!MC
Hi everyone - enjoying Good Friday, I hope? I'm providing Your Call posts today and tomorrow - Pete will be back on Sunday, as the main draw matches at the Monte Carlo Masters begin - though I believe I'm correct in saying that TV coverage doesn't start until Monday, which (as is true for other similar tournaments) entirely misses the point of the Sunday start for most of us.
In the meantime, Pete has asked me to apologize to all of you who may have received an unsolicited email from a disgruntled comment poster, and suggests you just mark the email address as spam to avoid further discomfort.
I've been thinking about the Monte Carlo tournament. As many of you know, I visited it last year; of all the stops on my 2008 tour, it was probably the most expensive in terms of costs per mile travelled. That is, I think in the end my taxi bills exceeded the price of airline tickets, even though the Monte Carlo Country Club isn't located more than 15 miles away from the airport in Nice. By the way, the club itself isn't officially in Monte Carlo, or even in Monaco - it's in the French community of Roquebrune-Cap Martin, which is effectively a suburb of Monaco.
The location is unique, however, and I'd highly recommend the trip to any tennis fan. When sitting in a box near the main courtside it's not possible to see the Mediterranean - just the expanse of sky above it. There's a feeling of intimacy - you are close enough to see the players clearly, far more so than at Roland Garros, where there's a vast space around Court Philippe Chatrier. The rich redness of the clay surface is mirrored in their skins; during my visit in 2008, the last time I'd seen most of the players they had appeared pale and pasty indoors in Rotterdam, but on the Riviera they all looked magically sun-burnished. And apart from such small delights, you're near enough court level to be able to see the unusual trajectory of a Nadal forehand as it bucks high up off the clay.
High up in the stands the effect is almost reversed. The seating at the tournament is unusually crowded, in that the vertical height between rows is less than I've experienced elsewhere, meaning that it's not difficult to have your line of sight partly blocked by an over-excited fan clapping, or even an unusually tall person. This also means that the distance from the top of the stands to the court is further than it appears from below. It's hard to see the players in detail from there, but instead you'll have a sweeping view of the sea and any passing yachts, the rocky hillsides surrounding the area, and the grand and noisy clubhouse with its Royal Box that overlooks the court.
Oh, and did I mention that it's hot? April and May in my part of England are often damp and a little chilly, but (with the notable exception of Roland Garros and the Hamburg semifinals) cold or rainy weather wasn't a factor at any of the European clay tournaments I attended last year, even if the skies were overcast - as was the case in Monte Carlo, seen in the shot above, taken from the back of the Club.
Qualifying rounds at the Monte Carlo Country Club begin tomorrow. I can't wait for Monday.