siebelgail

Fan Experiences 2002

Anna at Toronto

07.27.2002: Annas photos

So today my friend and I went to the masters series, yup the qualies! It was
tones of fun!
Anyways the first match we went to see was Marco Chiudinelli and Srichaphan!
It was very good I felt kind of sorry for Marco because his game was a good
match to Paradorn's but he was losing to him mentally. LoL, this couple was
standing next to me and one of them said that Srichaphan beat Sampras and
Safin at Wimby :o

Anyways after a while we went to see some practicing on court 1. I thought
it was Harel Levy and Mark Knowles (not sure about him because he was
standing sort of far). Blah a bit of a gap after because we went to eat :o

Anyways after that we went to see Oleg Ogorodov vs Harel Levy! This man
stood right beside me and kept saying that Harel Levy looked like Sergio
Garcia and than he asked me if Ogorodov was my boyfriend??? (it's funny my
friend and I were the only one cheering for Oleg, maybe that's why the man
skipped the fact that Oleg was twice my age. ) Back to the match Oleg was
very focused at the beginning and playing well! His backhand was amazing!
But he got very frustrated at the end and kept saying things to himself. we
were standing really close so we pretty much could hear all the time he was
swearing in Russian. He also kept yelling at the lines men in Russian I
think the guy got really scared. Anyways I went up to the stand and I could
see 3 matches at the same time (I cought on to a bit of Spadea / De Armas
match). This other man kept asking me about Ogorodov (yeah we were the only
ones clapping now.for him let alone cheering).anyways suddenly in the stands
guess who enters non other than Marco Chiudinelli and later on Hadad. I
wanted to ask Hadad for a picture but he didn't seem to be in the mood (his
match was actually next after this one). But after standing there for about
an hour I asked Marco for his picture. He was very nice even though he lost
his match, he asked me if I wanted to take a picture with him or just him
alone and like an idiot that I am I just asked for a picture of him (yeah
without me :o). But he smiled for me and yup hopefully I'll scan this
picture and post it like many others that I took. Marco probably thought I
was stalking him because of all the time that I was waiting to get his
picture (yeah I'm a real wimp). And I was the only one to recognize him
because no one else seemed to know who he was, Oleg lost but he was still in
good spirits, I didn't get his autograph but he was really funny. I actually
screamed once "Davay Oleg". practically the whole crowd gave me this stare,
they didn't even clap for the man.

Anyways next we went to see what was going on court 1 they had this little
contest with serves.and well I tried and I totally embarrassed myself.my
serve was about 45 mph (I think it was km though) :o Yeah pretty bad.

Next up was Taylor Dent's vs Hadad's match, I watched most of it and took a
lot of pics of Taylor he looked so huge in real life, he really scared me. I
wasn't too impressed with his game though it was pretty much just bombing
the serve and Hadad kind of gave it away mentally.

Then I went to see a bit of Andrew Nisker and Alex Kim's match witch was
very good I was impressed with Andrew he was showing some real talent.

I went back and caught a bit of Bastl's match. I took too many pics of
him.mostly the shirt change ones ;) , I'll scan them all a bit later for
your enjoyment.

Anyways after that I watched a bit of Wayne Black's and Michael Russel's
match which was high quality but I kind of went off because I wanted to see
the ATP vs Hockey pro game. On the atp team there was Roger Federer, Michel
Kratochvil , Marco Chiudinelli, Thomas Johansson, Thomas Enqvist, Andrew
Nisker, Roger Federer's coach and more. I got the pic of Federer and Enqvist
actually standing together! I think Marco saw me and he kept looking over
and thinking I was a stalker. He was very friendly with Rogy and Michel
though. Even though the Atp lost they played pretty good, I was surprised
with Kratochvil and Marco. Anyways I took tones of pics and I got Roger
Federer's autograph and Marco's too :). There ends my day of high quality
tennis. I missed Hyung -Taik Lee but hopefully I'll get to see him play
tomorrow!

