Master Series - Ericsson Open 2001
by Kristen
Mar/25/2001
Hi everyone!!! I am having the most amazing time! It is more than fun than I imagined!! Everyone here is so nice and we're having a blast!!! At the moment I'm taking a break from selling tattoos. We were obviously harrassing people too much because they asked us to get back in our booth!!*lol* Wait until they see the wet t-shirt contest cReepy and Laura have planned for later!!! *lol* But seriously, I'm so happy I finally made myself come to a tourney. Some of the girls are watching Flip and Chang right now, and Jac and Karen are saving seats for Pat. He's playing in the Grandstand so we should get pretty close to him.
So here's the funny part - I DID meet him yesterday at his practice and I DIDN'T faint!! Hooray!!! But he never left my sight. When I heard Noor yell to us that he was coming, I braced myself against the fence just in case. As he walked up with Peter, it was like the rest of the world just faded away. He is even more breathtaking in person!! And I don't mean just looks. He has this aura about him that absolutely commands your attention. So I hung up my "Happily Ever Rafter" banner in front of us and Roche made a comment about how cute it was. So Pat then practised for about an hour and he looked great. Very good mood. He was practising with Roger Federer and joking around quite a bit. I used up an entire film!! Then to my complete surprise, he came over to Karen and starting moving along the fence signing autographs. I had a death grip on the banner and I was so completely stunned that he was standing in front of me (less than a foot away!) that I think I just stared at him blankly when he got to me. The entire time, Jac and Laura are in hysterics watching my face. I can't believe I missed getting his autograph!!! Then ALL of the girls starting laughing at me, because he made a comment about my banner and I didn't even realize it!! My jaw was still hanging to the floor! So hopefully today I can redeem myself and get him to sign the banner. Depends whether I can muster enough willpower this time!!! Plus I caught one of the tennis balls the guys were hitting out to us.
Sorry this is such a jumble, but yesterday felt like a dream and I don't think it has sunk in yet. So today we're all taking turns in the booth. We got our picture taken by the tourney first thing this morning. Unfortunately, Scott couldn't make it because he had to go practise with the DC team. Oh well. So I'm looking forward to seeing Pat's singles match, then Pat and Lleyton's doubles later on. Tonight, I really want to see Goran and Moya (I'll think of you Catriona!) I was really sad to see Marat lose yesterday because I never got a chance to see him up close. Very disappointing. Oh, I forgot to say, that while Pat was signing Noor's shirt beside me at the practice, I had this sudden urge to reach out and touch his forearm, but I chickened out!! That's Catriona's influence! *LOL* But his smile is even better in person. *sigh* I don't know how I'm going to go home to Don after this!!!*lol* Anyway, I should go. I'll give my full report when I return to cold Canada!!! Wish you guys could all be here with us!!! Thinking of you all!!! Hugs!!
Mar/28/2001
Okay, where to start??? I arrived Thursday night at 10 only to find out that Karen's flight had been delayed until well after midnight and I was supposed to wait for her. So after curling up into a ball in my airport lounge seat, I finally wake up to go meet her. Turns out the girl gave me the wrong gate and we couldn't find each other!!! So after roaming the airport for 45 minutes looking for a girl I had never met before I finally called the hotel only to have Karen answer the phone!!! Not a good start to the trip.........I arrived at our suite/apartment (great job Karen!) at 1:30 in the morning and finally met Karen and jac in their pyjamas. We, of course, end up talking for a few more hours until we realize what time it is and begin wondering where Laura and Annmarie are. After deciding to just go to bed, they finally walk in the door (plane delayed) so we all drag ourselves out of bed once more and begin talking again. So at around 4 a.m. we figure we should shut up and sleep since our wake-up call is for 7!!!! But it's amazing how the prospect of meeting Pat can wake you up on time!!! So we manage to make it to the tourney and rush to meet Diane, Joelle, cReepy and Noor (sorry we walked so fast jac!!!) After big hugs all around we're all off to watch Marat Safin until Pat's practice starts (another huge thank you to our practice fairy Noor!! Give me an N...give me an O....*lol*) Unfortunately, the players are pretty tiny from our seats on the 400 level. I'm assuming that was Marat playing but it could have been just about anyone. Had I known that those would be the only 45 minutes I would get to see Marat play.....boo hoo.
