Got there just before the doors opened at 10am yesterday morning. First I went and found my seat, which wasn't the best as it was right in the corner and quite far away from the court. Then it was off to have a look at the outside courts to see if any of the big names were out practicing. There was noone I recognised, although I was informed the guy on the main practice court was Del Potro so watched him for a little while then got his autograph when he came off, could turn out to be a valuable on in the future. Next I went back to centre court and there were 4 players having a hit, of which 2 were Nieminen and Rochus so I watched them for a while. I walked almost onto the court, there was nothing stopping me standing just off the court watching them, and then I bumped into one of the linesmen who I knew from my tennis club. Middle aged guy who has played a couple of times filling in for my team this season, apparently he's a linesman there every year. So then I went off for another walk around and a little while later saw Nieminen picking up a racket from restringing so went and got his autograph and wished him luck for the day.
And then it was back to centre court in time for the first match. So much for the woman at ticketek telling me I got one of the very last seats. There was plenty of empty seats and I didn't even sit in mine once, moved a bit further in at the start. 1st up was Vliegen vs Tipsarevic. Didn't really know anything about Vliegen and was suprised to learn he was the number 1 Belgian, ahead of Rochus. The first set was great. Tough set with loads of breaks, and Vliegen took it in a tiebreak. Then cruised through a disappointing 2nd set 6-0. Next up was probably the match of the day, Ferrer vs Gaudio. Again, a great 1st set with breaks and eventually Gaudio took it 7-5. Ferrer then hit back and took the 2nd set comfortably 6-3 and Gaudio seemed to give up in the 3rd. There was 1 point he had in the bag but for some bizarre reason he tried to play the shot through his legs and hit into the net. Was as if he'd thrown in the towel, and he was still in the match at that point. Ferrer then cruised to 6-2. Gaudio was very animated in his frustrations throughout. Loads of screams and rants, and at one time he smashed his racket and had a long rant it, sending laughter around the crowd and earning a code violation for his troubles. Ferrer also wasn't exactly devoid of emotion, but he managed to keep his head when it mattered. Gaudio got called for quite a few foot faults too, and there was one he wasn't very happy with. So on the 2nd serve, he threw the ball up, stepped over the line and half swang his racket about to serve, then stopped and span round and laughed, pointed at the lineswoman and said "hey heyi" which made everyone laugh. I heard that woman complaining about him to someone later on when I went to get food.
3rd match was the one I was really looking forward to. Rochus vs Nieminen in a repeat of last year's semi final (which was a 3 set thriller, Rochus saved 9 match points before eventually losing) and the first set didn't disappoint. Usually Rochus would be seeded here, but this year we got enough players ranked above him that he's something like the 12th highest rank here (8 seeds), hence the tough first round match. Excellent set with great shots played by both. Rochus was up and served for the set, but Nieminen hit back to force a tiebreak, and Rochus took it. Then suprisingly Rochus ran away with the 2nd, 6-1. There were a couple of dodgy line calls from the linesman I knew which made me laugh, and 1 in partciular that Rochus wasn't happy with. Nieminen's shot looked miles out from where I was sitting, and most of the crowd agreed with that, but Roger called it in, much to Ollie's disgust. Nieminen looked short of matches, and probably wasn't 100% fit yet as he had to withdraw from Adelaide last week. So his title defence came to a disappointing end in the first round. I like Rochus, one of my favourite players and he's very popular here. This is his 4th time here and he's always a crowd favourite, he said in his interview after that he will keep coming back every year as he loves it here. Last year he made the semi, and the year before lost to Gonzalez in the final. On the evidence of yesterday, I'm backing him to reach the latter stages again. He's a damn good player, and with a few more inches he'd be in the top 10 easily IMO. Went for a walk around after this before the next match and came across Nicolas Massu doing some signing at one of the cafe outlets.
Then out came Monfils who I was looking forward to seeing, but he proved a bit disappointing. Lost 6-4 6-4 to Alberto Martin, a player who he really should be beating. There's clearly a lot of talent there, but he's far too erratic. He hits the ball so hard, like a bullet every shot. But he was way to inconsistent, and Martin was solid and clever enough to beat him without ever really looking spectacular. There's something about Monfils lol When he swaggers onto court in his sleevless shirt and long baggy shorts, he looks like an NBA star, not a tennis player. Tried to get his autograph after the match and went to the changing room exit, and he was there talking on his phone, but then went back inside and I didn't wanna miss the Robredo match so went back to the court. Half way through the first set I decided to move to the stand at the other end where I wanted to sit originally but was told it was all sold out. There were plenty of seats so I went and sat in a good seat right in the middle.
So then onto the night session and Robredo vs Ramirez-Hidalgo. Robredo won it easily 6-2 6-1. He didn't look particularly brilliant, and someone like Federer would have beaten him by the same score he won by. But his opponent was really rubbish and it wasn't much of a match. Wanted to get his autographe afterwards and I waited outside the changing room for ages, maybe 25 mins or so (he was definitely in there as he poked his head out the door for a moment to speak to one of the officials) until I eventually gave up, decided it was ridiculous to miss the final match (Chela/Calleri doubles), even though I wasn't that interested in it. So I went back and rejoined the match at 3-3 in the 1st set, watched the rest of the set (6-4 to Chela/Calleri) and then decided to go and look for somewhere to refill my now empty water bottle so I wouldn't want to do it after the match and could shoot off quickly to the bus stop. Did this and on returning to the court I passed the changing room again, and the man who was waiting for Robredo to come out before was still there so he still hadn't come out yet. Then as I passed, I glanced back and Robredo emerged at this moment, so I fumbled around my backpack quickly for autograph book and got it. Stroke of luck I decided to leave the court at that time. So then back to watch the rest of the doubles match. Was quite entertaining as the top seeds, Aspelin and Haagard took the 2nd set and then the 3rd set "super tiebreak" or whatever they call it 10-8. All in all, a great day. This was my 3rd year going and I will definitely keep going back. I did think about going today, and getting a ticket for the cheaper concrete stand then just going to sit in one of the numerous empty seats in the main stands, but it was pouring when I woke up so no point. The court is flooded. Play hasn't started yet and should have done over 2 hours ago, doubtful whether there will be any today.
Ratings: Day's enjoyment:10/10 - Excellent, thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to next year. Food arrangements: 0/10 - Poor. Plan was to go to Subway and get some dinner between the day and night sessions, but the day matches were long enough that there was no break, it went straight into the night session. So I was stuck with what was on offer there, and got through the day on some poxy nachos with some kind of beans and putrid "hot" chips, all vastly overpriced of course. Weather: Good. Not sunny, but it was warm and didn't rain. Usually very windy, but even the wind stayed to a minimum. Autograph haul: Del Potro, Nieminen, Ferrer, Massu (plus pic), Robredo. Not a bad effort.
