Indian Wells 2007

[Lee]

I typed up my report in my blog in MTF but I copy and paste them here.

I want to finish my report before I work on the pictures so I won't forget something important or funny. ;D

[Lee]

March 8 - Arriving Indian Wells

I did a little grocery shopping before I left town and hope hubby and Lee Jr. would eat well. Well, hubby didn't surprise me as THEY DIDN'T. I don't think I can ever leave them behind for more than a week. Let's not dwell on it and move on.

The drive is as usual, boring. I drove the old car which doesn't have CD or DVD player. And I didn't bring any cassette tapes with me so I had to rely on radio to keep me company. There are many mountains in the area so soon I lost FM radio stations and was stuck with an AM talk radio by FOX. Well, at least I was not bored and my blood was boiling listening to that idiot host talking. And further confirm that there's a reason I hate FOX.

Arrived in Indian Wells in about 5 hours as I stopped in the middle for gas and food. I knew Deb and Amber wouldn't arrive as early so I went out shopping for cereal bars as I forgot to bring some snacks. Since it's Motel6 I'm staying, you would not get any useful information anywhere there. Good that I brought hubby's toy with me. His GPS. I asked for a nearby supermarket and it showed me where the Albertson was. Called Deb's cell phone and they had arrived. I worked on my Spanish homework while they freshen up a bit.

We were cruising on the major tourist road when Deb (she's driving) spot the tournament car. At first couldn't figure out who's there but the car was driven very slow and the traffic was a little bit busy. We managed to see it's Ljubicic driving with an older guy. I joked Deb to follow that car to see where they were heading but we're hungry so we went to the place we picked earlier for dinner.

After dinner we returned to our motel. I further worked on my Spanish homework and I glad I did because afterward, I had no time at all to do any study.

[Lee]

Armed with bottled waters and 2 cereal bars, one digital camera and tons of sunscreen, I attacked the grounds of Indian Wells. Arrived at about 8:30am and got my tickets. Parked my car and lined up waiting for the gate to open at 9am.

First player I recognised practising is Calleri. While I was taking a picture of him, a dashing guy came up and talked to me. I didn't have my morning coffee or breakfast so my brain was really not working. We exchanged a few words and he left. I returned my attention to the player he was hitting with. When I first spot Calleri, I saw a chubby guy hitting with him and I thought he's his coach. But I was wondered why so many watching "his coach" so I got closer and paid a better attention to him. He's Nalbandian. He had his cap on so it's a little bit difficult to see his face and I was wearing my contact lens which provided OK vision but far from 20/20.

Then there's Marcos warming up with his coach shirtless. Ever comment I heard from the crowd was his engaging smile. Nothing about his tennis.

I continued to wander around and my thought returned to the dashing guy. Now I finally paid some attention, I recognised he looked really familiar. Then I spot him with Deb and Amber and yes, he's Brian. Honestly, he looked much much better than any of the pics he post in MTF. That's the reason I didn't recognise him in the first place

I went to the practice court and talked to Brian. They were watching Djokovic there. I took a few pics of Novak but could not tell who's the guy he's hitting with. And I hated to miss that funny moment of Novak chasing a ball and almost knocked Amber out. We were wondering how Jess would react if she's in Amber's place.

Moving on, there's Lisa Raymond in the next court. Couldn't really hear what she's talking about but took a pic of her anyway.

Then moved to the famous grass area where players work out, jog, play football (both American and traditional), etc. There were a few WTA players and ATP players. There was a cute guy playing American football with other players but none of us knew what's his name and I could only took a picture of his back.

Then Nadal showed up but not doing much. On the other hand, Ferrero did lots of exercise with his coach. And no, I didn't see they talked to each other

more to come

[TennisHack]

So who all did you go with? I only recognize my evil name twin I guess you guys actually like her now, eh? After all those famous battles between the Duckies and the rest of the old ATPWorld crowd.

Good start so far!