P.S. And yes I missed so many exhibition matches but damn it my friend had
to go home, actually so did I, so hopefully tomorrow I'll get to see a lot
more

07.28.2002:

Wow today was just wow! Amazing!
My friends and I arrived at York University a bit late today.about 11 30, I
caught some of the Srichaphan/Behr match; witch was going down on center
court. I wanted to go to the stands at court 2 but then I saw Xavier Mallise
practicing! I then saw Wayne Ferriera exit the court and I rushed over for
his autograph. He was very nice actually, and he gave me his autograph. I
went on to watch a bit of Xavier's practice. Realizing it wasn't too late to
check out Spadea play, I went to watch him go at it with Okun. He was
playing very good, painting the lines, and his backhand was looking so nice.
I also looked over to watch Stepanek and Saulnier, but I didn't get much out
of it. My friends were kind of disinterested in tennis so they pointed out
to me that Xavier was leaving the court and they kind of dragged me to go
ask for his autograph, lol so I did. Kratochvill was actually next to
practice on the court, I didn't get his autograph but he seemed to be in
good spirits with Xavier. I then saw none other than Jiri Novak! He is huge
in real life, so tall! I felt so small. I didn't get his autograph because I
was just yeah kind of surprised.

Ok so afterwards my buds and I wanted to watch Hyung - Taik Lee play but
than Nicole (my friend) wanted to get some water so we went with her and
there was a huge line at the end. Basically, they were giving away free
stuff and a few Canadian tennis players were signing some autographs. My
friend got Frederic Niemeyer's autograph, and I got Philip Gubenco's. Than
they said "in 5 minutes Lleyton Hewitt will come and join us.if you want his
autograph line up over there." I almost fell when they said that, seriously.
I lined up with my buds and I was so pumped, Lleyton than appeared not a
moment too soon Him and Hayden entered, Hayden stayed backstage ..with the
security guards (darn it I wanted to talk to him!) and Lleyton went up on
stage and answered a few questions. Anyways I got up on the line and asked
for his autograph and he signed my poster, and I said thank you. He looked
so small though, he was bigger than me but still he just seemed so much
smaller than the other players, and so skinny too. Anyways we than stood
around and saw Hayden looking all serious, so we took some pics of him. just
because.he was looking serious. I wanted to ask Lleyton a question but than
decided that it wouldn't matter too much, they cut the line right after us
actually and some people didn't even get his autograph at all.

After seeing Lleyton my buds and I went back to see Hyung - Taik Lee play,
he was pretty much pounding Harel Levy. And I was quiet impressed with his
game, Harel couldn't do much against him. So after that my friends and I
went to loitering around. We went on again to court 4, where Tim Henman was
practicing with Arnaud Clement. LoL Arnaud's coach was funny! He stood
shirtless and he had to stand right in front of me! I was trying to watch
Clement play but what was that? I wasn't complaining too much though, he did
have a nice back really.but I wanted to watch Clement.

Anyways we made our way to check out Alex Kim play against Bastl! Kim was
playing way too well, and Bastl was just too frustrated. I couldn't bare
watching Bastl getting himself down so much so I went to watch Taylor Dent
play against Cecil Mamiit. I liked that match, Dent's serve was once again
just huge, but some of his shots weren't all that good looking. However, I
liked Cecil's game, too bad he had to lose. Anyways we got kicked out after
that match was over and we made our way to go on court 3 where all the
action was going on! It was Carlsen vs Etlis, I must admit I only watched
till the end of second set. However I met there my tennis coaches (they are
a wife and a husband) and they kept telling me that Harel Levy played
against Novak in the final of Toronto 2 years a go and indeed Safin lost in
the semis???. I decided not to argue with them since they were pretty
stubborn. My coach told me that this is how you have to run while pointing
in Carlsen's direction.and I said.well I just stood there Then I left and
well today was tones of fun! I got many pics and yeah!

P.S. Lleyton Hewitt moment was the best for me! He said that no one watches
Aussie rules footy in Canada.well I did, I wanted to say that I did, but I
'm just a wimp. Anyway now all I have left is to watch about 50 more
players?

07.30.2002:

Well today was maybe not as exciting as the the qualifiers, because of
Lleyton losing and I somewhat felt upset. Anywho I got on court 1 early to
see Schalken practice, he was doing good especially in the heat! I than
loitered around and on court 3 I saw Canas and Schuettler practicing for
their doubles match. Anyways I went back to court 1 to watch Moya vs Boutter
and well Moya was pretty much the consistent one. I think my friend and I
were the only 2 people who were cheering for Boutter. (Keep in mind I wanted
Moya to win but I felt sorry for Julien) Hee hee I even screamed a few times
c'mon Julien. I think he looked up at me thinking I'm some kind of a
freak.well he was right about that.

