Day 2 "It's now or never... "For me this must have been the most nerve-wrecking day of the whole weekend and performance of the Russian team was the least of my worries. I had a terrible night from Friday to Saturday, could not sleep well and had to wake up early in order to do some pampering he he
. I made some appointments at the beauty salon in order to try and relax a bit before the big battle. So I woke up really early, got ready and headed there with a plan to go straight to the stadium afterwards. Funny enough I was in a real state that morning. I was a nervous wreck, I kept getting butterflies and my hands were shaking like mad, you know how you have this gut feeling very deep in your stomach like something is terribly wrong??? Well that was exactly my feeling that morning… I was sitting there, at the salon with my pretty manicure drying and getting ready to go to Olympiyski, it was 12.40 on my watch and the match started at 14.00. And that is exactly when it hit me… at first I did not want to believe the thoughts in my head but then I opened my bag, scanned it and realized I was absolutely right about… I HAD FORGOTTEN MY TICKET AT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am in the totally opposite direction from home, the stadium is even further from home that where I am now and I perfectly well know that there is not a chance in the world for me to make it on time if I go home to get the ticket now and then go to Olympiyski. Thank God for my husband and thank God for Saturday morning because there was no traffic in Moscow. By the time I took the tube to the stadium hubby managed to get dressed, run to the garage, get the car and fly to meet me, he got there three minutes before me and it was 13.50 when I had the ticket in my hands, I WAS SAVED!!!! ;D
;D ;D
Obviously, I had no time to do anything or to look for anyone or to even think. I just ran to my seat and by that time it had already come to my knowledge that DiMarat would be playing the doubles (Lena, my dearest friend, thank you for your constant updates
). I went and stood in my usual spot courtside behind the photographers taking photos of lineup and warm-up and doing my fair share of drooling there.
The moment Mitya and Marat walked out on court though, I perfectly well knew that Argentineans were in trouble. The determination on boys’ faces, the concentration, focus, all was at its peak that moment. They were out to kill and they would not take no for an answer. It looked very promising, so I went up to take my seat, unrolled my flag and did what I do best: screamed my lungs out.
The match was a blast, Argies had no idea what hit them. Mitya was the star of this by a mile
, as I later read somewhere he only lost 4 points on his serve during the whole match, Calleri and Nalbandian looked kinda lost, they could not control the serves and Mitya’s forehand was giving them a lot of trouble. The game was fast, fierce and the Russians wasted now time: players as well as the fans. Friday seemed like a long long time ago, this time Argentineans were nowhere to be heard. A sea of Russian flags and constant chanting. Igor, Misha, Zhenya Korolev winding everyone up, waving that huge Russian flag and trying to get the crowd to chant their favourite “Vperyoooood Rossija”. ;D Zhenya and our newbie Arthur even went to one of the stands to try and show the fans what they should be shouting. With me it was really great, because I was right across our bench and they would see me scream my heart out and try to encourage me even more waving and pointing in my direction. I had the time of my life there
. 1 hour and 38 minutes later the Argentine duo was thrashed in straight sets and Mitya and Marat were out on court doing there post-match interview. I hung around a bit longer courtside and took some photos and while I was taking them… I pressed something on my camera by mistake and the whole screen went blank…I tried to fix it, turned the camera off and on again but I realized something weird had happened…what I didn’t realize at that time, is how bad whatever that was – actually was.
So the boys continued to do their press duties and at one point Marat sat down on the bench and Mitya was talking to Argentinean television and since I was right across the court from them, Marat spotted me – I waved and said well done, he waved back, smiled and said thanks ;D . Then he started looking into his bag and looking around like and started gesturing me like he was apologizing for the fact that he doesn’t have anything to give me or sign. I started laughing and frantically waved my hands showing I didn’t want anything, I was just there enjoying the view and taking pictures. Afterwards they were invited to the other side of the court to go and meet Maradona and that was a really funny picture. 1.93 cm and 1.85 cm tall Russians and a little midget in between. It was very sweet though, they had a quick chat with him and shook his hand and took some pictures together. Afterwards they headed off the court.
I hung around a little longer in the VIP area, while I walked to the bar to get some water, I had Zhenya Korolev and Igor walk past me and once they saw me, they both went “Here comes the best fan ever. You were amazing. Thanks so much, keep it up”.
;D I promised them I’ll be back tomorrow and kept going. I roamed a bit more and saw Dinara running around chatting with everyone including Canas, she spoke in Spanish and they had a really good laugh.
Peter was very popular and everyone wanted to take pictures with him, so when I passed by him I said “Hey, Peter, you see now, you are just as popular in Russia as Marat”, he really laughed and said “Oh no no, I am not….and thank God”.
Then I decided to call Lena as promised and give her some updates so I was there chatting to her and Zhenya Korolev walked past me with his Dad and when he saw me grinned really wide and gave me an ovation… that kid is too sweet, his father grinned at me and they were off. It was a really funny atmosphere there, I actually had people come up to me asking me why didn’t I have a painted flag on my face, can you believe that???
Told them I had a rough morning and was late for the match.
There is this one guy who always comes to all matches, DC and Kremlin Cup with his wife and some other friends of his. He always chants like there is no tomorrow, you can hear him from miles and miles away. During KC Lena and I found out that he works for one of the newspapers and his wife actually works at the Tennis Federation. So Friday he came up to me with his wife and said that their photographers took a great photo of me cheering during the September semifinals against USA and asked me whether I would be around Saturday so that they could give me the photo. Saturday after the doubles they spotted me and took me to the Federation stand and gave me that pic, it’s really funny. It is big and has me during Mitya - Roddick match standing up and screaming my lungs out wrapped up in my Russian flag and waving another one. It is actually quite hilarious but hubby totally loved it, keeps taking it out and looking at it he he he. ;D ;D ;D
Well after I realized mostly everyone started to leave, I decided that I need all the strength I can get for Sunday and called it a day. On the tube home I decided to check out the photos I took and that is when another surprise was waiting for me. Turns out I lost all the pictures except 5.
Must have happened when I was courtside and pressed something on my camera – I almost freaked when I realized I lost all my DiMarat photos….
Well this day ended as disastrous as it had started….but as long as the boys kept winning – I could not care less. ;D ;D ;D ;D
to be continued
Sixpack guard 
. I made some appointments at the beauty salon in order to try and relax a bit before the big battle. So I woke up really early, got ready and headed there with a plan to go straight to the stadium afterwards. Funny enough I was in a real state that morning. I was a nervous wreck, I kept getting butterflies and my hands were shaking like mad, you know how you have this gut feeling very deep in your stomach like something is terribly wrong??? Well that was exactly my feeling that morning… I was sitting there, at the salon with my pretty manicure drying and getting ready to go to Olympiyski, it was 12.40 on my watch and the match started at 14.00. And that is exactly when it hit me… at first I did not want to believe the thoughts in my head but then I opened my bag, scanned it and realized I was absolutely right about… I HAD FORGOTTEN MY TICKET AT HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! PANIC!!!!!!!!!!!! 
;D ;D
keep it up! 
i can't wait for the next part ...you trully are a VIP!!!! 
