Welcome to another episode of Savoring Safin in the City of Love.
Reporting for the last time as a trio, Bia, High Priestess of Deviousness and the Infernal Not Twins, Emma and Helene.
Sadly my official photographers and general partners in deviousness will not be coming with me to Bercy tomorrow.
So the first thing I have to say is HUGE thank you to them. I had a great time meeting you guys. You’re both a lot of fun and I hope we can do this again soon. ;D ;D
Annette, as you said, we didn’t get too spend to much time together. Hopefully you still enjoyed Paris and the tennis, despite the bad organization.
So, tomorrow, Bia will be on her own at Bercy. Well Marat will be there too so all is not lost. ;D
Today was unexpected in a lot of ways. We hadn’t planned at the beginning of the week to be here on Thursday but as soon as Marat beat Soderling we knew that we had to come.
We got there this morning for Mitya’s match against Kolya. Helene broke a record because by the time the match was over, she’d taken over 100 pictures. Of only Mitya.
We spotted Sasha in the player’s box next to the future Mrs Davydenko. He looked like he was half asleep and he was busy texting away. The three of us supposed that he was waking Marat just for spite because misery loves company.
Over the course of the week, I’ve found Sasha hilarious to watch. At one stage this morning he was leaning back with both hands behind his head and his knee propped up on the ledge. You could have sworn he was at home lounging around in an easy chair. ;D
Any way he didn’t stick around long and neither did Mitya to be honest. The only thing that can be said is that Kolya was way to good for him today.
Mitya wasn’t serving well, wasn’t moving well. He looked blah which you really can’t do when Kolya is playing the incredible tennis he was playing today.
The three of us were talking and we think Mitya’s just exhausted. He’s had a long, amazing season and he just needs to get some rest. Especially with Davis Cup in view and Mischa sidelined.
After that match ended, we went to grab a bite to eat. Then headed to the player’s entrance. Helene was waiting for Mitya but he never showed up. We did see a lot of other random people though.
The Bryan brothers arrived with Andy Murray. Fabrice Santoro, Paul Henri Mathieu, Mario Ancic also all arrived.
Tommy Robredo left and so did Robby Ginepri.
Eventually we decided we’d had enough of the cold so we went back to our seats. Haas and Blake were playing. Or should I say Haas was kicking ass.
When we got back he was serving for the first set. The second set was all Tommy. Granted, Blake was far from his best but Haas was playing very well. Marat will have to be attentive and on form to win tomorrow.
After that it was Super Mario/Bambi’s turn to play. Ever since the autograph session earlier in the week, Mario has been added to Helene’s list of M’s. (Marat, Mitya and now Mario) and I have to say I can see why. ;D ;D
He really is adorable with those big brown eyes and everything. We kept cheering for him and all the people around us were looking at us weird casue they wanted Benneteau to win.
It was tough for the Frenchman though. He’d played two marathon matches. The first one against Fabrice Santoro and the second against Gonzo. He really had no gas left in the tank so it was a fairly routine win for Mario.
One thing Mario does, is always put his towel over his head during changeovers. A mechanism for keeping concentration I suppose. And when he changed his shirt, the three of us agreed that a new 6 pack has been born.
Then after the match was over, they brought this little kid to play a few points with Mario. It was so adorable. The little boy lobed Mario and the ball was behind the line. He points to the screen saying he wants to challenge. So cute.
;D
After that match is was Paul Henri Mathieu vs. Tommy Robredo. Emma, Helene and I were all thinking cool. The matches haven’t taken to long today so Marat will be on time. Who knows we might actually have to wait for him and wouldn’t that be something new.
PHM stared really badly and was down 2-0 after 6 minutes. Robredo was playing very well though. After the first set, which Robredo won, Emma and Helene decided they wanted to go walkabout. I decided to stay put and have a nap. Recharge the batteries before Marat. Or so I thought.
A few minutes after Emma and Helene left, I get a text from Annie saying that Gasquet has withdrawn.
So I raced out the court, found Emma and Helene and went to the box office to get my ticket for tomorrow. First we tried to confirm if the news about Gasquet was official.
It turned out that we were the ones announcing it to the people at the information desk. Scary levels of non communication attained.
Eventually we did get the confirmation and I got the ticket. ;D
Then we went back to Center Court for the end of PHM vs. Robredo. As we were walking we talked about Marat. What else is new right?
But we were saying that although it’s too bad we won’t see him tonight (esp. for Helene and Emma as they are not going back) we’re all happy that he’s in the quarters.
He’s got the points he needs to be seeded at AO. He’s had a hell of a lot of luck up to now. First the draw change, then Nadal not coming and now Gasquet pulling out. Destiny? Fate? Who knows, let’s hope so. The match against Haas won’t be easy but Marat can take him.
He loves Bercy and Bercy loves him. There are no more French players so the crowd will be totally for him. ;D
When we got back to center court, Robredo and PHM were still at it. They went to a second set tiebreak which Robredo won to take the match. The win meant that he also qualified for the Masters in Shanghai. I was surprised to see that he gave a courtside interview in more than passable French.
Then afterward they had Robredo hit a ball into the crowd and the person who catches the ball wins a prize. The prize was that you would get to come on court and hit with the winner of the 8 pm match. Supposedly Marat or Gasquet.
But at this point, they still hadn’t announced that Gasquet had withdrawn. When they finally did, the public was not happy.
The organizers had to do something, anything to save the night, so they moved Murray vs. Hrbaty to Center Court and also moved the player warm ups.
Murray comes on to court to hit with Brad Gilbert/ Murray is looking as if he’s barely awake. He hair was standing up on all ends. Kind of scary.
They kept trying to sell this thing so the night wouldn’t be a total bust but no one was buying it. Emma and Helene decided to leave as did nearly everyone else in the stadium. I stayed behind a bit but only because I didn’t want to be caught in the rush getting into the metro.
When Murray was leaving the court, they stopped to interview Brad Gilbert, who said, I know y’all are upset not to see Gasquet but cheer for Murray anyway. Typical Brad.
That it’s for today.
Signing off for the last time as a trio, Bia and the Infernal Not Twins.
;D ;D ;D
Sorry for the quality but it's official my camera sucks 
). 
