Scottsdale

Mikael Kratochvil stayed at our hotel - he had breakfast at the table next to us Sunday morning (with his Team). 20 minutes later we saw him check out of the hotel - it was quite sad and poigniant - It was as if He had "did not qualify" stamped on his forehead! (definitely an eyecatching Guy!!)

Do not despair - we caught up with him again at Indian Wells, and I got him to sign my ATP book - he did really well at IW.

Louie - is this Guy that goes around all the tournaments. He has some really eccentric tactics to get Player Contact etc. He's well known to all the Players. His tactics work too!!

He also stayed at our Hotel.

One morning he came up to us at Breakfast with a bag full of Frames. These were "Certificates of Achievement" for his Favourite Female Players. He told me he was going to present these today. Martina, Monica and Mary Pierce were among the lucky recipients. I thought no more of it. Later on that day we saw Martina wander off with a Frame in hand - he'd obviously had some success!!

The NEXT day - we were in the courtesy bus (provided by the Hotel) going up to the Tennis as normal - he too was in the Bus. He had another bag of Frames.

He handed them to me - Men this time - so I took more notice

1. Lleyton Hewitt - best Teenager of the 2nd Millenium
2. Pete Sampras - best player of the 2rd Millenium
3. Andre! - Player Most likely to Dominate the 3rd Millenium - different I guess!

I thought this was really funny and told him Id love to be a fly on the wall when he presented these!

NO NEED - I had a front row seat!!

It was Sunday (see Scottsdale 2) Andre was practicing early (with Lleyton Hewitt - before the rain). Suddenly there was a huge "Oscar-style" announcement from the crowds, he presented his TWO awards. (the Guy did not need a microphone).

He did Lleyton first, Andre's look of relief was amusing. Lleyton didn't quite know what to expect or do - but he took his "presentation" in good humour.

THEN He picked on Andre - HA the drawbacks of being the No1 Player!!! - photos will be published in the Gallery soon!

(Louie did the same tour as us - Scottsdale, Indian Wells, Miami - we saw a lot of him - AND SO DID THE PLAYERS!! :o)

Wednesday - Andrei Pavel asked me who won the Juan Carlos Ferrero/Carlos Moya match - informed him that Juan had won - then told him - You're a Player - you should know!! A nice smile was his reply!

Caught up with Marcos Ondruska the day after he lost to Andre - told him it wasn't fair - after winning the Qualifying so convincingly only to get Andre straight away! - he smiled and said - well It happened - but I really enjoyed that match!!

Friendly chat with Wayne Ferreira (2 days after he lost to Nico) found out he was playing Golf with Tim before they went off to Indian Wells.

Luke and Murphy Jensen jovially attacked my accent in a big crowd during an official signing session, so I made them sign my flag (which they did PERFECTLY! - complete with added personalisation too!!) - they teased me for a good 10 minutes. BUT I didnt mind it was great fun!

I was also very impressed with Murphy Jensen. The little boy in front of me that couldn't speak English clearly, so instead of just signing and sending him on his way - he spoke to him in Spanish, then Luke asked for translations and started talking to the little boy in pidgeon Spanish (with the help of his brother). I bet those two really made that boy's day - I know they helped my day turn out great!

Indian Wells

Found out from Wayne that Tim beat him at Golf.

Jan Michael Gambill and Girlfriend came over to us at one point and informed us that he was aware we had not moved from our spot for 2 hours. We were sunbathing on a Green which had the ONLY decent shade in the Grounds - he's a really friendly Guy.

Maybe I should also point out that the Green did have the added bonus of being right opposite the Players Enclosure; which in turn meant that the Players had to pass us each time they entered or left the Enclosure - in other words - it was the best sunbathing spot in the world (at that time). We weren't the only ones basking in the sun either. It really is surprising how many people DO NOT know who's who in the grounds. (WE did hehe!)

Decided to get Jan Michael to sign my ATP book as he was there, he asked how many signatures we'd collected? The answer was 8. He said, "That's not many!" We then quipped "within the last half-hour" - Oh!!! Now that's not bad (grin!)

Miami

We were talking to Tim Henman and David Felgate after a Tim practice session, he'd come out of the court, and Pete went in (with 10 Bodyguards)

Got told off by on of Pete's 10 Bodyguards for daring to touch the fence - (FARTHEST BIT OF FENCE FROM THE SUPERSTAR) SO I looked him (Bodyguard No.10) straight in the eye and told him I wasn't doing any harm at all - David Felgate's face was a picture - Tim quipped - "Pete - you sure you've got enough Bodyguards there mate!"

Watched Tommy Haas practice (topless) on the Stadium Court. Sara said to me She'd really like a picture with him - Topless too. So he finished his session (then put his top on), came over to sign things, I took her picture with him for her - THEN looked him straight in the eye - and said
"She'd preferred You to have been Topless!" - Sara's look of horror towards me was brilliant! - Tommy looked at Sara - grinned - said "Sorry" really cheekily and then left! - Sara hates me (hehe).

Stayed back one evening and watched Jan-Mike beat Slava Dosedel - he thanked us for flying the USA flag for him (he signed it - the right way up and the signature pointing the right way round!). Sara then got him to sign MORE pictures, he then complained (in front of a crowd) saying "Sara! These are OLD pictures! You need to get some new ones!! My answer to this was "No Problem" "They're at the Developers as You Speak!!"

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