Post by sirius on Feb 24, 2005 3:43:31 GMT 3
NEW VASS REPORT!!!!!!
Sorry that my report is late. I'm lazy, was sleepy and was catching up on the forums before.
I arrived to he club at 3 PM, like I always do after school and after signing in went to the locker room to put my gym bag there (and sniff around for the players). I saw Peter and Dan on my way: Peter was walking with the rackets and some balls so I figured that I just missed Marat's practice.
In the locker room Marat, Igor Andreev and a couple of more players were leaning on the lockers and starring in the tv, watching Davydenko's match on Center Court. They were also talking to guy around them, of course. I had no choice, but to hang around 'with' them and stare in the TV myself, looking around, of course. Listening. Intently. They were all in a pretty good mood. Marat was preparing to go to a nearby giant shopping mall with one Russian member of my club, who, as it turned out to know every Russian tennis player realy well. It's hard to tell you all that has been said in there, and it's unimportant realy...
Anyway, all this continued for atleast 15 minutes. Marat went about the regular after-practice/after-match business, came back, talked to players which came in, and stuff like that. Talked to Verdasco a bit in Spanish... Talked to Rochus, I think, Younes, who just came in froma lost doubles match.
People like Younes very much as well. So do I. He even remembered me from our previus conversation and said hello. I replied and asked him if the doubles match (with Behrozian, btw) was any better than the last singles match. He smiled and said:'yes. By one game.' I figured that it's okay. Considering the ranking of the guy he was partnering and their very tough opponenet's winning two games at this stage of comeback is good... Btw. Marat asked where Younes is going next- Miami.
At one point of my dressing room epic Marat was talking on the phone with someone. He talked about tickets or something. One thing which gave me hope about the day's doubles match was how he said with feeling: "if I fcuk up today's match I'll be flying on thursday". I couldn't believe that can tank a match feeling this way...
Meanwhile, a lot of other thoughts were going wild in my head: will I ever talk to him? THAT time seemed a very good time, but he was talking to players; dressing up; I was shy; I didn't have the slightest idea what to say to him, what to talk to him about. I still think that I have nothing to talk to any player about. Realy. Only brief questions, which are stupid. P.lus, I was thinking about going to the shopping mall after Marat, to stalk him. Or even better: ask those guys to take me with them. THank God, I didn't do any of that and allowed him to walk off. Davydenko's match was soon over so I went out to meet Emily, see Robredo, other matches...
Robredo was playing pretty well. Berdych, whom I was watching for the first time in my life, wasn't too good. All I can say is that it was a good match from Robredo. After it finished I took a picture with him.
At the same time, Ljubicic was playing. He wasn't too good, so I got a bit wooried about his doubles. He's tired, I guess. Atleast you could tell it a bit later.
Next, I watched the beggining of Schuettler-Youzhny doubles. Misha was not good. He could not realy return. Rainer was better than him, but wasn't brilliant as well. I hope Misha improves for tomorrow's singles.
Then I went to the center court to watch Federer. Roger was not great in that match. But he was in some relative control. Minar, of course, played realy realy well. Some rallies were very interesting. They both had winners, those from Minar were amazing. But, I couldn't ignore Rogers' errors as well. Too bad for Minar that he lost and kudos for Roger for fighting. (Btw. before the match I asked Roger for a pic with him. it took 3 attempts to take and it still was blured and got accidently deleted later. I also asked him if it was scary to play on such a height and he said : "yes, in the beggining. You get used to it later" . He was realy nice).
I just wanted to add: during Federer's match me and Emily saw Verdasco betting with some Haitian guy on the outcome of the match. It was realy funny to look at, considering that the match was very unpredictable. After each point they were pointing at eachother and smiling sarcastically (they sat at some distance from eachother). Eventually Verdasco won.
After the match was over I went to see the end of Youzhny-Schuettler match and a bit of Andreev- Davydenko. I went to the dressing room after that. Marat was already back and was talking to players... Roger was there, happy, too. I was realy akward standing there that time. It was obvius why I was standing there, I think (to see players) so it was embarassing. I realy thought that I'll never talk to Marat . I kinda felt that it wouldn't give me anything special, anyway. Being 'among' the players is special by itself. And listening and not talking is what I do even in a group of freinds....
