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Mariano in Paris Bercy I tried to get to Paris Bercy on Saturday night in time for Mariano's 1st q match against Carraz but got lost in Paris and missed his match!!! Chris and Sara saw it and said he played well and won in 2 tie-breaks. So the next morning Sara and I get in really early to wait for the players to arrive at the entrance (I did not have a ticket but Sara had some sort of pass). She went in and said - "sorry L - he's already in..." It didn't matter really as I was far too nervous about seeing him as I did NOT really see him properly at Madrid, and the time before that was Wimbledon...... So we are outside Port 32 - the only place in Bercy to get close to the Players. Arnaud Clement walked up; he got mobbed by all the girls, so I just watched, thinking, cute - and as it was Paris I let the French girls have him. Arnaud saw me through the Mob! - that was a surprise! - eye contact - wink!!! - bonjour! - sign sign sign picture picture picture; the mob goes, he comes up to ME! and says hi how are you? so I make him do the picture thing, I said bad luck for losing to Gonzalez - "ah! zank you (french accent!) au revoir! wink" Paradorn arrived! - the crowd loved him too! - I found Chan (his dad) and congratulated him for winning Stockholm, suddenly this tall Thai guy came over gently moved his dad out of the way and said "hello!! and shook my hand!" oh the looks from the crowds were great! - haha. I went to get a ticket, then went in, Paris is NO Madrid, the Practice courts were out of bounds. Sara snuck me into the Practice court (with her badge) and surprise surprise Hrbaty was there. SO I wanted to trip him up - still NO sign of Mariano. Lapentti then came in to practice - so I left Sara to it. Hrbaty match Mariano played phenomenally - it was so lovely to see - he is such a great player - the crowd were all on his side; but the Slovak won. M was seeded 6 in the qualies - before the match we had heard that Norman had pulled out. 1. Jose Acasuso - lost first round
Chris was great, she hugged me and said - come on, we have to support Coria and Martin now - we will get them through, then someone WILL pull out and Mariano will get in the draw - she was lovely. Martin and Coria were good boys, they won their matches. We then went outside to wait for Mariano to leave. Mariano finally came out - and then he got mobbed. - everyone wanted a piece of him! I waited for the mob to die down and walked up to him - then he saw me! = him - "hi how are you? I am in!!! I play Niemenin tomorrow!"
= Chris was staying in the Players Hotel. So we all went for a meal in a nearby restaurant. - the wine was flowing.... so we got confident and went for a drink at the Players Hotel. Player Hotel - Scene. Lobby = huge bar!! - ((full of players (except Lapentti, Guga, Mariano), coaches, trainers, and people in suits that would not know a tennis player if they tripped over them)). The Lobby had HUGE floor to ceiling wall windows. So we sat in a window couch and watched the world go by. I was facing the side; so I got to see who was coming in, and who was at the bar - perfect! I was telling Chris about USA 2000 and why I called Nico Aladdin, saying Sara only had to rub her "lamp" and he appeared. So Chris said - ok! - Sara - summon Nico now! - Nico appeared with his entourage 5 minutes later!! Chris started laughing, but they didn't notice us. Chris is a big Guga fan - so she said - ok! my turn!! She started talking Guga - as you do. I was the one facing the window, and I just said "Chris! shhh!! he's coming in with all his gang now! NO Joke! So that was really funny.... Then they said - ok! YOUR TURN! me: dont be silly - he's probably asleep (it was quite late). them: DO IT! - so I did. 15 minutes later. I was facing the window, this guy was slowly walking towards the hotel, he looks a bit like M. then he saw me looking at him and I realise it was M. so I quietly acknowledge him through the window and did NOT tell the others. The others suddenly turn round and see him come in and shout and wave! - I die! M laughs and finds the whole thing really funny and goes off laughing - Sara and Chris! - I take it the promise not to embarrass the other friends in front of their favourite player did NOT include ME!! Next morning - 10.15am M arrives - I have a lovely chat with him - I also say Sara has a headache! and give her an evil look! - M "understands" and smiles. Niemenin Match (hate him!) Mariano lost the first set 1-6 but won set 2! - Set 2 was phenomenal. The support for him was incredible. Nimenen won Set 3. I knew the Fin would be tough, like Max Mirnyi, but he did his best; he was obviously gutted, but he did not have a tantrum or anything, he even signed for loads of kids too. Chris was lovely. She hugged me on court in the stands and she understood. Chris spoke French and managed to get some pass outs for me - so we could leave and return (these are like gold dust in Bercy). We waited for him to come out - he took 3 hours. He got mobbed again. Girls wanted pictures with him - he just stood, got pictured, next person, next person, next person, there was no sparkle to him though. Then he looked over (we had worked out which car was his - so decided to wait between Mob and Car). We had him to ourselves for about 5 minutes after the Mob left (which was lovely - thank you). I tried to say goodbye then, but Mariano informed us he would be back tomorrow - so goodbye could wait until then! We went to find Chris. We then saw Guga lose!!! - this little Radek guy he was playing played out of his skin! Chris was gutted. So I returned the favour from earlier. She then said - I really do not want to watch Lapentti - I want to kill a Brazilian! - she was really really upset. So I told Sara - enjoy the match! - I am taking Chris out for a meal. We went for a meal and decided we both wanted to drown our sorrows back at the Players Hotel. So we did - just the two of us. So on the way to the bar - I nearly tripped over Gaudio, my radar told me it was ok, Mariano was not there (just all the other Argentines) so there was no problem. We went back to the same seats as yesterday. Chris and I had a lovely evening; then I saw M walk in again (through the glass) - so I acknowledge him as usual and proceeded to ignore him (yeah right - as if!!!) He dissappeared. He reappeared 5 minutes later. He went to join Gaudio and Canas, and sat RIGHT in my line of vision (back to me) this was most annoying as it meant my path to the bar was now blocked! - and our glasses were getting low!! I mapped out my new path to the bar... there was no way I was going to walk past Camp Argentina. I would have tripped up and drowned them all in alcohol. Chris and I had a great fun evening (with the help of some "others" - thank you). So the next morning I waited for him to arrive again. This time I got him to sign a favourite picture (after all, its his job!) and found out he was leaving again in 1 hour Then the mob demanded his attention, so I sort of said good bye then. - Sara went in to see Nico. Yes I was still there 1 hour and 30 minutes later (haha) Guga arrived, signed and left in the mean time (I ACTUALLY GOT GUGA TO SIGN A PHOTO!!!!! wow!) and then Tim Henman came out - so I congratulated him on the birth of Rosie - HE was really sweet!!! (that is NOT a misprint!) I told him I hoped he got home soon to spend some time with her! - he said - thank you, me too :-) Chela and Mariano came out, so it was time to say goodbye. Then I went in to watch some matches. - left that night about 10pm. Paris was lovely. Paradorn played his socks off!! Message for Guillermo Cañas - "Sorry" BEST OF LUCK for 2003 MARIANO!! From everyone who comes here. Thank you for everything this year. Louise Lewis-Price |