Kremlin Cup 08: Novel of a crazy bunch of grannies

[Mrs. Fabregas]

NOTE:
Before starting the report, I want to state that none of the pictures used and posted in this report, are allowed to use anywhere else but here in TGFR and not to be used anywhere else without our permission.
The pictures are not watermarked, because I think it’s a shame, and I trust all of you not to abuse my trust!




Diary of a crazy granny group
Moscow and Kremlin Cup 2008 report

Starring:
Mrs. Fabregas (white)
Anna “GG” bel (blue)
Alex (green)
Mrs. Sheva (Red of course)
Mr. Annie, Katya, Lena and here and there a few tennis players

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Wednesday, October 1st

At 3.45am my doorbell rang, it was my loving father, who was so sweet to wake up in the middle of the night to bring me to the airport. All was loaded in the car and we took off. At around 4.45am I arrived at the airport. After a lot of hassle with the check in (the suitcase was the right weight, even under the maximum I had printed on my ticket, the lady at the desk was inconvincible, and I had to take at least 1,5 kg out of it, otherwise she wouldn’t check it in …. So I had 2 options: either take out clothing etc, or take out the present I had for Marat, which was pretty heavy, but contained something which wouldn’t be allowed to take with me in the changing planes … I took the risk, and left out Marat’s pressie!) and at 5 am I was finally checked in and on my way to duty free !

Since I am a severe coffee addict, first plan was to score a coffee, which was, turned out, the hardest part  ….. before 7am, there are no coffee shops open at Amsterdam Airport $%$^%#$@^& (sorry, had to have this off the heart) so I sobbed on the bench and waited for the flight to take off! All was good on the flight, perfect service, I got my coffee almost immediately, lol, and the changing flights (at Copenhagen, LMAO it actually WAS Prague, but I kept on thinking it was Kopenhagen, and I even texted Anna, while in Prague, that I arrived safely in Kopenhagen *blush* ) was nice too, except for the fact that 1 part of my Marat present was taken in by the douane &#@%*!*; but I kind of expected that when I got it out of the suitcase …. Plane flights will never be my hobby, but you know, you get used to it, so I always am very glad to set foot on ground all safe and sound

Around 3pm Moscow time, I arrived at Sheremetyeva, where I phoned Anna that I arrived, and told her where I was waiting, so Mr. Annie could find me to pick me up ! After the usual greetings we got into the car (and thank god not in rush hour, that was the main reason to take off this early, so I arrived at a “normal” hour) and took of to my first few days place to stay , the lovely house of Mr. and Mrs. Annie . Before getting there, Dima and I had a supermarket stop, where Dima bought tons and tons of yummie sweet and delicious cakes, more then enough to feed and army and then we got “home” . Anna arrived a bit later and hugs and kisses flew around. Under the grace of a wonderful delicious dinner, we talked, catched up, laughed etc etc and then it was bed time, and I slept like a baby






Thursday, October 2

Anna had to go to her last day of work today and I entertained myself, exploring around in Moscow city with my “how and what in Russian” translation book, lol…. We started the day with some coffee, I wished her a pleasant day at work, after a couple of hours we met up again for a yummie lunch at café Amsterdam (how appropriate ) and then I placed myself on a lovely bench, across the red square, in the sun, with my book, learning Russian! After her work, Anna accompanied me there and we went home.






Friday, October 3

All excited in the morning, because the other 2 ladies arrived today, we got up and repacked my suitcase for the move in to the hotel, and got ready. The sun was gorgeously shining so I was very glad I packed my sunglasses with me as well. Dima was so sweet to drop us off at the metro station, so I didn’t have to take my stuff all the way into busses, stairs up and down in the metro etc, and we arrived in the hotel and checked in. In the hotel, there was a huge invasion of “yellow people” all from a big IT convention which was held there during the weekend… It took a while, but eventually I got the key and got rid of the luggage. We met up with Lena and took off to the Botanical garden for a stroll and then a nice sushi lunch, which was wonderful. During the lunch, Annette texted me with such great news (Sweet baby Zhenya was on the entry list of Kremlin Cup, after a hernia surgery a few weeks before), that I let a little scream slipped out loud in the restaurant *hanging head in shame* …. Unfortunately, on sunday, it appeared to be too good to be true, and it wasn’t meant to be, he withdrew before even entering, but thank god I still had Jeremy in the draw for my pervy drool moments *evil grin*

God, those “yellow people” were everywhere! We arrive at the hotel and all we see are those yellow t-shirts, hundreds of them everywhere!!! I think that must have been the longest check-in ever…but we had plenty of time so it all turned out alright

And they stayed there, all week. We saw them everyday when we were going to breakfast and at night when we came home. The “yellow people” became a joke for us LOL.

