US OPEN 2001

We decided to go "route scenic" London Heathrow - New York via Chicago - it was VERY tiring - but well worth it!

First of all - anybody flying anywhere soon, I really recommend Priceline (or .com for USA) - their service is great!! - leaves you with more money to spend at the tennis :o) yaaaay!

Gerry and Paul (Saturday & Sunday) - thank you SO much for your great hospitality - it was lovely to meet you and your family. I hope we weren't too grumpy :o) - your grandson is SO adorable!.

Betsy - thanks for everything - you have mail!

OK! onto the reports....

Our Hotel was located 100 yds away from 1 Player Hotel; 2 buildings away from another Player Hotel; and dead opposite another Player Hotel - there were Players EVERYWHERE! - In the Shop; In the Deli; In the Restaurants; On the Payphone in the street! Pure Heaven! - Anyone would have thought there was a big tournament going on!

Monday Arrived at Flushing Meadow - the first initial reactions were the surprising lack of Security!!!! (no bag checks). It's smaller than Wimbledon. Player contact very good indeed. Player Security guys love doing their jobs too much! - no change there then!

The first person we saw was Paradorn Srichaphan - his dad was pleased to see us - unfortunately Davide Sanguinetti decided he was a Tennis Player and beat Paradorn though! Bit sad....sniff!

I missed Andre's practice session :o( - (watching Paradorn ;o) but I arrived just in time to see him sign loads and loads and LOADSA stuff (just couldn't get close this time).

He was looking great! he's definitely the crowd's favourite. He then disappeared.

Spent the rest of the afternoon getting our bearings and looking out for Mariano Zabaleta - no sitings of him on Monday.

Marcus had a great time testing his new "all singing/all dancing" camera - we ended up with TWENTY FIVE films to be developed!!!! (we're gonna need to take out a second mortgage to pay for them!)

5pm Andre appeared for a quick hit. We managed to get hold of tickets to Andre's match (wow!! gold dust really does exist!)

Andre v Mike Bryan

This was a great match!. Andre came out wearing black with a yellow stripe. He looked a bit like a wasp, and then gave Mike Bryan a really stinging display!

Mike Bryan played an excellent 1st set; he kept up with Andre's pace BUT by the time Andre wrapped up Set 1 6-4 - his message to Mike was "get off my court" and he cleared up 6-4 6-1 6-0! The atmosphere was phenomenal!!!

Andre came out and signed autographs at 11.15pm!! that was really impressive! Marcelo Rios's match hadn't even started by then; we didn't stay and watch him.

We got back to our hotel at about 1am.

Tuesday

Today was an Andre-Free Day - he probably came out to practice during the biggest upset of the day!

Mariano Zabaleta was due to play Sebastien Grosjean (the No 8 seed).

The last time I saw MZ play was Wimbledon, and that evil Fabrice Santoro destroyed him. The last time I saw Sebastien Grosjean play (on tv) - the evil French Guy destroyed Andre... (j/k!!) SO I was really hoping Mariano could get some revenge against the French for BOTH my favourite players.

Well!! - all I can say is - he didn't let me down!!

Sebastien Grosjean played awesomely BUT from 0-3 down Mariano suddenly started playing like the Tazmanian Devil - his speed, shots, skill and athleticism was incredible! - he destroyed Grosjean in STRAIGHT sets 6-4 6-3 6-4!

Mariano then had the filmstar treatment; he thoroughly deserved it!

A security guy tried his best to stop me congratulating Mariano - didn't happen!! ;o)

2 Hours later (just as we were thinking of leaving) we found Mariano back on a practice court (Surprise Surprise!) I then also saw the reason for the sudden change in Mariano's game. He is now being coached by Marcelo Filippini; he's another former Player (he's easy on the eye too!).

A Professional Tennis Photographer came up and started to try taking pictures of Mariano; he ignored him; so Marcus got out his camera - he posed for us! If anyone can remember the British KitKat Panda advert - it was like that - it was so great!!

Here's hoping Marcelo Filippini can take Mariano all the way!

His next victim was going to be Taylor Dent. SO of course I HAD to tell him that I saw Taylor leave Monday night limping badly with an ice-berg strapped to his knee (whilst we were waiting for Andre to leave). Afterall, what sort of fan/friend would I be if I didn't - right?

Mariano is such a lovely guy - it's so great to see him finally getting the support and recognition he deserves too!

