Post by davis on Oct 16, 2006 21:19:37 GMT 3
Hi everyone,
we already have a KC thread but I decided to give the following report the attention it deserves
I am responsible for the initial text, Annie added her comments in Italics - and of course she's the sole author of the report of the final. I hope you all will enjoy our Moscow adventures. Here we go!!!!
Thanks thanks thanks Annette for doing this, I will try to post my comments along the way to make it even more fun and will add my report about the final at the end. So let’s roll!!!!
THE KREMLIN CUP DIARIES 2006
by The Poster Girls
PART 1
Since admin Annie is busy cheering our man to victory today, I'll take over the task she originally wanted to deliver and write a report about our adventures in Moscow (I guess if I wait any longer, the events will become blurry, with a smiling Marat looking down at me the only image that stays clear
).
1st day, Monday Oct. 9, 2006
The first tournament day begins at 10:15 am in the lobby of my hotel. Annie picks me up to show me the way to the stadium. I stay in a very convenient place, just 3 metro tops away from the arena, so it takes us just 15 minutes before we have to present our tickets to the guards to be let in. First confusion occurs; the venue lay-out has been changed since Davis Cup and Annie doesn't know her way around as she expected she would. Still, at 10:40 we walk down to our lovely first row seats. The stadium is huge!
Oh yeah, that was the first panic of the day. In the morning I realised that the entrance would be different to the one I had during DC and panic came over me…I thought I had bought us tickets without VIP area access by mistake.
Photos of Center Court and the rest of the venue
We are greeted with a great sight: Mitya Tursunov having a training session with his doubles partner Igor Kunitsyn. I can't suppress the big grin in my face and give Mitya a full-body wave (meaning I wave so hard that I probably look weird ;D). Auntie Annie gives me a stern look but Dmitry doesn't mind, he smiles and nods back.
Far too soon the two have to leave the court for the first official match of the day between Shahar Peer and Elena Bovina. Peer wins very quickly so Annie, her friend Lena (who has arrived by now) and I can check out whether we are really able to get into the VIP area. We can!!!!! The way there is a fairly long one but eventually we wander around between very important Moscovites, coaches, managers, officials, players' friends (all those not easily distinguished) and of course male and female tennis stars and stars-to-be. We are having a coffee opposite the men's locker room (can you imagine a better place to hang out?
) and then we hurry back to our seats for the first highlight of the day: The all-Russian double between Mitya and Igor and Misha Youzhny and - Marat! The four come on the court and the coin toss happens in a fairly relaxed atmosphere, with a lot of joking and grinning. Sadly, that's the last time Marat is in a good mood throughout the match. He and Misha play extremely bad and get beaten by the not quite as bad (but still not good) Mitya and Igor. Not that I care too much. Me and my camera are glued to Marat and I just enjoy watching him up close and personal. When the match is over I have to look up at the scoreboard to determine who won! Annie told me she had the same experience
Oh that was hysterical, seriously I think if anyone would have been able to take a photo of Annette, Lena and me during that match – it would have been a masterpiece. Two married mature grannies sitting there with puppy eyes and silly grins enjoying the view LMAO!!!!!! Hilarious stuff!!! I think that was one of a very few situations when we couldn’t care less whether he wins or loses as long as he keeps staying on court he he he.
Marat "full frontal" and Mitya's butt - what more could you want?
We go back to the VIP area to grab a bite to eat and to get in touch with reality again. Hard to manage, especially for Lena since Russian swimmer Alexander Popov is part of Shamil Tarpishev's entourage. If any of you have ever seen the guy in "speedos", you know how adorable he is. We take some pics with him to make Lena happy.
Other highlights of the day:
1. Alexander Volkov getting a haircut. I take a picture by just walking into the haidresser's, saying sorry and snapping away (much to Annies distress ;D) but I won't post it out of respect for Sasha. I think he recognized me later on because he always gave me evil looks
2. An autograph session with Mitya Tursunov. I don't really see the point of having somebody's signature but I take the opportunity of standing behind the barrier right in front of him, taking loads of pics (check out the Tursunov thread for more). I end up with an autograph still, since Mitya signs the official KC magazine and this is the only chance of getting one for free (Annie stood in line for me, isn't she sweet ;D).
