Post by Annie on Jun 28, 2005 20:11:23 GMT 3
Rotterdam Tournament 2003
Three days of ABN AMRO WTT
By Jacoline
This year I planned to go three days to the 30th anniversary of the ABN AMRO world tennis tournament. Last year was my first time that I went and I loved it so I said to myself: next year you are going again.
Well the year went by very fast and at the end of 2002 I noticed that my favourite player Marat Safin was seeded 1 for the WTT. I was very happy about that, because I was going to see him again. The days went by very fast and before I knew I turned 18 in January and Marat turned 23 ;-).
After that I was very busy with school so I forgot the dates and then I noticed that it was already Sunday February 16th. I watched the order of plays for Monday on the website but I noticed that Marat wouldn’t play that day. So I thought he would play on Tuesday. Well Monday I checked fot Tuesday but no Marat wasn’t in the order of play. So he would play Wednesday.
Wednesday was a regular schoolday so I decided to go to school first, and then skip a few classes to see Marat play that midday. I stood up in the early morning (5:45 am) and went to school. My school is like 2 hours and 15 minutes away from my hometown (I’m studying journalism in Ede) and because of that I also live there, but my hometown is closer to Rotterdam than Ede so I decided to sleep that week at home.
Well my plan worked out very fine. I arrived in Rotterdam at 2:30 pm and bought tickets for the match. I also met up with Fatima (a girl I met last year) and we went to our places in the stadium. Susanne ( a friend of mine, and also a Marat fan) also came, but she didn’t knew that the match went that quick, because when she arrived Marat just won. Although it were some nerve breaking moments in the first set, he won. He played very well. Although he couldn’t find his game in the first games.
After 4-3 for Malisse he finally found his game and started to play great tennis. Sometimes he made some stupid mistakes, which he also regretted, but nobody is perfect. They played a very fast game, and he smashed the balls very hard, so did Malisse. So you could barely see where the ball was&ldots;.lol&ldots;..Marat had his wrist still in a bandage.
After Marat had won the match we hurried to the player entrance to see him there. Well we waited for more than 1,5 hours in the freezing cold to see him. Because of that we also met 2 other tennisplayers: Albert Costa and Dominik Hrbaty. Albert was very nice, he gave us an autograph and he complained about the weather&ldots;lol&ldots;.cause it was freezing cold. Meanwhile he was also phoning somebody, and also posing for us&ldots;he is a very funny guy!
Dominik didn’t say a word, but he did signed some things for us. Then when I was talking to one of my friends I noticed that someone passed me, so I looked, and it was Yevgeni Kafelnikov. Kafelnikov is one of my favourite tennis players besides Marat and so I shouted his name&ldots;.but he didn’t react&ldots;I was quite disappointed about that. But maybe I have more luck next year&ldots;hope he will not retire.
Well after a long time Marat came. He was very nice and he signed stuff for us. And took pictures with us. I asked him about his wrist and he told me that it his wrist was getting better. If it is not getting better he would probably will have surgery on it, that’s what I read today in the program book of the ABN AMRO. Marat seemed okay, and he had a tan. And of course he did everything we asked. He is so gentle. If there will be ever an award for most gentle person, they have to give it to Marat!
We also bought some presents for Marat and gave it to him, and he said loud and clear and surprised: THANK YOU! We weren’t the only one who wanted to speak to Marat, and while he was in a hurry I didn’t had the chance to say more to him. Only I wished him luck for tomorrow. There was also a Russian couple who wanted to take pictures with Marat, and I also wanted to do that so it was a very odd situation cause, Marat was standing next to me and every time the couple jumped in front of me. Marat had to laugh about that.
I didn’t had the chance to go to the game of Marat against Yevgeni, because it was on a very late time, I did went to tennis on Thursday and I saw Ferrero, Bjorkman, Santoro Federer, Sluiter, and Nieminem play. I enjoyed myself a lot that day, especially when Raemon Sluiter played. He is Dutch, so the whole stadium was overloaded, and everybody was really into the match.
I also took some great pictures. I still regret that I didn’t went to the match of Marat against Yevgeni, but I had to go with public transportation and because I live 50 minutes away from Rotterdam I couldn’t make it to the last bus. And because I also was going to the semi-finals on Saturday with my dad, he didn’t wanted to drive me to the match.
Thursday was fun. Although it was very sad that Marat lost that day, but on the other hand, maybe his wrist wouldn’t took it any longer if he had to play more. He still has to be careful with his wrist.
For Saturday I had VIP-tickets. So we had a box. Which was kind of cool. Cause you are so close to the tennis court. I saw the match of Federer against Mirnyi. Great match, I never expected that Mirnyi would win. In the daily bulletin I read and saw that Ferrero had a very bad injury on Friday. He can’t play for 6 weeks. He injured his right ankle. I’m so sorry for him, cause he played so well.
Also Escude had to give up because of an injury he also had in Marseille. After the match of Federer against Mirnyi, we went to the VIP-lounge. It was very cool, bus they have all these cafe’s.
They have an Australian Open cafe, a US Open, a Wimbledon, and a Roland Garros caf?. Also A Grand Slam caf?, and we sat down in that one. And not to forget they also had an ABN AMRO lounge. It was so cool to had the chance to walk there.
After we did that I also saw the double match of Federer/Mirnyi against Damm/Suk.
Those three days were great! And of course I’m going again next year! Hopefully I will meet or see Marat Safin again. Cause he is still my favourite tennis player.