But I had to meet Pat!!! I won't bother describing that experience to you again and I'm curious to read the post I had written about my encounter. I must've looked and sounded like the biggest moron!!!*lol* Too funny!! But as the girls will tell you all, I'm such a sweet innocent little Canadian girl who didn't want to bother him by asking for an autograph.*LOL* I felt guilty asking for autographs and pictures!!! But he saw the banner "Happily Ever Rafter" and sounds like Roche and Peter thought it was sweet and that makes me happy enough. When Karen and I finally caught our breath and realized this wasn't a dream, we packed up and had lunch. We ended up wandering around the grounds, but to be honest, I could've gone back to Canada a happy woman with just that!!!
We caught a bit of Lleyton's match (Diane, you're an angel for being so generous with your seats - thanks for everything!) Next up was the Andrew Ilie/J-M Gambill match in the grandstand. Very close match but unfortunately Andrew let it slip through his fingers. Diane and Joelle were sitting in the Reserved section and Karen and Annmarie wanted to see a different match, so at the end it was cReepy, Laura and I. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life!!!! Having never heard the noise Andrew makes when he plays, I wasn't prepared for the "WAFFA" noise he grunts out!!! The three of us had to actually cover our mouths while they played because we were laughing so much. It also doesn't help when the entire Grandstand is cheering for Gambill and the three of us are doing our best to make sure Andrew knows we're here for him!!! We ended up developing quite the rapport with the other fans, which made it even funnier. cReepy was very good at imitating the "waffa" sound!!! At one point, Andrew messed up a shot and the guy a few rows down turned around and said "Not a good waffa!!!" which made our entire section burst out laughing!!! Jan-Mike and Andrew entertained us with the tennis and cReepy and Laura entertained the crowd with their antics!! It was the best match I saw other than Pat's. Andrew's girlfriend was so adorable - she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a huge kiss when he came over.
At the end, we headed over to see Pete Sampras and Nicolas Kiefer. The best part of that match was afterwards!!! Karen, Laura, Annmarie, jac and I were waiting for our cab at the players' entrance when Sampras (yes, he looks even hairier in person!)came out and hopped into his car (he drives himself). He must have been in a hurry because he gunned the engine just as Kiefer stepped in front of his car!!!! He came within inches of taking him out!!! They both started laughing and Pete did the U-turn to get out and Kiefer hopped into his car at the valet station. Not to be outdone, Kiefer waited for Pete to get closer and CUT HIM OFF!! So after nearly sideswiping each other they took off!!! None of us could believe it! I must admit that Kiefer is good-looking though his personality ruins it. It was a busy day, so we decided not to go out that night, but we still ended up talking until 2 a.m.!!! Anyway, I must go start cleaning my house - more reports to follow!!!
Mar/29/2001
First off, sorry I haven't gotten to my e-mail or read the board since I got back. If I've missed birthdays or needed vibes, here's a big Happy Birthday to whoever and positive vibes ++++++++to everyone who needs them. It seems every ounce of good behaviour my children had when I left evaporated after having spent the weekend alone with Don.
Okay, on to my Saturday report......We all dragged our butts out of bed once more and spent a few moments comparing sunburns. Laura's forehead and my scalp won out!!! Yes, I said scalp. The part in my hair was bright red!!! What kind of idiot burns their scalp??? Anyway, we rush out to meet Diane and the girls at the booth. We finally hooked up with Carla (who has never posted before but has promised to start!). She's the one who mailed Peta looking for people to go to the tourney with. Unfortunately, Scott Draper had left a message with Diane the night before saying that he was unable to make it due to DC practice. What kind of excuse is that??*LOL* Just kidding. So we get all of the t-shirts given out, tattoos on and get our pic taken by the tourney photographer. Karen and Joyce come back from looking for Pat's practice to tell us how they got to meet him and he signed their shirts. AAAAHHHHHH!!! So Karen - 2 Pat autographs to me - ZERO!! I have now decided to stop being so nice. Next time I see him, I'm going to elbow and kick my way to the front of the line!!!*lol* At this point, some of the girls head off to see Flip, some go start to save seats for Pat's singles match and the rest of us start harrassing passerby for their money. Poor Diane was getting the third-degree by just about every tourney worker, plus they seemed to take exception to the fact that we were yelling out to the sidewalk asking for donations. I must say that our biggest selling point was Jamie, Diane's daughter's friend. She was kind enough to stay at the booth all day, and sell by herself when we were all at Pat's singles and doubles match. She was so sweet and deserves a lot of credit!!! Plus she was gorgeous and this tiny little thing and all of the young boys were willing to donate just about anything to get their tattoo sponged on by her!! *LOL* So after spending a couple of hours at the booth Noor and I head over to see what seats jac, Karen and Joyce were able to nab. Perfect!!!