Lena and I also had our pictures taken with an adorable umpire Mohammed Layhani who umped the doubles match that day. That story had it’s continuation on Sunday but we will get to that later
At around 6 pm we call it quits for the day. Annie accompanies me to my hotel, we pick up my husband and go out for dinner. During the dinner my husband has the idea of the century. When talking about crazy fans who hold up signs that say "Marat I love you", "Marat marry me", "Marat I wanna have your babies", etc. he says "Why don't you come up with something real funny instead? Like 'Blog me, Marat'?" Annie and I are hooked! The question is will we have the guts to pull it off? The determination is there...
2nd day, Oct.10, 2006
I receive an SMS from Annie in the morning: Marat is scheduled for today!!!!!!!!! I can't believe we'll see him again the second consecutive day! Annie and I will wear matching clothes today. I brought her a St. Pauli t-shirt (a Hamburg soccer club that has cult status in Germany) since Marat has one of those as well.
I think our shirts were cuter than his
We start the day at a very nice coffee shop to get up our energy. Annie wasn't able to find a piece of cardboard in her apartment (well, why would she? I wouldn't have one lying around either, LOL) so we'll just buy a poster at the venue and use its back. We are determined now to pull it off. Lena isn't as enthusiastic when she hears about the plan but we promise her that she doesn't have to be involved - she can even pretend not to know the crazy grannies next to her ;D
We skip watching the Vesnina-Li match and hang out in the VIP area instead. It's busier today, the stadium is slowly beginning to fill. I happen to just stand around aimlessly when Nikolay Davidenko is accompanied into the stadium and I am able to get some good pics of a very focused player. I just stop shooting when he looks right at me (though he probably didn¡¦t really see me, being deep in mental preparation). Still, I decide to take my chance to get some pics of Marat like that later on.
We take our seats to witness Kolya "bageling" Jan Hernych in just 37 minutes. Impressive performance. Annie is very pleased, she has a huge soft sport for little Nikolay
. BTW: Our admin is a very vocal supporter and I wonder how loud it is to sit next to her in a critical match - she already hurt my ears during a 6:0 6:0 
;D
LMAO Trust me you don’t wanna be seated with me during crucial matches like Tursunov/Roddick DC semifinal. I went completely hoarse so you can imagine just how loud I can be LOL
We have loads of time before Dinara's match so it's back to the VIP area and the adjacent courts. We see Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo who come in for a training session. Especially Amelie is absolutely gorgeous. She's surprisingly small and seems to be a very accessible person, joking around with everybody and having a constant smile in her face.
We check out Fernando Verdasco's match (who retires right after we leave the court - I guess he missed us, LMAO!) and then we run into Marat! He comes in, shortly talks to a man right in front of us and walks right past us to the players lounge to get a bite to eat before his match. I'm as always amazed how tall he is! I have to crane my neck to look up at him when he is next to me. He seems to be in a good mood, hooray! The whole thing happens so fast that the only thing I'm able to do is stare at him with my mouth open. Annie reacts a bit quicker but she also isn't able to make him stop walking. Ah well, there will be more opportunities today.
We check out courts 2 and 3 who are a bit harder to reach and then I become a real stalker: The player's lounge doesn't have a roof so from the top rows of the Olympic stadium you can look right into it. Thanks to my 300mm lense I'm able to take pictures of Marat relaxing and having a drink with friends. Oh, this day is lovely!!!
That was too funny. Here is me and Annette trying to quietly leave one of the courts in order to get back to VIP area and we are walking along the very top seats and suddenly Annette goes “Oh look, there is Marat eating!” I look down and realise that we are right on top of the players restaurant!!! God bless Annette’s zoom, this is some exclusive material!
Scaled down material - I might post the original size later...
Dinara is surprising us by losing very fast. We rush to our seats in the beginning of the second set but we don't get very much action. She is angry with herself, stomps around the court (very much like her big brother) and even cries in frustration. Mama Raussa isn't pleased.
So far the day has been on schedule so we decide to take yet another coffee break and skip Maria Kirilenko's match to fully concentrate on Marat. We have a carefully laid out plan: Annie and Lena - who decides to conspire with us after all - will find a quiet place to draw the poster and I will position myself in Marat's way to the stadium to take some photos, then run back to our seats in time so we can hold up the sign during the warm-up. In the middle of the second set we start executing the plan - but Maria Kirilenko decides to lose the set to Francesca Schiavone. Sometimes I hate women's tennis
Now the waiting begins. Annie and Lena are back with the absolutely fabulous poster (no idea how they made it so nice in such a short time) and since I'm tired of standing around we all sit and have yet another drink (remember Marat's tale about the aquarium in his stomach? ;D). The match drags on and on. It's fun to watch the people who are - like us - waiting for Marat. There are a LOT of very dressed up girls with platinum blonde hair (the in-color in Moscow right now), VERY high heels and VERY short skirts. OMFG!!!
