By Jackie, TW Social Director
Good evening, TWibe! I've been ridiculously busy at work of late, so it's nice to finally have a break - for one night, at least.
Did anyone notice the TWibe shoutout in this month's TENNIS Magazine? If you haven't, make sure to get your hands on a copy ASAP. In it, you'll find a report written by our Asad Raza on tennis fans' take on the Federer-Nadal rivalry, and it quotes a few of our beloved TWibe members. I won't reveal who, but if any of you are reading this, feel free to out yourselves in the comments! Needless to say, I cheered at the sight of these familiar names/monikers in print - how exciting!
And speaking of magazines, how about Federer (finally!) making the cover of Sports Illustrated? Whether you're a Fed fan or not, you have to admit this is quite the boon for tennis. I'm always pleased when tennis is at the top of all sports news; at the very least, it makes me look like less of a loon for caring so much about it! I imagine many of you have read the cover story (I haven't yet). Any thoughts?
The last time tennis made the cover of SI was after last year's historic Wimbledon final. You'll remember that El Jon Wertheim (as Pete affectionately calls him) penned the cover story. And as you may know, he went a step further and now has a book out about that epic match called Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played. We've talked about this before on TW, I'm sure. I'm just about to purchase it (or I could wait for someone to get it for my birthday later this month), and I encourage you to follow suit so we can discuss it here at some point. (I still have yet to read his Blood in the Cage: Mixed Martial Arts, Pat Miletich, and the Furious Rise of the UFC; it's been on my list for ages. You know me and my strange affinity for wrestling and MMA.)
In last week's Deuce Club, we discussed our Roland Garros impressions, gleaned from the comfort of our homes. But a few TWibers traveled to Paris to experience the action firsthand - lucky them! - and they generously agreed to share their RG adventures with us right here in the DC. Lucky us!
To begin, here are a few words on the men's final from very occasional poster SilentP:
*I had a fab time in Paris yesterday; I had enough time to do a tiny bit of sightseeing before the match and got to my seat just in time for the players to come out. It was a good match if you wanted Fed to win as he was never really threatened. However, there wasn't as much of an atmosphere as I was expecting and I think the weather played a big part in that. Also, how slow was security to react to the nutter who got on the court?!
!RG Fed It rained almost the entire time from the second set onwards so I didn't get that many good photos. Most of my ones of Fed with the trophy have an umbrella blocking part of the shot! I was able to take a close-up of Fed at 5-3 in the third set, though [that's the photo, to your right]. He said afterwards he was on a rollercoaster of emotions and you can see it in that photo. Interesting thing is my next photo immediately after that he looks back "in the zone" as you would expect.*
That's quite a shot, SilentP! She also sent me a couple of other fantastic photos from the trophy ceremony, which I plan to include in our TW Facebook group album (TennisWorld > Real World is the group's name, for those of you who aren't already members).
Let's move now to a report from poster lpb (a.k.a. Susan) and her husband. You'll find that it's chock-full of interesting musings and stories, as they were in Paris for the entire two weeks! (Also, note that Susan plans on sending me a link to her photo album, which I'll post in a future DC and/or in the Facebook group. The photo below should hold you over in the meantime.) Voilà:
*(A brief word about us. Some of you know Susan as a passionate Federer fan. Alex is her partner-in-crime, husband, and enabler who loves watching good tennis matches, and has become a Federer fan over time mainly because he dreads the dark clouds that descend on the household after a Federer loss.)
Paris, great food, some good tennis matches, a glimpse or two of Federer and Nadal. That's pretty much what we expected from our first French Open. Like most everybody else, we took for granted that Nadal would do his usual clay thing there (even the most fervent Federer fans were conceding the French). We figured one week would just about do it. Funny how things can change in the blink of an eye.
This is how it all began: We landed in Paris on the Wednesday before the Open started to give us a few days to get our sea legs, our clocks adjusted (we live in New York), and dine on as much foie gras and white asparagus as we could manage. We had originally planned to stay for about twelve days to catch the first week of Roland Garros (by the way, we got dumb looks when we referred to the event as "French Open," "Français** Open," etc.).
But all that changed when we found a Wi-Fi connection and tapped into Drew Lilley's blow by blow of the Nadal-Soderling match, as we were ambling along the Canal St. Martin. As the fourth set rolled on and Soderling led 6-1 in the breaker, we looked at each other in amazement and said what the hell. Our schedule was flexible, we can afford the tickets (so what if it means canned tuna or Spam every night for a month!). Let's stick it out and be a part of an historic moment - Roger's 14th Grand Slam and career GS. We kicked it around that night and pulled the trigger and rescheduled our Air France flight the following morning. On a sad note, we were supposed to fly out that evening from the very same terminal the ill-fated Air France flight was scheduled to arrive in. Bad karma all around, which spooked us and frankly made it easier to stay.
Our first impression of RG was that there are people everywhere. We're from Manhattan and go to the U.S. Open almost every year so we are used to crowds, but RG is CROWDED. There are long lines for almost everything - women's bathrooms, concessions, especially the outside courts. We waited about an hour to get into the Ferrero/Ljubicic match and were rewarded with seats in the first row directly behind Ljuby's chair, and around 90 minutes for the Roddick/Minar match where we sat in the fifth row about ten feet from Brooklyn Decker. So if you go, you need to plan accordingly and watch your fluid intake, because if you've got to go you might miss a set or more waiting in all those lines.