Anyways after watching a set of that match I decided to go check out some
other courts and I got to see a bit of Fernando Gonzalez vs Stefan Koubek
and Davide Sanguinetti vs Mariano Zabaleta. David was funny, he kept talking
to himself and Zabaleta was.well he was very good looking. Too bad neither
my friend or I had a camera today, so we couldn't take any pictures >:/
Anyways I went back to the Boutter / Moya match just to see whether Boutter
would pull it through with 3 sets. But he ended up losing it even though
Moya was getting somewhat frustrated. I also got to see the Moya's camp that
looked pretty funny because both Moya's coach, some other guy who's face I
couldn't see, and his girlfriend had somewhat bare feet :p Julien only
seemed to have one guy in his camp who kept leaving and going or maybe he
wasn't with Julien at all.

After that match my friend and I went to get some stretching done and we
caught in this crowed that were trying to get Safin's autograph when he was
entering the court. Erm he didn't look that big in real life, I mean he
looked big but not as huge as I imagined him to be. Anyways I went back to
court 1 to watch Zhenya vs Max match. I spend a whole lot of time during
that match (I got burned there), lol there was this guy who apparently comes
to this tourney every year and waves different flags and he kept waving the
Russian flag when Zhenya won a game.and than the Byelorussian flag when Max
won a game.Also this guy yelled "Zhenya take care of your balls " (he said
it in Russian) when Kafelnikov tried a through the legs shot and it kind of
didn't work. I pretty much thought that both Zhenya and Max thought that
this whole court was a crazy house. So I guess my friend and I sort of got
really fried sitting in one spot so we went off to see a bit of El Aynaoui
vs Kiefer ( I can't believe I missed Krajicek vs Nieminen! AAAAH! ). When I
was there Kiefer has lost the first set and it was the start of the second.
Than I saw a bit of Black / Ullyet vs Adams/ Etlis which was quiet good but
I really wanted to go back and watch Zhenya play. Anyways it was the third
set and we all got very excited and Zhenya was playing amazing! His forehand
was so good! And well yeah! After the match was over Zhenya went to sign our
autograph and I said Thank you (in Russian) and he said.your welcome (also
in Russian)! And then Max came and he signed an autograph too! He was so
nice he signed almost everyone's program! I swear the guy was so sweet! Erm
I kind of told him "we love you max" for some strange reason, I don't know
something came over me, but hey, he kind of grinned at it.

Umm than I think I blanked out somewhat but I went to watch Guga's match!!!
LoL the Brazilian fans were going wild, they made the 5 people with the
Romanian flags look pretty pathetic (they were not chanting enough !).
Seriously the Brazilian fans were singing songs waving flags and they were
so exciting, and some of those people were so very nice. I talked to a few
of them after Guga had to retire :( and they were very nice! Anywho the Guga
match was tones of fun to watch but my friend didn't want to because she got
some serious sunburns so she wanted to sit in the shade, while I went to
watch Kiefer's match! LoL Kiefer pulled out the second set and than for some
reason both him and Younes left the court (Probably a bathroom break). But
Nicolas accidentally pushed my friend while she was waiting in line for
water, lol, she was very offended :p I must say Younes has very large feet!
No seriously, he is so tall and skinny and he has really huge feet! Than I
went to watch a bit of doubles which were Johnson/ Palmer vs Bowen/Thomas.
JP team (as I call them) looked really strong, they didn't give Bowen/Thomas
much to work with. Anyways while my friend was standing in line for water
(yup it was a long line) I found out that Guga had to retire :( ( I know I'm
sort of going forward and back in time).