Annie points to the table next to us, where three of those girls are sitting together with Marat's soccer-player friend who was recently pictured with him during a night out (check out the "Drooling-thread"). The second guy at that table all of a sudden asks about our St. Pauli t-shirts and talks to me in perfect German when he finds out I'm from Hamburg! So Marat has German-speaking friends.
I think here I should put a few comments on making the poster. Lena and I found a great spot very close to where we were seating, there were stands that sold snacks and there was an abandoned table next to them. I ran to buy some extra markers and we started drawing it. It all had to be done really fast because Kirilenko could finish at any moment (if only we knew back then she’d take forever!!!), so I drew the outlines if the letters and then we stayed colouring them with four hands lol. Hence it was done fast and not so badly either. When we figured out Kirilenko doesn’t wanna beat Schiavone, we went back to keep Annette company but all made sure the poster could not be seen by anyone else
I must also say that at a certain point before actually going to make this Annette and I started to chicken out a bit. A few thoughts crossed our minds reminding us that we are married mature women who should act accordingly but the thoughts similar to “Hey, we’re only for three days and Annette came all the way from Germany so what the hell, let’s have some fun!” pushed aside the others very quickly.
Finally Schiavone decides to win so we split up - Annie and Lena rush into the stadium, I linger in the VIP area. I don't have to wait for too long. Marat comes out of the locker room with 4 bodyguards and Nicolas Mahut in tow. He looks like a warrior before going to war, doesn't look left or right and seems completely emerged in his little world. I click away and then push my way through the masses to reach my seat.
Good for us, Marat sits on our side of the court; bad for us, he warms up with his back towards us. No use in holding up the sign now
. Annie and I decide to wait until he - hopefully - won the first set so he'll be in a good mood.
Marat plays really well today. He doesn't make too many mistakes and he uses his opponent's weaknesses to win the first set fairly quickly. Here's our moment. We get up, hold up the sign and wait for him to notice it. He finally does: He looks in our direction, squints his eyes a bit to read "Blog us Marat" and then looks down again. This is our clue to sit down as well. I think I've never been so embarrassed and happy ;D at the same time!!!
Us holding the poster AFTER all the action
Our poster has obviously given Marat some extra strength - he wins the second set as well and is done in just over an hour. No heart attacks necessary. Next up is Misha but even though Annie likes him a lot, she is more determined to talk to Marat so we leave the stadium and walk back to our stalking post opposite the locker room. He has to show up there eventually. Surprisingly enough, no one else is waiting there. Maybe it's the time (nearly 10 pm)?
We don't have to wait long. All of a sudden, Lena says "Here he comes! Do you want a picture?" and while I'm still nodding she walks up to Marat who is surrounded by the usual bodyguards and asks him to stop for a minute. Annie tells me later that he looked at us and said "Hey, it's the Poster Girls!" I take a photo of Lena, Annie and Marat and then Lena ushers me over to be in the photo as well. Funnily enough, neither she nor Annie are moving away so I have to squeeze myself behind Annie next to the big guy. Of course I can't refrain from putting my arm around his back - nice muscles, hmmm. Some guy I take as a bystander has my camera and doesn't know how to use it so I have to show him, hoping that Marat won't get impatient. The picture finally gets taken, Marat hands me my camera back (Oh Lord, the smile he gives you makes your knees wiggle! ) and then the guy all of a sudden has another camera in his hand and photographs some more. When we are done Marat says thanks to US (why?), smiles down at me once more and is then grabbed by other fans. Finally he wanders off. It is then that Annie explains to me that the photographer was Nicola, the blog writer, and that Marat actually wanted a picture with all of us to put in his blog! Man, the guy made me loose my mind in that moment, I had no clue what was going on! ;D
Since Annette was not sane at that point in time (to my defense: Unlike Annie it was my first meeting with him - she had more experience under her belt ;D) , let me tell you what hapenned. Lena did ask Marat to stop and asked him whether we could have a photo with him. He said “Sure, no problem”. So Annette took a photo of me and Lena with Marat since she herself was trying to convince me that she didn’t need one of her and him. Suddenly Marat goes “Nicola, take a picture of all of us together for the blog, these are the poster girls” (LMAO great name for a music band!) So Lena and I are like “Are you serious?” Marat: “Sure, let’s do it”. Here is when Annette decides she does want to be in that picture since it was her husband who started this whole thing after all! So she stands next to The Man and Nicola very unsuccessfully tries to take a pic of us all with Annette’s super cam but cannot manage. Annette has to go and show him how it works so we can do this. In the meantime you have Marat passing comments like “Come on Nicola, we don’t have all night here”. Finally a picture is taken (a horrendous one too, with Annette and Marat looking totally plastered) and Marat goes “Nicola, take one with your camera too, so that we put it in the blog”, so Nicola does that and takes his time too while Marat keeps blabbing “Oh Nicola come on… oh well, he is Italian, that explains everything” LMAO. Finally another bad picture is taken and that was the one that ended up in the blog.
