Tuesday 7 June 2011

Roland Garros: We're going to the Final!

The grass season started today, and it already seems as though yesterday's final is old history. But since I was at the Roland Garros yesterday, I'd like to stay on the clay for a few more moments.

So, finals day. The grounds were buzzing early on, filling up long before the start of the most important match - Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer. The tournament's daily newspaper said it all:


We came early, and made it just in time to see the last games of the Boys' final, and most of the first set of the Girls' final match. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get to brag that I saw Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) and Ons Jabeur (Tunis) winning their (first?) Roland Garros titles ;)
My brother and I actually liked the girls' other finalist, Monica Puig (ranked 314 in the WTA). We already saw her playing on the semifinals day, and my brother dubbed her "Ivanovic", because of the Adidas kit similar to the one Ana's usually wearing. Yesterday we discovered that she also fist-pumps a little bit like Ana :)

Since we only had a grounds-pass for Sunday, we watched the final on a big screen put on Court #1. With a big crowd, and all the ball kids in attendance (apart from those who were on court, of course), it was a great atmosphere. And you can see a small bit of Philippe Chatrier from there, so you really get the feel that you're watching what's happening next door.


The weather gave us all a bit of a scare. It was predicted to rain on Sunday, but when the match started, the sun was blazing brightly and it was scorching hot. Then, at 6-5 40:40 in the second set, the clouds that were slowly creeping in decided that enough is enough. And it happily rained for five minutes or so, just enough to disrupt play, but not enough to make us move from our perfect viewing spots. We didn't even need an umbrella, and the cool breeze was a welcome change at that point.

Rain isn't enough to stop Rafa when he's playing on Roland Garros' clay, though. A few moments before the end of the match, the sun came out again.

Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1

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