Ericsson Open 2000
Monday, 27-Mar-2000By Carrie
We arrived without much incident–it took us a little while to find Iwona, but we did and made our way to the hotel, then right to the tennis since we couldn't check in. The hotel shuttle takes us round back, by the players' entrance, so that was pretty sweet. We saw Michael Chang straightaway and probably Jan-Michael Gambill–we saw that boy everywhere. Alco was saying there were clones, b/c he was just everywhere, all the time! It was kindof funny, and really, not bad scenery! :) So as we get into the tennis center, we're walking by the area where players sit, and inside are locker rooms and whatever, and Pete Sampras walks by. Just walks by, it was pretty cool. But we moved on to practice courts–first one we see Alex Corretja, Tim Henman, Nick Kiefer, and Sebastien Grosjean. Not too shabby, huh?? I think we saw Goran in that first hour or so too. I'm all pretty fascinated by the whole thing, b/c I've only been to the Legg Mason which is pretty small and I didn't know who everyone was back then really, and the US Open was too late in the rounds for there to be much going on.
Anyway–we're there for like an hour or so and sticking round by the players area and I spot Pat. Stomach is total mush, brain is too, but I know enough to follow!! So we all are in tow, he's got a couple security guys round him. They go to one court but decided against it, so they turn around and go to another. Meanwhile, I've stopped and Pat's passed me like a foot in front of me...drool...the man is beautiful. Yes, we all know this, but really, he is just...wow. He had the zinc on his cheeks. He was talking, got to hear that beautiful voice. So they went to another court and Pat tucks himself into a corner, and it's pretty crowded, and I look up and Pete's practicing there. It surprised me b/c Pete had been on another court not a half hour before that, and now he was here, but whatever. So we manage to get spots up on the fence, right in the middle, by the net, and the two of them started to practice. It was really, really cool. I was in total awe-b/c I'd never seen Pat in the flesh before, or Pete for that matter, and here they were together. Of course I'm snapping away like a fool. About 10-15 minutes in, Pat starts making conversation with Pete, as he's volleying. He asked if Pete had ever practiced with Andre Agassi and I think Pete said not since they were juniors. Pat said something I couldn't hear, but then that Andre just pounds the ball at you when you're volleying, Pat said, "I thought I was gonna get killed up there." Pretty cute. They took a break and the water and stuff was literally right in front of me, and they're sitting up there, by the umpire chair, being very friendly, pleasant. I hope I got some good shots of them together. Pete was examining Pat's racquet, they were just relaxed. I couldn't hear much b/c there was a camera man talking away next to me. Rochey was there, Peter was there, Paul Annacone, and another little guy with Pete's crew. Pete and Pat were teasing him, saying he was getting fat–which was very far from the truth, they were just ribbing him. But I don't know who he was. It was really really great, definitely the coolest thing on the trip, tennis wise. Martina Hingis came in while Pat was wrapping up. She totally checked out Pat's ass, so blatant. They were both all of three feet from me, and it was so obvious what she was looking at!! But can we really blame her? And those legs...girls...those legs...
When Pat left, we hung back, and then he moved on. I caught up to Peter and introduced myself as a patron of Planet Rafter, asked if he knew when Pat was playing. He was very nice. Pat was stopped to sign some stuff, and we tried to ask to get a photo, but Pat was off again, so we said thanks to Peter and see you around, he was very nice.
We also got to see Mark practice, that was great as well. I couldn't get up to the fence, so I gave Iwona my camera. He took his shirt off, we needed some glistening! My face got burnt from Mark's practice. Actually, I got all kinds of burns from various practices: one on my shoulders and back from Pat, my chest from Guga's...I think these boys owe me a rub down, you know? It's really only fair....heheheeeee :-)
After that, we spotted Pat again, and he had the hair down, but with a cap on, and sneakers with no socks, the tongues pulled out. I couldn't get a pic. He was going to the Mercedes booth to do a driving game, and we really couldn't get close, so we gave up and moved on. The kids found him out and had the man blocked! Those kids, man, they just go after him.
Thursday was pretty relaxed, once we saw Pat and Mark, we thought, okay, we can leave and not miss anything. Well, at least I thought that!
