Welcome to tonight’s episode of Savoring Safin in the City of Love.
Your hosts tonight, The Infernal Not Twins and Bia, High Priestess of Deviousness. Special guest anchor, reporting from the VIP hallways of Bercy, TGFR’s very own, Annette aka Davis.
Today was a roller coaster ride. I got to Bercy first and because their train was late Emma and Helene were a bit late. Which meant that Annette, who had just flown in from Hamburg actually got to the stadium before they did.
I recognized her from the Moscow pictures. She wanted to see if there were any VIP tickets left for today. I called and left Emma a message, telling her we were going in and off we went. We went to stand in the line for the box office.
I ran into an ex colleague of mine from Eurosport. (Hi Jo!
It was great to see her casue she’s as big a Safin fan as we are and I remember quite a few late nights at the Eurosport buildings watching (ok drooling
) Marat especially during Indian Wells and Miami.
I exchanged numbers with her and Annette found out that the box office didn’t know where she could get VIP tickets. I must have misunderstood what a box office was for. Buying tickets clearly has nothing to do with it.
Finally we did get Annette sorted and by this time Emma and Helene were with us. Basically the way it is set up is that from the lobby, you go up a flight of stairs and you’re in the hallways with the entrances to the different parts of the court.
We went up one side and just walked around. There were old posters of Marat and other players all over. There were also different booths. The HEAD booth, the Adidas booth, more posters of Marat there. There was also a UNICEF booth.
Eventually at the end of the hallway we found a sign promoting the autograph sessions planned for the day.
Kolya at 2pm. Sweet.
Niemenen. *shrug* who cares?
Djokovic? Hmm, interesting.
Dima Tursunov? Jackpot. ;D ;D
Helene started jumping up and down and screaming like a crazy person. One of the woman who works there was like WTF? We had to explain Helene’s status as the six pack guard and reassure the woman that this was totally normal behavior. Nothing to be concerned about.
The only thing with Dima’s autograph session was that the time hadn’t been confirmed yet. Helene swore to keep a very attentive eye on it.
You’re kidding? No one is surprised to hear that?
At that stage we decided to go have a look at our seats. If you’re wondering why we didn’t rush earlier to see them it’s because Almagro
was playing Bjorkman.The stuff of nightmares. I wasn’t sitting with Emma and Helene at that stage because we bought our tickets at a different time.
I took advantage to send some texts. All I will say is that if you thought Almagro couldn’t get any more annoying you were wrong. Just one example. He challenged a call, it turns out he was right but instead of shutting up and getting on with it, he is giving the ump (Pascal Maria) more grief. Ugh.
And in front of me, this couple could not stop making out. Get a room people. ::)Since there is only so much of him that anyone can take, around 1 pm we decided to leave and go to Court One. Or actually Emma, Helene and I did. Annette was in her VIP seats so we lost her for a bit.
Ollie Rochus was playing against Tipsarovic (remember him? Marat compared him to Gattuso, the AC Milan player. To be honest I think that is an insult to Gattuso) The great thing about Court One, we realized is that we can get really close up on the court. And then we thought…OMG if they put the Marat/Mitya double here and we are sitting in these seats….*major swoon*. ;D ;D ;D
After watching Ollie win the first set we went to see Kolya. He looked absolutely THRILLED to be there. (Can you hear the sarcasm?
) He didn’t stick around for very long either. About ten minutes or so. I now have his autograph on a piece of cardboard.
What I’m supposed to actually do with it, who knows? Anyways. I should mention that when we came out of Rochus…Almagro was STILL playing.
Blasted match lasted three hours and set everyone back ages. Also by this time we’d heard the news about Federer.
We were actually the ones who announced it to the UNICEF lady. She was really disappointed because he is good will ambassador to UNICEF and they had plans for him I guess. Actually the main reason we got to talking to her was that the UNICEF booth was showing clips of Rally from Relief. Marat in red and black. Yummy.
But we did make a donation and we got these little bracelets. Noticed afterwards that Almagro was wearing one. Like he’s trying to do some damage control for his reputation. Some one should tell him it’s WAY to late for that.
Annette found us while we were waiting for the second autograph session. This tells you how much we didn’t want to watch Almagro. We preferred waiting for Niemenen to show up. At that stage, Emma and Helene decided to go sit in their seats for a while.
I went to keep Annette company while she had lunch. When we came back I went back to my seat and she went to hers. I kept trying to find her but it was worse than looking for Waldo. At that stage, Bracciali was playing Simon.
The match was nearly over so stayed to the end and then left because was meant to meet Emma and Helene at 4 to go see Mitya.
So we go, only to find out that the bloody organizers shifted the schedule and that Mitya had already come and gone.
Helene was very, very upset. She still waited for Djokovic but she asked the announcer guy if it was true that Mitya had already left. He said yes. She complained that they changed the time without telling anyone and they guy was like yeah, well.
Helene said she wanted to make him eat his mic. Like I said, she was upset. We were bored and had tons of time to kill. So we decided to see what we could find out about Marat training. Or anyone really and if we could watch.
Turned out that Fed was planning to train even though he withdrew and that it was like Fort Knox, no one was getting in. So we were bored. I know I said that already but we really were.
The Infernal Not Twins were still quite depressed about Mitya so they went off to mope.
Annette and I went to watch some doubles. Santoro/Zimonic vs. Hanley/Ullyett. The latter pair were really good and the first set was quite brutal.
I was starting to get hyper off my own boredom. One of them, Hanley or Ullyett (as if I know which one is which :
kept crouching down so low when the other was serving. It was like he was playing leapfrog and not tennis at all. I found that hysterical and started calling him Kermit.