After the lunch, we said bye to Lena, and made plans for the guided tour on Saturday, and Anna and I took off to the airport to welcome the ladies who completed the group. Both of them arrived on scheduled time, so we didn’t have to wait for a long time, and it was so nice to see both of them getting out of the gate! Of course a lot of hugging and kissing was done, and the adventure was about to begin. 4 ladies, 2 of them completely packed with suitcases and bags, getting into the train, and then, the even bigger adventure: Metro of Moscow, bang in rush hour , with some changing lanes in the middle, but we survived *rocker* and around 8 the girls were checked in as well, and more or less settled and ready for a lovely dinner with some very nice and seducing cakes for desert.

It was really great to be such a big group again looking forward to a week of tennis together. Before you girls arrived I wasn’t even in the mood for Kremlin Cup but I sure was as soon as we all got together LOL.

Ohhhhhhhhh, those cakes…………………… Normally speaking I never have desert, because in Holland you often only have the choice between ice cream, ice cream and ice cream. I myself am a cake kind of gal, so I was in heaven!




Saturday, October 4

This was the first day, and many would follow, of sightseeing Moscow , and once again, in a nice sun, with lovely temperature … a whole different experience for me, after horrible weather with rain and snow the last two times I was there. (And because of those different experiences and the fact I’m always cold, I only packed really warm winter clothing. Didn’t think I was ever going to say this; I have never been more hot then in Moscow!! LMAO)

We met up with Anna and Lena in the morning, and where better to do this then on or near the red square. It was a nice trip in the metro, first time there for the two ladies, and me was the proud “guide” for that part, LOL. Funny note … all 3 of us, non Russian speakers, had the uncontrollable urge to try read/translate the signs, boards, basically anything Russian written . We arrived, a little bit earlier, so we explored the red square, with of course the thereby needed pictures

Historical museum (a.k.a. Marat’s “house”)

From the front, on the left side the “main” entrance of the red square




and from the red square side:













With Marat living in the Historical Museum ( ), Alexander’s garden very close by, it was very obvious, that Hernan had to stay close too *angel* so we found his residence as well…. his name was actually on it, LMAO …. the name of this building, a luxury shopping mall actually, is GUM





The St. Basil is, for me by far, the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen … I adore it, I love it and I can’t get enough of it! In the afternoon, after visiting the Kremlin (but that later) we decided to go in for a while, and being there, we basically decided (well, I did) that I would buy the place and go live in it , and I started to think which room to put where …. at least I made up my mind where to place my bathroom with a very nice view to my neighbour at the other side of the red square *devil grin*






and a very sweet miniature one


Some nice “red square by night” pictures to close off the red square picture gallery:





Near the red square there are multiple shopping malls, and there is one with a really sweet and gorgeous “pond” with gorgeous ornaments in it, based on Russian fairytales.








After we said bye bye to Anna at the red square, who had a birthday party, we (as in Alex, Annabel, Lena and me) headed off to the Kremlin






The Canon





The big Bell









In the Kremlin, there is a garden (with benches, so I took my chance for a well deserved cigarette break ) where you can have a nice stroll and a good view over the Moscow river.






After this long, exciting sightsee day, we went for a small bite in the shopping mall and after saying bye to Lena, we went back to the hotel, tired but satisfied, and totally ready for the next day to come!






Sunday, October 5

Sunday morning, and after a good breakfast in the hotel, we headed out, in once again, gorgeous weather, for another (long) sightsee day in Moscow! We met up with Katya, an (email) friend from Alex and we were all very excited to meet her! Agreed to meet up in the metro station, so much easier for us, and a very “filmy” moment happened on when the two ladies saw each other for the first time “live” …. not really the slow motion walking/ running thing, but you’ll get the point, LOL. All introductions were made, and how better to get to know each other better, then with a talk under the joy of a delicious coffee! After the coffee (and for me another delicious cigarette … I mean, hands down for Moscow and having the possibility to smoke like everywhere in restaurants etc ) we moved on to what would turn out to be an almost 6 hour walking tour in Moscow centre!

Katya and I have been talking online for over 3 years now and we had never met before, so the film like meeting on a metro station seemed pretty adequate LMAO. It was wonderful to finally meet my “Russian twin”. Those are the magic things that happen when you start going to internet boards lol, you meet people you would otherwise never know existed. And that makes life more rich

We started our tour, with sweet and lovely Katya as our guide, on old Arbat, which is basically like La Rambla in Barcelona…. A long pedestrian street with lots of (souvenir) shops and little market stands in the middle where you can buy the most fun stuff.




After that, we went for a nice lunch (and bathroom) break, exploring the rest of the Moscow environment







Eventually we reached our destination, the Christ the Saviour cathedral, which is, like the St. Basil, totally stunning too … Not only the inside was very nice, the walk around the cathedral provided us with some very nice viewings as well.

I loved the Cathedral, the feeling and the decoration. So magical

My thoughts exactly!







Because the tennis package we had, included tickets for Saturday and Sunday practice and qualifying rounds as well, we decided to go to the stadium already, to vibe up the atmosphere already, and who knows we might see there!

