Scottsdale 2000
Thursday, 9-Mar-2000
by Annet
No Rafter sightings on Wednesday. My friend noticed Peter, but that was about it. I had given up on him, assumed he'd already left for Indian Wells. Imagine my surprise when Thursday afternoon I walked by a completely fenced in practice court and heard a very familiar "woosh". It was Pat, practicing with 2 other guys. Sorry, no shirtless pictures this year, he clearly has transformed into "Mr. Decent". He wore a yellow T-shirt, long hair under a white baseball cap, and has a full beard now. A bit scruffy really. Peter was with him. Both were wearing their Aussie sunblock on their face. Skunky indeed! After taking a few pictures we walked on and imagine my surprise, at the outside of the court Ms. Feltham was waiting for her man. She is definitely gorgeous. Very petite and skinny, but gorgeous. She was wearing jeans and a tight t-shirt. Can't be any more than a size 2 – even a 0 maybe. She's obviously a model, cause both pictures we took came out really nice. I bet you she's never had an ugly photograph taken of her. Our boy has great taste in women!
I stayed over for the night match, which was supposed to be Sampras against Corretja. Didn't pack the camera since I’m not that enthused about either one of them. Imagine my surprise when I entered the Stadium court (after running into Lara again!), and they announced that Sampras had withdrawn because of back problems. But...Pat Rafter and Alex Corretja had generously agreed to play a pro-set instead. Oh...Bummer! It was funny to see people's reaction. A couple of young women were sitting next to us and they almost peed their pants, they were that excited. Peter and Lara sat about 2 rows behind us, Lara very snug to Peter since it still is freezing cold at night.
The match was so-so. They were fooling around a bit (because it didn't count for anything). Pat played okay, he beat Corretja 7-3, but he doesn't have his old game back yet. There's no spark in his game. It's hard to explain, but something is definitely missing still. The cold didn't help I'm sure. Let's not even begin to talk about his cloths. I vote we fire the person who's responsible for that right away. Navy blue long shorts and a boring white shirt on top. Mr. Decent for sure. Yuk!!!!!.
After the match the crowd could ask questions of Pat and Alex. After four questions were asked of only Pat, Alex thanked the crowd, packed his bag and headed out the door. Poor fellow, he's no competition for Pat in the crowd-pleasing department. He did get a standing ovation in the early interview, when he stated that the country he likes most after Spain is the United States and the city he likes most is Scottsdale. Liar! *s* Alex did stay and signed many autographs in the exit lane, so he's getting kudos from me.
The interviewer started off stating that he had interviewed Pat the year before and a rather personal question was asked (a women asked him whether he was a boxer or brief man). Were there any questions that were off-limit? Pat's reply:"I'll just take em as they come, I suppose". Good sport!
The questions that were asked of Pat were:"Do you have a girlfriend?" Reply:" Yes, indeed… where are you Lara?. I have been seeing here for 2 years now". Q:"Do you know any good places in the world to surf"Reply: "I'm really not very good at surfing, so I'm looking for small waves. But there's a beach at home in Australia that I like to play around on". Q:"Many people ask you for your sweaty shirt but not me, I'd just like to get your sweaty wristband" Pat: "Is that a question?" Q: "Yes, can I have it?". Pat: "No". silence. "I just left Bermuda and I have quite a few tournaments ahead of me, so I packed light. I really need all my equipment" And then a question about his shoulder. He replied that it did hurt his confidence and that he's very careful coming back. Oh, and another question:"Did you miss tennis for the 6 months that you were off" Pat: "No" with a bright smile. Q:"What have you been doing during the last 6 months" Pat:"I've done quite a bit of rehab and for the rest I have been bumming around, seeing a bit of Australia".
Off he went into the cold Scottsdale evening, accompanied by his future wife and brother.