Here comes the one time I have to disagree with Annie: I’m not looking plastered – I think you could say that I look as if I’m in the middle of a VERY nice dream. Marat definitely seems to have had too many vodkas… 
We float back into the stadium to witness Misha Youzhny lose (and throw a huge tantrum, breaking his racket) but even Annie can't do anything but smile.
The day ends around 11pm. Annie and I finally get some food (McDonald's) and by midnight I'm home and pester poor hubby with the events. One more time: Jesse, thanks for your idea!!!!!
3rd day, Oct. 11, 2006
I passed out last night and wake up 7 hours later after a dreamless sleep. I meet Annie in the stadium where I can witness my fellow German Anna-Lena Groenefeld lose to Nadia Petrova. I skip some of the match to hand in my jacket and to check out today's schedule in the VIP area and that's when I happen to meet Elena Dementieva who is there all by herself. She doesn't mind me talking to her and is very friendly and a little bit shy - and sooo pretty. You have great taste, Ily!
Next up on the tennis court is Nikolay Davydenko again who also wins his second match easily and impressively. Annie is very proud of him.
We decide to have lunch in our usual spot and while I'm chewing on a Russian sausage Annie says "Look, Marat's coming!" Indeed he is, together with Sasha Volkov and another guy. He nods over to Annie (hah, he recognizes the admin!
) and I shoot out of my chair and walk up to him. The first thing I have to say is "Excuse me for chewing while talking to you" - bet not too many people try to talk to Marat with Russian sausage sticking to their teeth ;D! Well, he thinks it is funny, great. I then thank him for the blog and for including us (and I just have to touch him - lovely arm muscles... ) and he gives me this unbelievable smile again and said "Of course, it was no problem; thank you, too" and then he walks to the training court, leaving behind some happy chicks.
That's the last we saw of Marat in these three days but it was a nice last encounter, I won't complain.
Sorry to disappoint you babe but Lena and I had another little encounter with the man straight after you had left. Lena and I were hanging around before Korolev’s match and suddenly I hear Lena go “Hey Marat”, I look up and see him running and grinning at us saying “Hello”, he was in casual clothes: jeans, a red t-shirt and a brown suede jacket, looking very cute. He slowed down to say hi and then kept running, was in a real rush
These little b…., they never told me about it!!!! Having had my camera glued to my eye for three days straight, I would’ve taken yet another shot – unlike our Russian ladies who don’t like to share him, ha ha ;D.
The other highlights of the day include autograph sessions of Elena Dementieva and Misha Youzhny (who has an absolutely cute GF), the first - and last as we later find out - appearance by Maria Sharapova and Mitya's first round match against Sergei Stakhovsky. Lena, Annie and I are convinced that beating a qualifier should be no big deal for Mitya but sadly we are wrong. Annie at first refuses to watch the tie-break in the third set, she is so upset! I convince her to look up but I guess I shouldn't have done that - he loses the match with a double fault.
I call it quits after that while Annie decides to watch the day's last match between Evgeni Korolov and Denis Istomin. She needs a Russian to win to cheer her up a bit.
All this means we have to say good-bye to each other at the stadium since my flight is due early the next morning. I really don't want to go and I guess if Russian visa formalities weren't so strict I would try to stay longer. Annie promises to go to the finals if Marat makes it there (he does and she keeps her promise!!!) and cheer for all of us.
Awwww that was so sad… I didn’t wanna let her go. It is incredible the things we all found here. I mean when Annette and I saw each other on Sunday all it took was a hug and we were blabbing away and acting like we’ve known each other for years even though this was the first time we actually met. Marat made a lot of soulmates meet and it’s a great feeling to have someone in your life who shares your madness and passion. Hope to have more meetings like this one! It was precious
Okay, that's my report of the Kremlin Cup. Annie will take care of the final. Brace yourself for reports about stepped-on feet, crazy umpires, nice ATP guys and Marat, Marat, Marat ;D ;D
watch out for Part 2
we already have a KC thread but I decided to give the following report the attention it deserves
I am responsible for the initial text, Annie added her comments in Italics - and of course she's the sole author of the report of the final. I hope you all will enjoy our Moscow adventures. Here we go!!!!
