Post by Annie on Jun 28, 2005 19:53:46 GMT 3
Davis Cup Final: Russia v France 2002
Report by Lola
An unforgettable day...
Before talking about the matches, Russia's suberb victory, with Marat at the top of his field and Misha who fought with all his heart, here is what happened to me today(12/01/02)...I can't get over it, it's was so extraordinary !!!
This morning I went down to the court side to watch Marat practice. It was nice, he never stopped laughing with Golovanov and Kafel and he teased Cherkasov's son. Well, after I met Mélanie (a girl from the french forum sport24), we decided to stay there for Safin and grosjean's warm-up before the match, because we knew well that someone might ask us to take our seats, which were much further away !
...But one girl (that I thank 1 thousand times who works for Tsobadian talked to us and said that we could have the seats behind her(2nd row and just behind the Russian bench), until someone arrived...And the best part was that nobody arrived to sit there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I saw the 2 firsts set of Safin/Grosjean from the 2nd row...near daddy Safin who never stopped encouraging his son ("BRAVO MARAT! BRAVO!").. so yes, they say bravo in russian too! At least it sounded like that ! He was also whistling. Then the person who had tickets for the seat I was sitting in came, and I couldn't believe my misfortune, that I'd have to take my 'real seat'...but no, the girl who works with Tsobadian said to me that the seat by her side was free all day...So I watched the rest of the Safin's match and the 5th match, plus I was on the front row.
It was really touching because Marat's mum was 3 seats along from me on thesame row and when his son marvelously beat Grosjean she cried so much! Dinara was the same. For the last match Dinara stayed and cried at the end too, but her parents were in the box. Safin's managers(Tsobadian and the girl) are really nice and they had given me the most beautiful present I could have dreamed of, plus Russia won.
On the front row it's fantastic because you can see extremely clearly, you can read the players' faces and what an atmosphere! I lost my voice by yelling "MARAT!MARAT!" , "MISHA!MISHA!" , "ROSSIJA!,ROSSIJA!"
I understand that it may be difficult for you to believe me, it's even difficult for me, I still can't believe I was watching the matches from there....plus friends of mine sent me texts/SMS to tell me that I was on tv...
NOW, let's talk about tennis:
Safin was splendid, There are no words to describe his performance.The girl who works with is manager couldn't stop saying to him (the manager) and to me that Marat was playing an incredible match. Nobody could get over seeing him play at that level, especially in the 2 firsts set where Grojean was smothered... and what determination !
In the 3rd set he was broken and to his credit, Safin didn't crack up, Especially in this unbearable tie-break where he was always diving into the court corners. But well nobody's perfect. It was the great Marat.
Oulala, at the end of the 2 firsts set I was thinking that in 30 minutes the French team will win their 10th Davis Cup .Paul Henri Matthieu was playing well and Misha was making too many faults. Anyway, when Marat came back from the locker room, a sandwich in his hand, he looked at the scoreboard and was shaking his head, meaning "it's terrible" But Misha recovered and was great, he asked the Russian public to support him, he fought, he played very well, made some astounding points, he didn't crack up and wasn't nervous when he served for the match. After the victory he went to the rostrum to see his loved ones and never stopped to cry. Bravo to the Russian bench who always supported Misha. Especially his brother, Golovanov, Geblov and Marat, who always stood up (after having eaten his sandwich) to cheer for him after each point, whether he won or lost.
From where I was sitting I saw Paul Henri Matthieu crying and it woke me up to how horrible he must be feeling. It was a superb day.
Congratulations to Russia who had braved the journalists mockery during their preparation. We saw in the last match that they were a team too! I loved it when Marat forgot his rivalry with Kafel and hugged him.
Bravo especially to Marat who is THE player of the week end I think he was almost perfect against PHM, very good yesterday without the end, and fantastic today, and of course the superb Misha Youzhny who realised an enormous dream!
During the awards ceremony and afterwards, I was touched, very happy to see them (Marat, Misha, Zhenya) happy and smiling! Bravo again and thanks to the actors of this superb day who will always stay on in my memory!!!!!!!
VIVE MARAT ET MISHA!!!!
VIVE LA RUSSIE!!!!