Lena came to the stadium as well, and we all met up, roamed around in the VIP, and maybe even more important, to get us a ticket for Mr. Annie, who wanted to accompany us with his presence on Wednesday ! After taking care of that, there was some more roaming around, we saw Marat there and later on, in the evening we decided to call it a day, the 3 of us ladies thought it would actually be nice to feed our hungry bellies a bit and lucky for us, around the stadium there are a lot of facilities where you can do that and Italian it was, with a tiny little hurdle … we didn’t have a Russian speaking person with us, and the waitresses don’t speak English that well, but we managed to get us some dinner…. Big yaaaaaay for us ! Then we went back to the hotel, giving our feet some rest and getting ready and prepared, physically and mentally for the tennis week that was waiting ahead of us!

Luckily for our stomachs ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’ is ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’ in Russian and ‘Lasagne’ is ‘Lasagne’!! LOL If not, I’m not so sure we would have eaten that night. No, just kidding. We did pretty well when it came to ordering food and drinks in Russian.

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Monday, October 6

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Monday was there, the fun was about to begin : Kremlin Cup 2008 and Olympisky, here we come, ready or not

In the morning we met up with Katya at Mc. Café, our starting up meeting spot for the week and after our daily coffee dose, 1 girl with a mission and 3 fellow girls, part of the conspiracy, headed of to the nearest shopping mall for some wrapping *devil grin* which turned out very very nice, almost a shame to give away, LOL. We walked, me totally satisfied already, towards the entrance of the stadium and entered, getting rid of the coats and ready for tennis!

First match up was a girls qualifier match and we decided to skip that one and went for a coffee, some roaming around, trying to get rid of the package I was carrying with which was take care off pretty easy and quick, since we saw Mr. Safin almost right away and I handed over the package, so now it was his burden to take, and not mine anymore, LOL

Standing there waiting for Mr. Safin, Frens and I spoke Dutch. At that point a man walked by and smiled at us. I thought what a lovely man, smiling at us two ladies. It took me two hours before realising it was Glen Schaap, the Dutch coach of Ana Ivanovic! The following questions arose: ‘What were we talking about? Was it about something naughty? Was it about men? Was it about naughty men?’ Just can’t remember anymore. Hopefully Glen Schaap can’t either. LMAO

LMAO indeed, it was hilarious, but i felt slightly embarresed afterwards, realizing the whole thing, but you kno, it didn't stop us at all talking (naughty *angel*)


We went to our first match, which was the Chardy *swoon* - Starace match, and Jeremy (me was so proud) won











Mr. Tarpishev was giving an interview at the press spot during the match:


Jeremy won, 36 61 64 , and the next match on CC was Amelie Mauresmo vs. Alize Cornet, so we decided to stay and watch this match.

















Alize and Amelie awaiting for the Hawk-eye system to tell them the answer on the call:



And clearly she was not happy with the outcome :S (but did we care?? Uhm…. NO )




Amelie won in 3 (so Anna was very happy she’d see Amelie the next match) and since the following matches, on like every court, weren’t that interesting for us, we decided that it was time for a well deserved lunch before entering the courts again… After the lunch break we saw Marat in the VIP zone, and Annabel decided to set everything aside to (finally ) get herself a picture with Marat. The whole getting the picture done, was an experience on itself… The camera Annabel had with her, was one with a manual on it’s own…. (LOL)

The shutter button needed to pushed for a very long time, Marat wasn’t so keen on waiting this long, walked away cuz he thought it was taken, and yeah, it was taken, but blurry, so I asked him for another try, he set himself one more try next to Annabel and smiled … When it this time wasn’t going perfect as well, he first asked me if I’d knew how the camera worked (*rolleyes* you could see his “OMG, women and technical stuff” look right on his face) and then walked towards me, took the camera out of my hands, fuzzled a bit on it, gave it back and I took the shot once more …. Thank god it all went with a grinnish smile on his face ;D
It turned out okayish, we said thank you to Marat to take the time to pose and headed on to watch tennis again

Back home I was surprised to find 3 pictures on my camera! Two extremely blurry ones and one in which a white cloud covered our heads (ofcourse there was a cloud, but was it indeed a white one?? I thought those clouds were only pink ) . Clearly some divine intervention going on! I’m just not meant to have my picture taken with the man.


From this time on, it would be court 1. That one had some very nice and cute ladies doubles matches scheduled … First teams entering were Francesca Schiavone and Ana Ivanovic against Lena Vesnina and Nuria Llagostera Vives.













Ana and Francesca won, and we waited for the next match, maybe even more cute and pretty then the previous one: Makiri and Flavia against the Bondarenko sisters …












Masha’s sweet and adorable socks








Makiri and Flavia won the match, 64 64 so we’d see this sweet doubles pair again in the next round. Next (and for us last) match up, was Bartoli vs Cibulkova, and that was a pretty quick match, since Bartoli retired in the 2nd set at 4-1, after losing the 1st one with a breadstick.









After this, the first Kremlin Cup tennis day was a fact (and how fast time flies by when you’re having fun ) and we ladies decided to call it a day …. more tennis to come for a lot of days, and you don’t want an overkill, right??