Thanks thanks thanks Annette for doing this, I will try to post my comments along the way to make it even more fun and will add my report about the final at the end. So let’s roll!!!!
THE KREMLIN CUP DIARIES 2006
by The Poster Girls
PART 1
Since admin Annie is busy cheering our man to victory today, I'll take over the task she originally wanted to deliver and write a report about our adventures in Moscow (I guess if I wait any longer, the events will become blurry, with a smiling Marat looking down at me the only image that stays clear
).1st day, Monday Oct. 9, 2006
The first tournament day begins at 10:15 am in the lobby of my hotel. Annie picks me up to show me the way to the stadium. I stay in a very convenient place, just 3 metro tops away from the arena, so it takes us just 15 minutes before we have to present our tickets to the guards to be let in. First confusion occurs; the venue lay-out has been changed since Davis Cup and Annie doesn't know her way around as she expected she would. Still, at 10:40 we walk down to our lovely first row seats. The stadium is huge!
Oh yeah, that was the first panic of the day. In the morning I realised that the entrance would be different to the one I had during DC and panic came over me…I thought I had bought us tickets without VIP area access by mistake.
Photos of Center Court and the rest of the venue
We are greeted with a great sight: Mitya Tursunov having a training session with his doubles partner Igor Kunitsyn. I can't suppress the big grin in my face and give Mitya a full-body wave (meaning I wave so hard that I probably look weird ;D). Auntie Annie gives me a stern look but Dmitry doesn't mind, he smiles and nods back.
Far too soon the two have to leave the court for the first official match of the day between Shahar Peer and Elena Bovina. Peer wins very quickly so Annie, her friend Lena (who has arrived by now) and I can check out whether we are really able to get into the VIP area. We can!!!!! The way there is a fairly long one but eventually we wander around between very important Moscovites, coaches, managers, officials, players' friends (all those not easily distinguished) and of course male and female tennis stars and stars-to-be. We are having a coffee opposite the men's locker room (can you imagine a better place to hang out?
) and then we hurry back to our seats for the first highlight of the day: The all-Russian double between Mitya and Igor and Misha Youzhny and - Marat! The four come on the court and the coin toss happens in a fairly relaxed atmosphere, with a lot of joking and grinning. Sadly, that's the last time Marat is in a good mood throughout the match. He and Misha play extremely bad and get beaten by the not quite as bad (but still not good) Mitya and Igor. Not that I care too much. Me and my camera are glued to Marat and I just enjoy watching him up close and personal. When the match is over I have to look up at the scoreboard to determine who won! Annie told me she had the same experience Oh that was hysterical, seriously I think if anyone would have been able to take a photo of Annette, Lena and me during that match – it would have been a masterpiece. Two married mature grannies sitting there with puppy eyes and silly grins enjoying the view LMAO!!!!!! Hilarious stuff!!! I think that was one of a very few situations when we couldn’t care less whether he wins or loses as long as he keeps staying on court he he he.
Marat "full frontal" and Mitya's butt - what more could you want?
We go back to the VIP area to grab a bite to eat and to get in touch with reality again. Hard to manage, especially for Lena since Russian swimmer Alexander Popov is part of Shamil Tarpishev's entourage. If any of you have ever seen the guy in "speedos", you know how adorable he is. We take some pics with him to make Lena happy.
Other highlights of the day:
1. Alexander Volkov getting a haircut. I take a picture by just walking into the haidresser's, saying sorry and snapping away (much to Annies distress ;D) but I won't post it out of respect for Sasha. I think he recognized me later on because he always gave me evil looks
2. An autograph session with Mitya Tursunov. I don't really see the point of having somebody's signature but I take the opportunity of standing behind the barrier right in front of him, taking loads of pics (check out the Tursunov thread for more). I end up with an autograph still, since Mitya signs the official KC magazine and this is the only chance of getting one for free (Annie stood in line for me, isn't she sweet ;D).
Lena and I also had our pictures taken with an adorable umpire Mohammed Layhani who umped the doubles match that day. That story had it’s continuation on Sunday but we will get to that later
At around 6 pm we call it quits for the day. Annie accompanies me to my hotel, we pick up my husband and go out for dinner. During the dinner my husband has the idea of the century. When talking about crazy fans who hold up signs that say "Marat I love you", "Marat marry me", "Marat I wanna have your babies", etc. he says "Why don't you come up with something real funny instead? Like 'Blog me, Marat'?" Annie and I are hooked! The question is will we have the guts to pull it off? The determination is there...