Anyways we went back to Court 1 (I spend too many hours on that court today)
and we watched a bit of Costa vs Spadea! Spadea was just dominating Costa,
he was on fire! A great match but I couldn't bare to see Costa getting
creamed like that so I left right in the middle of the second set. Erm I
went to center court to see who's going to play next. And they put Nicolas
Lappentti vs Gaston Gaudio match over there! Darn that was a good match, not
only that it had nice tennis, we also found a shady spot! (it was 35 +
degrees the whole day and I was there for 9 hours!) :D Yay, seriously it
felt good! We watched a set of it which also led to a tie break (we saw so
many sets with tie breaks today, I think I'm going to die if I see one
more). After watching a bit more of the second set, I kind of told my friend
it was time to go.but guess who was playing on court 1? Non other than SUSHI
:p Yes, Ferrero was there! Darn it he looked small like Lleyton, no
seriously Lleyton and him look so much smaller than the average players.
Ferrero was playing Enqvist and well Thomas had some very nice angles on his
forehand and backhand. It was a very good match to watch. But I seriously
couldn't watch more of it than for 2 sets. LoL, my friend thought that
Ferrero was going to close out the second set so she dragged me down with
her to get his autograph ,lol, but than he gave us this dirty look and he
ended up losing the second set. I laughed at my friend because I knew that
would happen :o Anyways it was about 7 pm and I couldn't bare anymore so I
really wanted to go home (this is about the time when Ferreira was starting
to play Sampras.but I saw that match at home). Anyways here was my day full
of sunburns and observations. So yeah no more live tennis for me.:(

P.S. yeah I was suppose to go on Wednesday but Lleyton lost so there were
only 2 players I would want to see and I kind of ran out of money. I missed
Grosjean play today because my friend didn't want to see him at all and I
could barely move! I'm so upset but o well! Maybe if I get to go to Montreal
next year, hopefully I'll get to see him, Tommy Robredo, and Lleyton play!

Kate at Wimbledon

Monday: We queued for ground passes on Monday as there was no-one on the show courts that we wanted to see and A-Rod was on court 18. When we arrived in the queue there were obviously loads of people there, so it was really freaky when the girl in front said, "excuse me, are you Lucy Flory?" to Lucy. Well you could have knocked her over with a pin when the girl turned out to be our very own Karen!!! So we had a great time queueing with Karen that morning, it's lots of fun in the queue. The first match I raced to see was James Blake on court 4, he was playing Mariano Zabaleta in the first round. It was really great because on the outside courts they just have park benches right next to the court so you're really close. Well after James successfully won, I went to get his autograph. I'd printed this picture of him off his official site, but I didn't know the origin. So i gave him this pic and he said "Oh My God, where's this from?" Well I was floundering! I didn't have a clue! Fortunately he jumped in with "Oh it's from Rome isn't it?" So I just agreed, as though I was going to say that all along *lol*. He was really lovely, he signed for everyone and posed for pictures etc. He is one of the nicest sporting guys I've met. I went to watch a bit of Mirnyi v Dent then cos I like Max. Afterwards I went to watch the end of Barry Cowan's match ready to see Andy Roddick with Lucy, Mum and Matthew. He was in fine form and we were waving Lucy's banner. That night we queued with Wendy right near the front (thanks Wendy!).

Tuesday: I was very excited when we got up because we were very near the front so likely to get good tickets for Lleyton. Fortunately Tim and Lleyton were on separate courts so all the Brits wanted Tim. We got front row on centre court!!!!! I was so excited! To begin with we went to court 13 to watch a bit of Tommy Robredo ( a nice Spaniard!) and I watched Venus knocking up on court 11. I took Matthew on Centre to watch her play the brit Jane O'Donoghue and then of course Lleyton was on! He played superbly against Bjorkman and we were so close! We waved the banner and got on tv loads (well so my dad says) and I took lots of photos! After Lleyton's match I watched the end of Henman on Henman Hill the watched A-Rod practice. I then dragged Matthew off to court 16 to watch James Blake in the doubles, he was playing with Andy Kratzmann. We got front row again and James kept looking over and laughing cos Matthew was falling asleep *lol*.

Wednesday:On Wednesday me and Luc queued for ground passes again as Roddick was once again on court 18. James Blake was on court 2, but I didn't fancy queueing over night again, so I decided to miss him. We watched Dent v Gambill first, that was a great match, Jan-Mike's dad couldn't even get a seat, he had to hang over the barriers at the back! We then went ot get in the queue for Roddick, but it was packed, it was full for Dokic, it was really hot and I decided there was no qay I was going to queue for a couple of hours and not even get on. There was a big upset happening on court 2 with pete Sampras. So i asked the steward what the chances were of getting on the standing. He thought I;d have much more chance than if I tried to get on court 18. I was really lucky and got on for the last set of Sampras, but I was quite near the back so couldn't see as well. When he lost I ran to the front because it cleared. I stood next to another James fan and we cheered him on all the way. Everyone else was a Krajcek fan. It was really disappointing when he lost 11-9 in the 5th, after such a great come back. I walked out of Wimby staright into the queue for the next day to see lleyton :-)