It was nice to actually have a chilled out day as the first one. You start to get into the mood and look around things and see what is where this year and all that. We took it easy and we did well because the next few days were busy as hell.

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Tuesday, October 7

This day was promising a buuuuuuuuuuuusy and very long day, mostly taking place on the Centre court, since almost all interesting matches were placed there. Since it was supposed to become such a long day, Alex and Annabel decided to skip the first match and arrive a little later. Anna and I met up at “our” Mc. Café for a delicious start of the morning with a yummie coffee (and basically the only decent coffee to get close by, cuz the coffee in the stadium …. *tape* ) before the 2nd day of tennis in Moscow would take place, with the “highlight” of the day, Marat’s match against the number 521 of the world, a steamroll is expected *cough cough*

Me and Annabel met Katya later at the McCafé. A whole week of tennis feels pretty much on the verge of an overdose for me, so it was nice to arrive a little later and have a coffee and a chat before going in to the Stadium. We learned how to ask for Capuccinos, tea and orange juice and how to say ‘with cinnamon’ or ‘no sugar please’ in Russian. Very educative ;D

Makiri and Vera had the honour of starting the day, of course on Centre court. Masha, of course, looking even more pretty and sweet then yesterday, this time in a black dress with cream lace, by Stella









Igor was watching Masha, cheering for and supporting her, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be and Masha lost, 64 64



The match was finished pretty fast, and since the next match we’d wanted to see, Tipsa vs Kudryavtsev (mainly cuz of Tipsa of course *angel*) wouldn’t be starting before 1pm, we took a stroll and saw that Benneteau- Levi was on their way, and the winner of this match would be the next opponent of Marat, and we decided to go and watch a bit.

Mr. Armstrong was the umpire






PHM was watching Julien, Mats, unfortunately, wasn’t with him in Moscow


Julien won the match, pretty easy, and we now knew the 1st name in that particular 2nd round match …. Hopefully (and deep down inside we knew there wasn’t any doubt ) Marat would be the 2nd name!



Back to Centre court for the 2nd match on it, Janko Tipsarevic against Alexandre Kudryavtsev
















The match took like forever *rolleyes* so there already was a big delay after this match and the delay would only grow longer and longer and longer …. The wonderful life of tennis, LOL ….

After the Tipsarevic match we waited on CC for the Sveta match vs. Na Li, and hopefully this one would be fast, so Marat’s match wouldn’t start too late …. Yeah, right, as if *rolleyes* …. Straight sets, okay … but not fast





After Sveta won, we decided we deserved a little (coffee) break, and after that, our little group split up… Anna went to watch Kolya, the other girls went to watch the IgorK and Mitya doubles … Good thing we went, because the next day, turned out, Mitya had to withdraw both from singles and doubles due to a shoulder injury, the poor thing! Igor and he won the match pretty easy so lucky us, Mitya gave all a perfect sweet and gorgeous smile.










Since Kolya decided he had enough of getting CC more delayed and finished it easy and fast against Serra,







Anna joined me on court 1 for a bit of Robby Ginepri vs Jiri Vanek







On Centre court, Venus and Flavia decided to bring on a really good and entertaining tight match, which obviously took aaaaaages ( this so reminds me of last year … every time Marat had to play a match, the previous one took so long ) but in the end, the winner was so well deserved … Flavia won ;D which was good, cuz I only took pictures of Venus, lol …



Finally the match had ended and the match we all had been waiting for was there … Mr. Safin vs. Noam Okun, the number 521 of the world …













After more then 2 hours, and far past 11pm, Mr. Safin decided it was enough and won the match in 3 … 76 36 64 … YAAAAY ( ), we could finally go home after a tennis day of more then 12 hours

I was so pissed off after that game I could barely breathe LOL. It so didn’t look good and back then I was totally convinced he wouldn’t make it past second round, it was a rather embarrassing performance. And it was so late! We left at around midnight or something I think…

[maryb]

Well done Crazy Granny Group ... I've got a job interview and presentation coming up on Monday and have a lot of studying to do ... the report and photographs cheered me up no end! Inspirational!

I love the photos of Moscow - the architecture is stunning. I've always wanted to visit - maybe I'll get round to it some day. (That cannon is some size ... can see why you ain't gonna win if you riot in Red Square ... let's not delve into history here ...) Tennis pics are good too!

Any plans for another Kremlin Cup group visit? ;D

PS Mrs Fabregas - give up those ciggies, they're bad for you! The overdose of caffeine can't help either ... LMAO. A hug to Mr Annie. A tolerant man. LOL.

Mothering instinct again. ;D

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Wednesday, October 8


Today it was “Dima going to tennis” day

OMG This was a historical event! The first EVER tennis live moment for my husband, I am so proud of him. He got so excited and he loved the live action so much that he actually spent the next day watching livestream from work LMAO!!!!! And kept texting me all Thursday discussing matches…it really was too cute

I met up with them on centre court for Lena’s match vs Srebotnik… Alex and Annabel decided to join us later. Lena looked stunning in an almost “jeanslook” outfit.