2nd day, Oct.10, 2006
I receive an SMS from Annie in the morning: Marat is scheduled for today!!!!!!!!! I can't believe we'll see him again the second consecutive day! Annie and I will wear matching clothes today. I brought her a St. Pauli t-shirt (a Hamburg soccer club that has cult status in Germany) since Marat has one of those as well.
I think our shirts were cuter than his
We start the day at a very nice coffee shop to get up our energy. Annie wasn't able to find a piece of cardboard in her apartment (well, why would she? I wouldn't have one lying around either, LOL) so we'll just buy a poster at the venue and use its back. We are determined now to pull it off. Lena isn't as enthusiastic when she hears about the plan but we promise her that she doesn't have to be involved - she can even pretend not to know the crazy grannies next to her ;D
We skip watching the Vesnina-Li match and hang out in the VIP area instead. It's busier today, the stadium is slowly beginning to fill. I happen to just stand around aimlessly when Nikolay Davidenko is accompanied into the stadium and I am able to get some good pics of a very focused player. I just stop shooting when he looks right at me (though he probably didn¡¦t really see me, being deep in mental preparation). Still, I decide to take my chance to get some pics of Marat like that later on.
We take our seats to witness Kolya "bageling" Jan Hernych in just 37 minutes. Impressive performance. Annie is very pleased, she has a huge soft sport for little Nikolay
. BTW: Our admin is a very vocal supporter and I wonder how loud it is to sit next to her in a critical match - she already hurt my ears during a 6:0 6:0 
;DLMAO Trust me you don’t wanna be seated with me during crucial matches like Tursunov/Roddick DC semifinal. I went completely hoarse so you can imagine just how loud I can be LOL
We have loads of time before Dinara's match so it's back to the VIP area and the adjacent courts. We see Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo who come in for a training session. Especially Amelie is absolutely gorgeous. She's surprisingly small and seems to be a very accessible person, joking around with everybody and having a constant smile in her face.
We check out Fernando Verdasco's match (who retires right after we leave the court - I guess he missed us, LMAO!) and then we run into Marat! He comes in, shortly talks to a man right in front of us and walks right past us to the players lounge to get a bite to eat before his match. I'm as always amazed how tall he is! I have to crane my neck to look up at him when he is next to me. He seems to be in a good mood, hooray! The whole thing happens so fast that the only thing I'm able to do is stare at him with my mouth open. Annie reacts a bit quicker but she also isn't able to make him stop walking. Ah well, there will be more opportunities today.
We check out courts 2 and 3 who are a bit harder to reach and then I become a real stalker: The player's lounge doesn't have a roof so from the top rows of the Olympic stadium you can look right into it. Thanks to my 300mm lense I'm able to take pictures of Marat relaxing and having a drink with friends. Oh, this day is lovely!!!
That was too funny. Here is me and Annette trying to quietly leave one of the courts in order to get back to VIP area and we are walking along the very top seats and suddenly Annette goes “Oh look, there is Marat eating!” I look down and realise that we are right on top of the players restaurant!!! God bless Annette’s zoom, this is some exclusive material!
Scaled down material - I might post the original size later...
Dinara is surprising us by losing very fast. We rush to our seats in the beginning of the second set but we don't get very much action. She is angry with herself, stomps around the court (very much like her big brother) and even cries in frustration. Mama Raussa isn't pleased.
So far the day has been on schedule so we decide to take yet another coffee break and skip Maria Kirilenko's match to fully concentrate on Marat. We have a carefully laid out plan: Annie and Lena - who decides to conspire with us after all - will find a quiet place to draw the poster and I will position myself in Marat's way to the stadium to take some photos, then run back to our seats in time so we can hold up the sign during the warm-up. In the middle of the second set we start executing the plan - but Maria Kirilenko decides to lose the set to Francesca Schiavone. Sometimes I hate women's tennis
Now the waiting begins. Annie and Lena are back with the absolutely fabulous poster (no idea how they made it so nice in such a short time) and since I'm tired of standing around we all sit and have yet another drink (remember Marat's tale about the aquarium in his stomach? ;D). The match drags on and on. It's fun to watch the people who are - like us - waiting for Marat. There are a LOT of very dressed up girls with platinum blonde hair (the in-color in Moscow right now), VERY high heels and VERY short skirts. OMFG!!!
