The Girl with the Goalden Boot

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

 

Carlos Moya's ass

I really suck at updating. Having the internet continuously crap out on me for the past week doesn't help either.

Anyways. After my last post about seeing Feli at the Medibank Tennis tourney, I kept going back there (for the next 3 days). Honestly, once you get to Olympic Park, it felt like another country, or an island, like a mini vacation. Everyone was so friendly - the players, the volunteers, the bus driver, other spectators from Sydney or from overseas. It's been such a wonderful experience, I can't wait to go back next year. Even though it's the last tournament before the Australian Open (AO), the players are quite relaxed, perhaps because it's a small tournament, giving it a rather intimate atmosphere. All the players I've come across are nice, polite, approachable and none of them have an entourage or security guards with them. It's a shame Rafa decided to skip this tournament, but I forgive him, because he's doing so well at the AO right now.

Day 2: More Feli. Plus others.
On Monday, Day 2 of the Medibank, I went during the day to watch Feli v Verdasco. Verdasco is another Spaniard, and is Feli's regular doubles partner. When two players are great friends off court, they have plenty of respect for each other on the court, and give everything on the court. The match went to 3 sets, with Feli unfortunately losing. Feli had an amazing serve, but he lacked variety with his shots (too many backhand slices). I had about 15 min. left before I had to head to work (the Tennis Centre is halfway between home & work - how convenient!), so I headed to the practice courts to see who was there. I was too late for Richard Gasquet (who was just leaving the court), but I saw Justine Henin. She really is quite petite for an athlete, which makes her powerful shots even more amazing.

Day 3: Best day of 2008, for sure! Meeting Gasquet. Moya's ass...
The next day (Tuesday, Day 3), I headed to Medibank later in the afternoon, because I was too tired from work, and there weren't good matches on the outside courts earlier in the day. Little did I know what was to come... The first thing I did after I bought my ground pass was to head to the practice courts, and the first player I saw was Gasquet, practising with Fabrice Santoro. Surprisingly, no one was around, so I found a nice seat and had my lunch while watching Gasquet. While Gasquet took a quick drinks break, I got him to autograph my program - yay! And I even managed to say "merci beaucoup!" :P After his session ended, I had my photo taken with him! I never realised how cute he was until this moment. :) Quite a good player too - I saw some of his doubles matches with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

I walked around the practice courts to see if there were any players I liked, but no one I knew were practising yet. I found myself a nice spot on the grass overlooking practice courts 14 & 15, and there was the Mallorcan lady we met on Sunday. We had a chat for a while, and then she decided to go get food. I checked the courts again, and saw a guy practising quite intensely. Shirtless too. ;) There was another girl, Denisa, who was watching him as well, and I found out from her that the player's name is Igor Andreev. He'd lost his first round match to Gasquet, but was obviously practising for the AO. As he took a drinks break, Denisa and I helped each other take photos with Andreev (hot, sweaty and shirtless!). Though I must confess he actually isn't as good-looking as I first thought.

Denisa and I walked around for a bit and chatted. We saw Safina, Marat Safin's sister. Denisa was telling me how Safina's temper was just as bad as his brother's, also breaking as many racquets, lol. Another player with his coach was approaching from the player's lounge... I said to Denisa, "That's Carlos Moya, isn't it?" Denisa wasn't sure, because Charly Moya had his hair tied up. But I knew it was him - Nike t-shirt, Nike shoes which looked like Rafa's and Babolat racquets. Yep, that was Charly. I had my photo taken with Charly first...gosh, he's TALL. Charly put his arm around me (omg) so I put my arm around him too, but because I wasn't used to standing next to such a tall guy, my hand accidentally brushes past his ass (omfg *panic attack*) before finding his back. I nearly died right there! How embarrassing. I guess he was cool about it, he didn't react to it... he's probably used to all those French models and Spanish actresses grabbing his ass anyways, lol!