Peter said Pat was playing the next day, probably in the afternoon, so we got there around 1 I think. We found out that Pat was going to be the first night match, so we were on the prowl once again. We got another Mark practice in, more photos. We saw Rochey and asked him when Pat would be practicing, so we knew when to watch out. We really were just in the right places at the right times, to spot Pat and Mark coming out so we were able to follow, we were really lucky. I don't remember who he practiced with...we did go to a court that we didn't even know was there, so it was actually pretty quiet. Pat played that night, so we were all geared up. I had my surfie shirt on. It was pretty quiet in the stadium, we did some screaming, although nothing close to last night. Pat looked pretty good out there, he wasn't up at net as much, you can tell his game has changed a little bit. But it was still great, he won of course, but not as convincingly as he should have, as we've come to expect from Pat in the last couple years.
Then we were off to Lleyton's match. That was an epic. Three something hours, it was tough. We tuned in about an hour into it. There were some Aussies in the crowd, so we got some Oi's, and were yelling for Lleyton, of course. He was starting to get fired up, it was cool. I don't know if you guys know about Crazy Lou, but he is something else. You guys who have been to tourneys this year probably know him–Stacie said he was in Delray. It's this American guy, older, and he's got a bit of a bum leg, so he limps, but he sits in the front row, behind the players, and just gives words of encouragement to the chosen player. In this case, it was Lleyton, and he was all, "Get nasty Lleyton" and "Aussie Magic!" Aussie Magic was our personal favorite. And after Lleyton would win a game, he'd pop up with the Aussie flag and say "Hewitt!" And show everyone the flag. He started some Aussie Aussie Aussie cheers too. But during the changeovers, he'd go to whatever side Lleyton would be on, so he'd be back and forth the whole match, it was a bloody riot. He graced Pat with his presence last night too. You have to see him...it's pretty funny. But whatever he was doing, it worked! They both won.
The next day, we got another Pat practice in–again, it was just being in the right place at the right time. He practiced with Sandon Stolle for a bit. I caught up with Peter again, and said hello and he asked if I was behaving. OF COURSE I was...;-) Seriously, I was, though!! He's very nice, I wish we could have talked to him a bit more. And we also got another Mark practice in–actually, Stacie and I did, b/c the other girls were staking our seats in the grandstand for Mark's match. Originally, Goran was supposed to play there, but I don't know what happened, we got Y2K instead, so we didn't get to see him in there. I kept seeing Goran every once and awhile, but in such a way where I couldn't get any pictures or anything. Yesterday, it happened again, he was turning a corner and I was on the wrong side. I was ready to go up to him and say, "listen buddy, just stand still and cheese for the camera!" Oh well, c'est la vie! Anyway, Magnus Norman was also playing, right around the time Yevy was up, so I was running back and forth between court 1 and the grandstand, and that's a distance! I didn't want to miss Mark's match or lose a seat, so I was back and forth. I was glad I got to see Magnus though, b/c I hadn't caught a practice yet. Mark's match was great, we were screaming our heads off, hats off to the Scudders though, they're true blue. Alco got the Aussie Aussie Aussie cheer going and we got a wave from Mark when he was leaving, that was great. Alco made a sign that said "The Scud Zone" on a draw sheet with highlighter and sharpie pen, and stuck it in front of her. I think we might have made it on ESPN! We were definitely on the tv screens outside the match. It was cool though, a lot of fun. Mark struggled a bit too. This Davis Cup team...they better get some good practice in for the next few weeks, those boys struggled when they shouldn't have, or at least struggled more than they should have. We also met Guillermo Vilas at Mark's match! That was pretty cool! He and his friend were joking around for awhile with the group, it was fun.
The last day was pretty uneventful save for Pat's match. Mark did a FILA signing, so I got some pictures and got to look at those beautiful eyes. No Pat though for practice. Unless we missed him during the Mark excitement, but I don't think so. Actually, after a bit of Mark, I went looking around again and was going up to court 9, and saw a pair of legs (not THE pair of legs) that I was hoping would belong to a Magnus Norman. And they did!! So that was a big highlight for me. And he was totally by himself, just with his coach. He was jumping rope, playing with his racquets–he's a fidgety boy. They were waiting for Ulleytt and some other guys to finish up, and I was just right in front of him, sitting, but I couldn't ball up and propose marriage ;-) No, I don't know why, I just couldn't say anything. I'm more annoyed with myself today, but that's to be expected. Actually, I got an autograph for a ballgirl, b/c they're not allowed to. I took a picture of him and the ballgirl too. I wished him luck for the night and he said thanks. It didn't work. He lost. It sucked! Even if it was to Jan-Mike. So the next time...
