Whoever waggishly suggested that by the time I got out to the NTC today the place would be deserted and the matches canceled was half-right. Ten minutes after I strolled in, they officially canceled the day session. What amazed me, strolling through the South Gate with my electronics safely stashed in a Simm's waterproof bag (great gear, even if you don't fish), was the number of people who had hung in there all day, waiting.
Also, all the concessions and merchandise booths were open, and doing what business they could. The hot spot? The Heineken Red Star bar, just across from the press center, where a lot of people seemed to be having a great time thanks to the second most ubiquitous liquid at the site today. . .
Incidentally, the press room was choc-a-bloc, with everyone working on his or her rainy day story. So you'll definitely have feature material to read tomorrow, or later on the web. Most of you know Kamakshi Tandon, web mistress of the indispensable Court Coverage. Her site has been down since sometime yesterday, but it will be back up by Monday to help you track all the coverage of the tournament.
Charlie Bricker got hold of Gil Reyes, Andre Agassi's long-time fitness coach and confidant, and had an interesting conversation about the effects of the cortisone Andre's been taking. Reyes told Bricker that Andre, who's taking the potent NSAID analgesic, Toradol (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, made it through the entire match with Andrei Pavel (3:31) without showing visible signs of pain or injury. However, Reyes (and probably anyone else watching) saw Andre begin to hobble and gimp around at the 2:23 mark of the match vs. Marcos Baghdatis (total time of that match was 3:45) . This may matter because if he's either developing a tolerance, or the injured site is being further aggravated, there's no telling how deep he can get into his next match before the anti-inflammatory begins to lose its punch. Just something to ponder if Andre gets into another dogfight.
I'll be writing more about Andre, and and also have some further thoughts on Billie Jean King, shortly. Right now, I've got to go meet Haider Abbud, a naturalized American and consultant to the new Iraqi government, who has an amazing story to tell about the court he and a mixed group of Americans and Iraqis built in the Green Zone of Baghdad. That story is running in next month's Tennis and I really urge all of you to read it. It won't disappoint, I promise.