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Post by SAFINNO1 on Jun 16, 2007 20:44:31 GMT 3
Thanks a ton for all those wonderful pics!
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Post by Mariana on Jun 17, 2007 14:24:53 GMT 3
Thanks for the amazing pictures  Hope you had a great time  |
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Post by jenifer on Jun 20, 2007 13:21:59 GMT 3
Thanks for the pics. I would have a hard time not to jump off my seat and hug him just for a second and then let myself drag away from court ;D I would love to see him play live...  |
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Post by Annie on Jun 20, 2007 14:25:48 GMT 3
Jenifer consideing Prague is not far away from Moscow you are more than welcome to come here for Davis or Kremlin Cup one day I can be your guide ;D |
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Post by jenifer on Jun 20, 2007 18:32:12 GMT 3
Oh Annie, thanks so much for your offer That would be so cool...  |
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Post by Patxy on Jun 21, 2007 3:22:05 GMT 3
Another blog from someone that worked at the tournament.
By Char from vamosbrigade.com
Mon Jun 11, 2007 8:53 pm
I guess here would be the best place to put my blog for the week, though due to the horrendous hours you may just get updates on some days and not all.
Saw all the matches on court one today - Ginepri beating Bloomfield, Stepanek beating Sanguinetti, Mathieu beating Lopez, and Bjorkman beating Gimelstob.
There won'ts be quite so many interesting stories as I'm not where the player coaches and family etc go in but I'll see what gossip I can find out.
I do though get the opportunity to see them all arrive in the morning - heart attack moment as Marat Safin stepped out of a car literally a metre away from me. Don't care if it looks unprofessional - I'm taking a camera tomorrow! Safin was really nice though - posing for photos, signing autographs. He got quite a lot as he came early then left then came back again. This struck me as weird as it implies he was doing extra grass court practice, something I didn't think even came on to Safin's radar.
Hewitt was also really good as well signing loads of autographs.
Bad news for Roddick fans though - sorry if this sounds harsh, and I do know he gets hounded by fans but he is really rude to them. He ignores most of the kids wanting autographs even if there aren't very many and every kid I've spoken to has said he's really unfriendly. He aws though staring out of his car window right at me and my fellow stewards (three of us in total at this particular point). Whilst this may have meant nothing we liked to think he thought we were looking damn hot in our uniforms. Those who have been to Queens before will realise that the uniforms are in fact hideous, though not as bad as last year. Fitted T-shirts for girls now - woo!
Jimmy Conners stood right next to me too at one point. Quite cool.
Possibly now the bit you were waiting for - Rafa arrived at 6:00-6:30ish I think. He looked cool (as usual) and whilst he was getting mobbed by people he seemed OK with it all.
I did get some enjoyment from then having to tell a group of hysterical girls to shut up reminding them that a match was being played and that whilst I understand the excitement saying he's just another player. Whilst saying all this I was of course having a heart attack as he went past.
Due to Bjorkman taking an annoyingly long time to finish I didn't get to see him on the practice courts but I'm sure he was fine.
A few interesting stories about spectators or just one in particular. A rather large man pushing past the front of the queue on a court with unreserved seating. We then informed him that he would have to join the end of the queue. Then came the usual "but my friend is saving a seat". Do these people not understand the concept of unreserved. THEY CANNOT BE RESERVED! (sorry for rant, this makes our work so much harder!). ANyway, he was more concerned with the fact that his ice creams were going to melt. He then proceeded to storm forward again depsite the fact that play had restarted. Our senior steward asked him to move to the end of the queue and he then started shouting. All this while they wre playing. Lopez did not look impressed as it was right along the front row. As they were playing there was little we could do so he stormed along the front row, mid-point. What an idiot!
Anyway, am looking forward to some Rafa doubles tomorrow, though am slightly jealous of court 9 for their Safin doubles match tomorrow. May have to take a convenient break at that point.