After the match, we rushed off to court 1 for the IgorK – Mitya singles match, and there we found out that Mitya had withdrew from the singles and was replaced by Kukuskin, and we weren’t really interested in that match (*blush* sorry *blush*) so we went back to Centre Court for the second match there, Teimuraz Gabashvili vs Misha Youzhny, which turned out the best decision (for Annabel *angel*) of her life …. it was like a pink cloud above her head produced some romantic thunder and lightning which struck her completely and completely took over control of the feelings ….. So, my dear … especially for you …. *aplot* Some G for GG








Ah yes, the day I became ‘GG’. A day I’ll never forget……………….........
Thanks for the lovely pictures sweety. You know how to make my day!

*devil eyebrow wink* Ofcourse i know *angel*


Oh, and of course some Misha pictures too, LOL







:’(



Annabels ultimate cheering and support clearly brought out the best in Gaba *devil* and he won…. At least we had one happy lady, the rest of us were pretty down poor Misha lost

Under the delight of a coffee we made a plan following the rest of the schedule, since there was a certain doubles match planned on court 1, which isn’t the biggest court and we did want to have a good seating , so it was a matter of dividing into groups and some court swapping, to have it all! After watching some Sveta vs. Errani








A part of our group went to watch a bit of Ana Ivanovic vs Cibulkova:




*blush* *blush* Glen Schaap







Yay, first time I ever watched Ana live, and Venus, and Amelie and Lena Dementieva, and Sveta (I had watched Dinara, Masha Kirilenko and Flavia Penetta before at Estoril already ). It’s was nice that this is a top ladies tournament so we could see different players. Ana and Lena, for example, seemed like really nice girls, smiling and friendly to the fans, and then you have others like Venus that seem to walk in a private world not paying attention to anyone. And then there are the intense focused ones like Vera Zvonareva who we caught one time on one of the back ways practicing, running around water bottles placed at specific intervals on the floor while doing backhands and forehands against an imaginary ball

After a set or so, we headed back to the ladies who reserved a lot of empty seats for us, for the Marat/Gaba (It must have been Annabel’s lucky day, lol … 2 times her G-man on court, first in the singles, and now teaming up with Marat ) (Yeah! ) vs Huss/Hutchins match… Some under the delight of a yummy lollypop, right Anna *angel*… Especially the part where the lollypop bursts open



Dear God that lollypop. First it was all nice and sweet and then it burst open and turned out to be salty and horrible…ugh..I didn’t know what to do with myself LOL



































Unfortunately, the Huss/Hutchins team were a league too high for Marat and G-man () and they lost the match, 64 62






After this, and it was past 7pm already, it was time to think about our inner selves and put some food into our hungry stomachs . The small “restaurant” right next to court 1 had pretty decent food and we placed ourselves there for a nice bite, followed by a yummy ice-cream . Dima actually wanted to go home after this match, but the tennis virus got to him, and couldn’t get enough of it…. He decided to stay for yet another match, Dinara – Amelie this time!

















Dinara won ;D , Dima, Annabel and Alex went home and Anna and I stayed for the last match to be played: Jeremy vs. Igor Andreev… Me probably the only one on the whole court who was cheering for Jeremy *angel*













Jeremy won, quite unexpected (for me not of course *angel*) and Anna and I went home sweet home too, getting ready for tomorrow, day 4 of tennis at the Kremlin Cup, and yet another day in tennis paradise !

And I yet again almost missed the last bus home…but it truly was a great day and having hubby there was quite a new and nice experience ;D

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Okay, that was it for today (i do have other things to do, and there is a certain person who doesn't like it at all, me sitting here all evening posting away , from time to time the men need some attention too, right ?? ) but i'll post the 2nd part, thursday - sunday tomorrow ;D

[Anne]

;D ;D WOWWWWW! It already looks great! Lovely read and WONDERFUL photos! Thanks a lot girls!

[jenhatter06]

Yeeeeahh -- Awesome stuff! ;D Woot woot!

Mucho thanks! ;D Can't wait for part 2!

[luxsword]

This report is so brilliant.

[helloticky]

wow very fantastic all ladies you guys looked so cute too ^_^ thank you so much for both beautiful pics & all report ^_^ ^_^

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Dec 10, 2008 11:21:46 GMT 3 davis said:

Okay, my computer has finally opened all photos so I could have a look at them. And we've just reached Thursday yet - you wanna beat the record for epic reporting I guess.

Yup, a world record would be nice *angel*

Interesting to see that there are more pics of Gabashvili than of Marat. LMAO ;D Maybe we should rename this site. Poor Gaba, he must've had a hard childhood - that skin...

Well, interesting is a very wise choice of words, LMAO .... I bet, if we rename the site, at least one girl would be intense happy and proud .... let's just forget all the other (agnry) members

Plus .... Marat was in the final, Gaba not. so i'll make up for the lack of Marat in the 2nd part of the report, so eventually the score will be even

P.S.: Frens, Mats couldn't have been in Moscow - he stopped coaching PHM before that.

