Joes's Millenium Heineken Trophy Experience
by joes
Monday, Jun 19
We are getting quite a routine here: meet at the entrance (Andrea, Iris and me) check the practice courts, where we met Wil, and after seeing there was no-one there that made our hearts beat faster we could settle down for a drink in the shade. Man, was it hot out there today! We sat ourselves at our chairs in the Centre Court for the first match of the tournament, John van Lottum v Nicolas Escud. Each half hour one of us would go and check the practice courts, just in case, and yes! Second time lucky, at two o'clock I got an affirmative nod and come on! gesture from Andrea, who had gone out, I nodded to Iris at the other end of the court and off we went. There was a Pat practice going on!
He was on court 6 and there were benches for the crowd, we were on the first row, our newly bought Australia hats on. We were so close that once when Pat ran past us to get a difficult ball, we felt a whoosh of wind. Quite nice, under the circumstances. He had on the beige shorts, blue shirt and I think a white hat, thick layers of zinc oxide, and he trained with Andrew Florent, Peter Tramacchi, Peter and Tony Roche were there too. Pat acted sometimes like he was coaching Florent, saying "Come on, a winner now!" and stuff like that, really encouraging him.
We also met mirja there, she had come to Rosmalen with her mother. After an hour or so of practice (Pat still not happy with his returns) we saw mom Monitur walk on the court, apparently Martina had a practice session there now, she trained with Jelena Dokic. The boys still sat at their places, apparently analysing the women's shots, but then they went into the direction of where you get off the court, so half of the benches moved with them...only to find that the team went to the other court next to the last one, court 5, with an even better view, no fences between players and crowd. That fence was a bit of a problem when your camera is on auto-focus. But no problems here, and...what's that? Where's Pat? He had pulled off his shirt! This got better and better.
They trained for another half an hour (camera's clicking all over the place) and then they decided to call it a day, Pat put on a whitish tank top, that was soaked the minute he put it on, and off they went. Surrounded by fans, Pat wrote some autographs, (while he kept moving) but when someone asked to make a picture, he said something like "No, not today, I'm too sweaty!" This according to mirja, I hadn't heard it. Weak excuse, Pat! As if the fans would mind....Once when Pat was very near to us I ventured, casually: "Pat, will you be playing doubles with Lleyton here?" I thought: if even the tourney director doesn't know the place where the draw is to be found for the crowd (I had tried that on the Sunday), I'd better ask the valuable info straight from the horse's mouth. And he answered "No, not here, we're getting ready for Wimbledon and Lleyton will be playing a lot there." Or words to that effect. Pity, but a wise decision I think.
So tomorrow both Pat and Lleyton will be playing their first match here, let's keep our fingers crossed!
Tuesday, Jun 20
Pat's match was due at 1 PM, so we (joes, Andrea, Iris and friends) thought we should be there at 10 for the practice. We met under the umbrella and saw Pat pass by and casually strolled after him. Roos posted about the practice, which was for half an hour. He wrote some autographs, and then went off again.
Andrea and I were sitting together. After half an hour we saw Cindy, who joined us for the Nice reunion. I phoned Joelle to say that Pat's match was soon to start, and she joined us. Unfortunately, he sat on the bench furthest away. At the end of the first set, a woman that was seated to our right, and asked, "is this the Planet Rafter Babbler Blast?" We said "Yes!" And she said "I'm EL!" I missed another shirt change. I had given The Thunder From Down Under banner to Iris and her friends, and they cheered him on throughout the match, and were rewarded by a beautiful smile and a sweat band (but Pat threw it too far!) After the match we quickly went for water (joes, Cindy, Joelle and Andrea) in the main building. Joelle left us to wait for Pat, as she reported. She tried to call us four times, but I had the tone switched off!
When we went back to the tennis, who did we see, talking to Joelle: PAT!!! I took a picture of Andrea and Pat. Joelle left, and we went back to the tennis to watch Kim Clijsters play Kristie Boogert. Lleyton was there, but Lleyton was trying to hide from the fans by putting a towel over his head, but we would recognize those girlie legs anywhere. We had lost EL during the day, but found her again during Kim's match. To be continued!!!! joes
Wednesday, Jun 21
This morning we (EL and joes) were late, due to fumbling with VCR's and too much talking, therefore missing turn-offs. But hey, still in time for Pat's practise! We must be getting a familiar sight to the Aussie players, they were laughing at us when we took our usual places right opposite the players benches. ("There they are again!") Practise was better than the previous days, (tenniswise - the T-shirt stayed on...) later on Wil talked with Peter for a while and he confirmed Pat was hitting the ball well. Pat practised for half an hour, then went off, with a lot of the crowd following him. I was in two minds about leaving as well, but then decided to stay and watch Sandon and Tony Roche for a while. Andrea said it must be a bit awkward for the other players, seeing all of the crowd leave when the main attraction disappears. So we stayed for a bit longer, watched, and got a tennis ball from Muddy Waters. See, being good pays off!
The first match on Centre Court took ages, which worried Joelle, since she had to leave for work at 16.45 at the very latest. Finally it was time for the ATP, so the WTA signs were taken off the net, and we had our Pat on court. In the bench closest to where we sat, yay! I instructed my fellow Babblers to please warn me when a shirt change was coming up.
