Tennis fans know the drill during Grand Slams: alternating day of rest, then day of frazzle. I've managed to take this to a new level during the first week of Roland Garros, since I bought Philippe Chatrier (the main court) tickets for the first four days of my trip, and Suzanne Lenglen tickets for Saturday and Sunday. The scheduling gods have then seen fit to put my favorite player, Roger Federer, on Lenglen on Wednesday and Friday, and this afternoon he'll take on fellow countryman Stan Wawrinka on Chatrier.
I've successfully swapped tickets twice so far: this one feels like a bigger ask, but it will have been a tremendously enjoyable first Grand Slam visit whatever the outcome. Here are some of my impressions of the first five days.
People, people everywhere: don't come to Roland Garros if you don't like close contact with your fellow human beings. The site has a lot of tennis courts, three good sized stadiums, pretty good concession and souvenir booths, and very narrow walkways. Even the main boulevard between Chatrier and Lenglen gets jammed in the middle of the afternoon, which has been a bummer for me when I've been trying to get to a working wifi hotspot at the Place Des Mousquatieres.
Go high tech: my lovely wife Sylvia purchased an IPad for me for our wedding anniversary this year, and it's been a complete godsend on the trip. Easiest thing in the world to check on scores, schedules, eMail, compose Racquet Reactions (I use the notes app then drop it into TypePad when finished), and Twitter. Like many people I pooh-poohed Twitter when I first heard about it, but I'd hate it if it went away now. It's become a mini web in its own right - links, conversations, private messages. Plus moral support from Tribe members when I've railed at the scheduling gods....
(By the way, this trip wouldn't have happened without Sylvia's prompting me to use up British Airways frequent flier miles, and making nearly all the arrangements. There are understanding spouses, and then there are those who go above and beyond. Thank you.)
French style: making comparisons between countries and events is something we all do, often on a very small sample. Everyone knows someone who's an instant expert on a country after they spent a week there 20 years ago. I've been coming to France for over 40 years now, on and off. I've been crestfallen and ashamed by how poor my spoken French has become (that 1975 O Level really needs a tune up), and (despite everything else you might read) impressed at how just about everyone speaks really good conversational English. In the past, I've found many fewer people ready to speak English: now, perhaps with the ubiquity of the Internet and fifty or so TV channels showing multilingual shows and movies, most folks are well armed with English.
Also on the style side, literally all the ushers are aged about 20 and they're all tall and good looking - young women and men both. The men wear a cream sweater and clay court brick red trousers, the women a cream blazer and skirt. They're perfectly elegant. At Indian Wells, all the ushers are senior citizens in Fila sports kit. I guess you go with the resources you have.
What was the best tennis: on my first day, I was on Chatrier for Isner - Nadal. I was surprised to see Isner take a set, doubly so when he took a second: I honestly didn't expect him to win one of the next three, and so it proved. I also saw Rus - Clijsters, an object lesson to anyone who's ever played the sport themselves. Clijsters had match point at 6-3, 5-2 on her opponent's serve, but the 115-ranked player kept scrapping and turned the match around to upset the number 2 seed. Most of the commentary focused on Clijsters' level of play, and she did look a bit ring rusty - but she had built that big lead. I just loved the way Rus kept her game face on, treating the biggest win of her career as if it was just another match.
I was also on Lenglen yesterday for Murray - Berrer, which brought back memories of the first time I saw Murray play, at Indian Wells in a quarter final against Tommy Haas. Murray badly twisted his ankle in that match a set down to Haas, and looked certain to be forced to retire. It seemed like he'd only be able to manage a few points before conceding: instead, he baffled and bamboozled his German opponent, took the second set and went on to win a tie break decider.
Poor Michael Berrer was Murray's foil yesterday. Murray turned his ankle sliding for a drop shot, but the denouement was the same: the Scot played through obvious pain, shortening points with hard groundstrokes aimed much closer to the lines than he usually hits. Makes you wonder what he could do in a big match if he could somehow find that mindset.
The top WTA seed playing today is the 3 seed, Vera Zvonereva, the highest seed left in the tournament. For the ATP, Federer and Djokovic go up against Wawrinka and Gasquet respectively. All these matches are on Chatrier: the marquee match on Lenglen is Monfils vs Ferrer. If you'll excuse me, I'm off to see if I can find a Gael Monfils KAD at the Place Des Mousquatieres. A bientot. (Oh, almost forgot - Enjoy today's tennis!)