Note: The French do not respect lines, they think nothing of cutting a line. Things that would get you punched out in NYC or London are perfectly acceptable here in sophisticated Paris.
Once you get past the hassles and the lines, RG is a fantastic experience. Chatrier, which seats about 15,000, is intimate and is much closer to Louis Armstrong Stadium in Flushing than the cavernous box of Arthur Ashe. Also, for you older folks, the outer courts all have individual seats with backs, not hard benches and concrete. It seems minor, but as the days go on you REALLY appreciate it. Susan sat next to Mary Joe Fernandez at the Glatch/Lino match (truth be told, we wanted to secure seats on that court for del Potro/Troicki). And Susan regrets not stopping Brad Gilbert (Jeel-bair) for a photo with him when he strolled past us.
And then there's the red clay. It's like nothing else we'd ever seen. (It's really a rusty orange - not sure how TV makes it look so red.) All the sliding and dust storms that kick up later in the day when the clay gets dry and sand-like add to the flavor of the event.
You have to give the French fans credit, they get behind their players in a big way. No polite applause, but full-throated roars. You know when a French player is on the court by the decibel meter. When Ouanna, the French qualifier, was beating Safin, Chatrier was shaking.
The first week, a couple of things stuck out for us:
Safin digging deep and coming back from two sets down to tie Ouanna, fighting 'til the bitter end and summoning the passion, if not the consistency, of his glory days. Ferrero showing similar resolve as a former champion scrapping his way to a grueling five set victory against Ljubicic. Roddick sliding more naturally on the clay than ever before (a revelation!). Nadal bludgeoning Hewitt senseless with his unrelenting ground strokes, instilling doubt that he would EVER lose a match.
On to the men's semis:
What can you say? Another pack of Rolaids please. How many nerve-rattling stomach churners can Fed fans handle in a week? First Haas and now del Potro. The Argentine was a rock for most of this match. Started off well enough.*Fed had del Potro on the ropes in the latter's first two service games so it looked like he was going to have a good day. But almost two and a half hours later Fed still hadn't broken him. What's up with that? We stayed that extra week to watch del Potro have the match of his life and derail our man from his date with Grand Slam immortality? Luckily Fed did his part and put del Potro away in a tough 5th set which told us a lot about him and even more about del Potro. This guy is a beast.
!Gonzo The Gonzo/Soderling match had its share of booming tennis and dramatics, as well as comical moments - Gonzo wiping the marks clean with his butt was a classic[check out the photo to your right]. Soderling showed a lot of heart in coming back from 1-4 down in the 5th. We wondered if he would have anything left for the final. Underdogs only have so much magic to spin.
*Couldn't have asked for a better or more dramatic set of semi-finals.
Finals day:
As Pete Bodo mentioned in his Crisis Center post, we hooked up (along with Viv and her mum) at the little upper level cafe area next to Chatrier. Viv and Susan shared their mutual excitement at the prospect of a Federer victory and exchanged tips on getting tickets at the Slams.
Really not too much to say about the tennis, as it spoke for itself. As you all saw, Fed was on top of Soderling from start to finish. Those aces in the tiebreak - ooh la la. Relatively stress free for Fed fans. The only real drama was whether or not he could end it before the rain suspended play. (If he hadn't, the match probably would have finished mid-week since it rained pretty steadily most of Monday and Tuesday, our last days in Paris.) Absolutely unbelievable how long it took the Men in Black security team to finally wrestle down that moron who ran on the court. Our seats were by the baseline corner on Fed's side so we had a good view of the entire episode. Scary moment. Flashes of Gunter Parche. Our theory is that the reason they took so long to tackle the guy was that they didn't want to get their fancy black suits dirty.
The rain was coming down hard during the trophy ceremony, but you couldn't really tell the raindrops from the teardrops. We weren't that close to see the tears, but the video screen kept replaying the last point and Fed's ecstatic response. Despite the pouring rain, he stayed on court for a long time doing interviews and getting his pictures taken with everybody from the very excited linesmen to the clean-up crew. (Only after JMac interviewed Fed did a ballboy finally hold an umbrella over his head!) Looks like he wanted to savour the moment forever.
Susan stayed until Fed walked off the court, soaking it all in and getting soaked, but she was smiling every second. An historic and sublime moment for tennis and Roger Federer ... and cherished life-long memories for his devoted fans. We were lucky to have been there. *
Wasn't that wonderful? Many thanks to you and your husband for reliving the event with us, Susan! And to you, too, SilentP - I just love hearing these stories. Doesn't it add another dimension to our experiences as fans to merely be privy to these live tennis accounts? I can't get enough of 'em.
Of course, I invite you all to comment on the fan reports above or anything else that's been mentioned. But as this is our OT space and we've been a bit RG- and Fed-centric here in TW of late, I'm declaring this DC a topics free-for-all. Whats on your mind? Maybe it's the NBA finals ... the Saved by the Bell reunion ... your work project that's ruining your eyesight and sleep schedule (cough) ... summer fashion. Whatever it is, share it with the TWibe! And as always, drinks are on me!