Charly heads to court 14, but Andreev was still there. Denisa and I decided to go there too, and there was a spare bench (not many people were around) - perfect. We sat for a while, with Charly speaking in Spanish to the guy practising on court 13. Then Denisa had to leave to watch a match on Court 1 (her mum was there), leaving me at the bench between courts 13 & 14. Andreev was still not finished with court 14, but Charly couldn't wait any longer as he had a match coming up later in the afternoon. Charly began his warm-up routine, starting with some stretches and a bit of jogging. I kept my cool and pretended to watch Andreev. Before I knew it, Charly put his foot up on the bench, right next to where I was sitting, doing some leg stretches *panic attack*. Again, I kept silent as I didn't want to embarrass myself or seem like a stupid fangirl. A few people saw him and asked for autographs, which he kindly signed. And then he tied his shoelaces (don't ask me why he didn't do that before jogging!) on the bench, right next to me. I waited till he finished before I opened my mouth (finally!) and asked him to sign my Spanish flag. Which he kindly did. And I said to him, "You played great against Rafa in Chennai." (Rafa beat Charly in a 4 hour marathon match: 6-7 7-6 7-5). Charly said (in a soft voice that would make any girl melt), "Thank you", with a smile. I died again! I let him get on with his warming up (with those pulley things tennis players use - not sure what they're called, but they warm up their arm muscles with them?). Andreev still hadn't finished on court 14, so Charly and his coach went to court 15. I didn't follow immediately (again, trying to keep my cool) and watched Andreev for a bit longer. I then went around to the bench facing court 15, and sat there watching Charly's entire practice session. It seemed like a dream, not that I ever dream of him though, hehe.

When Charly's practice session was over, I went to watch a bit of Gasquet's doubles match, where I sat behind the players' seats again. Next to me was a kid with his grandpa, holding a Gasquet banner the kid drew (with coloured pencils - how cute!), and calling out every now and then, "Allez Gasquet! Allez Gasquet!" A photographer from the French paper L'equipe spotted the banner and pointed his camera towards our direction. Not sure if it made the press though! I left after the first set to get ready for Charly's match.

I found the Mallorcan lady with her husband tying up their Mallorcan flags in the back row, so I joined them up there and tied my Spanish flag right next to theirs. As Charly and the other player (Koubek) walked out, the Mallorcan couple stood up and shouted something in their local dialect to Charly. I had no idea what they were saying but I stood up and waved the flags with them, lol! I saw that Charly was wearing the white Nike bandana (I was expecting black), so I took my hat off and put mine on too! A few people, also with a Spanish flag, came up to the back to join us. Turned out they were just like me, Aussies who supported the Spaniards. Yay - cheer squad! Charly played badly in the first set, but he came back to win the match! :)

Day 4: More Moya. Bryan brothers.
I only had a night session ticket the next day (Wednesday, Day 4), as Linda and I had planned to watch matches on centre court together. The good thing was that Charly's match was the last of the "day" matches, so Linda and I went to his match first. I'm not sure why the organisers didn't put Charly's match on centre court. Showcourt 1 was jam-packed full of people and I missed half of the first set waiting to get in! :( When Linda and I finally found seats...sigh... Charly was losing. And I was getting more and more upset by the minute. I yelled "Vamos Carlos!" many times to no effect. Charly was wearing the black bandana (his usual one) today, I wonder if he spotted me the day in the stands the day before and decided to wear a different coloured one? Hee. Anyways. He was losing and couldn't find a way back into the match. While he was at his seat during the last changeover, he looked around at the stands, and then looked at the stands in our direction... I wonder if he spotted my white bandana again, lol! Of the 4 days, I hadn't spotted a single person with any bandana, let alone the same Nike one the players wear... So Charly ended up losing, and those crappy bandwagon fans moved towards the other player's (Calleri) direction for autographs (which he didn't sign!). While I go towards Charly, of course. I yelled, "Good luck in Melbourne!" I think Charly responded to that by tossing his sweaty wristband to the crowd. It one metre in front of where I was, and a kid had already picked it up. Nooooot fair! (And I wasn't mean enough to snatch it off the kid!).

Linda and I sat up in the rafters in centre court, because we got our tickets late. The view wasn't too bad though. I must say it's much more comfortable and relaxing watching a match as a neutral. You simply don't have to worry about your player playing badly or losing. We watched Vaidisova v Jankovic, and the Bryan brothers in action. The Bryan brothers are awesome, and they are so, so similar in every way. Except they're actually mirror images of each other, because Bob is left-handed while Mike is a righty. Very fun to watch! There was a crazily-long rally in which the Bryan brothers won, and they did their trademark chest-to-chest thingy, how cute!

I know this is really long. I had to record all my memories here - it's like nothing I've experienced before. I gained much, much more than I'd expected. Before the tournament, I thought I'd go on the free Sunday and one more day, just to see a few matches, and that was it. I met all the players that I like and watched them play. The whole Carlos Moya thing was just unbelieveable - I was simply at the right place at the right time. Photos have been uploaded on Facebook (if you have Facebook, you've probably seen the pics already!).

