Good Evening Everyone...today was another full one for me as I ended my Paris tour in fine fashion. As most of you are aware, the French Open began yesterday and I couldnt pass up the opportunity to check it out. Yes, for those wondering, three days in Paris and I use two of them to attend sporting events. Just because I am in Paris doesnt mean I become a new person.
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| Me at Court #2 |
Roland Garros was pretty neat, there is a lot of history there. Of course, I dont have much to compare it with. I have only been to the RCA's up in Indianapolis at home, but now the US Open is firmly on my "to do" list. I loved the atmosphere. The grounds were very small, there were probably 20 courts, three of which are stadiums, the others have small grandstands. One could easily walk from one end of the complex to the other in about five minutes without the crowds. The lay out is very unique though, there are not "blocks" of courts, there are just a few here and there, separated by trees or buildings covered by ivy. It was really neat, also this is the first time I have watched tennis on clay in person, the hacks at the Racquet Club in Evansville dont count.
I didnt acquire a seat for any of the stadiums. I had my opportunities, but I had to purchase tickets in pairs. It wasnt worth it to me to buy a seat for my backpack at $100 per. Also, there is absolutely no scalping of the tickets. You have to buy your tickets through Roland Garros, register them under your name, print off an e-ticket, scan it at the gate, then you present your ID card, then you are given a ticket with your name printed on it. Really, if you took a family of four to Roland Garros, you would have to enter all the names electronically at least 24 hours in advance to be able to use the tickets. So when I didnt buy stadium seats on Saturday evening, I was pretty much done. In hindsight, I could have easily bought a pair, then listed my single on the Roland Garros exchange, and it would have sold quickly after the draw for Monday was announced. Sorry for the long story, I had been wondering for over a month how this would play out, and actually, it played out perfect the way it happened. Center Court featured Federer, Djokovic, and other top seeds pummeling opponents while the other two featured French players in the draw. The best action was on the "outside courts".
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| The view from my seats at Mardy Fish's (far court) match. |
My ticket for the grounds allowed me to go anywhere but the main three stadiums. I scouted out my first two matches on Sunday night. Considering that it was the first round, it was hard to predict which matches, if any were going to be most competitive. Matches started at 11, I arrived at 1015 to make sure I got to Court #2 in time to get a good seat for Daniela Hantuchova's match. After that I headed to Court #7 to watch the primary match on my agenda, American and tenth seeded Mardy Fish. Before Fish came on, i caught Nadia Petrova get upset in the third set. Fish's match was good, four setter, in which he won. He gave me reason to cheer and get a little loud, also there were some Americans in there with me. It was nice, Mike Lynch saw me on TV several times in NYC as I sat two rows up behind Fish. He was quite excited about it. I concluded my day on Courts #2 (Baghdatis) and #3 (Maria Kirilenko). Miss Kirilenko was definitely as advertised and defeated American Coco Vandeweghe. After NINE hours of tennis watching I was ready to call it quits.
I walked home nearly in tears as my allergies were really bothering my eyes. My claritin just couldnt keep up all day long. I finished up with a beer and some attempt at Tex-Mex at a place named El Rancho on my walk back to the hotel. My three days in Paris were awesome, it really couldnt have gone any better without the presence of others.
Tomorrow Rotterdam. Good night.
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| Kirilenko serves up the picture of the day. |
