Day 3 Impossible is nothing It was a grey and gloomy day as it has been for the past month but today I would have company and that my mood much brighter. Excitement was in the air from early morning as I put on my newly acquired red “Russia” t-shirt, grabbed my flags, my TICKET (YAY!!!!) and headed out of the house to meet my pal Lena for a coffee before the game. There is a lovely coffee shop next to Olimpiyski (Annette, you know what I am talking about) and we have decided to meet there. At 11.30 I walked in there to find Lena bursting with excitement and it kinda started to rub off on me too. We had our drinks and while sitting there Lena had decided to apply her Russian flag on the cheek right there and then. Being watched by amused Argentinean fans sitting at a table next to us, she did her job in full concentration. Half an hour later we were out of the door and heading towards the stadium, just then we noticed a huge poster plastered in the street announcing the DC final, we decided that we will not get a chance to take a pic with all of the guys in flesh so might as well take one with a poster as a memory of this day independent of how it was going to end.
We parted ways once we arrived at the stadium since Lena didn’t have VIP tickets but Mitya’s Dad was kind enough to offer her VIP area access that day, so she went to look for him and get to me in the next few minutes. I was walking in and the first person I saw standing talking Swedish on the phone was Peter, he had just hung up when I leveled with him and we said our hellos and had a funny dialogue:
- Peter, do you have an idea which Marat woke up this morning? Please tell me it’s yesterday’s Marat and not the one from Friday.
- Oh no no, we kicked that Marat out so don’t worry.
After I was on my way to apply my patriotic make-up in order to stop people asking me why didn’t I have a flag on my cheek again LOL. After roaming around for a few minutes and seeing no one from the team apart from Zhenya Korolev who smiled and said hello, I decided to head to the bar and stock up some water for the match. Rumors were floating that Mitya would come out to play against Nalbandian and everyone was eager to see what would happen in the end. Just as I was walking away from the bar I spotted Misha Youzhny having a chat with someone and then catching a glimpse of me walking by. Suddenly he goes “Oh, I was hoping to run into you, could I please have a word?” I was quite stunned but obviously came up to him and said, “Sure” and we had a dialogue of something on the lines of:
- “You are sitting right across us, right?” Misha asked.
- “Yep, that’s me”.
- “Look, we will be needing your help today. We should coordinate together in order to do some proper cheering”
- “Absolutely”
- “So, when we start going “Vperyooood Rossija” (which literally means “go forward Russia”) you don’t say anything and then we point in your direction and you repeat the same thing, like the echo effect. Anyway, just try watching us and what we do, so that you can repeat and we can be synchronised. And please try to encourage the people around you. I mean you have been great throughout the whole time but other than that your stands seem to be pretty dead”
- Misha, don’t worry, I got the idea and will try to do my best. Good luck.
- Thanks a lot. See you.
And I walked off grinning, just then the phone rang and it was Lena who said she was on her way to the VIP area. Nothing exciting was happening there though apart from thousands of people everywhere pushing around and us getting more and more nervous by the minute, everyone was in the locker rooms getting ready so we decided it was time for us to part and go scream our lungs out.
The stadium was full, Argentines were already there as always dancing and singing but there were much more Russian flags and people chanting on our side too. Despite the rumors about Mitya, the scoreboard read “Nikolay Davydenko – David Nalbandian” and surely enough a few seconds later the teams lined up and the teams’ number ones headed for warm-up.
The match turned out rather disastrous for the Russian. The man made of steel was all of a sudden hit with nerves and excitement attacks, which hardly ever happens to him, he kept making silly mistakes and his “trademark” shots were going miles out. Nalbandian had nothing to lose and using Kolya’s psychological state to his advantage, the Argentinean wasted no time in demolishing Nikolay in the first two sets. Life didn’t look good at that moment. Now as you know I am the idiotic optimist always but at that point I was already waiting for Marat to come out, despite the fact that Misha, Zhenya and me collectively managed to wind up the crowd big time in opposite sides of the stadium and all you could hear at that moment were mad mad Russians all over the stadium chanting “KOLYA KOLYA KOLYA” all the time. I don’t know if it’s the support, or if he had read my mind and knew that I was starting to lose hope, but by the middle of the third set Nikolay started to look more postured and calm and David might have gotten a little tired. The moment Kolya broke in the third set there was an explosion…seriously I think if anyone was passing by the stadium at that moment, they must have gone deaf LOL. Life was looking brighter by the minute, the Russian bench and the stand opposite them with me on it were totally crazy. That was the moment when I had started to climb up on my seat with my feet to celebrate the crucial points. We sang like mad and jumped like there was no tomorrow. The fourth set started off with a break for Russia and at that point it started to seem that maybe Kolya could still do this. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be and Marat Safin was the man who was supposed to either bring Russia to the first DC victory at home ever or to the third DC final loss at home… Take your pick, two-metre embodiment!