Lola Nadal 8:00 PM

Sunday, January 06, 2008

 

"Feli te amo!"

I headed to the Medibank International 2008 today, just because the outside courts were for FREE (today only). My friend Vanessa had already bought tickets with her mum and sister, so they spent most of their day on Centre Court, while I was free to venture everywhere at the Tennis Centre.

I started the day watching John Isner (super tall American guy with the fastest serve ever) vs a Serbian guy. It was only a qualifying match. Isner was too powerful for the Serb. I got Isner's autograph afterwards. He warned a few fangirls not to stand too close to him while they were having their photos taken with him because he was sweating to much, LOL.

Then I wandered around and eventually found my way to the practice courts. Saw a few players I knew, and many more I didn't! I wandered a bit more and saw Tomas Berdych waiting for a court Tommy Robredo was almost finished using. As Tommy was leaving, a few Japanese girls were taking pics with him, so I thought, why not? Photo now uploaded onto Facebook. He looks quite alright. ;)

After lunch, I went back to the practice courts, this time with Vanessa. I told her that's where all the action really took place! At the same time, I was telling her about this gorgeous Spaniard, 6ft3, blue eyes, Wilson racket... and just as I was describing him, I found him practising already! Feliciano Lopez!!! He was HOT. omg. I managed to find my way to the bit not surrounded by fencing, and took many, many photos. I took my Spanish flag out (folded) on my bag, hoping Feli would sign it after he'd finished practising. The flag, along with my Nike bandana (which Heather bought for me!), caught his eye, and he gave me a quick glance as he changed sides with his practising partner. *heart beats faster* I whispered to Vanessa, "omg, did he just stare at me?"

Then Vanessa had to return to Centre Court to find her mum and sister, while I stayed on to watch Feli. Nancy, a colleague, warned me that Feli wasn't too friendly, as he refused to sign autographs when she went to the tournament a few years ago. Thank God, he was in a good mood today. He took photos with some fangirls, I just missed out because Vanessa had gone already and I had no one to hold the camera for me! I waited patiently for him to finish with the photos, and I got my Spanish flag signed! I managed a little "gracias", but I don't think he heard me because I could barely breathe by then! I have never seen anyone so handsome in my life... ♥

When Vanessa returned, she apologized for abandoning me at such a crucial moment, lol! We saw other players practising, including Ana Ivanovic, Li Na and Jamie Murray. Then we decided to take a photo together with my flag. A lady saw us with the flag and started speaking Spanish to us, and I was like *smile and nod*, lol... we ended up having a mini conversation about the Spanish players. I showed her where Feli signed my flag, and she told me she has 3 big flags, 2 of Mallorca, and I'm like, "Mallorca! Rafa Nadal!" Then she was telling us (now in English) that she's from Mallorca. I asked her if she was from Manacor (where Rafa lives), but she told me she's from Palma, which is 20km from Manacor, and that Mallorca is only 80km wide. She started telling me about Carlos Moya, and how he lives the good life *bwah!*. I told her I like him too, but I wish to watch Rafa the most, but too bad he's not coming to Sydney. She then said she will be watching Rafa down in Melbourne at the Aust Open. We had to head off, so I said "adios!" Hee.

Wow. What a day! I really didn't expect so much to happen because I thought I'd only be watching the qualifiers for free. Photos uploaded on Facebook. I'm returning tomorrow to watch Feli in his first round match before I go to work. Vamos Feli! ♥

Lola Nadal 10:24 PM

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

 

It's almost the 2nd and there are still fireworks going off...

Happy new year everyone! :)

I don't feel particularly festive this year. Just not in the mood. Probably because I worked my normal shift on both Christmas Eve and NYE, so this past week just felt, well, normal. Christmas day and today were uneventful, just bumming at home, doing chores, watching DVDs or channel surfing, etc.

Every year I keep wishing not to spend NYE alone or just with the folks. You know what, it happened again this year. That's 4, maybe 5 years in a row already. At least I have an excuse this year - I had to work. But still, it's quite pathetic for someone in her twenties.