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Post by Patxy on Jun 21, 2007 3:24:14 GMT 3
Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:44 pm
Right, I'm currently writing whilst in alot of aching pain. Being on your feet all day is soooo tiring. I'm aching places where I didn't even know muscles existed!
Don't know how long I can stay awake even if it's still not too late but I'll try.
Saw Rafa arrive this morning - took a photo but a stupid man got right in my way. He arrived shortly after Lopez but apart from that most of the interesting players were already there. Did get Safin again - got an alright picture but for pictures you'll have to wait until the end of the week. I'm sorry but I just can't be bothered right now. Too much effort when I'm shattered (and it's only Tuesday!).
Saw the gang when they arrived and we also met up when Rafa and Feli were practicing. Safin arrived too, whilst Clement, Bennetau, Bjorkman and Miryni were nearby too.
Pretty busy day for us really as we were on court one where it's unreserved seating and with the line up of Grosjean, Fish, Nadal-Lopez, Henman-Hewitt etc etc it was chocker block. Did mean I didn't have to count seats so much and could actually watch the tennis.
Have to say today was a more tennis day than stories day as so much was going on, but I'll try.
Didn't see much of Grosjean - had to get my lunch of course plus that was when Rafa was practicing.
Mardy Fish had a mini argument with the umpire - something about overruling on a Karlovic 140mph serve. He jokingly asked the umpire if he was an astornaut. Now do astronauts have good eyesight or was it just a weird example for him to use? I think the latter. Standing in the corner where Karlovic serves to though was a little scary. I think those sat in the disabled area suffered the most and got hit a few times.
Anyway, after that match was done (they didn't sign many autographs as far as I could tell - after all, they did lose) Henman and Hewitt came on. Joyous (ahem) "come on Tim"'s were being shouted. It was actually quite fun. Henman and Hewitt clearly get on well and weren't taking it too seriously. Lleyton kept teasing Tim when he did crappy shots and things, alot during the warm up so that was cool.
I escaped for a bit to watch the second set of Safin's doubles. What was funny id that he's only playing with Bogdanavic because Peter Lundgren now helps "Boggo". Consequently there was no high-fiving and veyr little conversation. Boggo would go over to Safin but Safin was having none of it. Love it.
Right, am going to have to give up now. Literally falling asleep plus desperately need to go find the muscle rub.
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Post by Patxy on Jun 21, 2007 3:25:47 GMT 3
Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:04 pm
Not sure how much I've got to write today as our court had some really good matches on today so actually spent most of the day watching tennis. Pity I wanted Baker and then Tipsarevic to win but oh well. Brilliant matches all the same.
Jamie Baker is by the way our new favourite player (well one of the many). He's so cool and was totally looking in our direction all the time. Perhaps though because we were clapping rather loudly. Who said those involved in the tournament had to be neutral?!
Also, this morning had the best moment so far - got a photo with Safin as he arrived. Did he stop for anyone else? Hell no. Just for me. I also had to tell him I was too small for him but he said that was OK. So nice. I think that's me sorted for chasing players.
Talking of chasing players. I think Tursunov is pretty scared of me right now. When he arrived at the club I shouted good luck and then I saw him later and did the same. He wa like "Thanks" but looked totally like "who the hell is this girl who keeps following me?". I then clapped really loudly for all his winning points and he kept looking over proably thinking I was crazy. Oh well...
Almost got hit by a Tipsaravic smash. Had actually been hoping for this. Wanted to be hit so I got a concerned look and apology. Did I get anything? Nope. He wasn't very into the crowd thing though. Just kept talking to his coaches all the way through.
Don't know if I put it in the last update but can't be bothered to check so sorry if I repeat, but yesterday I was talking to a security guard who said he was stationed in the men's locker room earlier. When i said that was very lucky he reminded me that for him he couldn't really appreciate it that much. HE then said he had seen all four of the players in the Nadal-Lopez match naked. I thought that there are probably loads of people on these boards that would love that job :wink:
Can't think of that much more to add today. Hope you enjoy the update.
