So as promised, here's a little recap of my day off at the Rogers Cup! :) This day was possible, all thanks to my sister who's a volunteer for the event :) As a volunteer, she gets a pair of tickets... that she does not need as she has access to all the matches! Yay for my dad and I!! LOL. So here's my sister, volunteering. She was part of the information team :)
The tickets were for the morning session. We had access to the site starting from 11am and the matches were beginning at noon. My dad and I left the house a little bit late, then hit some traffic... but the hardest was finding a place of parking!! The Uniprix stadium is really great, the whole site is actually great as well as the atmosphere... Unfortunately, there was not much parking space! Anyway, we entered the site... and immediately ran into my sister :) Then, we went to take our seats. The match between Berdych and Karlovic had already started.
The match was okay. Karlovic is a very powerful server and so, there were no long exchanges between the two players. It was not the most riveting tennis match I've seen ^_^; Still, it was fun to just be there :)
Also, Thursday was almost a perfect tennis day... at least, for the audience LOL. The temperature was cool, and the sky, cloudy. So not big sun shining on us... and actually, with the winds, it was almost chilly. Okay, I did worry a little bit when I saw that big grey cloud over us. I mean, it had rained the day before... But pretty soon, it passed us :)
After the Berdych vs. Karlovic match, we had the chance to see the new world no. 1, Djokovic, play against Cilic. The previous night, Cilic won against one of my favorite player, Del Potro... so I was expecting a good match between the two and I was not disappointed! The match between Djokovic and Cilic was much better, with a lot of long exchanges... and the two players had some very nice precision shots. The first set was tight, Cilic faltering at the last two points!! Awwwww. The second set went by much faster, unfortunately.
After Djokovic and Cilic were done playing, there was no other match on the central court. However, what's great with the tickets we got is that it did give us access to the other courts' matches. So we went to Court no. 1 and got to see Tipsarevic vs. Dodig... The latter is the player who ousted Nadal at this year's Rogers Cup :) Since everyone from the central court rushed to court no. 1, it was a bit hard to find some good places. We ended up behind the scoreboard... but hey, these were free tickets right? So beggars can't be choosers :P
This match was pretty much one-sided. It's unfortunate that Dodig lost after winning against Nadal... but the guy hadn't had much time to recuperate, so it wasn't that surprising either. Once that match was over, it was almost 6pm and my sister was almost done with her shift. We could have stayed on longer on court no. 1 or go to the other smaller courts to watch more tennis... but my dad and I were ready to go home LOL. Perhaps if it had been me alone, I would have pushed on and try to get some autographs... I mean, Andy Murray had a practice... Djokovic and Tipsarevic were playing in double later that night as well as the Bryan-Bryan... and I could have watched those matches :) However, I think my dad had had enough LOL.
Yay, not the most flattering angle ^_^; Anyway, it was still a great day and a great experience. I love tennis, although I have to admit I haven't followed much this year. Some of my favorite female players aren't in the mix really and Wimbledon took place at the same time as RWA... So wasn't much into it this year, but you never know when tennis bug will bite again :)
One thing that I discovered by attending the matches is that the umpire calls "time" to indicate to the players that the change-overs are over. I did not know that! Probably because when I watch on TV, it's always an ad LOL. Also, the public moves a lot during a tennis match. People really come and go. They talk, discuss and some even do their own commentary (that was a bit annoying). It's quite amazing that the players can block it all off! Would I be ready to go back? Sure! I don't think I'd have the patience to attend all the sessions... but once or twice during the tournament? Definitively. Especially since the tickets allow you to see so many matches :) Definitively worth it :)
And at the end of the day, I had a really nice glow LOL.