VIVE LES MANAGERS DE MARAT
By Lola
Translated by Helena with help from Ruth
Report by Lola
An unforgettable day...
Before talking about the matches, Russia's suberb victory, with Marat at the top of his field and Misha who fought with all his heart, here is what happened to me today(12/01/02)...I can't get over it, it's was so extraordinary !!!
This morning I went down to the court side to watch Marat practice. It was nice, he never stopped laughing with Golovanov and Kafel and he teased Cherkasov's son. Well, after I met Mélanie (a girl from the french forum sport24), we decided to stay there for Safin and grosjean's warm-up before the match, because we knew well that someone might ask us to take our seats, which were much further away !
...But one girl (that I thank 1 thousand times who works for Tsobadian talked to us and said that we could have the seats behind her(2nd row and just behind the Russian bench), until someone arrived...And the best part was that nobody arrived to sit there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I saw the 2 firsts set of Safin/Grosjean from the 2nd row...near daddy Safin who never stopped encouraging his son ("BRAVO MARAT! BRAVO!").. so yes, they say bravo in russian too! At least it sounded like that ! He was also whistling. Then the person who had tickets for the seat I was sitting in came, and I couldn't believe my misfortune, that I'd have to take my 'real seat'...but no, the girl who works with Tsobadian said to me that the seat by her side was free all day...So I watched the rest of the Safin's match and the 5th match, plus I was on the front row.
It was really touching because Marat's mum was 3 seats along from me on thesame row and when his son marvelously beat Grosjean she cried so much! Dinara was the same. For the last match Dinara stayed and cried at the end too, but her parents were in the box. Safin's managers(Tsobadian and the girl) are really nice and they had given me the most beautiful present I could have dreamed of, plus Russia won.
On the front row it's fantastic because you can see extremely clearly, you can read the players' faces and what an atmosphere! I lost my voice by yelling "MARAT!MARAT!" , "MISHA!MISHA!" , "ROSSIJA!,ROSSIJA!"
I understand that it may be difficult for you to believe me, it's even difficult for me, I still can't believe I was watching the matches from there....plus friends of mine sent me texts/SMS to tell me that I was on tv...
NOW, let's talk about tennis:
Safin was splendid, There are no words to describe his performance.The girl who works with is manager couldn't stop saying to him (the manager) and to me that Marat was playing an incredible match. Nobody could get over seeing him play at that level, especially in the 2 firsts set where Grojean was smothered... and what determination !
In the 3rd set he was broken and to his credit, Safin didn't crack up, Especially in this unbearable tie-break where he was always diving into the court corners. But well nobody's perfect. It was the great Marat.
Oulala, at the end of the 2 firsts set I was thinking that in 30 minutes the French team will win their 10th Davis Cup .Paul Henri Matthieu was playing well and Misha was making too many faults. Anyway, when Marat came back from the locker room, a sandwich in his hand, he looked at the scoreboard and was shaking his head, meaning "it's terrible" But Misha recovered and was great, he asked the Russian public to support him, he fought, he played very well, made some astounding points, he didn't crack up and wasn't nervous when he served for the match. After the victory he went to the rostrum to see his loved ones and never stopped to cry. Bravo to the Russian bench who always supported Misha. Especially his brother, Golovanov, Geblov and Marat, who always stood up (after having eaten his sandwich) to cheer for him after each point, whether he won or lost.
From where I was sitting I saw Paul Henri Matthieu crying and it woke me up to how horrible he must be feeling. It was a superb day.
Congratulations to Russia who had braved the journalists mockery during their preparation. We saw in the last match that they were a team too! I loved it when Marat forgot his rivalry with Kafel and hugged him.
Bravo especially to Marat who is THE player of the week end I think he was almost perfect against PHM, very good yesterday without the end, and fantastic today, and of course the superb Misha Youzhny who realised an enormous dream!
During the awards ceremony and afterwards, I was touched, very happy to see them (Marat, Misha, Zhenya) happy and smiling! Bravo again and thanks to the actors of this superb day who will always stay on in my memory!!!!!!!
VIVE MARAT ET MISHA!!!!
VIVE LA RUSSIE!!!!
VIVE LES MANAGERS DE MARAT
By Lola
Translated by Helena with help from Ruth
