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Personal details Louise (Author), Marcus, Belinda, Egg, Kitzfan, Giovi
Davis Cup - Semi Finals - Spain v Argentina 2003 - Malaga
Thursday
We set off for the 5 hour drive to Malaga - it was really easy - Motorway all the way. We had arranged to meet Egg, Kitzfan, Giovi underneath the Argentine flag at the entrance of the stadium across the road from the stands, but by the time we got there (early!) we could not reach the stadium due to a sea of green fences and vicious security guards blocking our way. Interesting... we had their tickets but could not get to them.... Marcus was a sweetheart and decided to go for a trek and see if he could find them - 3 people he had never met before, wearing blue and white.... - in amongst a sea of people wearing blue and white..... - of course he found them! no problem!!! The stadium was STILL being built when we got there... seriously!!! - there was a guy with a welding gun thing, welding, at 11.15am! The gates opened finally and the tennis began!!!
Juan Carlos Ferrero, French Open Champion, World No.1, basically wiped the floor with Gaudio. 6-4 6-0 6-0. Mariano appeared halfway through the match, then dissappeared to prepare for Match 2.
This was the match we were all waiting for, we are all Moya fans too, because he is also a really sweet guy with a great personality, who is not afraid to mix with fans, or chat to fans either, so this was the battle of the "nice guys" but obviously today he was the "enemy". The atmosphere was incredible. It was electric! - there was not one empty seat in the house. The match began. Mariano took off! he broke Moya, and took the first set convincingly! - he was playing the match of his life - he had said in some article he was going to kill himself on the court...... he acted as if he meant every word!!! - Moya played brilliantly too..... People were screaming out Mariano's name!. The second set opened. Mariano wiped the floor with Moya and took it 6-2!! - he was up 2 sets! and playing the match of his life! 3 REALLY LOUD Argentinians next to us (you guys know who you are!!! :o) ) were ordering victory from him, screaming in Spanish at him, jumping up and down like mad things, - they were so great! The 3rd set opened.... and Mariano killed himself on court........... 2-2 Moya broke....this was "odd" and then halfway through the game Mariano was pulled off and put on a towel...... we did not really know what was going on. It all happened so fast. One minute he was playing the best game ever, the next he was on a towel. I immediately thought his thigh muscle had torn or something. We were devastated. He was iced, and stretched, and iced some more. He looked in real pain. He carried on.... in pain. The magic had gone, but he carried on regardless. He limped through to finish the 3rd set.
Marcus said - "OK - don't worry - I think its bad cramp - its ok. At the end of the third set Luza will get him on the towel again and stretch his leg and foot, that will clear the cramp. Don't worry...." It looked like Marcus was right... the 3rd set ended, Marcus said - "and now Luza get the towel, lie it down, stretch your guy......" - but NO, Luza got himself a drink and ignored his player. We were so disgusted!!! Mariano was talking to Gerry Armstrong, and trying to stretch his leg on the umpire chair, Luza ignored him. Marcus said something really abusive about Luza (in English....) the 3 Argentinians heard us - and shouted the same thing REALLY loudly to Luza!!! (IN SPANISH!) Mariano carried on again. Halfway through the 4th set - it happened again - this time in the middle of the court and he could not move - it must have been the longest minute of his life. Poor guy had 14,000 people staring at him (plus all the TV cameras around the world). Nobody went up to him, then 14,000 people got on their feet and clapped and cheered him. He should really have retired at that moment! (YES this is his no.1 British fan saying he should have retired!!!). The crowd proved at that moment how popular he is. - Hopefully he realised that! He did not retire. He carried on. Moya won the match. At the end of the match Moya waited for him at the net, and gave him a big hug - it was nice to see he had a friend down there with him! I have since read a report that "Luza expected his Man to finish the match....." Message for Luza ...."Your Man's FANS expected his Team Captain to be there when he needed him!!!!" - Mariano and Gaston did not lose that tie..... YOU did!!!!
Our tickets said that the gates opened at 13.45..... - Guess what!!! they lied!!! - the gates actually opened at 12 noon and we missed the Presenting the Teams Ceremony. The doubles match was fantastic! - Costa/Corretja v Arnold/Calleri - there was a really nasty moment with a bad call, Corretja surprised me with his antics! he's usually such a nice pleasant guy! he was orchestrating the crowds against the Argentines between points and serves! bad guy! :o) Argentina had a pair of Cheerleaders in the crowds. (Mariano and Gaston!) they had the Argentine fans dancing about and jumping up and down. They were also doing mid-match signing sessions, for anyone and everyone that wanted anything signed - they had a system and it worked perfectly. The Spanish Team were "too focussed" on the match! haha. Argentina won the doubles!!! which meant the tie would be live on day 3!! We were meant to get kicked out after the match, but we decided to hang around to see if anyone would come out to practice. Carlos Moya came out. Then Gaudio's coach was seen going into the main court.... Then "someone very popular!!" was having his picture taken about 100 times on his way to the court for practice. Mariano and Gaston were practicing on the main court. We got kicked out after about 10 minutes by the security guard.
So of course we waited for him to come out and managed to have a chat. I was worried about his injury but he said he was fine, not playing on Sunday, but he was ok.
Calleri played a brilliant match and destroyed the World No.1 and levelled the tie 2-2!
Moya won the tie for Spain. Egg, Kitzfan, Giovi - it was so lovely to meet you all! - we must meet up again soon! Louise and Marcus
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