Monday in Madrid
So the good news is I found out how to get information on the practice schedule. A guy sitting next to me at David Ferrer’s practice handed me a print out that you can get at the information desk. The bad news is that it said that Rafa had already practiced from 10-12. Rats, I was sure he wouldn’t practice before his event for AlmaNadal. But what do I know? So I didn’t get to see Rafa at all today, but I guess a few of you did on TV.
Well, I can share about David’s practice. He was hitting with the always entertaining Alexandr Dogopolov. They were playing a practice set after the warm-up, like the players usually do. Ferru was up 4-1. He was playing pretty well and doing the fun sliding that is a hall-mark of the clay game that has been missing this week. While they were taking a rest on a change-over, Federer and Wawrinka showed up as they were scheduled for the next time slot on the court. As they went out to finish their set, Sasha joked with David, “Whoever wins the next game wins the set.” I think it was 30-30 when one of David’s slides didn’t turn out so well. He fell, twisting an ankle. He was slow to get up, covered in blue and done for the session. I hope he’s okay. He was scheduled to practice again at 5 PM, but I didn’t make it back in time to see if he did.
Here are some other things I found amusing this week:
- Mohammed Leyani pronounced Ryan Harrison’s name with a Spanish accent. He was ha-REE-son (long O).
- There is another chair ump that I don’t recognize that pronounces juego so that it sounds like “ho-ho”. He says cinco like he’s from Barcelona, but I really can’t figure out where he’s from.
- The Spaniards behind me were making fun of the way Argentine Damian Steiner says seis. He was dropping the last s.
- After Marcos Baghdatis fell in his match, he had to go change his clothes. This picture was taken after he asked the ball girl to brush him off with a towel. (Souvenir blue clay for him.)
- Ivan Navarro like showing off his thigh as much as Feli –although I like Feli’s better. I haven’t noticed Feli doing that this year. Wonder if the shorter shorts have relieved him of the need to do that. Also wonder if this is a tick Rafa might like to pick up. (Side note: this is one good outcome of inflation as it is the cost of cotton that drove the trend for shorter men’s shorts.)
- Sergiy Stakhovsky was so displeased with court 7 in his qualifying match that he took it upon himself to rake the court. The chair ump was not pleased with this action, telling him the groundskeepers know what they are doing.
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Man, the news of how bad the courts are just keep getting worse. Hope Daveeeed is okay!
Looking at the photo above and seeing Daveeed smiling after the practice, I guess (and hope) he is ok.
Who really like this court ?
Now, we shall have to pray not that Rafa wins (that, too, ofcourse) but that he stays safe out there, also #tenniswarzone
I’ll be praying every time he plays too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t run after every ball. If he does, I simply hope that he’s already got used to running and sliding on this artificial-colored blue clay court. Fingers crossed!
These reports are gems :) Thanks Deb!
ooh, yes, thank you, deb!
ok, daveed is just looking too fine! Yum. hope his ankle is ok. damn that. blue clay
It was a shock to wake up and hear that David had taken a tumble on the court and I hope he is ok. I think we will all be nervously waiting Rafa’s game and hoping that he stays upright and not end up a Smurf. It really amazes me how organizations can come up with such stupid decisions like changing Clay color. I read a tweet this morning that Madrid is not even televised and that is one of the reasons why they changed the color. Is this correct?
The official reason, as far as i heard for the blue clay is indeed the fact that you should be able to see the ball better on tv…
Madrid is televised.
I dunno what to think of the blue…. i kind off like how it looks and i would love to try it out and play on it, but if its slippery and players are getting hurt on it easily then i hate it too!
The men’s matches are televised. The women’s are not.
ah, did’nt know that… I never watch much womens tennis, l rather play that. ,)
Thanks Miri.
I got the women’s matches on cable tv in malaysia..the men’s coverage are a bit later..Not sure how it is in the USA and Europe..
I’m really worried for Rafa esp since the BLUE clay is so slippery..hope he stays SAFE!
I’m sure Rafa’s had enough time to practice on the blue stuff now and he won’t be taking any chances on slipping. I expect we’ll see lots of sliding as usual, & let’s not forget HE is the KING OF CLAY be it red, white or BLUE!!
I hope so Karen..Let’s pray he stays SAFE and incident free up till end of Roland Garros and beyond!