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Thursday, October 9

In the morning when we arrived, there wasn’t really a match we’d like to see, so we roamed around a bit, and watched some Davydenko practice, him getting ready for his match against GGL.






After the practice we went to court 1, for yet another doubles couple who had to face each other in the singles, this time it was Victor Troicky vs Janko Tipsarevic. These men had a pretty busy schedule, cuz they had to play doubles later that day too, against an on fire French team… Mika Llodra and Fabrice Santoro… but that comes later





Uhm …… How far/ wide/ big *devil* , Janko?




Vic could only laugh about it ;D


After this match, we split up again, Anna to go and watch Kolya in his match against GGL, we went for a relaxing stroll and a coffee and cigarette break, before there was a (finally available to watch) Marat practice. The girls already headed to the court, I first went to take a few pictures of Mitya in his (very crowded) autograph session … Thank god to the big camera, lol… so they let me stand a bit aside to take a lot of pictures. At one point Mitya saw me in the crowd, taking pictures, and he pointed out me to get in the line for an autograph, I said no way, waaaaay too crowded and I asked him to pose for me and my camera, which he did







Oh God Kolya match was hilarious. Lena, Katya and some other girl friends of ours wrapped themselves in a Spanish flag and were rooting for Garcia Lopez and I was shooing them away from me all the time LOL.









After this, I speeded up to court 2, to see a bit of the Marat practice and join the ladies who were already sitting there…. The Davydenko - GGL match was pretty fast won by Kolya, so Anna accompanied us soon too.
















The practice session was over, and on the court next to this one, Makiri was having her practice session, together with a bunch of other players who booked the court after her.


















After all these practice sessions, it was time for some tennis again, doubles, to be precise… Tipsa and Troicky teamed up against the Frenchies on fire … Mika Llodra and Fabrice Santoro, who more or less crushed, steamrolled and destroyed the Serbian team in a half hour, 61 60, like they never even were on court. They did had, aside from us ofcourse, a nice (other then us ofcourse *angel*) spectator, LOL

Such a disgrace that match. The Serbs didn’t even play, they just walked around and lifted their hands to hit the ball over the net…horrible…











After all this tennis and practices, it was once again time for a little break, providing our self some food and getting mentally prepared for Marat’s 2nd round match against Julien Benneteau, which was next on CC .


























After Marat won his match with some pretty okay play (just forget the 2nd set ), a QF against Kolya was a fact and it was for sure played on Friday… For Anna hopefully in the evening, so she (and Dima) could give a shot and try to get tickets for that evening match.
Next, it was time for Jelena Jankovic to get on court, playing against Vera Dushevina.





















After a fresh shower, Marat probably decided to watch some tennis himself , because he appeared on the VIP stands during the Jankovic – Dushevina match

Watching tennis is definitely not what he was doing LOL. He spent about ten minutes there talking to everyone around him and laughing and in the next changeover he was gone LOL.





and some very nice real close-ups (zoom-in-zoom ), provided by Anna, where you can really see the hilarious facial expressions of Mr. Safin:







After this gathering he stood up, and tried to leave, like IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME, on deuce ( tsssssk, Marat … you should know better ) and when he realized it wasn’t time and he couldn’t leave, he sat down again, waited for the game to be over, which took a while, he didn’t wanted to wait that long, and got up again, luckily not in the middle of play, LOL, and left.

After this match Anna and I said bye to Alex and Annabel, who decided they had seen enough tennis today, and Anna and I stayed for the last doubles match … This time Misha and Mischa (Youzhny and Zverev) vs. the Huss Hutchins team…. and for them also, they were a league too high but at least they went down fighting in 2 tiebreaks.











All matches were played, we got our coats and left the stadium, but before going into the metro, we treated ourself with Mc.Donalds food, which can be, from time to time, very satisfying , especially when you have to go to work again, the next day

Oh time flew so fast and I had to be back in the office the next morning. Every year I tell myself I need to buy tickets for the whole week and every year I don’t and then blame myself for it LOL… Next year I have to buy tickets for a whole week…

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Friday, October 10

First day of tennis without Anna, who had to go to work again, but a nice and sweet “replacement” a.k.a. Katya, was there…..
(Katya had been there all week, acting as guide for me and Annabel, the lazy ones that always skipped the first match and arrived late, lol)

We met up in the morning at the place where Anna and I finished the previous evening, Mc. Café, for a nice coffee start of the relaxing (match amount wise) but good (match wise, all QF’s) tennis day to come. After we all had finished our coffee, we headed to the stadium, this time not to our usual spots, but, thanks to Levan, who provided us with free tickets, in a stand in the corner of the stadium… very nice for a change, view from a different angle. Only shame was that these tickets didn’t give access to the VIP zone, but that was solved pretty quick as well


First match of the day was Lena Dementieva vs. Nadia Petrova







After finally getting into the VIP zone, we decided to stay there for a long time, at least until Dinara’s match, since there weren’t really a lot of matched we were interested in. A lot of roaming around, hanging at the coffee place, watching some practices (at least, we tried, but Marat asked for a “private” practice and we didn’t at all want to only be able to get peeks from the side of the court, so we all, except for Alex, left and did other things.

