side of the court where you could stand. But no way was I missing out! The woman I stood next to was a big Nalbandian fan, I think. She had two kids that were well behaved and she told them about tennis, it was cute I took lots of photos from this match - I only stayed till the end of the first set because my legs hurt, but it was very enjoyable. Puerta was looking very good out there. If not for Davis Cup I would have been surprised at his doubles form

Beck was practicing on the other side of this match so I took a couple photos of him. I'm convinced he was looking at me funny, perhaps because absolutely nobody else was looking in that direction. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

I ran over to Coria-JCF at this time and found the people I had been Djokovicbopping with. I watched the last 6 games of the first set. I think.

After that, Jess and I went back to the practice courts to see if Djokovic was going to show up to his other scheduled practice. When he did not, we were dismayed, but were uplifted again when we saw the practice schedule dude update the schedule to write Robredo in. So, being losers, we waited on that court for an hour and sat through Gimelstob hoping he was just going to show up late or something And this, is where one of the highlights of my trip occured.

Gimelstob is like, off my shit list, possibly forever now. For one thing, he kept humouring people who were bothering him during his practice. He'd go to get a water or sit for a second and people would go up and talk to him, ask for pictures and autographs. Instead of ignoring them or telling them to wait till the end like he should have he chatted and signed for all of them. And then... oh, and this is the best part. These two young women approach from the other side of the court and yell "Hey Justin, we're from NEW YORK!" and he's like "um, yeah?" and they are like "do you know where Vince is?!" No, I'm dead fucking serious. This actually happened. Justin sounds a little surprised or amused or possibly both and is like "Vince Spadea?" and the women are like "yeah, do you know where Vince is going tonight?!" I AM DEAD SERIOUS! Jess and I are giggling like crazy, and Justin turns around to look in our direction with a "WTF?!?!?!" look on his face. He turns back to them and says that he doens't know. Then they yell "Well where are YOU going?" and I'm sorry, but I died at this point and can not remember what he reponded with. He ended up going that way after his practice and chatting with them, eventually walking away. I wish we had this entire bit on video because it truly was the funniest thing ever.

Anyways, after that there was a party on the lawn by the promenade where I was very vocal for Paul Henri, who I announced pre-match as my "BOYFRIEND". A couple of us sat there for the entire match, and then afterwards saw a bit of Gassy and Ferrer in doubles. Then I went home.

That's pretty much it.

[The Chloe]

Copying and pasting that seems to have resulted in a loss of periods. Oh well. I think I probably had smilies on MTF instead of periods in some places. As long as its still almost readable

I will add random comments later, but that is pretty much it.

Who knew I would come back from Montreal thinking that Gimelstob is almost awesome?

[Lee]

Gimelstob is absolutely awesome

[TennisHack]

admin said:

These two young women approach from the other side of the court and yell "Hey Justin, we're from NEW YORK!" and he's like "um, yeah?" and they are like "do you know where Vince is?!" No, I'm dead fucking serious.

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!! Hilarity ensues, no doubt.

Where you three the only ones amused by this? Because I would've been rolling on the ground, no doubt.

I guess Vinny Ice is smoother than we give him credit for!