Annie points to the table next to us, where three of those girls are sitting together with Marat's soccer-player friend who was recently pictured with him during a night out (check out the "Drooling-thread"). The second guy at that table all of a sudden asks about our St. Pauli t-shirts and talks to me in perfect German when he finds out I'm from Hamburg! So Marat has German-speaking friends.I think here I should put a few comments on making the poster. Lena and I found a great spot very close to where we were seating, there were stands that sold snacks and there was an abandoned table next to them. I ran to buy some extra markers and we started drawing it. It all had to be done really fast because Kirilenko could finish at any moment (if only we knew back then she’d take forever!!!), so I drew the outlines if the letters and then we stayed colouring them with four hands lol. Hence it was done fast and not so badly either. When we figured out Kirilenko doesn’t wanna beat Schiavone, we went back to keep Annette company but all made sure the poster could not be seen by anyone else
I must also say that at a certain point before actually going to make this Annette and I started to chicken out a bit. A few thoughts crossed our minds reminding us that we are married mature women who should act accordingly but the thoughts similar to “Hey, we’re only for three days and Annette came all the way from Germany so what the hell, let’s have some fun!” pushed aside the others very quickly.Finally Schiavone decides to win so we split up - Annie and Lena rush into the stadium, I linger in the VIP area. I don't have to wait for too long. Marat comes out of the locker room with 4 bodyguards and Nicolas Mahut in tow. He looks like a warrior before going to war, doesn't look left or right and seems completely emerged in his little world. I click away and then push my way through the masses to reach my seat.
Good for us, Marat sits on our side of the court; bad for us, he warms up with his back towards us. No use in holding up the sign now
. Annie and I decide to wait until he - hopefully - won the first set so he'll be in a good mood.Marat plays really well today. He doesn't make too many mistakes and he uses his opponent's weaknesses to win the first set fairly quickly. Here's our moment. We get up, hold up the sign and wait for him to notice it. He finally does: He looks in our direction, squints his eyes a bit to read "Blog us Marat" and then looks down again. This is our clue to sit down as well. I think I've never been so embarrassed
and happy ;D at the same time!!!Us holding the poster AFTER all the action
Our poster has obviously given Marat some extra strength - he wins the second set as well and is done in just over an hour. No heart attacks necessary. Next up is Misha but even though Annie likes him a lot, she is more determined to talk to Marat so we leave the stadium and walk back to our stalking post opposite the locker room. He has to show up there eventually. Surprisingly enough, no one else is waiting there. Maybe it's the time (nearly 10 pm)?
We don't have to wait long. All of a sudden, Lena says "Here he comes! Do you want a picture?" and while I'm still nodding she walks up to Marat who is surrounded by the usual bodyguards and asks him to stop for a minute. Annie tells me later that he looked at us and said "Hey, it's the Poster Girls!" I take a photo of Lena, Annie and Marat and then Lena ushers me over to be in the photo as well. Funnily enough, neither she nor Annie are moving away so I have to squeeze myself behind Annie next to the big guy. Of course I can't refrain from putting my arm around his back - nice muscles, hmmm
. Some guy I take as a bystander has my camera and doesn't know how to use it so I have to show him, hoping that Marat won't get impatient. The picture finally gets taken, Marat hands me my camera back (Oh Lord, the smile he gives you makes your knees wiggle! ) and then the guy all of a sudden has another camera in his hand and photographs some more. When we are done Marat says thanks to US (why?), smiles down at me once more and is then grabbed by other fans. Finally he wanders off. It is then that Annie explains to me that the photographer was Nicola, the blog writer, and that Marat actually wanted a picture with all of us to put in his blog! Man, the guy made me loose my mind in that moment, I had no clue what was going on! ;DSince Annette was not sane at that point in time (to my defense: Unlike Annie it was my first meeting with him - she had more experience under her belt ;D) , let me tell you what hapenned. Lena did ask Marat to stop and asked him whether we could have a photo with him. He said “Sure, no problem”. So Annette took a photo of me and Lena with Marat since she herself was trying to convince me that she didn’t need one of her and him. Suddenly Marat goes “Nicola, take a picture of all of us together for the blog, these are the poster girls” (LMAO great name for a music band!) So Lena and I are like “Are you serious?” Marat: “Sure, let’s do it”. Here is when Annette decides she does want to be in that picture since it was her husband who started this whole thing after all! So she stands next to The Man and Nicola very unsuccessfully tries to take a pic of us all with Annette’s super cam but cannot manage. Annette has to go and show him how it works so we can do this. In the meantime you have Marat passing comments like “Come on Nicola, we don’t have all night here”. Finally a picture is taken (a horrendous one too, with Annette and Marat looking totally plastered) and Marat goes “Nicola, take one with your camera too, so that we put it in the blog”, so Nicola does that and takes his time too while Marat keeps blabbing “Oh Nicola come on… oh well, he is Italian, that explains everything” LMAO. Finally another bad picture is taken and that was the one that ended up in the blog.