I did have fun on the days around these two days though. As I mentioned before, I went to see the World Youth Day cross and icon at Cronulla on the 22nd. We celebrated Christmas with the in-laws at my brother's apartment (where I played FIFA08!!! on Wii, and spied from the balcony with my dad's new camera, lol!) on the 23rd. Went bowling (for the first time) with friends and their friends on the 27th. Went kayaking and quad biking on the 29th with the same group at Glenworth Valley, near Gosford - the weather was perfect, kayaking was tiring but relaxing (I know, doesn't exactly make sense, but it felt that way), but quad biking was a little scary.

2007 - the bad
1. I went through periods when I felt completely hopeless and helpless with life. You know about the shitty job at the lab I seem to be stuck with. It becomes worse when your brother earns like 100K a year, when your peers have travelled the globe, some have bought their own cars, many have found the love of their lives...you can't help but compare yourself with the people around you, and wonder why you haven't managed to do the same. I get so fucking disappointed with myself. "I have so many insecurities they fight for prominence."

2. I skipped celebrating my birthday this year. Helps with finding out how important you are to people you think you are friends with. Facebook photos and events help with that too.

3. All of you know about my "I got accepted into med but I won't be doing med" story.

4. Music, I have decided, has been a burden all my life. I've enjoyed success with it, it's probably the only thing in life I can do effortlessly and it's a good source of income, but my heart hasn't been there, or is no longer there. Had I not taken piano lessons, I may have gone into sport more seriously (tennis, football, basketball, cricket...). Or, I could have spent more time with my studies, e.g. I may have chosen physics instead of 3 units of music in year 12. I would've been in the 2000 Olympics opening ceremony if I didn't have to do my A.Mus in piano (a performance diploma) the same year! I would've almost finished Master of Science already had I not thought of doing Master of Music Studies (complete waste of time...thank God I quit). I'm not able to enjoy music the way a normal person would, because I hear every pitch, rhythm, timbre, etc. And how does one judge music performance? Why is one performer or performance better than another? In science, there are experiments and results to back up whether one explanation is valid or not. In sport, goals, points and other stats prove why one player is better than another. Music is so subjective... I mean, everyone thinks they can sing or compose or whatever these days - even Paris Hilton! *headdesk*

2007 - the good
1. I survived doing two postgraduate degrees and working two jobs this year. Well, work wasn't too hard. I don't want to sound conceited, but I'm pleased with my academic results - averaging HD in my science degree. It's something I'd never thought I'd achieve (I'd barely managed a credit average during my undergrad years), let alone do it while doing a completely different degree, and working too.

2. I kept my resolution and played football regularly! Yeah, it's only a social club and at the park on Sundays, but it's a first for me. Especially being the only girl there. Hee.

3. Thanks to Vanessa, a high school friend I wasn't that close to back in the day, I joined the Young Adult group at church, and it has been one of the best things to have happened all year. The YA group is an incredible bunch of down-to-earth, friendly people, and I thank God for them. Joining this group of amazing people balances out the unhappiness I have suffered during the year.

4. Rafael Nadal. He's a true champion. My love for him goes beyond the tennis. I have learnt from him this year. He reminds me to be true to myself, to be humble, and to always work hard and find room for improvement. Through him, I've realised it's OK to still be living and going on holidays with my parents even though I'm 23. Oh, and it's also OK to love eating pizza but not like cheese. ;)

2008 - resolutions
1. Be a bigger and better person - be humble, kind-hearted and more generous.
2. Try my best to maintain or improve on my grades.
3. Stop driving dangerously - no tailgating, even when provoked. *looks*
4. Start playing tennis again (less injury risk than football).
5. Stop whining when things don't work out. Find a solution!

Lola Nadal 12:16 AM

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

 

Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Bon Nadal
Joyeux Noël
Prettige kerstdagen
sing dan fai lok...

...to everyone! ;)

*still thinks it's very cool that Nadal means Christmas in Catalan*

I didn't do much today. Went to mass this morning (got a last minute notice that I had to sing at mass...BAD idea), came home to unwrap presents, had brunch, played tennis against the wall, watched "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas", took a 5hr nap, woke up to watch You've Got Mail on telly...and here I am. Rather uneventful Christmas Day.

Hope you all have/had a wonderful Christmas Day and that it's not as boring as my day.

Lola Nadal 2:55 AM

Monday, December 24, 2007

 

7 points clear!

BARCELONA 0-1 REAL MADRID
We beat them at the Nou Camp! Seven points ahead at the top of the table! The best Christmas present any Madridista could have wished for! HALA MADRID! :D

I better get offline...I have to go to work. On Christmas Eve. Bugger.

Lola Nadal 1:53 PM