[Lee]

admin said:

So who all did you go with? I only recognize my evil name twin I guess you guys actually like her now, eh? After all those famous battles between the Duckies and the rest of the old ATPWorld crowd.

Good start so far!

I am on OK terms with Deb. She's more mello than your days in MTF. We didn't exactly go together since we went in different direction. (She's going to law school in LA) I went to the tournament all by myself and that's good because I could leave whenever I wanted. I asked Deb info of the tournament since she went there last year so I got some tips in where to stay and around the tournament site and we had a courtesy dinner together on Thursday. That's when we spot Ivan. I don't think you know Brian since he is on MTF after you left. And for Amber, I also doubt you crossed her path before in MTF too.

[Heide Hugentobler]

what's Amber's nick in mtf, Lee? lol, Hackie, i remember when Becca was at wars with the duckies and she would attack the Debstah and any duckie at that. then Leena came along.

Brian is the Filipino, right? never really read his thread, it just seemed to be occupied by all these Ami 'kids'. well at least you got along with them in real life, in a tennis tournament, at that!

heard Roger hit with Sampras. i would have loved to see some pics!

[Lee]

Amber is acoffeygirl in MTF. Another duck fan. so as Brian. And yes, he's the Filipino. He's there with his boyfriend.

[Lee]

... Mar 9 continue

Most players have to pass the path near the grassy area to practice courts, that's when I saw Gasquet walked really fast wearing a very eye catching yellow shirt. And tons of people followed. Since Paul Goldstein was right there, I asked and took a pic of him before I followed the crowd.

While I was walking toward the practice courts, Robredo ran right by me.

By the time I got to the practice court, Gasquet changed to a blue shirt already and warming up. That's where I ran into Deb, Amber and Brian again. After some waiting, we finally saw who's he's practising with. Another young gun ;D Andy Murray with his new hair cut. I couldn't remember what's the colour of his original shirt was but again, he changed his shirt there and wore black. Although it's only about 10am it's already very hot already. Then, a few minutes later, the DIVA arrived. Mr. Brad Gilbert was the last person arrived. But he took charged right away and started working. I lost interested right there and moved on.

And that's an excellent decision. ;D I wandered future down and there're 2 hot Spaniards. Robredo and Almagro were practising together. They did some standard hits similar to those in warm up before match and then played a set. They were soooooo intense. If it was not a practice court, you would think they were playing in a real match. First, Nico smashed his racket to the chain-link fence. Then Tommy threw his racket to the ground. After another shitty error and lost his serve, Nico hit the ball so hard to the place behind him that I believed the ball ended up on the street outside the tennis garden. Hopefully, it didn't hit any people or cars. Tommy later followed with threwing his racket right across the court and landed a few feet from Nico. Well, you can probably figure out how shitty their forms were and no doubt both were out after their first matches.

And guess who showed up for the next practise session. Ljubicic and Berdych. Quite a surprise combination and they teamed up doubles although I didn't know about it at that time. If you saw my pics you'll see Ivan had a pretty interesting was to start his warm up stretching. btw, the guy (I guess his trainer) were the one riding shotgun with him previous night.

[Lee]

I wanted to watch Mayer vs Kunitsyn but was a little bit too late as I was approaching the court, Mayer just finished his opponent 6-1 6-2. I was right at the exit of the court when a very sweaty Mayer walked out right next to me. So close that I could smell how smelly he was.

I moved to the next match I wanted to watch, Alberto Martin vs Paul Henry Mathieu on court 4. PHM was obviously the better player who didn't brain cramp and won 6-4 6-1.

Finally, I went to Stadium 1 to find my seat. Unfortunately, it’s facing south-west and it’s hot. Hantuchova just won 1st set 6-2 vs Kanepi so I figured I had sometime before Guga’s match.

I wandered off to the practice courts again and saw Hingis practising. Her mom was not around and she was hitting with a guy much better looking than Stepanek. Took a few pictures and saw Misha was on the adjoining court practising so bye bye Martina.