Here comes the one time I have to disagree with Annie: I’m not looking plastered – I think you could say that I look as if I’m in the middle of a VERY nice dream
. Marat definitely seems to have had too many vodkas… 
We float back into the stadium to witness Misha Youzhny lose (and throw a huge tantrum, breaking his racket) but even Annie can't do anything but smile.
The day ends around 11pm. Annie and I finally get some food (McDonald's
) and by midnight I'm home and pester poor hubby with the events. One more time: Jesse, thanks for your idea!!!!!3rd day, Oct. 11, 2006
I passed out last night and wake up 7 hours later after a dreamless sleep. I meet Annie in the stadium where I can witness my fellow German Anna-Lena Groenefeld lose to Nadia Petrova. I skip some of the match to hand in my jacket and to check out today's schedule in the VIP area and that's when I happen to meet Elena Dementieva who is there all by herself. She doesn't mind me talking to her and is very friendly and a little bit shy - and sooo pretty. You have great taste, Ily!
Next up on the tennis court is Nikolay Davydenko again who also wins his second match easily and impressively. Annie is very proud of him.
We decide to have lunch in our usual spot and while I'm chewing on a Russian sausage Annie says "Look, Marat's coming!" Indeed he is, together with Sasha Volkov and another guy. He nods over to Annie (hah, he recognizes the admin!
) and I shoot out of my chair and walk up to him. The first thing I have to say is "Excuse me for chewing while talking to you" - bet not too many people try to talk to Marat with Russian sausage sticking to their teeth ;D! Well, he thinks it is funny, great. I then thank him for the blog and for including us (and I just have to touch him - lovely arm muscles... ) and he gives me this unbelievable smile again and said "Of course, it was no problem; thank you, too" and then he walks to the training court, leaving behind some happy chicks.That's the last we saw of Marat in these three days but it was a nice last encounter, I won't complain.
Sorry to disappoint you babe but Lena and I had another little encounter with the man straight after you had left. Lena and I were hanging around before Korolev’s match and suddenly I hear Lena go “Hey Marat”, I look up and see him running and grinning at us saying “Hello”, he was in casual clothes: jeans, a red t-shirt and a brown suede jacket, looking very cute. He slowed down to say hi and then kept running, was in a real rush
These little b…., they never told me about it!!!! Having had my camera glued to my eye for three days straight, I would’ve taken yet another shot – unlike our Russian ladies who don’t like to share him, ha ha ;D.
The other highlights of the day include autograph sessions of Elena Dementieva and Misha Youzhny (who has an absolutely cute GF), the first - and last as we later find out - appearance by Maria Sharapova and Mitya's first round match against Sergei Stakhovsky. Lena, Annie and I are convinced that beating a qualifier should be no big deal for Mitya but sadly we are wrong. Annie at first refuses to watch the tie-break in the third set, she is so upset! I convince her to look up but I guess I shouldn't have done that - he loses the match with a double fault.
I call it quits after that while Annie decides to watch the day's last match between Evgeni Korolov and Denis Istomin. She needs a Russian to win to cheer her up a bit.
All this means we have to say good-bye to each other at the stadium since my flight is due early the next morning. I really don't want to go and I guess if Russian visa formalities weren't so strict I would try to stay longer. Annie promises to go to the finals if Marat makes it there (he does and she keeps her promise!!!) and cheer for all of us.
Awwww that was so sad… I didn’t wanna let her go. It is incredible the things we all found here. I mean when Annette and I saw each other on Sunday all it took was a hug and we were blabbing away and acting like we’ve known each other for years even though this was the first time we actually met. Marat made a lot of soulmates meet and it’s a great feeling to have someone in your life who shares your madness and passion. Hope to have more meetings like this one! It was precious
Okay, that's my report of the Kremlin Cup. Annie will take care of the final. Brace yourself for reports about stepped-on feet, crazy umpires, nice ATP guys and Marat, Marat, Marat ;D ;D
watch out for Part 2
That's my couch 