I went and sat in the corner, thinking of what to say to Marat if I'm to have a chance to talk to him. It took me 20 minutes. And even then I had only three topics in mind. At some moment Marat was left alone... And I crept towards Marat slowly and not surely. I talked to him. I'll tell you only one thing, because the rest is embarassing: "how was your shopping mall trip?" and stuff related to that. He said, "okay..." He bought a new watch, although I thought that marat was taken to look at the antique section .... (anyway, now that I think about it, and now that I read Marat's view on going to social occasions and 'smiling' in there, I don't think that he actually enjoys talking to fans like me... That left a small shadow on the stuff that happened).
I went to do something else then, maybe watched Youzhny-Schuettler doubles, for instance, beacause i don't realy remember the order of events. Or I sniffed around. Probably both.
Anyway, about Marat's doubles match (I wrote the following for safinator):
HE DID NOT TANK. He was VERY GOOD. His return was great, groundies were good, volleying was great... Ivan's backhand repeatedly let them both down though, and Ivan's return of serve... He sometimes (especialy in the second set) played like in singles: he was the one who played the majority of the points (and it was the time when they both stood back at the baseline) even when Ivan could have taken it. And he did it realy well. Only in the last two games it went a wronf for him. He Contnued to do that, but he missed a couple of balls... THey lost Marat's serve on 5-5 in the second, with Marat double fouldting (again, pfff), but it was realy okay. Ivan lost the other 3 point in that game, while Marat lost only that one. Good effort by Marat. Toooo bad that he didn't play singles like that!
After the match I couldn't go to the locker rooms directly. I had to hang in another place a bit... So I didn't see his emmidiate response. My mom saw him in the corridor though and she didn't think that he was too happy.
I went to the locker room after about 15 minutes. He was still there. Nothing special was happening. But he was alone, so I went to him one more time and asked when he's leaving. He said: tomorrow morning. That's too bad. I hope he comes next year.
That's almost all that happened to me all day..
Sorry that my report is late. I'm lazy, was sleepy and was catching up on the forums before.
I arrived to he club at 3 PM, like I always do after school and after signing in went to the locker room to put my gym bag there (and sniff around for the players). I saw Peter and Dan on my way: Peter was walking with the rackets and some balls so I figured that I just missed Marat's practice.
In the locker room Marat, Igor Andreev and a couple of more players were leaning on the lockers and starring in the tv, watching Davydenko's match on Center Court. They were also talking to guy around them, of course. I had no choice, but to hang around 'with' them and stare in the TV myself, looking around, of course. Listening. Intently. They were all in a pretty good mood. Marat was preparing to go to a nearby giant shopping mall with one Russian member of my club, who, as it turned out to know every Russian tennis player realy well. It's hard to tell you all that has been said in there, and it's unimportant realy...
Anyway, all this continued for atleast 15 minutes. Marat went about the regular after-practice/after-match business, came back, talked to players which came in, and stuff like that. Talked to Verdasco a bit in Spanish... Talked to Rochus, I think, Younes, who just came in froma lost doubles match.
People like Younes very much as well. So do I. He even remembered me from our previus conversation and said hello. I replied and asked him if the doubles match (with Behrozian, btw) was any better than the last singles match. He smiled and said:'yes. By one game.' I figured that it's okay. Considering the ranking of the guy he was partnering and their very tough opponenet's winning two games at this stage of comeback is good... Btw. Marat asked where Younes is going next- Miami.
At one point of my dressing room epic Marat was talking on the phone with someone. He talked about tickets or something. One thing which gave me hope about the day's doubles match was how he said with feeling: "if I fcuk up today's match I'll be flying on thursday". I couldn't believe that can tank a match feeling this way...
Meanwhile, a lot of other thoughts were going wild in my head: will I ever talk to him? THAT time seemed a very good time, but he was talking to players; dressing up; I was shy; I didn't have the slightest idea what to say to him, what to talk to him about. I still think that I have nothing to talk to any player about. Realy. Only brief questions, which are stupid. P.lus, I was thinking about going to the shopping mall after Marat, to stalk him. Or even better: ask those guys to take me with them. THank God, I didn't do any of that and allowed him to walk off. Davydenko's match was soon over so I went out to meet Emily, see Robredo, other matches...