Then Annette and I kind of made friends with one of the linesman. He was sitting right in front of us. At one stage he yells fault really loud and scared the hell out of me. And then a ball came flying in our direction and nearly hit the guy sitting next to Annette.
So she and I were like, whoa, these seats are dangerous. And the linesman dude half turns around and give us this little smile. Then a few minutes later when they were changing linesmen, I waved at him and said bye. He waved back and was like “Ciao Ciao.” He was quite adorable actually.
Once the first set was done, Annette decided to go back to her hotel for a while seeing as there were still two more matches on before Marat.
She gave me her ticket so I could go sit with Emma and Helene, seeing as she had her other seat as well. So I went to find the Infernal Not Twins, who weren’t moping anymore.
Kristof Vligen was playing Florent Serra. The match was so gripping that I spent all my time sending text messages and trying to keep my eyelids from closing.
There was even a drumming section high in the stands, trying to get the crowd into it. Honestly, you could have paid people to look interested and I think they would have still looked bored. At one stage there was a false alarm via text and we thought that someone was saying Marat was court side.
Soon nixed that idea though. Why on earth would Marat watch this kind of crappy match on purpose?? What the person meant to tell us was that Marat had arrived to the stadium but we knew that already. Mulan Lady/Viper Radio productions has got the hook up.
;D
Serra lost in the third set tiebreak. Then PHM was on. And we were all quite worried. PHM has the mental consistency of tapioca pudding. Who knows what he’d get up to? Emma and Helene were freaked out because they had a train to catch. And if things dragged on they might have had to leave early.
PHM won the first set easy. Which made us even more nervous about the rest of the match, believe it or not. During the change over between sets, this one guy high up, screams out. “Paulo, you’re the best, after Safin.” ROFL ;D
Annette came back and stopped to say hi before going to her seat on the other side of the court. At 5-4 for PHM in the second Helene screams out. “Come on Paulo, you’re a man! Bring on the testosterone!” ;D ;D ROFL
I should also say that Helene was in a good mood casue we’d just found out that Kolya and more importantly to her Mitya would be playing on Court One tomorrow. So that means lots of nice close ups. ;D ;D
Must have worked(what she said to PHM) cause he did close it out in two sets without too much fuss. So he was gone and the moment we had all been waiting for arrived.
Before Marat came on court, they showed the video of him (it’s on the Bercy site) so we were all swooning. ;D ;D
Then Mahut comes out.
And then Marat. All in white. With the zip. *happy happy place* ;D ;D ;D
Of course, Emma and Helene had the cameras out and were clicking away. We got out late so they probably won’t post them for a few days (worth the wait believe me).
Sasha was sitting in the corner to our left with Igor Andreev.
As usual Sasha was looking very relaxed and unconcerned. He was leaning his head on his hands, and had his knee propped up. Totally comfortable in other words.
Someone else who was totally comfortable. Marat on court. The first set was basically flawless. 6/1. No thoughts, no stress, no problem. (to quote the blog) The second set was kind of weird. Marat didn’t play badly. I mean he was never in any real danger but he didn’t kill Mahut off as soon as he could have.
Things could have got quite awkward but he handled the tiebreak like a champ and closed it out in two sets. He was really happy. He did that pointing/fist pump combo again like in Madrid.
The handshake with Mahut was really friendly and sincere. They were both smiling.
I should point out that it was a great match for UNICEF. Throughout the tournament for every ace served, UNICEF get ten euros. So Marat contributed about 170 euros tonight. Not bad in an hour and some.
After the match they did courtside interviews. The announcer guy asked Marat if they could say that this court here at Bercy is like home for him.
And Marat explained how he has a very special feeling here with the fans and he can’t really describe it. But he really appreciates all the support. Especially as it was late and everything (11 pm) and that he was playing again tomorrow night and hope to see us all there. (we’ll be there, have no fear)
And while he was talking, on the giant screen they were doing these close ups of his face. The half dimple smile was there and they got really close so you could really see his eyes. *happier place* ;D ;D
And now is the moment where Marat gets the award for being the sweetest person ever. A half and hour after his match was over, he was still signing autographs.
Emma and Helene were like we need to go. I was like, wait a sec. Lemme see what’s going on. I walk over towards the player’s entrance.
Marat is doing TV interviews. There is this forest of people leaning in a mass of arms and legs. It’s a wonder no one lost a limb.
Marat came over and signed stuff. One guy handed him a shirt to sign and people were like ripping at it. And Marat was like, come on, don’t destroy the thing.
Then this girl holds out a pen to me. It was the one he was signing with. Since she’s giving it to me, I’m like ok.
Then she’s like wait. Is it yours? And I’m like. Your giving it to me so I guess so. Then she is like no no and practically rips my hand off. She is squealing like some kind of guinea pig on ecstasy. I was like, calm down. It’s only a pen. It’s really not that serious.
And that’s it. We left the stadium and went to the metro. I had about a zillion texts that I answered on my way home.
Tomorrow we’re at it again.
Signing off for now in the City of Love
Bia, Annette and the Infernal Not Twins.
It was great to see her casue she’s as big a Safin fan as we are and I remember quite a few late nights at the Eurosport buildings watching (ok drooling 
) Marat especially during Indian Wells and Miami. 
Annette and I went to watch some doubles. Santoro/Zimonic vs. Hanley/Ullyett. The latter pair were really good and the first set was quite brutal.
Sixpack guard 
)