Thursday: I had queued with mum and Matthew because Tim Henman was on centre and Matthew really wanted to see him. So we got 1 court 1 ticket for me and 2 centres. Since all the Brits wanted Tim I queued with the Aussies and got seats with them. There was only 2 rows of us, but we made lost of noise, they held up my banner with me and the atmosphere was great! We were 5 rows back this time, but behind Lleyton. So at the end when he was signing autographs I was on tv again *grin*. He was in impressive form again :-) After watching Lleyton I went to watch James Blake in the doubles by myself and got front row again. It was really entertainging to watch. He can be so English! *lol* He kept shouting out "Oh my goodness" and "oh my Gosh!" I was creased up *lol*. At the end I asked him to sign the pic of me and him, and he said "oh that's a nice picture" well my knees were knocking! *lol*. It was really nice of him to say that because he wasn't really saying much to anyone else :-) I queued again that night for Roddick v Rusedski the next day. I don't reccomend queueing overnight 2 nights on the bounce *lol* Your back gets very sore *lol*.

Friday: We met up with Wendy inside and I went with Lucy and Wendy's friedn to try and queue to get on court 2 standing for Flip. Mum and Wendy had tickets. But the queue was enormous! We were never going to get on. Fortunately Dad sent me a message to say Lleyton was about to start practicing. So I raced over there and they made me queue to get round! I was like, excuse me, Lleyton Hewitt's round there, what are you doing stopping me going!!!! So they let me round in the end and I watched his whole practice. Hayden was there too. I'm not sure who he was practicing with, it was an Aussie with bright red hair, he was a lefty beacuse Lleyton was playing a lefty in the next round. Lleyton was looking good in practice, hitting the ball well. At the end I went over in the crush to try and get his autograph. He by passed me again, and I had visions of being blanked again *lol* But then he saw my Aussie hat and didn a realy nice autograph on it for me. Then he walked off with my pen and signed some more, then came back to me, smiled and said "there you go" when he gave me my pen back. I wsa ecstatic, he's never spoken or even acknowledged me since Barcelona! And this time I got a smile as well! He was really relaxed. Afterwards I went to watch Xa Xa lay Kafelnikov. It was really great to watch. Xa Xa played really well. There was one point where he took his hair out to tie it up again, and someone did a wolf whistle, so when we were all laughing, he wiggled his backside at us too! I was creased up, he is such a character, Astrid I took some photos for you! Y2K was looking madder and madder *lol*. Then came the match I queued for, Greg v Andy. It was so disappointing. Me and Lucy were the only ones really cheering on Andy. He just froze completely, he didn't move for anything. Added to that Greg played really well. We were cheering for Andy so loudly to. He kept looking over and making eye contact or clenching his fists. He settled down towards the end, but it was too late. Lucy was devastated. To finish my week off I went to watch Kournikova in the mixed doubles. I don't know how she manages to play with all the cat calls and abuse she gets. Still she played well.

Well that's the end of my report. I had a really great week and hope I can go down next year. I hope my report didn't bore you too much!

Karen at Queens 2002

Hi all, had a great time at Queen's yesterday and today. Why is England the only place where I can get a sunburn and then a couple hours later freeze my a** off??

I caught both Lleyton & Tim practicing yesterday. LL looked good in practice, and I never had any doubts that he would win this tourney (even when he was down that set to Tim!). At one point in yesterday's practice, Lleyton had someone look (physio?) at his left knee - apparently was sore, had it rubbed and they appeared to be talking about it. Didn't seem to affect his practice; however, in today's practice, he wore some kind of strap (tensor?) around it just under the knee cap - his mom said it was just a bit sore and that that was common with players at the start of the grass season. Didn't wear the strap in the match. His mom & dad were watching today's practice, also Kim. She practiced with Stolts after Lleyton. Hayden was there both days.

Lleyton played well against Schalken, raising his game when he had to but otherwise not really going all out. Tim's match against Sluiter (who was playing quite well) was more of a struggle but he managed to come back from a set & break down I think as well. I lucked out with the rain delay - got to sit front row for Tim's last set.