Wednesday

Sightseeing day

Statue of Liberty - done
Ellis Island - done
Empire State Building - done

Thursday

Arrived in time to see Andre practice. It was an awesome session; he looked phenomenal. The practice court was heaving with fans; some of them got a bit carried away with the shouts; but there you go - it's the US Open; and it was Andre! I managed to pass some stuff on to Team Agassi - so that was great too. America loves Andre! - but then again don't we all :o)

Andre v Massu (Wimbledon revisited)

I had a really tough choice to make. Andre and Mariano's matches clashed!!! - I really could NOT justify watching a screen whilst Mariano was on court (that would be really rude) SO I went to see my friend destroy Taylor.

I did see the first set of Andre's match on a screen though and was a bit worried; as Massu took the first set tiebreak! - but then reasoned with myself that this WAS Andre; and that it was 5 sets! and not to worry - he will not let the Chilian beat him.

The GrandStand Court kept us updated with the Arthur Ashe scoreboard during breaks anyway.

Mariano v Taylor Dent

The Grandstand Court was packed to capacity; I thought that this would be predominantly for Taylor - but Mariano got the biggest cheer! Mariano carried on from where he left off the Sebastien match! He destroyed Taylor in 3 sets!! Taylor tried really hard to mix things up; he even tried to put Mariano off with an Injury timeout too - didn't work Taylor! - he knew you were injured already!!!

Mariano was whisked away for the on-court filmstar interview treatment - but I managed to get to him again (flattening another Security Guy in the process - as you do!). There was soo much love for him around; another Argentinian Guy told me he had his winning shirt (and proudly showed me too) and that he was going to give it to his son - who would treasure it forever!

10 Minutes later I found a screen showing Andre's match. The last few games were phenomenal; it was great to see him in such cruise control - totally different from Set 1!! - he was so radiant on victory! - of course; after he left the court I realised that both my favourite players would be in the locker room at the same time - OH to be a fly on that wall! - just kidding - Guys! Just think Anna and I am sure you will understand!

Thursday night - hung around to find out who was going to win out of Greg and Bjorkman - I was routing for Bjorkman for a number of reasons. Unfortunately Greg won. Mariano must have also been waiting to hear the result; as 10 minutes later he left the building - comments from the crowds were "wow - there's the guy that..... - you know who that guy is right?" I said my goodbyes that that point and wished him luck and told him to "keep winning" - which he did - coz by the time I got home Greg Rusedski had also left the tournament! wtg Mariano - keep up the good work!

Friday

Our last day at flushing Meadow :o( We saw Andre practice again; this session was very impressive!!!. There were loads of TV cameramen around too for this session. The entertainer entertained his people. It was great!

After his awesome session he signed the whole length of the (far side) court; he must have signed about 200 balls and things there, whilst being filmed; he then came over to our side of the court to leave; he didnt sign anything; someone asked him why not - he said (in a really pitiful little boy voice) "They don't like me signing here...." - As if anyone would try and stop HIM! - it was a really cute moment though.

Oh yeah! Pete Sampras was also practicing on the adjoining court - EVERYONE was watching Andre (hehehe!).

Marcus then saw Lina Krasnoroutska (his fav lady); she was talking Russian to some guy with a badge; Marcus had a lovely pic he wanted her to sign; so we politely stood near her; she saw the pic - her face was lovely! - she kept talking to Badge Guy; but it was obvious when she finished talking she was going to sign for Marcus. THEN I read Badge Guy's Badge! and read Mikail Safin!!! so I subtly got out some large Marat pictures; and handed these to Mr Safin - he was very pleased to receive them! - and at that point the wind took hold of Lina's picture and it blew across the path!!! (how embarassing!) Lina was very sweet; she rescued it and signed it especially for Marcus; and then had a picture taken with Marcus too! - lovely lady! Marcus was very happy!!

Arnaud Clement was having a tough match against Jan Siemerink; Arnaud fought very hard to defeat him in 4 sets.

He came out and signed for everyone!!! - He saw my picture of me and him from Indian Wells; he stopped signing; looked up at me - grinned - and signed the pic really nicely - I wished him luck and received a thank you and grin from him - he's a nice guy too!

All good things have to come to an end I guess; I bumped into my last Tennis Player outside our hotel at 11.45pm that night (he was on the payphone on the Street - hey stay in our hotel next time!! - they have phones in the rooms!!! j/k) then headed back to the UK - to update 2 very out of date websites!!

Thanks to Andre, Mariano, Lina and Arnaud, Betsy, Gerry and Paul for giving us a great week at New York.

Marcus and Louise Lewis-Price

Coming soon - photos of the trip!