On the opening Sunday of the 2011 NFL season I had spent that morning reading a number of sports articles in preparation for the string of football games that day, but in addition to the football and baseball articles in the sport sections, I also read that day was going to be the Finals Match for the Women's US Open Tennis in Flushing, NY.
I'm not a tennis fan at all, in fact I really don't like the sport at all. I've tried playing it a few times and its interesting in that aspect, but I've never wanted to watch others play either in person or on TV. One of the articles I read that morning was that the final match was between the #28 seed in Serena Williams, who was a major star a few years back and has more recently been faced with setbacks and injuries, and the #9 seed Samantha Stosur, who I never heard of in my life. The backstory of Serena, one half on the Williams sisters who are both former champions, being a #28 seed underdog fighting the odds to win it all seemed enticing enough to go watch the match. Although I don't like tennis, I did one day want to at least see a live match, so with that in mind I figured that was the right moment to finally do it. I went on Stubhub and was able to find a good seat for a very reasonable price.
I arrived at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, NY very early so I would have time to walk around the area and get something to eat before the match. Low and behold when I first enter the grounds there's a small crowd gathered around a practice court outside the stadium. Taking a closer look it was Serena Williams warming up along side her father, who is also her coach. I watched for a while and was able to take a few nice camera shots. When she was done she came out briefly to sign a few autographs, but where I was positioned I couldn't get close enough to get one too, plus I had no pen and paper. She eventually went into the stadium to get ready for the match and I walked over to an outside bar to have a beer and watch the football games being aired on the TV sets the bar had.
When I got into the stadium and found my way into my seat there was a woman's doubles match going on(2 versus 2), so I caught the ending of that one. After that was time to start the main attraction; first was the National Anthem sung by music and movie star Queen Latifah, and then Williams and Stosur came out to warm up. As for the actual match, Stosur was doing good early, but eventually Williams started to get the momentum and things were looking good for her until there was a controversial call that went against her. It not only caused Williams to yell at the judge, but seems to have thrown her off mentally as well which led Stosur to dominate the match the rest of the way and win the championship match.
At the end of the day, I didn't get the fairy tail ending of the underdog winning the big game that I was hoping for in the morning, but I did get going to a tennis match out of the way.
I'm not a tennis fan at all, in fact I really don't like the sport at all. I've tried playing it a few times and its interesting in that aspect, but I've never wanted to watch others play either in person or on TV. One of the articles I read that morning was that the final match was between the #28 seed in Serena Williams, who was a major star a few years back and has more recently been faced with setbacks and injuries, and the #9 seed Samantha Stosur, who I never heard of in my life. The backstory of Serena, one half on the Williams sisters who are both former champions, being a #28 seed underdog fighting the odds to win it all seemed enticing enough to go watch the match. Although I don't like tennis, I did one day want to at least see a live match, so with that in mind I figured that was the right moment to finally do it. I went on Stubhub and was able to find a good seat for a very reasonable price.
I arrived at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, NY very early so I would have time to walk around the area and get something to eat before the match. Low and behold when I first enter the grounds there's a small crowd gathered around a practice court outside the stadium. Taking a closer look it was Serena Williams warming up along side her father, who is also her coach. I watched for a while and was able to take a few nice camera shots. When she was done she came out briefly to sign a few autographs, but where I was positioned I couldn't get close enough to get one too, plus I had no pen and paper. She eventually went into the stadium to get ready for the match and I walked over to an outside bar to have a beer and watch the football games being aired on the TV sets the bar had.
When I got into the stadium and found my way into my seat there was a woman's doubles match going on(2 versus 2), so I caught the ending of that one. After that was time to start the main attraction; first was the National Anthem sung by music and movie star Queen Latifah, and then Williams and Stosur came out to warm up. As for the actual match, Stosur was doing good early, but eventually Williams started to get the momentum and things were looking good for her until there was a controversial call that went against her. It not only caused Williams to yell at the judge, but seems to have thrown her off mentally as well which led Stosur to dominate the match the rest of the way and win the championship match.
At the end of the day, I didn't get the fairy tail ending of the underdog winning the big game that I was hoping for in the morning, but I did get going to a tennis match out of the way.
I thought you said you didn't like caps...
ReplyDeleteIn all fairness, they were giving them away for free at the gate and it started to rain lightly during the match, so I wore the hat. This shouldn't count against me.
ReplyDelete