Against Tim, Lleyton was not quite up to his usual standard the first set, but then really started passing well. Rarely came to net. Took two tumbles - once slipped & fell flat out on his front; later rolled head over heels. Tim was great the first set, but couldn't keep up that standard. We could all keep up with the Ireland game with the roars from the bar - cheers & groans. Just before Tim was to serve at one point, and there had been lots of calls of go Tim, go Lleyton from the crowd, we could hear a big groan from the bar, so one guy then yelled out go Ireland!

Kate at Queens 2002

Saturday was a little disappointing as I said before. We got down there for 11:00am and they told us to come back at 12:00 which Wendy thought was a little sus as the gates usually open at 11:00. So we went back at 12:00 and they said they couldn't let us in because since it had been raining the night before the courts were damp and the players were indoors. But we only actually had 10 mins of rain that day, and they still wouldn't let us in! We saw players arriving and leaving. Wendy got a Flip autograph as he was walking up the street, XaXa Malisse was with him but I couldn't be bothered to run *lol*. When Wayne Arthurs arrived I got Wendy to go and get his autograph so that she could ask him when Lleyton was arriving *lol* She didn't even want his autograph! *lol* We were finally told that there would be no play outdoors that day ao there was no point in staying. We went along to Wimbledon village instead to get some dinner etc. While we were there Wendy showed my where Lleyton stayed last year, we don't know if he's here this year or not, but we had a photo outside his front door anyway *lol*Wendy also showed us the newsagents where they go and and pub they usually go to. So I'm all set up for player spotting at Wimbly now! *lol*

Sunday was much better! *lol* The weather was looking dodgy, but it hadn't rained since 12:00 the previous day, so the players were outside. As soon as we got there, the nicer guard told me that Lleyton was practicing and I should run to see him. So me and Wendy legged it round there with mum bringing up the rear. He was on the far practice court (typical Lleyton) *lol*. He was practicing with Todd Martin, but XaXa and Schricapan were sharing their court. They were practicing serves when we got there. Hayden was watching, Stoltenburg and Muddy too. Wendy said "hi" to Muddy when we got there. After their serving they got in their pairs and did a 2 on 2 of system where each played a couple of points. At one point Lleyton hit a serve that got Martin on the foot, he did a mock gasp and grabbed his foot, Lleyton was laughing, Todd then tried to get Lleyton but missed *lol*. Lleyton was hitting the ball well and seemed really relaxed. Towards the end Kim and his parents came along. We had bought a little koala for Lleyton the day before, it was a firdge magnet. So we decided to go and give it to his mum. I was terrified! *lol* So I went uo to her and said "excuse me Mrs Hewitt, would you mind giving this to Lleyton for me?" Wendy was stood right behind me poking me in the right direction *lol* She was really nice, she said sure I will and she said he was a real cutie. Wendy told her that it was a magnet so she said she would put him on the fridge. Then her and Wendy started talking about DC and Lleyton's match at Wimbly last year against Escude, at which point I chipped in with that I'd been *lol*. I showed her my banner and she said that Lleyton should sign it at the end of his practice session. So we were hopeful then. When Lleyton was finished Wendy and mum called Kim over and I gave her her b'day card. She was like oh how sweet and thank you very much. She then signed an autograph for you Marly! Then as Lleyton was leaving I legged it over to him, I think I must have knocked several little children out the way *lol*, or else they just weren't there *lol*. I thought he was going to blank me (again!!!) when he ignored me the first 2 times I said his name, but then he turned round, he didn't say anything at all, didn't even look at me, but he signed my banner so that was enough! *lol* then Wendy got him on her Fanatics T-shirt and he legged it *lol*

Tim Henman and James Blake were practicing on the court next door so after chatting to an old man who's been collecting atugraphs for 50 years and had 20000(!) we went to watch then *lol*. We had to scrape past everyone with our luggage, we kept bashing their ankles *lol*. When they had finished I called James Blake over, he was really surprised because everyone was after Tim's. But then Mark Rosset saw my pic of Tim, it was actually Wendy's but I was going to get it signed, it was from a couple of years ago and the hair was kinda bad *lol* So he asked me if he could borrow it and I said yeah but don't show it to Tim. Too late, just as James was signing my programme he said hey Tim, look at this pic that this girl's got of you! Good haircut then! Tim was mortified, everyone was laughing at him so he picked up his bags and legged it. Since James was still standing there I decided to ask him for a photo too. He was dead sweet, put his arm round me and had a photo. It was wonderful!