The match vs. Bob Bryan went by all too quickly but we had the banner and were yelling "Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi" across the Grandstand to Diane, Joelle, Olga (whom I hadn't met yet) and cReepy. Great fun!!! I think the funniest part was watching Peter, Lara, David and Roche. They all sat a seat apart from each other and didn't say a word!! Plus dear, sweet David looked so incredibly bored!!! He kept yawning and looking around, and at one point he looked like he was about to lie down on the seat beside him for a quick nap!! What a cutie!!! Heading back to the booth, Laura and Annmarie were back from Flip's match, so Diane gave us her giant Roo and Karen and I headed to Court 2 to save seats for about 10 people for the doubles' match. I was afraid that the poor roo would blow up in the heat so I had him lying down with my Canadian Olympics sweatshirt covering him. Of course his tail was sticking straight up, and we had an extremely obnoxious man from New York City sitting to our left who kept making rude comments about it. That's one thing Joelle and I discovered while trying to sell tattoos - there sure is an abundance of disrespectful people out there!!!
Anyway, the match had to be the most exciting one I watched all weekend. It was so close the entire time and quite a nail-biter. Even Laura and cReepy sending negative vibes to Stolle and Nestor didn't help!! (Speaking of Nestor- I've never liked him and I usually cheer against him even though we're from the same country. He even threw his racquet at the umpire's chair after losing a point!! What an ass! Then I come home to find out he's pulled out of the Davis Cup!! Argghhhh!! Sorry about that but I had to vent!) Throughout the entire match all I could think about was all of you girls in the chatroom. It felt so bizarre being on the other side for a change!! But obviously it was your positive vibes that got them through! One of the funny parts of the match was during a point when Lleyton was about to serve. He and Pat were whispering their instructions to each other and every time Pat went to walk to the net, Lleyton would call him back to talk about something else. Surprisingly, the umpire didn't say anything. Finally, after about four tries, Pat gets Lleyton to shut up and serve and as he's walking towards the net, he rolls his eyes!!! Of course we all burst out laughing which made Pat smile and giggle, which then makes Lleyton say "What???" Pat just yells "Nothing!" over his shoulder and play continued. I couldn't believe how relaxed Pat was considering how stressful the match was. The entire time also we had to listen to the obnoxious man beside us who kept berating us for cheering for the Aussies when we weren't actually Aussie. Reminds me of the tourney volunteer who was insistent that Pat Cash had become Pat's coach!!! Diane and I just gave each other a look like "who do you think you're talking to here??" We Babblers know all!!!!*lol* Unfortunately, their match went so late, that I missed seeing Goran and Moya (sorry Catriona!) and cReepy missed out on the adorable Lapentti brothers playing doubles, but I wouldn't have given it up for anything. It was amazing!!! Plus little Lleyton was so cute because he kept checking out the scoreboard because Kim was playing at the same time. They're a perfect couple - and not because they could be twins!!!*lol*
After that, we went and closed up the Cystic Fibrosis booth and grabbed something to eat. Most of us had caught up on our sleep, so we decided after the Andre match that we would go to Coconut Grove for some drinks. After dropping jac off at the hotel, we realized that we had been living less than 5 minutes from the party area of the Grove and didn't know it!!! Diane, Joelle and cReepy stayed for a while and they ended up leaving at the same time as Noor (aren't you happy we made you come out with us???) Now it's just Laura, Annmarie, Karen and I and we began wandering around looking for a good bar. Along the way, don't we see a Sex Shop. Now we have all seen sex shops, but I bet none of you have been in one with Laura!!!!*lol* The clerk must have thought we were insane, because we were lauging so hard!! Then we end up at the Sandbar pub laughing at all of the 17 year old girls who are drunk and half-naked. It was funny until someone said that that could be Megan in 14 years. Not if she becomes a nun...........So after walking back to the hotel and talking (surprise!) we crawl into bed at 4:30 a.m. Tired and burnt, I fell asleep dreaming of Pat and not even jac's snoring could wake me up. (Sorry jac, had to throw that in!!!*LOL*)
