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Louise (Author), Mandy, Corina, Jelena, Kitzfan, Lyn, Chan, Ros, Denise, Chris

Paris Bercy 2003

Part One! - (Part two is coming soon.........)
At Last It’s here!!!! – sorry for the delay in its arrival but as all members of the Paris Group can confirm – last week was definitely a very special week!!! – have we all recovered yet???
Saturday – Weary Traveller’s Arrival Day
The Paris Group started off with
Louise and Mandy (my Sister), Lyn and Chan, Corina and Jelena, Kitzfan and Ros. Kitzfan was first to arrive at our hotel (Friday) and check out the facilities. Jelena arrived Saturday morning, We then (L, M, L & C) finally arrived at about lunch-time after an exhausting but amusing trip from Luton. In theory we were going to just dump our bags and head off to the Qualies – Mandy and I decided we needed to rest a bit and check out the cute hotel waiters instead. They soon got used to our order… and had things waiting for us by the end of the week…..
Thank you to the waiters – especially “the cute one – you know who you are…” you helped make our trip unique – (see you next year!!).
Ros was staying in the hotel next door to ours and was planning to arrive there as soon as Gullermo Coria had left Basel.
Ok back to the diary - It was nearly 2pm – which meant that Corina’s train would be arriving very very soon – we decided to have another “the au lait” and meet Corina in reception instead of “somewhere in the stadium as originally planned…”
2.30pm – Major Unique Special Moment (MUSM) No.1 of the trip happened – Corina and Louise – long term internet Mariano-fan friends FINALLY meet face to face in person for the first time
Mandy and Kitzfan both discovered coverage of the Guga – Corretja match on TV – so they decided to camp out infront of the match – (in separate rooms as they were supporting different players… ) but Corina and I decided that we REALLY needed to start the trip off as we meant to go on and went Real Live Player Watching – instead (Lyn, Chan, Jelena had already set off for Qualies about 2 hours beforehand)
We walked up to Bercy – and decided that we would hang around Port 32 to “see who would appear”. We both decided that Port 32 was far better than “Qualies” and had lots of fun there.
Corina was very nervous about seeing Mariano and Mark, and so was I since my “famous” Ace article had been freshly published – all week people were emailing or coming up saying “I saw you in Ace! Great article….” (scary article!!! – for a transcript see the message board).
Various players arrived, got pictured, and either practiced or left – depending on which direction they were going in. It was getting dark and suddenly action stations happened. Someone looking like Mariano, wearing the red addidas top he was seen wearing in Madrid (on TV), walking like Mariano, and acting like Mariano was making his way out of the gate… (it WAS getting DARK!!!) Corina and I were “nearly prepared ” and just at the last moment – before total embarrassment struck – haha – don’t worry - that came later!!! Keep reading! – we both realised that it WASN’T Mariano – it was his tennis twin brother – Fernando Gonzalez – so we let him go… we then decided it was really getting too cold and too dark for Player Spotting, so we walked back to the warm cozy hotel for a meal.
Sunday
Sunday was My Sister Mandy’s 108th birthday….. I had to be “really really really nice to her” all day!!!!! We all had a lovely group breakfast – then the plans for the day were set – I took Mandy for a lovely lunch (we were checking out restaurants for the evening’s birthday meal – found a lovely one) – and then we went to the Catacoombs….. it was something we both wanted to do – just to say we’ve done it – impression??? Weird and Spooky!!! – I’ve been down Tutankamun’s Tomb (in Egypt - and said Hi to him because he’s actually still there!!!) which was an awesome experience – but this Catacoombs experience is truly spine-chilling. – It’s definitely something you have to do – but just the once…..
We made our way back to Bercy – and saw Corina and Jelena outside Port 32!!! – and found out the great news that Corina had managed to get BOTH Mariano and Mark to sign pictures really easily!!! – her trip had started perfectly .
Mariano came out about 30 minutes later (wearing an identical outfit to Fernando Gonzalez the day before!!! – but of course it looks 10 times better on him than the Chilian (sorry FG).