After they'd gone Flip came, but it had started to rain. He was desperate to play on the grass, so he decided to stay. So whilst Wendy videoed it and mum was taking photos, I was stood with the brolly holding it over Wendy. But I got a Flip autograph at the end of it so that was ok.

We didn't see anything else because it rained for the rest of the day. Mum's just reminded me that we saw Jan Mike Gambill outside the cafe we were in. But that was it. But we had a great time nevertheless! Meeting Lleyton was fab! I've just got to persuade mum now to let me shoot the film off and get James Blake developed! *lol*

Gail at the Siebel Open final 3 March

Catherine, Michi, and I have gone to the Siebel Open now for 4 years. While we've always hoped that Pat would come, we have been thrilled with Lleyton's, Wayne Arthurs, Andy Roddick, Xavier Malisse and J-M Gambill's appearances. This year we were pleased to see so many Americans such as Todd Martin, Alex Kim, Robby Ginepri, Mardy Fish, Taylor Dent, and James Blake as well as those mentioned above.

We first saw Lleyton on Wednesday night when he met Michael Llodra from France. He was announced to the tune from "Rocky". We could see, right off, that he was a bit off with his 1st serves, returning down the middle rather than ocassional down the line shots, and just his timing in general. He took in in 3 sets, 6-2, 3-6, and 6-2.

We missed him against Paradorn and only saw the last 4 games against Todd Martin, but we could tell he was feeling more confident and his timing and serving were better. But would he be able to get past Gambill and eventual finalist Andre who also looked a bit off but not by much against Mamiit and Ferreira? Against Roddick, Andre showed no mercy and finished him off in less than an hour, 6-3, 6-1.

Hoping for a Hewitt-Roddick final, we had a Hewitt-Agassi final which is just what the promoters and home town fans would want. #1 vs #2 seed; #1 in the world vs Agassi who had won this tournament 4 times and lost in the final a few times.

Like I said, Andre and Lleyton came out together for the final. Lleyton with white cap backwards, white shirt and black shorts. Andre came out with bald head, white shirt and black shorts. Back and forth tied 2-2 until the 5th game in the 1st set. We could see Lleyton starting to struggle with his 1st serve, but the 5th game went to deuce perhaps 7 times and was a great indication of the path this final was going to take. They traded backhand shots , each one angling just a bit more before Andre hit it down the line. Lleyton continued to struggle with his 1st serve and lost the first set 6-4.

2nd set went to a tie break and we again witnessed a great clinic with backhand returns, Lleyton struggling with his 1st serves, hitting more into the net rather than hitting it wide or long, but really, quite a few long rallies that had the crowd spellbound then groaning with a miss by either player. The crowd seemed to warm up to Lleyton and was showing him support, wanting a 3rd set. Lleyton was down 5-2 but came back 7-5 to take the tiebreak. Andre's concentration was a bit off, Lleyton's serve was coming back, and his energy never waivered. A big "Come'on" after set point.

Kim always encouraged Lleyton with calling his name, clapping, and rapt attention. She also politely clapped for Andre on good points.

3rd set went to a tie break with an exchange of breaks around the 5th and 6th games, I believe, and more great backhand rallies. Not the slow slices of Rafter, but harder, faster topspin rallies pulling each player wider and wider and usually ending with a forehand down the line. Lleyton was going for more down the line shots and his 1st serve was starting to get in more.

Now after 3 hours of spellbound tension, it got to 5-5 in the tiebreak. I believe the next shot was the rally with Andre returning the ball between his legs and Lleyton, at the net, hitting the volley short in the box. (This could have been the shot that got it to 5-5). The last shot had Andre hitting it long, Lleyton turning to Kim and Jason, hitting his chest twice, and doing his signiture "Come'on" motion. I think Andre was getting tired while Lleyton was full of confidence. After the match, Andre had a wrap around his right wrist, but in his post-match speech, he praised Lleyton for a good final and never giving up. Most of the audience was exhausted just watching!

Hope you liked my report. It was one of the best matches I ever saw.

Tash at the Hopman Cup January