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Post by Patxy on Jun 21, 2007 3:28:39 GMT 3
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 9:32 pm
OK, so today. This morning as usual saw lots arrive. Safin and Tursunov turned up together. My new friend from first aid got a picture with both together but it seems Safin was less than impressed with her camera. Jokingly he told her it was from the 1850s and that she needed a new one. So cool.
Going completely out of order wsa so happy Safin beat Grosjean as got Safin on my court. Almost crying when he lost though did get some good racket throwing action. Great to see it live. Don't think he was frustrated with himself as there were he wasn't broken. Just that in a tie break it's pretty hard when annoying and stupid Karlovic, who by the way does not have a sponsor on his shorts but, not word of a lie, "6'10" (like we don't know he's a freak), serving aces all the time. I did though in my little corner manage to catch three Karlovic serves that bounced off the back board so was pretty chuffed with that effort I must say.
Also anyone that says Safin is a moody old thing - so not true. 20 minutes after losing in a match that ended with his racket frame at right angles, he was signing loads of autographs as he left the club. So amazing. Am happy as he's on my court tomorrow in the doubles. Annoyingly so are Bryan and Bryan but then I can't have everything.
After the Safin match Djokovic and Clement came out which was cool but as soon as they did, not even warming up, it started to rain and that was it for today, hence home slightly earlier. By this I mean abuot 30 mins earlier. Not that spectacular really. But I must say that Djokovic must be one of the nicest people out there. We went past and not really to him said "great match, great stuff" or something similar and he then joined in and "yeah, thank you, good match I played here today". Then he said "I know what I'll do now" and turned to Clement, shook his hand, then waved to the crowd with his racket as if he'd played a macth which was cool. A kid then asked for an autograph and without the kid having to ask he was like "do you want my towel? here, have it". How cool is he?! I'm so happy that match is on my court tomorrow and the winner of that then plays later on my court too. Though this is against the annoying Karlovic so who knows what will happen. Hopefully Karlovic will get injured as he does seemt to knock out anyone who's actaully good to watch. As much as aces are good, they get boring after the 1,000,000th time.
Clearing the stand at the end of the day was also rather fun...not. The less, or rather lesser, glamorous part of the job is picking up all the rubbish left at the end of the day, which includes horrible banana skins, sandwich crusts, half drunk pints of stella etc etc. Next time you're at a tennis match please think of the poor people who have to clean the stands and take your rubbish with you. Anyway it was raining so we were wearing the rather fetching clear rain ponchos whilst filling bin bags. It would then have to be at that point when we're waiting outside our court for the crowds to go so we could get to the bins out back, when Safin is standing around.
Whilst I have said Rafa was doing a "Monfils" this morning he was really good. He posed for a few photos and actually smiled in them - a rarity for most tennis players. Roddick did he usual "I'm so amazing and brilliant so I'm not going to be nice to you" thing. Hewitt was pretty nice this morning. Signed a few autographs.
Am looking forward to tomorrow due to the matches on my court. Am hoping the weather that is forecast of some rain doesn't stop me watching thse matches. I have to start earlier tomorrow but that's life I guess.
Hopefully more stuff to tell you guys tomorrow.
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Post by Patxy on Jun 21, 2007 3:31:03 GMT 3
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Post by Annie on Jun 21, 2007 10:05:14 GMT 3
Oh wow Pat, that is a real treasure!!!!!!!! Thanks a million girl ;D And totally LMAO @ Marat telling that girl her camera was from 1850 s |
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Post by davis on Jun 21, 2007 11:13:32 GMT 3
Thanks Patzy, it was a very entertaining read ;D And of course thanks to Char for blogging! |
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Post by safinbgfan on Jun 21, 2007 18:34:14 GMT 3
Great,great pics ;D ;D thanks!
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Post by sabz on Jun 27, 2007 19:50:53 GMT 3
Thanks for all the pics!! I went there too for the semis - if only I saw Marat there as well |
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