At that moment I was already hoarse and feeling really weak. I decided that the match I was about to witness would probably kill me if I don’t get any food and water right there and then. Lena and I met and headed towards the snack bars. Yeah, right! The queue was enormous and for the whole intermission we stood there without moving much closer to the counter. Fifteen minutes later we decided to screw it and head back to our seats.
I walked into the stadium just in time to see Marat and Chuchito walk out. I stood courtside for a few minutes to take some photos as well we a tiny video of the hunky Russian’s warm-up (to be posted later). Then I headed to my seat and prepared to die in peace, silly me. Just before the match started some guys who were sitting behind me were walking back to their seats and as they passed me one of them goes “Young lady, you are the only person I would trust on this. Do you think Marat will win this?" I smiled and out of the blue just blurted out “Absolutely. In four but fairly easily. Just make sure you give it all you have screaming.” He laughed and went to take his seat.
Tarpi “Sexy Socks”
Coaches/friends ready
I will be fairly honest with you, I do not remember the match that well. I watched it on TV afterwards (I would like to thank the broadcasting director, whom - all my friends and family are sure – I am great friends with, for my bright performance. If you are reading this – I have no idea why you insisted on showing me all the time, but you made my mother very happy, thanks) and it was a good match tennis wise I realised. But right there and then it was all about emotions, it was all about screaming, supporting and giving our hearts and souls to the big Russian on the court. I think I spent much more time standing up than sitting down during that match. I could see Zhenya Korolev, his Dad, Misha and Sasha pointing at me at times being totally amused at how freaked out I was… I kept shouting encouraging words to Marat, even during the third set, which he decided to flop, because I could feel it in my bones that those now would be the things he’d need to hear. All that I am and all that I had at that point in time was on that court and I think with my energy and enthusiasm I managed to get people around hyped up, there were certain points when I felt support was needed greatly and I could also find proof of that on the Russian bench – I would just turn my back to the court and throw my arms up in the air to wind people up and get them to stand up and chant. Either they realised that if they don’t – the consequences might be lethal, or my enthusiasm was just contagious, but they did exactly what I had asked them to and that put a huge grin on my face. At one point I looked around and saw that even the most expensive VIP stand was full of Russian flags (which they got for free when we had to pay 150 roubles for them LOL), it was amazing, two Argentine stands were non-existent at that point, it was white, red and blue all over. People were a unison of voices, flags, emotions and support, it was magical. Where else would you see your Mayor, Ministers, famous singers, sportsmen, all gathered together waving their flags and clapping like tomorrow will never come? I think that picture will be stuck in my head for a long long time. “There is no way in hell he can lose this one”, I thought to myself.
Fourth set tie-break. I think that if I got out a match it would have lit up on its own. I could feel the whole building vibrate. 5-2 Marat, I grab my back-pack, put it on, get my camera out and run from my 8th row in front and sit on a step. 7/6 Marat, Chucho serving, noone wants to risk it, both at the baseline, Marat trying to hit harder, a serious of shots, Chucho nets a ball and it’s over…Marat raises his hands, pumps his fists and the next second all you see is a bundle of people on top of each other all dressed up in red and white. I am standing courtside trying to take a small video of this madness (will post shortly) and they lift him up in the air to start throwing him. I scream and clap and the whole stadium starts chanting “MOLODTSI MOLODTSI” (well done). Everyone hugging each other and congrats are flying all around. Mama Rausa is on court hugging Marat, baby Dinara follows, relatives, teammates, doctors, stringers, everyone is out there going crazy. I suddenly realise that I am just standing there grinning from one ear to another and tears are rolling down my cheeks. This is one of the brightest moments of my whole life and I wanna cherish every second of it. I put the camera away and just stand there enjoying the atmosphere, I cannot wipe a smile off my face and I don’t really want to.
I look at the Argentinean bench. There is Chucho crying his heart out, I feel incredibly sorry for him, I know how hard it is to be the guy “who lost the tie”. But I would like to say that I deeply admire the man for being so brave, for putting up a fight and giving it his all, it just wasn’t enough that day. David comes up to him to hug him and trying to console him, then turns to the court and sees the Davis Cup trophy being set in the middle of the court and starts crying too, it broke my heart.
Our guys are sitting comfortably laughing and chatting and suddenly someone starts chanting “MARAT MARAT MARAT” and whole stadium catches up. Then Kolya appears and his name starts shaking the walls of Olimpiyski with Mitya’s and Misha’s to follow.
In the meantime all is ready for the awards ceremony, the teams are taken backstage LOL in order to do a proper official lineup.
Me being the smartass that I am – I am already standing courtside on the half where the trophy is situated and all the photographers are lined up, and am ready to capture the moment with my camera. All of a sudden all these linesmen and ballkids come out and line up right in front of my nose and cover the whole view. Grrreeeeaaaaat!!!!!! I start to frantically run along the courtside trying to pick a spot but it’s totally pointless. I settle in a spot where I can see Marat’s face from and am trying to take a pic of it from in between two heads of ballkids LMAO.