I was wandering who’s the guy hitting with Misha. He wore a cap the correct way so I could not see his face clearly. He was pretty good. Ahhhhh!!!!! DAVYDENKO!!!!! But his shirt was hmmmmmmmm! It’s funny that many people were watching but most didn’t know who they are.

Continue to move on the practice courts. Ferrer was resting with Chela. Next, there’s Hewitt and I didn’t know who he’s hitting with and I wasn’t paying attention because further down my line of vision, there were a BIG crowd. No doubt there were one or two shirtless good looking guys there. It’s really too much heat there. Haas and Safin!!!!! I did my best squeezed forward and took pics of both but it’s really too much for me with all these drooling women around.

Moving on, there’s a shirtless Waske, could not help myself and took a few pics. There I spot Vincy with, of course, his “I have better taste than Adam’s orange crocs” gear.

Afterward, I moved to court 5 to watch Simon Gruel vs Evgeny Korolev. Simon seemed to be in control and won the TB and I thought he would not have any problem in 2nd set and left. As I calculated it’s time for Guga’s match. Well, the result proved that I was wrong though later.

I returned to Stadium 1 but surprise surprise, the match was tied 6-2 2-6 and Daniel asked for her coach. And I really needed to thank her because I left the Stadium and went to practice courts again.

Cruising around and saw none other than fashionita, Mr. Koubek. No bright yellow though this time but a very nice bright orange. And on my return trip to Stadium 1, that’s when I saw Rainer practicing with Paradorn. Of course I paid no attention to the practice and focus on taking pictures of Rainer. His left knee was wrapped up but it didn’t seem to affect his movement. He finished practicing, got out of practice court and stopped and talked to some of his friends. I told myself, pulled yourself together and asked him for a picture. I was a bit shaky approaching him and felt like an idiot but of course, he’s very nice and put his arm around me. I had to lean into him a bit so I would not slide onto the ground. I believed I forgot to thank him and moved away so he could chat with his friends but I was still nearby. When he walked in my direction again, and he was framed so gorgeously with the mountains and sunlight behind him, I stopped him and asked to take a pic of him again. This time, all by himself and he graciously accepted. Man, I was really shaky when I walked up to Stadium 1.

Don’t know it’s luck or not that I didn’t run into Guga on the ground. I imagined I will probably fainted if I saw him right after Rainer.

So I went up to the section where my seat was and watched Guga/Del Potro match. Juan won the coin toss but he’s very respectful toward Guga and gave Guga the choice. And as usual, Guga chose to receive serve. Del Potro was broken in his 2nd service game but had nothing to do with Guga’s play. He had about 4-5 DFs in that game. By that time, the heat really got to me and when I look across the stadium, there were shades on the other side. Since they don’t restrict your seating in this part of the stadium, I moved across to the other side and was way, way better there. From there, I watched 3 consecutive shots from Guga touched the net and the final one won him the point. Guga was serving for the set at 5-4 and that’s when lack of match play caught up with him and lost serve. Although he managed to win his next service game, he lost the TB 5-7 and I knew it’s over for Guga. After the terrible game that he lost serve, Del Potro settled his nerve and Guga never threatened him on his service games.

[TennisHack]

lee said:

I told myself, pulled yourself together and asked him for a picture. I was a bit shaky approaching him and felt like an idiot but of course, he’s very nice and put his arm around me. I had to lean into him a bit so I would not slide onto the ground. I believed I forgot to thank him and moved away so he could chat with his friends but I was still nearby. When he walked in my direction again, and he was framed so gorgeously with the mountains and sunlight behind him, I stopped him and asked to take a pic of him again. This time, all by himself and he graciously accepted. Man, I was really shaky when I walked up to Stadium 1.

Aww, how wonderful! Sometimes it really pays off to get your nerve up, eh ;D

Hopefully MTF will work for me this time when I attempt to access your pics, and I can see this.