I got the chance to say hello and ask if Corina and Jelena could have pictures with him. I then decided we needed some important information from him like – was he playing Monday or Tuesday? He replied immediately with Tommorow, 2nd Match – Court 1.
Who needs an order of play??? – we then allowed him to go (as it getting really cold again).
Mandy’s birthday meal was lovely – and her 108th birthday party finished up in Ros’ hotel – a good night was had by all!!!
Monday
9.15am found Corina, Jelena and Me outside Port 32 again – this time I had a “special delivery” to make – and Corina said she wanted to take a picture for me…. - Players came and went….
The first Major Embarrasing Moment (MEM1) of the day then happened. Of course the golden rule when taking pictures of players is…. Make sure you have your camera ready! (and of course make sure there’s film in it too). Gaston Gaudio suddenly appeared (with his coach too!! – I know lots of people would want to know that minor detail). Of course, Corina wanted a pic with him (Gaudio – not Coach). So we stopped him and asked if this was ok…. “sure no problem and he had already attached himself to Corina”. The embarrassing point that my camera was at the bottom of my bag was irrelevant!!!. He was “enjoying” waiting with Corina whilst I frantically tried to find my camera!!! Luckily it had NOT gone to “Odd-Sock Land” Gaston was very very patient and stayed with Corina until I took the (beautiful) picture. I know many other players would have got fed up by this and played the “celebrity” card and dissappeared – but Gaston was very sweet and made Corina’s day! – thank you for waiting…. We really appreciate it
Tim Henman then turned up – so I asked him for a photo – everyone said to me “WHY!!!” – I answered…. Because he was there…. – everyone said – “BUT WHY!!” – at least I didn’t cheer for him loudly in the Hotel in front of Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian (ROS!) OR be seen on International TV vigourously Waving a British Flag!!! (these 2 People will remain Nameless!!! )
Younes El Aynaoui turned and got the picture treatment too – wow He’s TALL!!!
THEN Fernando Gonzalez “did it again” – so this time we made him go through the picture process too…
Then Mariano’s car arrived! – he got out – said hello how are you etc…… AND then MEM No2 happened. A general piece of information for all tennis fans - If you are going to hand something over to your favourite player try not to drop it on his foot……….. in front of a group of strangers too - this can cause major embarrassment!!!! But luckily for me MEM No2 turned into MUSM 2 very quickly (thank you ) . More girls decided they wanted pictures with Mariano – and after the 200th girl got photographed we decided that Corina really needed another pic – we then let Mariano go in .
SO we all met up in Court 1 – we had took over the section of seats opposite the players, level with the net – and we were not going anywhere! – (it was so nice for Gaston Gaudio to come and join us mid-match….. ) – we dressed Kitzfan up as an Argentine Flag – not IN but AS – you had to be there…. – Everyone was in position – all we now needed were two players. The Two Required Players arrived – and the best 2.5 hours worth of entertainment took place.
The Match - Albert Costa v Mariano
This match was electric, had lots of power, passion and adrenalin flowing – and had us all literally on the edge of our seats!
If this match was turned into a film, it would have starred Antonio Banderos (extremely good looking Spanish Actor) on one side of the net and Gary Kasparov (Famous Chess Player) on the other. Basically Albert Costa played tactical tennis – whereas Mariano played the sort of tennis we all adore.
Mariano took the first set easily – Albert started a habit that really annoyed us…. He bounced the ball 5 times, then hit it into the net – then bounced the ball 4 times and served an ace. This was so regular – that we were all silently tapping out the rhythm each time he served…
The second set was very close Albert took it – basically he kept slowing Mariano down (much to the annoyance of us all) but hey he’s a former Grand Slam Champion – that’s how he played this year too.
The third set followed the same rhythm – speed and agility on one side of the net – slow bouncing on the other…. And tactically, right at the crunch moment 5-5 in the 3rd – Costa changed his rhythm and broke and took the match.
We all decided this match was definitely a brilliant match – a great match to end the season with – of course we would have loved the result to be different – but wow – it was a great match…. If Mariano plays like that next year – there will be more and more pictures of him holding up trophies in 2004!!!
Part Two
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