In front of me there are chairs on which the photographers sat during matches and there are tons of people around them and I desperately trying to at least see SOMETHING. Suddenly I feel someone tapping on my shoulder and I see the guy who came up to me before the match to ask if Marat would win, he goes “Hey, you were absolutely right! Congratulations!” I said, same to you and he was off. At this point the ceremony has already started and I was having a hard time seeing anything and I think the bouncer took pity on the midget jumping up and down next to him and he goes, “Why don’t you get up on that chair?” Totally amazed I go “Can I really? I was kinda shy to do it on front of you” and he replies “Hey, you can do anything now” LOL. So thanks to a kind bouncer I actually got to see ALL of the heads of the players and even take some pics.
(me on a chair and the guy next to me with a moustache is the nice bouncer ;D)
Just for Lau ;D ;D ;D ;D
The ceremony was lovely, the boys were glowing and waving at their friends. The speeches of both captains were heartfelt and really sweet. I shed another tear when the anthem started playing and I saw Misha singing away and the others looking so proud and happy, it was overwhelming.
After the ceremony was over I went out to the VIP area and went looking for Lena. In a minute we were both in a bundle jumping and screaming and hugging, Julia (the girl I told you about on the first day) joined us and a few minutes later we saw Marat walking off the court, people were standing there clapping and cheering, it was wonderful. I got a crazy idea of getting someone to take my flag to the locker room and get it signed by the whole team, I was hoping I’d be able to catch Zhenya or Misha and ask them to do it for me. But a few minutes later I totally gave up on that. It was too crazy and there were too many people everywhere.
Then people slowly started to leave, we decided to hang around and see if we could get to congratulate our boys and maybe MAYBE get me a proper picture with Marat.
We must have been there for a good hour, I went up to Peter to congratulate him and we took piccies with him (maryb darling, THIS IS ESPECIALLY FOR YOU!!!!). Peter wore our team uniform that said "RUSSIA. LUNDGREN" at the back and Russia trainers ;D ;D ;D
Then we saw the Argentines starting to leave and since I promised Lau I would try to get a picture with Chuchito just for her, I gathered all my courage once I spotted that miserable cute face of his and went up to him asking if he would agree. I truly appreciated the fact that he stopped and looked at the camera for someone who was glowing and had a Russian flag plastered on her face. Thanks Chuchito, you’re great!!!!
Some other familiar faces went by like Kostya Tziu, our famous boxer, Lena took a picture with him for her father who is a huge boxing fan.
At this point in time we already saw Misha and Zhenya leave the stadium, and were waiting for the others to show up. Finally to Lena’s true pleasure Mitya showed up and she went to take a 101st photo with her favourite guy. Despite the fact that he recognized her and smiled at first, you could see he was in a terrible mood and even kinda snapped at her only to apologise and smile and say thank you seconds later but still.. for a guy who had just won a Davis Cup he did not look happy, something must have happened along the way but we’ll never know what. Here is the pic, pay attention to Mitya’s top drenched in champagne LOL.
Me and Julia
A few minutes later having seen Sasha and Shamil off and still no Marat in sight we were approached by the stadium security asking us to leave the premises along with other people who were hanging around because the stadium was closing. We got our coats and decided to wait outside a little bit more. A little ray of hope appeared on the horizon a quarter of an hour earlier in a body of a not very sober Peter Lundgren LOL, who was hanging out chatting to some guy and girl fans, who were very shamelessly trying to get themselves invited to the reception. Us three were totally amused by the whole scene and preferred to stay away not to be associated with weird female creatures nearby. We waited and waited and waited and after Marat hadn’t shown up half an hour later – we decided that was it, we were leaving. It was 10 pm and I had work the day after and the girls had their studies, we were freezing at that point and to be totally honest – absolutely famished and exhausted.
Julia headed home, Lena and me stopped by the pizzeria nearby and finally shoved some food down our throats. Even though Lena thoughtfully went out during Marat’s match and bought me sandwiches (awwwww, she is too sweet that girl), which I devoured straight after she showed them to me at the stadium, but I was still starving. Quietly sharing our emotions we munched on the salads and pizza and then headed in separate directions to get back to real life.
Not for a split second will I ever regret spending one third of my savings on these tickets and going there to watch. This will go down as one of the brightest moments in tennis history as well as my whole life.
That’s all folks. Hopefully not for long ;D
Hey, that reminds me - did you ever go check that photo from Google of Marat in his jockstrap washing up the dishes and looking out of the kitchen window? ;D
Thank you for the hard work writting this down! 
LMAO
Sixpack guard 
You are an angel. ;D I'll put it in the family album for posterity! If he came near me for a pic, I'd either have fainted or ran off into the sunset ... as usual. ;D I can't cope with the hormonal surge. It makes my brain cells leak out of my ears. And it's not a pretty sight. Pretty embarassing actually. Feel like I'm 12 again. Even though I was 23 the first time I saw him ... but I behaved like I was 12. Bit backward in coming forward. We ain't used to hunks here in Scotland. ;D ;D ;D Ha ha ha. Sad, but true. You guys are more used to it in Russia!