Yep I stayed, and about 15m later the security guard must have felt sorry for me because he signalled me to go in and sit on the stands. Later a photographer arrived, and also one girl with a big tennis ball to be signed, and other people hunting for autographs. It was probably to avoid the players from being harassed during practice that the access to courts was closed, I suppose. The guard sent all those people away as soon as they appeared, unfortunately for Lena that arrived at the same time so she had to leave as well. I must say that I felt pretty lucky that he allowed me to stay

After practice Marat left from my side of the court (Hernan went out the other way from the main entrance), and seemed pretty relaxed, smiling when he replied to my question about his shoulder.

A French only match was the next one we watched, PHM vs. Santoro, and it was really sad to see Paolo limping all the time, and smart Fabrice, the fox he is , kept on hitting shots towards Paolo’s hurting side … For me, it was very amazing that Paolo tried so hard for such a long time, but eventually in the 2nd set, he retired and Fabrice was in the semi finals!

















We headed back to Centre Court for Dinara’s quarter final match against Sveta, me keeping Anna constantly updated with the scores, LOL ;D


















Dinara won her match and was in the semi final…. that was one Safin getting there, we were awaiting for number two to join her there .

After the match there was a little ceremony held for Mr. and Mrs Kremlin Cup 2008, Igor Andreev and Dinara Safina:




Because all matches on Centre court took like forever, it was very good for Anna and Dima, so that they could come after work for the Marat – Davydenko match they sooo much wanted to see…. Unlucky, there were no tickets available anymore, but that was solved pretty fast too …. I got them in, in the middle of the Dinara – Sveta match with our tickets (thank god the lady at the door didn’t asked me what I had for dinner so fast, LOL) and Lena arranged herself 3 tickets, provided by umpire Jerry Armstrong, 1 for her, and 2 for Anna and Dima, on the VIP stands. We all were so freaking nervous for the match, though all separated in stands but never less ready … Let the match (which was for me, by far, the best match of Kremlin cup 2008) begin!

Cheeky me managed to smuggle myself to the stand were we had been sitting all week. The lady at the entrance recognized me when I said ‘hello’ so she didn’t even ask for my ticket LOL. Luckily a family of 4 was just leaving row 1 so I could stay there the whole match And what a thrilling match it was!!!

Anna, Dima and Lena at the VIP stands, you can see even Dima, with a very concentrated look on his face, was nervous for what was to come


Me texting Anna to get her hubby to smile for the picture:









































Another long and intense tennis day was gone, but we left the stadium so incredible happy … Marat joined his sister in the semi finals and tomorrow, we’d see him again, against Misha Zverev (at least, that was our thought back then, but that comes later )

Yeah, if only we knew then what we would have to suffer the next day!

[Mrs. Fabregas]

Saturday, October 11

In the morning we met up with Anna who took us for a last sightsee tour through Moscow, before Annabel, Alex and I would start with our last tennis day. At least, for me and Anna, it would depend on what would happen at the Marat semifinal match, because, like last year, if he’d make it, we definitely move earth to be there . This didn’t count for both Annabel and Alex, cuz their flight was due to take off on Sunday :’(

We started the morning coffee habit in some kind of cafeteria close to a forest Anna wanted to show us, and that coffee was by far, the worst I’ve ever tasted , I didn’t even finish it, and that says a lot for a coffee addict like me

The Pleasant Park or something like that, was the name, wasn’t it? ;D













After the stroll through the forest and Gorki Park, Anna headed home for a family gathering and we headed to Olympiski stadium for some semi final matches to see . We bought, well actually, Katya did for us (and she did it so well, LOL ….. There was a huge line for the ticketbox, but Katya managed to get us in, within 3 minutes) the cheapest tickets possible and we entered the stadium!

Dinara was about to start her match against Zvonareva, when there was a rumour going around that Zverev withdrew from the semi final match against Marat, and that thus, Marat, was in the final!!!!!!!!!!!! OOOOOOOH MY F****** GOD!!!!!! I, by that time, received multiple text messages with this news as well, and there wasn’t any doubt anymore what Anna and my plans were for the Sunday …. We were going to tennis, we were going to tennis ….

But what a disappointment. I was sitting in the stands ready for some Safin action!!

After this very short tennis day, only one match watched, LOL, we went back to the hotel where we would meet up with Anna and Dima for a bye bye drink for the ladies who would depart the next day. At one point is was pretty hectic, at least for me, cuz Anna phoned me to tell that they would come within a half hour, and that I should have my bags ready (since I would stay the last night in style, at Anna and Dima’s house) cuz they would take that with them right away…. this was probably my new record for packing (or better said: throwing everything into) the suitcase, but I managed on time ! We had a lovely evening in the café in the hotel lobby, under the joy of a little bite and a nice desert and later on, we called it a night … The ladies had a lot to be packed for their depart in the morning!