Pat served very well, no trouble at all in his first service game. His returns a lot better than before, volleys good. A bit of trouble in his third or fourth, with lots of deuces, but he got through it well. He had a lot of breakpoints in that first set that he could not convert, but in the end, there was the break and the set! He broke again early in the second, and as you know that's when play stopped, at 2-1 with a break in the second set. Joelle had to leave, we said our "Till tomorrow!"s and went for a bite. And waited. And waited. Went to the information stand, to learn that the tourney directors were talking to the players as to how to proceed. Initially, the covers had been on the Centre Court, then it stopped raining for a while, they were taken off, and then it really started to pour down, while the covers remained off.We failed to see the wisdom in that, and decided it must have been to save on irrigation.
While we were waiting, Robyn called, and asked how Pat had been playing. Our responses varied from "Brilliantly!" to "Very well!", "Way better than yesterday or in Halle against the same guy", "Pat's back!" to "Like an aeroplane that is taking off!" (You know we had a writer in our group!) Doesn't that make you all soooooo happy?
Well, EL had to leave for Brussels so I drove her to the station, we said goodbye and hoped to see each other again on the Friday. And tomorrow some of the German girls are coming too, the Babbler Blast is still growing! Go Pat!!!
Thursday, Jun 22
Today I really feared for tennis, as when I had bought my ticket and had joined the others under the umbrella, rain came pouring down! Skies like ink, tennis players that had been caught by surprise during practice and were wet through, oh no!!! What's this, a Wimbledon preview? They had the covers on Centre Court, we quickly made sure of that, so all was not lost yet. And then it finished, quite suddenly, and it was bright and shiny again. Like it should be when Pat is scheduled to play.
Around eleven someone in our group spotted Tony Roche outside the information stand, so we knew the rest could not be far, it was time to move. Pat practiced on one of the practice courts far back, with Richard Krajicek. Wonder who asked whom? There was another tennis court between us watchers and the players, so we could not hear the players talk. We have been spoilt in the past days, for Pat always practised on a show court before, with seats for the attentive crowd. Well, not now. What we could see from Pat looked good.
Half past twelve the French guys, led by Nicolas Escud, walked on court and expected to have court 7 for them. They shared it for a while, then Richard and Pat took off, every autogram hunter jerked into position, and instead of walking through the gate like everyone expected them to, they just stepped over the fanless fence and disappeared. Cowards!
We then took our seats at the Centre Court to watch the match between Siemerink and Gustaffson, hoping Jan would grab it in two. But like yesterday our hopes went up in smoke, as did Jan's chances to win the match, Gustaffson beat him. Now bring on Pat! Next to me were a lady and her thirteen year old daughter who also favored Pat over Schalken. Dutch ladies, mind! I had the chance to direct their attention to Planetrafter.com and took it. In the meantime we had our Aussie hats on, and when the players appeared on court we proudly waved our Thunder from Down Under banner. Another lady to the left of us wanted to know what the banner said as she couldn't see it, I explained, and she clenched her fist with a smile. Pat is well loved here, it appears, not only by Rafterbabblers.
Schalken wasn't happy. His serve was off, and Pat was just flowing like yesterday. Any fears that the rainbreak might prove helpful to Sjeng were soon dismissed, and Pat was in round three. Yay!!!!
After the match I went to a computer to find out whether the scores had come through the ether, they had, there was still some action in the chatroom. So I chatted on and on, hearing only later that I had completely missed a Pat practice, duh! Ah well, you can't have it all. Luckily for you, Joelle was there and I hope she can give you the gist of what went on there. She had tried to phone me a hundred times but I didn't hear it, for as a good tennis watcher I had, sorry! Andrea had turned off the sound of my phone. (Technilogically challenged, was that it?) And I had forgotten to (ask someone to) put it back on. So this is as far as it goes today from me.
Friday, Jun 23
Present: EL, Wil and husband Harry, Iris, Joelle, Andrea and joes. Cindy joined us later. At our check round of the practise courts this morning a girl came up and joined us while I tried to translate the Pat interview in the Daily Journal. She also reads the Rafterbabble frecuently, and she had had several conversations with Pat during the week. She thought she was the only Pat fanatic around! Meeting us helped her out of that dream. On court were Patty Schnyder and a bit later Karim Alami, Pat's opponent, walked past us. EL said something to him in Arab (good morning) and he turned around in surprise, smiling and answering.
Pat came in sight, heading towards practise court 4, but he only could practise for a quarter of an hour and then the rain came pouring down. A familiar sight by now.
Luckily the match could start in time. Pat did well in the first two games, then taking an early break, that he never lost, he won the first set 6-3. Yet at the end of that first set we could see Pat wasn't happy with his game. We saw the result in the second set. Erase. Delete. Don't look back.
The third set proved too much for Karim, and Pat was through to the semies. But man, that match was a nervewrecker! It didn't help that the man in front of Andrea and me constantly had something to say about either player, not necessarily positive things. Grrrrr! About Pat: "He has gone a bit lazy, has he?" while Pat was fighting his heart out on court. He took a risk there¡..