I was reading the older posts about Swedes and his coach–I don't know if I thought he was standoffish, but he was into looking at his stuff, etc. and I just didn't know what to say to engage him in a conversation. Like I said, next time, and I got some good shots of him practicing, and I got some from the match the night before. Actually, Y2K came and practiced with him, but I just stayed over on Magnus' side! Uneventful, my butt! I just remembered. We also caught Enquist for a bit, then Tommy Haas. Tommy wouldn't take off his shirt either. There should be a sign "Must be under THIS TEMP to practice with a shirt". Lindsay Davenport came in during Haas' practice, I got a couple shots of them talking. But this was all in the span of like an hour and half, nothing else happened all day, really. Except for the Magnus practice, but I was distracted, still with the Rafter Radar up!
We caught Lleyton and Tommy's match. We cheered for Lleyton, but we still love you too Tommy! He won pretty easily, although Tommy pulled out some great stuff. He was serving really well, and in practice, he wasn't, it was weird, but it wasn't enough. Lleyton was on. We never did catch a Lleyton practice, don't know where he hid out.
Then Pat's match came round, and I was geared up again, with the shirt on, ready to be rowdy. Pat served first, and the first two points, he served great and was up at net, spectacular volleys. It was awesome, it was like the old Pat, as Alco said. But that would be it for the first set. It was ugly. Very stressful. But we kept the faith, and just kept screaming our butts off. The whole stadium was behind him, very supportive. And to Grosjean's credit, he was playing really REALLY well. He got a big roar when he left, and he certainly deserved it. Anyway, back to the match–Pat started to go downhill, and you could tell his mind wasn't totally in it. And sometimes when stuff happens, it just snowballs. We were wondering if it was the shoulder, but the serve speeds were great 100s, a couple were 115-118, second serves in the 80s-90s. We knew something was up. But the second set was good, Pat was getting back on form. He yelled at himself once, and let out a disgusted laugh with himself. I've never heard that from him. But he dug his heels in and pulled it out. We saw some good stuff from him, but it was weird. I guess the articles you girls posted didn't surprise me too much. It breaks my heart, but doesn't surprise me. He wasn't totally into it at all times. He did get into it, we got some fist pumps and saw some great shots. And the place was rocking for him. When Pat and Pete were chatting, Pat asked Pete if he missed it while he was gone and Pete said no, not really and Pat said he didn't miss it at all, as the article says. But he practiced hard, he looked good. His volleys looked pretty sharp in practice, but again, it's still the lack of match practice and he's just getting started in the season. But last night was great, it was really exciting b/c we did see some really good tennis and could stand up and fist pump right along, and just scream. I had a blast, and it was really the perfect end, b/c Pat stuck it out and we saw a great match. I can't talk today, but...small price to pay, I'm proud of it actually!
On a fashion note–I really like the blue shirt! I think it looks great on him. He started with the blue last night, and in the second set, put on the white one. The third set, he went back to blue and someone yelled out, "put the white one back on!" It was pretty funny. But he still won! And on Friday, he was wearing like khaki colored shorts and a great tee shirt–looked really nice. Green is a good color on him!
We never got to talk to Pat, but the Ericsson is a bad venue for it, it's so big and he gets mobbed. It wasn't the right time, but it's cool. But I did get to say hello to Peter, catch some great practices, take A LOT of pictures (I'll be scanning all next weekend!!) Pat won both his matches, it was just awesome. Just incredible, I can die a happy woman.
I did catch some other matches–got some good pictures of Guga, saw the Woodies practicing. We saw just about everyone, at least on the men's side, that everyone likes. Actually, we didn't catch the Rios match–sorry Fran! I've been doing other things for about an hour now, I've lost my train of thought...really, we just had a lot of fun together. And it was a great tourney, I would love to go back any time. Everyone was there, it was very very cool. It was pretty crowded on Saturday and not so bad yesterday, although when a big match would let out it would get a little nuts, but no biggie. It's so annoying to see the box seats empty when you're squinting up in God's backyard and you're really into it. Although I don't know how much I'd be screaming if I was way down. I'd be making noise, sure, but I don't think I would have lost my voice!
Carrie