Love Always, Jacoline
Three days of ABN AMRO WTT
By Jacoline
This year I planned to go three days to the 30th anniversary of the ABN AMRO world tennis tournament. Last year was my first time that I went and I loved it so I said to myself: next year you are going again.
Well the year went by very fast and at the end of 2002 I noticed that my favourite player Marat Safin was seeded 1 for the WTT. I was very happy about that, because I was going to see him again. The days went by very fast and before I knew I turned 18 in January and Marat turned 23 ;-).
After that I was very busy with school so I forgot the dates and then I noticed that it was already Sunday February 16th. I watched the order of plays for Monday on the website but I noticed that Marat wouldn’t play that day. So I thought he would play on Tuesday. Well Monday I checked fot Tuesday but no Marat wasn’t in the order of play. So he would play Wednesday.
Wednesday was a regular schoolday so I decided to go to school first, and then skip a few classes to see Marat play that midday. I stood up in the early morning (5:45 am) and went to school. My school is like 2 hours and 15 minutes away from my hometown (I’m studying journalism in Ede) and because of that I also live there, but my hometown is closer to Rotterdam than Ede so I decided to sleep that week at home.
Well my plan worked out very fine. I arrived in Rotterdam at 2:30 pm and bought tickets for the match. I also met up with Fatima (a girl I met last year) and we went to our places in the stadium. Susanne ( a friend of mine, and also a Marat fan) also came, but she didn’t knew that the match went that quick, because when she arrived Marat just won. Although it were some nerve breaking moments in the first set, he won. He played very well. Although he couldn’t find his game in the first games.
After 4-3 for Malisse he finally found his game and started to play great tennis. Sometimes he made some stupid mistakes, which he also regretted, but nobody is perfect. They played a very fast game, and he smashed the balls very hard, so did Malisse. So you could barely see where the ball was&ldots;.lol&ldots;..Marat had his wrist still in a bandage.
After Marat had won the match we hurried to the player entrance to see him there. Well we waited for more than 1,5 hours in the freezing cold to see him. Because of that we also met 2 other tennisplayers: Albert Costa and Dominik Hrbaty. Albert was very nice, he gave us an autograph and he complained about the weather&ldots;lol&ldots;.cause it was freezing cold. Meanwhile he was also phoning somebody, and also posing for us&ldots;he is a very funny guy!
Dominik didn’t say a word, but he did signed some things for us. Then when I was talking to one of my friends I noticed that someone passed me, so I looked, and it was Yevgeni Kafelnikov. Kafelnikov is one of my favourite tennis players besides Marat and so I shouted his name&ldots;.but he didn’t react&ldots;I was quite disappointed about that. But maybe I have more luck next year&ldots;hope he will not retire.
Well after a long time Marat came. He was very nice and he signed stuff for us. And took pictures with us. I asked him about his wrist and he told me that it his wrist was getting better. If it is not getting better he would probably will have surgery on it, that’s what I read today in the program book of the ABN AMRO. Marat seemed okay, and he had a tan. And of course he did everything we asked. He is so gentle. If there will be ever an award for most gentle person, they have to give it to Marat!
We also bought some presents for Marat and gave it to him, and he said loud and clear and surprised: THANK YOU! We weren’t the only one who wanted to speak to Marat, and while he was in a hurry I didn’t had the chance to say more to him. Only I wished him luck for tomorrow. There was also a Russian couple who wanted to take pictures with Marat, and I also wanted to do that so it was a very odd situation cause, Marat was standing next to me and every time the couple jumped in front of me. Marat had to laugh about that.
I didn’t had the chance to go to the game of Marat against Yevgeni, because it was on a very late time, I did went to tennis on Thursday and I saw Ferrero, Bjorkman, Santoro Federer, Sluiter, and Nieminem play. I enjoyed myself a lot that day, especially when Raemon Sluiter played. He is Dutch, so the whole stadium was overloaded, and everybody was really into the match.
I also took some great pictures. I still regret that I didn’t went to the match of Marat against Yevgeni, but I had to go with public transportation and because I live 50 minutes away from Rotterdam I couldn’t make it to the last bus. And because I also was going to the semi-finals on Saturday with my dad, he didn’t wanted to drive me to the match.
Thursday was fun. Although it was very sad that Marat lost that day, but on the other hand, maybe his wrist wouldn’t took it any longer if he had to play more. He still has to be careful with his wrist.
For Saturday I had VIP-tickets. So we had a box. Which was kind of cool. Cause you are so close to the tennis court. I saw the match of Federer against Mirnyi. Great match, I never expected that Mirnyi would win. In the daily bulletin I read and saw that Ferrero had a very bad injury on Friday. He can’t play for 6 weeks. He injured his right ankle. I’m so sorry for him, cause he played so well.
Also Escude had to give up because of an injury he also had in Marseille. After the match of Federer against Mirnyi, we went to the VIP-lounge. It was very cool, bus they have all these cafe’s.
They have an Australian Open cafe, a US Open, a Wimbledon, and a Roland Garros caf?. Also A Grand Slam caf?, and we sat down in that one. And not to forget they also had an ABN AMRO lounge. It was so cool to had the chance to walk there.
After we did that I also saw the double match of Federer/Mirnyi against Damm/Suk.
Those three days were great! And of course I’m going again next year! Hopefully I will meet or see Marat Safin again. Cause he is still my favourite tennis player.
Love Always, Jacoline
