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bits about Bercy - day 1 (Monday)
Nov. 8th, 2011 12:48 amWatched most of the Raonic-Benneteau match today. Milos made a good impression on the crowd -- they were impressed by the kick on his serves and applauding his winners (I was hearing admiring "oh ho ho"s and whistles when he painted the lines).
They were even happier, of course, that "Juju" was in form and producing some brilliant stuff both on serve and in rallies. (There were several instances where Milos had to hit a putaway smash twice, because Julien would get to the first one.) It was a fun match to watch live.
During some of the changeovers, the tv screens display text messages people send via orange.fr to support the players, wish each other happy birthday, etc. There was one that said (roughly translated) "Let's go, Julien, show them that you have your place in Davis Cup. Guy." (Who knows who actually sent it. There was one later that said, "Fabrice, stop looking at the girls behind you. This is no longer your terrain.") Guy and Amelie were in the house.
Youhzny-Kohschreiber:
* Lars Graff was chair umpire
* Youhzny first serve wasn't happening. I was shocked to see his match stats because they look better than what was going on on court, which included Youhz yelling at himself, hurling his racket, and smacking a ball into the rafters
* PEHK doing his share of shanking (including one that hit the TV).
* In the post-match interview, PEHK said something like, "It's a long season. Some players are tired, but I'm more fresh," adding that practice just isn't the same as match play, so having had to play qualies does feel like an edge.
Verdasco-Cilic:
* Cedric Mourier was chair umpire
* I've seen one Verdasco match live before, in Memphis. Being in the audience in Europe is way more entertaining. The weary "Oh, Fernando" from the woman behind me when he started double-faulting pretty much sums up the vibe I was picking up from his fans. There was also a hysterical group of grandpas with a Spanish flag a few rows behind me.
* Nervous chuckles from the crowd in reaction to Marin's bellows of frustration. He gets "bravos" from the crowd for elegant match point save, even though it definitely favors Fer.
Almagro/Marrero vs. Murray/Hutchins:
* Match got moved to Court 2. Watching Murray and Almagro smashing and slamming away less than ten feet from my seat = wow.
* Nico/David actually seem like the stronger pair to me for most of the match, but it's no-ad scoring and Andy/Ross snare more of the big points.
* Andy didn't seem to be showing any issues related to last week's injury, but he does have either a hell of a bruise (or a conspicuous birthmark) on the back of his right calf.
* I already knew Nico was crazy-intense, but I was still impressed at how pumped he was after winning a break point in the second set.
The venue:
* I may not budge from Center Court for the rest of the tournament. While I like the intimacy of Courts 1 and 2, I'm not sure I want to see anything scheduled there enough to deal with the schlep + bottlenecks involved in court-hopping.
* More important, the Center Court intros (for day as as well as night matches) crack me up -- there's a giant talking head, strobe lights, spotlights, and flashy, animated graphics projected onto the floor of the court as loud rock music plays. Reminds me of the NHL games I've attended.
* Roller towels in the women's bathrooms. They do seem to change out the fabric frequently, but still, might be worth bringing your own towel if you have an iffy immune system (like me) or other reason to observe precautions.
Mahut v. Ferrero:
* Really nice to see Nico's form continuing. Really nice to hear firsthand the variety in his shot selection and pace. Juanqui played some real beauties as well, but Nico made more of them.
* Fergus Murphy in the chair
* Almagro in the house
Mannarino v. Tursunov:
* Chair umpire: Roland Herfeld (he was chair of Milos-Julien as well)
* Stayed only for the first three games, just out of curiosity. Mannarino hit a couple of oh-la-la points right before I left -- it was tempting to stay, but there is so much tennis I want to see tomorrow...
[Crossposted from Talk About Tennis]
They were even happier, of course, that "Juju" was in form and producing some brilliant stuff both on serve and in rallies. (There were several instances where Milos had to hit a putaway smash twice, because Julien would get to the first one.) It was a fun match to watch live.
During some of the changeovers, the tv screens display text messages people send via orange.fr to support the players, wish each other happy birthday, etc. There was one that said (roughly translated) "Let's go, Julien, show them that you have your place in Davis Cup. Guy." (Who knows who actually sent it. There was one later that said, "Fabrice, stop looking at the girls behind you. This is no longer your terrain.") Guy and Amelie were in the house.
Youhzny-Kohschreiber:
* Lars Graff was chair umpire
* Youhzny first serve wasn't happening. I was shocked to see his match stats because they look better than what was going on on court, which included Youhz yelling at himself, hurling his racket, and smacking a ball into the rafters
* PEHK doing his share of shanking (including one that hit the TV).
* In the post-match interview, PEHK said something like, "It's a long season. Some players are tired, but I'm more fresh," adding that practice just isn't the same as match play, so having had to play qualies does feel like an edge.
Verdasco-Cilic:
* Cedric Mourier was chair umpire
* I've seen one Verdasco match live before, in Memphis. Being in the audience in Europe is way more entertaining. The weary "Oh, Fernando" from the woman behind me when he started double-faulting pretty much sums up the vibe I was picking up from his fans. There was also a hysterical group of grandpas with a Spanish flag a few rows behind me.
* Nervous chuckles from the crowd in reaction to Marin's bellows of frustration. He gets "bravos" from the crowd for elegant match point save, even though it definitely favors Fer.
Almagro/Marrero vs. Murray/Hutchins:
* Match got moved to Court 2. Watching Murray and Almagro smashing and slamming away less than ten feet from my seat = wow.
* Nico/David actually seem like the stronger pair to me for most of the match, but it's no-ad scoring and Andy/Ross snare more of the big points.
* Andy didn't seem to be showing any issues related to last week's injury, but he does have either a hell of a bruise (or a conspicuous birthmark) on the back of his right calf.
* I already knew Nico was crazy-intense, but I was still impressed at how pumped he was after winning a break point in the second set.
The venue:
* I may not budge from Center Court for the rest of the tournament. While I like the intimacy of Courts 1 and 2, I'm not sure I want to see anything scheduled there enough to deal with the schlep + bottlenecks involved in court-hopping.
* More important, the Center Court intros (for day as as well as night matches) crack me up -- there's a giant talking head, strobe lights, spotlights, and flashy, animated graphics projected onto the floor of the court as loud rock music plays. Reminds me of the NHL games I've attended.
* Roller towels in the women's bathrooms. They do seem to change out the fabric frequently, but still, might be worth bringing your own towel if you have an iffy immune system (like me) or other reason to observe precautions.
Mahut v. Ferrero:
* Really nice to see Nico's form continuing. Really nice to hear firsthand the variety in his shot selection and pace. Juanqui played some real beauties as well, but Nico made more of them.
* Fergus Murphy in the chair
* Almagro in the house
Mannarino v. Tursunov:
* Chair umpire: Roland Herfeld (he was chair of Milos-Julien as well)
* Stayed only for the first three games, just out of curiosity. Mannarino hit a couple of oh-la-la points right before I left -- it was tempting to stay, but there is so much tennis I want to see tomorrow...
[Crossposted from Talk About Tennis]