So here I was heading to a family gathering when a friend of mine phones screaming “THAT’S IT! SAFIN IS IN THE FINAL! ZVEREV WITHDREW!” And I was like HUH? I had just left home with Dinara still battling it out and here we have Safin in the final already. I frantically started calling Francis to tell her the news. It was a good thing that two friends of mine had tickets for the final but weren’t keen on going because none of their favourites made it, so Francis and I didn’t have to go through the stress of hassling and trying to find tickets.


Sunday, October 12

The sad day had come, departure and saying goodbye day . Anna came to the hotel, we checked ourselves out and left, for the last time in the metro, again fully packed, on the way to the train station, for Annabel and Alex to leave Moscow, for Anna and me to drop them off. After the sad time had taken place, Anna and I headed for the last time this week, to the stadium, for the final! The first match would not start before 1.30 pm, so we had time to treat ourselves some good lunch and getting ready for the matches!

I still had 2 hours to kill before my flight so when Anna and Francis went to the stadium I did some more sightseeing around the VDNK area. I felt very at home in Moscow, which is a feeling I only have in some cities, so this is definitely not the last time I’ll be there!
First up: the ladies final, Jelena Jankovic vs. Vera Zvornareva









Jelena won, 62 64 and clearly she was very happy, thanking everybody






while on the other side there was a very sad, and in tears Vera 




The trophy:



The ceremony:














After the ladies final, there was a little “entertainment” arranged for us spectators, and since I believe that actions (in this case: pictures) speak louder then words …





After this wonderful show, they did give us some time to recover (*angel* I really had to recover, because of me LMFAO, I felt my abdomen muscles burn hard … at least it was a bit of a “work-out” for this week ), have the last break (both potty and cigarette) get some lemon water refills , some lollypops *devil* for the nervous moments, and to get the heartbeat down, cuz this was THE moment we were waiting for: The men final between Mr. Marat Safin and Igor Kunitsyn … Enjoy!

The trophy:



Carlos Bernardez was the umpire for the match, and Anna and I decided to cheer him on a bit by shouting “VAMOS CARLOS” out loud, which made him awesomely smile from ear to ear




The players were announced and they came on court under a loud applause and cheer





























The member of our lovely entertainment piece in between the 2 finals came to watch some tennis too, this time dressed as if she indeed came to watch a tennis match









Kafel was there to watch the men final (LMAO, on certain pictures it looks like he can’t watch it anymore …. the suspense is killing, LOL)






and so was Sveta Kuznetsova








Igor took a medical time out during the match, receiving treatment on his upper legs, given by the guy we would see after the match




















:’( :’( :’( :’( :’( :’( Game, set and match Igor K, 76(6) 67(4) 63 and seeing Marat’s face after the final, brought a cold shiver all over my spine from head to toe and tears swollen up in my eyes…. I felt unbelievable sad seeing him like this… I for sure hope never have to face this ever again!




Thank god, during the ceremony, he was once again able to smile










Marat’s speech, with Anna as my translator, was sweet and adorable

















It was a sweet sweet speech. He congratulated Igor who for the first time in his career reached the highest ranking ever and won his first ever ATP tournament title, he congratulated Igor’s wife who stood by him at all times. All in all it was a little say but nice.
Okay, this is the end of the Kremlin Cup and Moscow 2008 report ( ), provided to you by Anna, Annabel, Alex and myself.

This was one helluva week full of sightseeing and tennis, with tons of good laughs, precious moments and memories, Tennis wise a variety from horrible bad bad tennis to awesomely good, awfully good and bad moments, a lot of joy, bits of sadness …. Pretty complete and intense and I read it back myself now

I would love to thank Anna and Dima, for their wonderful hospitality and loving welcome…. It wouldn’t be the same without you, and you know, next year once again, and now a week ticket for Dima as well, LOL.
Annabel and Alex, my roomies …. it was wonderful to share this experience with you… I loved it dearly and hopefully there will come many more times we’ll see each other! Of course also a very warm thank you to our two guides of the week, Lena and Katya …

And last but not least: A special and warm thank you to Marat …. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even have met all the lovelies I’ve met, and you have no idea how grateful I am to you about this! Hopefully there will come more tournaments

Frens

Amen to that! If there was one thing I would ever be grateful to Marat for, it would be for giving me an opportunity to meet some truly amazing people, some of who have become my dear friends. Thanks for great company and I am waiting for you all in 2009 Anna


I second that! Meeting all you wonderful people is the cherry on top of the cake. Thank you a million time dears for making it all so unforgettable

I’ve been to several tournaments over the years and enjoyed each of them in its own way. It has been great sharing these experiences with you ladies. I hope we get to share at least a few more in the future.
A second benefit is seeing new places! Never imagined myself going to Moscow anytime soon. I enjoyed being there and share the feeling of wanting to return. So who knows………………………………................
Love,
Annabel