As last year, the week before Valentine's Day was reserved to the ATP World Tour 500 in Rotterdam. As last year, I chose to attend it on Friday expecting to catch the world's best player at work (either competing or practicing). For me, the main attraction this year was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. At noon, he was supposed to play against Tomas Berdych in what would be the most exhilarating battle of the quarter-finals. Just before the matches on Center Court started, I sneaked to the peripheral arenas hoping to see some practice rounds. I got lucky to bump into Baghdatis. A couple of minutes later, on a close-by court, Tsonga began his morning training. I was particularly excited to watch the latter as eventually, this was my sole chance of catching a glimpse of him. After exchanging some shots with his sparing partner, the Frenchman stopped for an interview for a French TV channel, then signed some autographs. Fortunately again, I got one.
Moving forward to the matches on Center Court, the first ones in action were the current Wimbledon champions, Jürgen Melzer and Philipp Petzscher. The duo was quick in dismissing Simon Aspelin and Dick Norman in two short sets 6-2, 6-2. Afterwards, the match between Ivan Ljubicic and Marcos Baghdatis was set out. I was sure Baghdatis would emerge victorious. After dispatching second seed and recent Australian Open final Andy Murray in the first round, the Cypriot was showing flashes of the form that carried him to the number 8 ranking. Things didn't go as assumed though. The Croat found the strength to challenge Marcos and in the end won the battle in a 3rd set tie-break.
After being presented with the sad news that Berdych had retired due to illness, guaranteeing Tsonga a place in the semis, the schedule was adjusted and both remaining doubles encounters were switched to the Center Court. The first one comprised Llodra/ Zimonjic facing the Dutch sensations Robin Haase and Thiemo de Bakker. The latter duo entertained the partisan crowd by forcing a decisive tie-break. Even though their efforts were to no avail (as they lost the match), both players showed they possess the weapons which could help them crack the top 20. The second one featured the Murray brothers against Mahesh Bhupathi and Marcel Granollers. After a huge disappointment in the singles, Andy was determined to change fortunes in the doubles. The British brothers quickly established control of the match and from then on, they were unstoppable winning it 6-2, 6-3. Following the match I managed to get an autograph from the world number 5, another valuable asset in my collection.
After a day full of live tennis, I was thrilled to have met the best players in the world. To sum it up, this day enriched me by putting me face to face with the likes of Tsonga, Baghdatis, Murrays, Llodra or Melzer. With four autographs, some cool pics, the live experience of numerous tough battles and some unforgettable memories, Rotterdam proved once more a great tennis experience.
After being presented with the sad news that Berdych had retired due to illness, guaranteeing Tsonga a place in the semis, the schedule was adjusted and both remaining doubles encounters were switched to the Center Court. The first one comprised Llodra/ Zimonjic facing the Dutch sensations Robin Haase and Thiemo de Bakker. The latter duo entertained the partisan crowd by forcing a decisive tie-break. Even though their efforts were to no avail (as they lost the match), both players showed they possess the weapons which could help them crack the top 20. The second one featured the Murray brothers against Mahesh Bhupathi and Marcel Granollers. After a huge disappointment in the singles, Andy was determined to change fortunes in the doubles. The British brothers quickly established control of the match and from then on, they were unstoppable winning it 6-2, 6-3. Following the match I managed to get an autograph from the world number 5, another valuable asset in my collection.
After a day full of live tennis, I was thrilled to have met the best players in the world. To sum it up, this day enriched me by putting me face to face with the likes of Tsonga, Baghdatis, Murrays, Llodra or Melzer. With four autographs, some cool pics, the live experience of numerous tough battles and some unforgettable memories, Rotterdam proved once more a great tennis experience.
The tournament didn't stop there though. At the end, the following winners emerged:
Singles: Soderling def. Tsonga
Doubles: Melzer-Petzschner def. Llodra-Zimonjic
photos (top-down): Sorin Istrate (x2)
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