Robredo was playing pretty well. Berdych, whom I was watching for the first time in my life, wasn't too good. All I can say is that it was a good match from Robredo. After it finished I took a picture with him.
At the same time, Ljubicic was playing. He wasn't too good, so I got a bit wooried about his doubles. He's tired, I guess. Atleast you could tell it a bit later.
Next, I watched the beggining of Schuettler-Youzhny doubles. Misha was not good. He could not realy return. Rainer was better than him, but wasn't brilliant as well. I hope Misha improves for tomorrow's singles.
Then I went to the center court to watch Federer. Roger was not great in that match. But he was in some relative control. Minar, of course, played realy realy well. Some rallies were very interesting. They both had winners, those from Minar were amazing. But, I couldn't ignore Rogers' errors as well. Too bad for Minar that he lost and kudos for Roger for fighting. (Btw. before the match I asked Roger for a pic with him. it took 3 attempts to take and it still was blured and got accidently deleted later. I also asked him if it was scary to play on such a height and he said : "yes, in the beggining. You get used to it later" . He was realy nice).
I just wanted to add: during Federer's match me and Emily saw Verdasco betting with some Haitian guy on the outcome of the match. It was realy funny to look at, considering that the match was very unpredictable. After each point they were pointing at eachother and smiling sarcastically (they sat at some distance from eachother). Eventually Verdasco won.
After the match was over I went to see the end of Youzhny-Schuettler match and a bit of Andreev- Davydenko. I went to the dressing room after that. Marat was already back and was talking to players... Roger was there, happy, too. I was realy akward standing there that time. It was obvius why I was standing there, I think (to see players) so it was embarassing. I realy thought that I'll never talk to Marat . I kinda felt that it wouldn't give me anything special, anyway. Being 'among' the players is special by itself. And listening and not talking is what I do even in a group of freinds....
I went and sat in the corner, thinking of what to say to Marat if I'm to have a chance to talk to him. It took me 20 minutes. And even then I had only three topics in mind. At some moment Marat was left alone... And I crept towards Marat slowly and not surely. I talked to him. I'll tell you only one thing, because the rest is embarassing: "how was your shopping mall trip?" and stuff related to that. He said, "okay..." He bought a new watch, although I thought that marat was taken to look at the antique section .... (anyway, now that I think about it, and now that I read Marat's view on going to social occasions and 'smiling' in there, I don't think that he actually enjoys talking to fans like me... That left a small shadow on the stuff that happened).
I went to do something else then, maybe watched Youzhny-Schuettler doubles, for instance, beacause i don't realy remember the order of events. Or I sniffed around. Probably both.
Anyway, about Marat's doubles match (I wrote the following for safinator):
HE DID NOT TANK. He was VERY GOOD. His return was great, groundies were good, volleying was great... Ivan's backhand repeatedly let them both down though, and Ivan's return of serve... He sometimes (especialy in the second set) played like in singles: he was the one who played the majority of the points (and it was the time when they both stood back at the baseline) even when Ivan could have taken it. And he did it realy well. Only in the last two games it went a wronf for him. He Contnued to do that, but he missed a couple of balls... THey lost Marat's serve on 5-5 in the second, with Marat double fouldting (again, pfff), but it was realy okay. Ivan lost the other 3 point in that game, while Marat lost only that one. Good effort by Marat. Toooo bad that he didn't play singles like that!
After the match I couldn't go to the locker rooms directly. I had to hang in another place a bit... So I didn't see his emmidiate response. My mom saw him in the corridor though and she didn't think that he was too happy.
I went to the locker room after about 15 minutes. He was still there. Nothing special was happening. But he was alone, so I went to him one more time and asked when he's leaving. He said: tomorrow morning. That's too bad. I hope he comes next year.
That's almost all that happened to me all day..
I guess I'll have to wait to the next tourney, anyway Dubai wasn't in my channels 
. Photos are never good in floodlights, because they never provide enough light. That's why only a few low resolution pics are there of his matches.
Don't worry though because this is just one tourny, can't win everything