Article site officiel de Rafa

ROGERS CUP DAY 2:

As an admirer of Rafael Nadal I’ve learned there are great days with Rafa and there are others.  On a scale from one to ten with ten being best today was a six.  No particular big problems like my first day just several little annoyances I was happily able to work through.

I mentioned yesterday I would be back in charge of my own transportation.  The young man with my rental car was about 30 minutes late so I read the morning paper certainly nothing the make for an exciting start to the day.  After signing for a Ford Focus Station Wagon
I started on my adventure to get to York University and the Rexall Center. 

It was fortunate I took the taxi ride yesterday it made today’s initial drive in Toronto much easier.  I found it like other cities with roads that don’t meet current traffic needs but not particularly confusing place.  Driving every day I think by the time I leave I will have no problem getting from downtown to York University and back.

I realize the costs of a tournament the size of the Rogers Cup are high and ticket prices only pay part.  I have no problem paying to enjoy my hobbies.  Lately there are just two hobbies, photography and following
Rafa’s career.  I’m happy to be contributing to his prize money because he is providing entertainment I enjoy.  Now I’ve seen him in person I want to see him holding a winner’s trophy and take a few pictures myself.

Contributing to  costs doesn’t bother me but what I paid for a bottle of water on Saturday went over the line.  So as part of my first day on the roads of Toronto I stopped and bought a six pack of water for less than I paid for one bottle on the tournament grounds.  It may add my weight to my back pack but I won’t feel the pain in my wallet.

Besides driving the route to the  Rexall Center I also learned  you can’t trust what is written on a board in wipe off marker or what is written on a schedule.  There is a board where every hour or so the player’s scheduled to practice on various courts are written down for the public to see.  Being early the first scheduling was being written when I arrived.  Now I would never consider myself nosey but if information is within eye shot I don’t feel it is wrong to look especially if you have accomplices. 

The young man writing the numbers suddenly found himself surrounded by several Nadal fans who wanted to know where Rafa would practice.  I trusted the official looking list, bad choice.  I went to the court where he was to practice at noon. 

I must admit I had several interesting conversations, Nancy found me and we continued to get to know each other.  I found out I had been mislead when two different players entered the court . I went to check the board and saw Rafa drive by in a golf to a court other than  the one I expected.  Worst of all Rafa did not even wave as he went by!

I went and got Nancy and we hurried to the proper court.  Needless to say we were at the back  of a large group.  The two things you must learn to  be a Rafael Nadal fan are patience and how to stand for long
periods of time.  Nancy and I both know, as hard as it is to understand,people lose interest in watching Rafa hit tennis balls. 

If  you are patient the person in front of  you will move.  I had planned to work on close ups of Rafa today but not having a secure place to stand limited my practice.  It was  not a total waste and I got a couple of fair
pictures during his practice with Richard Gasquet. 

At the end of the practice watching Rafa do his  best to satisfy every fan who wanted an autograph makes you realize he may work as hard getting off the court as
he plays during a match. I’m sure he must be just a bit dazed by the time the golf cart gets him back to the locker room. 

In my opinion Rafa cares and understands the importance of his fans and admirers.  Following Rafa’s  noon practice and a cold drink Nancy and I parted company with her going to shop and me going to center court to watch one of the qualifying matches.  I wanted to see Kevin Kim’s match for several reason beside the fact we have a birthplace and school in
common. 

I wanted to continue working on close ups.  Also what most have probably forgotten is he played Rafa in the second round of this year’s Roland Garros.  Even with Rafa importance a certain television network did not bother to show the match. 

I decided to cheer for him in his qualifying match (which he won) and continue my photography practice. Rafa always says each match is important.  I feel mentioning Kevin on Rafa’s website and taking a few pictures of him  gives us a chance to see an overlooked opponent.

Now it was time to once more gamble my morning information would be correct in the afternoon.  No  point in trying to build suspense Rafa was  practicing on the court next to the one I expected.  Nancy, who had rejoined me, and I trudged over there  to peek through heads and shoulder to see Rafa complete with white bandana  on the court. 

I guess it must be a Murphy’s Law that says no matter how tall you are there will always be two people taller who will be standing in front of you when you want to see something.  I did notice Francis Roig , Rafa’s
coach for this trip,  was on the court.  Nancy did not know him but said it was the same person she saw yesterday afternoon. 

I guess Francis is not a  morning person.  While I was considering Coach Roig someone walked by and said last shuttle for the parking area leaves in 20 minutes.  I left for the shuttle and  let Rafa continue his practice.