After the match and the making of the Rosmalen Babbler Blast group picture (where we almost got run over by Hingis' golf cart), EL had to leave us in order to be back in Brussels in time to meet with friends, so she went with Cindy. Wil and her husband also said goodbye, and then there were five....and we headed for food! With views on the players lounge, and that's how Joelle saw Pat leaving for the Press center. A little "casual stroll" (HA!) later we were there too, and waited for him to come out. We had to say a few words to him. "Pat, please don't ever do this to us again! We could hardly breathe¡!" "Neither could I" he said cheerfully, looked each one of us briefly in the eyes (mmmm) after having admitted that we were familiar faces by now :-) and he went inside again.
Saturday, Jun 24
We found each other this morning at the practise courts, (where else?) Iris and husband, Andrea, Marjolein, Cindy, Wil and Harry and me. Not much action there, so we went to the computers, and from there we spotted Tony Roche and Peter Rafter. Action! Pat practised on one of the back practise courts, with Nicolas Escud. Two long haired tennis players practising, it was such a joy to watch! Muddy Waters came up to us and asked: "Is that what we are getting here?" pointing at the menacing sky. Sadly, yes.
Having Pat's physio so near to us I grabbed the possibility and asked if the cold weather had't dome some harm to the shoulder yesterday, Muddy said: "No, the shoulder is OK, he just needs matches now to get the confidence." Then I said that we had been so worried yesterday during Pat's match against Alami and he reacted surprised: "Really? Ah, no, don't be, he comes up with the right shot at the right time." Oh. Then why was Tony hiding his head in his hands with each bad stroke? That did not look like he was confident!
Again, the practise didn't last long. So we walked back to the restaurant, met Hingis' and Dragomir's golf cart on the way back from the stadium to the players' lounge, guess what? Rain! But not too long. We got to see the end of the ladies' match, and then it was Pat time. The boys were warmly welcomed by the crowd. (Ellen, we missed your Arab ululating!) They warmed up, and....rain! Off they went, and on went the covers. Duh.
Several hours later... We were all back to our places, and it looked like a two hour rain-free period. Or so they told us. HA! The covers went off, the net came up, and the atmosphere in the stadium grew by the minute, there was nothing on court yet and we had a wave going! Amazing, how hours of patient waiting brings people together. When the players came on court, there were whistles and clapping and yelling, Pat laughing, he loved it!
And he got us all in a good mood, starting with a two aces opening game, then a break, then another service game that he held and it was 3-0 before we knew it. At 5-2, however, the two hour rain-free period decided it was enough and down came the rain again, this time to never stop again. Play suspended, tomorrow at 10am the semifinals.
Sunday, Jun 25
Be there early, and we'll have tickets, that must have been the thought for today, as Andrea and Cindy (having broken all speed records) both were just behind me in arriving at the tennis. Only two ladies had come before us. Then came a girl from Venezuela that we had met yesterday, laughing: "You guys are like an army! No, correction, the army is a joke compared to you!" OK, but we were there, we had tickets!
In we went, and off to the practise courts, where we could just see Pat finish his practise session. Hi and bye Pat! Peter talked with us for a while, and then we got to our seats. Now it could be my mind is a bit fluffy because so many things happened this last week, so forgive me if the order is not right, or I forget things. We had the Damm match first. The stadium was almost empty, so the announcer encouraged us to welcome the ballkids and linesmen "as if there were a couple of thousands of us". Well, we did. The funny thing was, when next the players were announced and welcomed to the court, I don't know if this was because of the way they were announced, very quickly one after the other, but there was no cheering then, we held our banner in total silence...eeek! Pat must have thought it was funny, he went to his bench with a big grin.
He broke Damm right in that same game that was interrupted, so he had the first set, and was never in danger in the second. Game, set and match Rafter, only one more to go now!
As Chang and Escud's match took a little longer to finish, the final was played at 1.30pm, half an hour later than we first thought. And then... we saw some divine tennis. Pat was serving well, returning well, volleying well, everything came together. There was not much Nicolas could do about it, he did not play badly, but Pat was his superior here. I read that it took him less than an hour to reach a victory and with that, his tenth title and the hat-trick in Rosmalen! Congratulations Pat!
At the Trophy Ceremony, Pat was given flowers and then the Trophy. In order to have his hands free for the Trophy he tried to stuff the flowers into his shorts pocket...That didn't work out, did it Pat? ? He gave reasonably good answers to stupid questions "Don't you almost feel like a Dutchman here, Pat?" and got an applause when he wished Holland well in the soccer this same evening. It helped, didn't it?
Later on we saw Pat go off to the helicopter in one of the golf carts, and, typically Pat, there was a boy in a wheelchair with a piece of paper and a pen, who wanted an autograph, Pat again jumped out of that cart, signed the autograph and hopped back in. Bye! Heaps of luck in Wimbledon, Pat!
And for us it was the hardest thing again, saying goodbye to our friends, new ones and old. But we'll all meet again hopefully, in Spain at the final of the Davis Cup!!!
