World Team Cup 2001
- Dusseldorf -
May/22/2001
By Astrid
I can't believe I'm back in the office... grrr...
I had a wonderful time in Düsseldorf, it was lovely to meet all the Rafterbabblers AND the boys! All I can say is: mission accomplished.
I had two very
important tasks:
a) I bought a get well card for Frances and wanted the team's signatures and
b) I wanted a personalized autograph from Pat for LLC - who's my daughter.
YES! *doing the fist*
The first part was pretty easy, I met Peter on Saturday, bribed him with some chocolates (although he said no wonder he's so fat) and told him how handsome he was in Barcelona with the beard and I would REALLY REALLY want him to grow it back... then I handed him the card, explained and he gave it back on Monday with everyone's signature! And the autograph from Pat wasn't such a big deal either. He signed it "To LLC from Pat Rafter", I hope she won't have a heart attack when she gets it... *grin*
Ok, from the start: On Saturday we saw the Aussies practise - no Lleyton of course as he was still in Hamburg. Pat's hair looks good, it's about 3 cm long and you can see the white spot from everywhere. The short hair led to a bit of confusion for the highly educated Düsseldorf tennis experts (that IS sarcasm)... I heard people explaining one to another that this was Kiefer and another one said that Pat was getting bald... losing hair on the side of his head... well... I met Peter, Rochey (I had some choccies for him as well and wished him a belated happy birthday - I got kissed... hehe...), finally saw Andy Roddick and of course my favourite Swede with the nice bum.
On Sunday while the Aussies practised Lleyton arrived on the court and it was SO lovely to see how Pat reacted. First of all, they smiled at each other and were so happy - we could see that even though the practise court was quite far away. Pat took off Lleyton's cap and ran his fingers through Lleyton's hair while laughing, smiling, joking. It was just wonderful to watch. They all had a good time. I saw Lleyton's mum and went over to have a little talk and gave her the "Dutch in 3 months" book for Lleyton. Lleyton practised in the afternoon - of course, on a court FAR away from where you can watch. I waited for him to leave the court and wanted to get some pics, if I'm lucky, I have 2! Wayne went out after Lleyton and I made him stop for a pic... well, Wayne is easy to stop... *grin*
On Monday I was really early at the entrance of the Rochusclub and inflated my kangaroo - after all, this was Australia vs. Spain, the roo HAD to be there... with the signed Barcelona t-shirt, of course! The roo was THE HIT. Everyone was watching, I got my pic taken and I was glad when the others arrived... We went straight to the practise courts and waited for the Aussies, the Americans were practising and I talked to Jan-Michael Gambill (whom I'm not very fond of, but well...) about the roo. And then a miracle was about to happen... the Aussies practised on the PERFECT court, I mean, not only Pat, but Lleyton as well!!! I made lots of pics, even Lleyton without cap etc. The first to arrive was Wayne who knocked the box with the tennis balls over Skippy's head... grrr... I told him that it bites and he grinned at me. Lleyton arrived like always - whooosh, and there he was. No comment about the roo. And then Pat came, grinned at me and the roo and caressed its head. *lol* Skippy thoroghly enjoyed it! When he left, he did it again. Skippy was spoilt rotten!
We went to our seats on court 2 and watched the matches. Lleyton sailed through the first set but then nothing worked, no first serve, he tried 2 netpoints and hit the ball into the net, tried aggressive playing and overhit, never found the lines etc. He was slightly annoyed... he shouted several times and it was hard to understand. The one I understood was "Bag it" and the F-word rolled over his lips a few times... well, Alex just had to wait for Lleyton's unforced errors.
Pat's match was fun to watch, he played controlled tennis and the monkey just didn't have the means to play on the same level. (we saw the monkey aka Balcells on Sunday practise right in front of us while staring at the Aussies and he tried really hard to chat with us, even changed his shirt but NOONE watched! *lol* We deliberately chose to look the other way...)
The doubles was highly entertaining, Pat made Lleyton run a few times by shouting "YOU", like when Lleyton was still at the baseline and the ball dropped over the net... One incident was less good: Alex hit a ball STRAIGHT at Lleyton, with purpose! Lleyton fell on the ground and went to Darren to get himself cleaned, in the meantime Pat was standing at the net having a GOOD word with Alex, Pat was NOT amused. When Lleyton was back on court, Alex practically shouted "sorry" to him... I'm sure that Pat told him if he didn't say sorry he'd ask for that Fair Play Trophy Alex once got and hit it over his head!!! All in all, it was great to watch Pat and Lleyton interact and I'm REALLY glad that they won... the FAT BASTARD was there as well... grrr...
Btw. Lara was there on Monday and I gave her some Barcelona pics for Lleyton which she handed over, and guess who else was there: Scott Draper!
After the matches I sat with the girls at the clubhouse and we chatted a little and then it was already goodbye for me, I went back to Brussels and now I'm here and regret not being in Düsseldorf. Well, life's not fair. *deep sigh* On the other hand, I'll see Lleyton and Pat in Rosmalen, YAY!
