Madrid Open, Monday

[meobnal]

Coming in again this morning, I made my first stop at the info desk to pick up the OoP + practice schedule. Unfortunately the organization decided to save some trees and stopped handing out the practice schedules. They did have one on display, so I made due with photographing it ;) Not that the schedule is everything to go by, as has been proven before (and again) by players turning up (or not) at random courts to practice.

Anyway, Serena Williams had the opening morning match, but I figured I should be able to manage to fit in a practice court visit before the end of that one. So I hurried to the court where Lopez and Ramos were gonna practice and just caught the last of Berlocq practicing with Navarro (the only player I've seen play with regular glasses on).



Immediately you could tell it was much quieter than Sunday. Though there were still a disproportionate amount of kids there. I guess it helped that some of the crowd was drawn away to watch Nadal on another practice court.

Feli & Ramos:

Sadly, Feli didn't feel like signing anything after practice.

By the time I got back to center court, Serena was already up a set and a break on Vesnina. Within 5 minutes of sitting down, Serena held with 4 aces and then broke to 15 to take the match. She's really a force to see play. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing more of her this tourney ;)



I stayed in my seat to watch the start of Kvitova against Erakovic. Frankly, I found Kvitova kinda boring, so I left in the first set.



I went back to the practice courts to watch Simon practicing with Rochus (he really is tiny :p).


As I mentioned on Twitter, Simon giggles totally like a schoolgirl :)



My plan was to sit out the Simon session and then go over to the court where, according to the schedule (!), Delpo was suppose to begin practice with Gasquet. Only, as I was watching Simon, I spotted Delpo appearing on the court across, where in fact Baghdatis had been scheduled!

Since Simon was almost finished I figured I'd wait for a bit, just in case Simon would come over to the seats and sign stuff, while also keeping an eye on Delpo practicing on the other side. Except, once Simon had finished, he just walked straight off and at the same time Baghdatis had appeared to claim his rightful place at the other court and kicked Delpo off.

I made my way over to the court Delpo had been supposed to be anyway (in case Delpo had figured this out too) to find Gasquet instead practicing with Zimonjic :p





Gasquet did get over to the public side of the court after practice, so I had him scribble sign my French flag.

Now back on schedule, I stopped by Li (+ husband :)) and Stosur practicing.







I figured triplebagel might appreciate a sneak peek at Nalbandian, so I headed over to the court he was suppose to appear and watched the last of Berdych with Florian Mayer.



Followed by Nalby (who was practicing with Delbonis) :)

By now I had rushed myself out getting from practice court to practice court so I headed back to the match courts to see some actual play for the rest of the day.

First up I joined Almagro halfway in the first set against Giraldo. Now that the TV cameras where on, the model 'ballgirls' had appeared as well. They're a major dislike for me about Madrid as a tourney >:(





After Almagro finally (like, really :p) won I switched to Stadium 3 to drop in to the second set of Falla and Chela. That turned out to be another three setter.





I stayed in my seat for the start of Garcia-Lopez against Baghdatis.





These hectic last couple of days where beginning to take their toll and I was too tired (and hungry) to stay long, so I left after the first set.

Tomorrow: Men's dubs!
Also apparently tomorrow: cold and rainy :/

Comments

[triplebagel.livejournal.com]

NALBY! Oh, you are awesome. Thank you so much! <3

Did you enjoy yourself? What was your favourite bit of today? Also, were you there at the GGL/Baggy match when the linesperson collapsed, or not?

Enjoy, enjoy! <3 <3 <3

[calzamante.livejournal.com]

Look at us both living vicariously through her :p (We are lucky she's so good to us, no? ♥)

[triplebagel.livejournal.com]

Haha, we do. She's amazing. And giving us scores when nothing was working, too. <3

(You must be so proud of Marcel, grinding out a win like that!)

[calzamante.livejournal.com]

She was a Godsend today, I would probably have expired from stress without her :p

(Ridiculously relieved, tbh. I was so very dubious about his decision to play last week (not to mention the fact it was the only one not streamed AT ALL), especially after Saturday's result--but the way he dug in and fought today, maybe it did help after all. I was stupidly giddy when it all panned out. :) )

[meobnal.livejournal.com]

Sorry Nalby lost today! Raonic was a very tough R1 to get.

I'm enjoying the heck out of myself, even when those first three days were really hectic! I guess my fav bits were seeing Serena win and the crowd's standing ovation. That was first time I really got the sense of being at a major tournament with major players.
And on the other hand, there sitting in the sun and seeing Simon casually practicing with only a handful of onlookers.

Also, were you there at the GGL/Baggy match when the linesperson collapsed, or not?

No, I must have just left before that.

[calzamante.livejournal.com]

I am enjoying these recaps a stupid amount :) And, also, am hereby putting in my request for a match report on Marcel today, as he STILL isn't anywhere I can watch, arg. (I'll be forgetting what he looks like at this rate :p) Mostly, if he does that playing like he really can't be arsed thing for which I want to bash his head against the nearest wall (and then kiss it better).

But, most of all, have a whizzy jolly time! <3

[meobnal.livejournal.com]

Definitely no half-arsed-ness today. He really fought it out today <3 Al least you will be able to see him tomorrow (technically today :p). I assume they'll be streaming stadium 2.