Nancy called me saying she was finally able to sit down  and Rafa continued for some time more.

The main draw play starts tomorrow.  The order of  play posted on the Internet indicates neither Rafa nor Roger  will play.  With Rafa entered in doubles with Feliciano Lopez  I’m hopeful of another set of doubles
pictures.

The next few days will be filled with the first rounds of the tournament.  Perhaps by mid week I hope to visit a few of Toronto’s attractions.

Bob/Lopaka

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ROGERS CUP DAY 1:

One of the difficult things about going to a tournament is buying tickets in advance then waiting. For those who have never gone you find out very quickly after the tickets arrive in the FedEx pouch a whole group of concerns an “what ifs” will suddenly develop and you still have months before you’re scheduled to leave.

When all the problems you envision don’t happen and you are finally holding your fist day’s ticket in you hand and waking through the gate it is a good feeling. I left my home in Hawaii 03 August at 9:30 a.m (HST) and arrived at my hotel in Toronto at 04 August at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Time).

My arrival on Friday started off badly because the airline had lost one of my bags. Fortunately I hand carried my camera and laptop so my only worry was having to wear the same cloths for over a month. I am not an easy going patient person when my comfort is at stake. By the end of Friday I was nearing notorious with the airline baggage personnel, the concierge, the bell captain, and the hotel operator.

It was probably all the “make this guy stop call” vibes that helped my bag turn up at 6:00 p.m. Toronto time. I can’t say I was euphoric but I was happy. The Rogers Cup tournament in the Rexall Center on the grounds of York University started to 05 August. My lost luggage was my big problem but I did have the smaller problem of getting to the tournament grounds.

I hoped for a shuttle but so far none has been scheduled. My next alternative was a rental car. Because of a convention not a car was available for today. My third alternative was a taxi. Alternative four was public transportation which would have been a combination of subway and bus. Let’s not even consider what might been next. Thanks to a very nice Indian taxi driver I arrived at the tournament grounds just as the gates where opening.

Because I have a rental car for tomorrow and the remainder of the tournament transportation becomes my responsibility again. Obviously my primary goal is to see Rafa. Until after the tournament begins the only place I’m likely to see him will be on the practice court. So my first order of business was to find the practice courts and any other information I could get.

I learned Rafa was supposed to be practicing at 11:30 a.m. It was still early but I went to the court he was schedule for and staked out my location. By being early I got to watch Ivan Ljubicic and one my favorite French player Paul Henri Mathieu practice. Mikhail Youzhny was Rafa practice partner and he arrived first. When Rafa arrived a few minutes later the no room left to stand crowd started to cheer. His popularity is growing.

I can’t say if Rafa’s game looks rusty but he looks relaxed, rested, and in good spirits. The accompanying pictures are the ones without too many spectator heads and hand in the frame. I’ve seen Rafa practice in person before and I did not see anything new or unusual today. The one thing you do notice is Rafa is easy going compared to his on court intensity.

As Rafa’s and Mikhail’s time ended David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero came in for their round. After some chatting David and Juan Carlos took over the court and Rafa did something that was a real crowd pleaser. He took off his shirt laid down and on a towel on the ground. Then Juanan Martorell spent between 10 and 15 minutes stretching Rafa.

It was a bit surreal to watch Rafa being stretched and David and Juan Carlos hitting balls. With the finish of Juan’s job and some more chatting Rafa got up and smiling headed over to the crowd to sign autographs. I think he would have stayed all day but the security people finally got out to the golf cart. Even as they started to move away people were still hanging on and shouting Rafa.

The main draw was to be at 2:00 p.m. and with Rafa’s practice taking longer I header there to try to get a good spot. Also Nancy from Montreal and I have been in contact and planning to meet at the draw. She spotted me and now someone I’ve been chatting with electronically for months were able to meet and chat in person.

The main draw was hardly worth the time it took standing. The officials placed the seeded players then they had member of the public come up to draw the unseeded players. It was rather time consuming and because a press pit had be set up in front of the stage media with camera mostly blocked the view.

After the draw I had planned to leave for the day and called my friendly Indian taxi drive to pick me up. He was happy because this was the fist time he had the same person for first and last fare. Tomorrow I’m on my own. The man from the car rental company is supposed to meet me in the lobby at 8:00 a.m. and once I sign the rental agreement I will be on my way to try to find the Rexall Center myself.

Nancy had also left to get settle at the place she is staying. She called to tell me she had returned to the tournament grounds and discoved Rafa was taking another practice session in the late afternoon. So we both got to see him today.

Written by Bob.