Qatar Exxonmobil Open Semi-finals.
Friday, January 08, 2010
It was the dream of many for this pair to enter the Qatar Open 2010 Finals.
But it was not the case.
January 8, 2010
I was filled with anticipation as I woke up - knowing that today, I will be watching the Qatar ExxonMobil Open Semi-finals tennis match live. No, I have never been a tennis fan before. The knowledge of these tennis talents came from none other than the Wong family.
I heard.. Federer. Nadal. Sharapova. The Williams sisters- Venus and Serena.
I watched some matches on tv and learnt of the scoring system, as well as some terms used, such as deuce and advantage.
These things allowed me to watch today's matches with excitement as I'd found them to be really interesting.
Ah.. it's been 10 minutes and I've only written this much. To be honest, I am listening to music very loudly, so I can't concentrate on what I am currently typing >___>
I shall skip forward to the exciting part of today's story then.
Uncle Fung, Brendan, Raymond, Ivy and I left for Khalifa Stadium at around 2pm, early enough to get there to grab the best seats that we could. After all, we had no choice but to buy the upper level seats. (Lower level seats, ie those closer to the court, are really expensive. VIP seats are QR760! >___<)
Indeed, when we reached there, a line of excited fans had already formed in front of the main entrance. We waited in the hot sun for a while and finally... the gates opened.
Just as if we were in the airport, we had to walk through the body scan and got our bags checked.
Before long, we were settled comfortably, high up the stadium, with a lovely view of the tennis court.
Roger Federer came out for a practice hit at around 3pm. This made me an anxious photographer. I was snapping away photos of the gentleman with a peace sign on his white tshirt.
After a long wait, finally we heard the boom of the commentator's voice. He announced that the first match will be between World No. 2 Rafael Nadal and Serbian Viktor Troicki. These tennis stars then walked out of the tunnel, with the crowd cheering them on loudly.
The game was enjoyable to watch - Nadal, in my opinion, was really swift with his movements, and in the end, the door to the finals is open to him~ He beat Troicki 6-1, 6-3.
Nadal with his victory wave
Nadal then threw his tennis ball up to our side. It felt as though everyone was like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey, as our eyes were all focused on the tennis ball and where it was flying to.
Result: It actually flew OVER the seat box (dont know how to describe)... so no one could catch it. "Wow, he is really strong," that thought went through my mind at that time.
I realised that it was already night time and *dun dun dun*.... it was the match we were all waiting for. Who's playing???
Roger Federer.
Knowing how much the Wongs love him, I was ever ready with my camera, so I hardly had any time to clap for him when he entered the court. I cheered him on like the others did though! :)
Roger Federer vs Nikolay Davydenko.
I must say, I was really disappointed. Maybe Roger had an off-day? We were all cheering him on loudly (well, the crowds were... I was cheering him on *a bit more quietly*) and shouts and screams went on and on in between points.
"C'mon Roger!"
"sth sth Roger sth sth" [sth sth refers to words in their own language.]
There was even one... "C'mon Roger, Concentrate!"
A suave serve
We can say that he'd played a good game, but it was still disappointing.
Though I say disappointing, I was gripping my seat for almost the entire duration of the game, clasping my hands on and off and eyes were glued to the court. It was nerve-wrecking and thrilling at the same time. A good experience indeed :)
Nikolay Davydenko beat Federer 6-4,6-4.
Davydenko said in the interview afterwards that beating No. 1 in the world gave him confidence.
Hence, Nadal will be facing Davydenko in the finals. Which, we won't be watching live unfortunately... hahaha :)
Labels: celebrities, Qatar, tennis
2 comments:
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Ahh! So fortunate! I was shouting at home when watching the match myself. I always cannot control myself. But, when we watch live there, it's very important to stay calm. There are times when we should not cheer and times when we should cheer. For example, we should not cheer when they are playing. Maybe after in between the balls.
But, it must be so awesome to watch Nadal play too.
And if you notice, the way Federer plays is awesome! He's so graceful on court. Btw, did you see Mirka??
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Your camera is so good, Sherp. Good shots you've got there :D I really think that the 'suave serve' picture is a foot fault?
Tennis is so fun!
I realised that it was already night time and *dun dun dun*.... it was the match we were all waiting for. Who's playing???
Ahh! So fortunate! I was shouting at home when watching the match myself. I always cannot control myself. But, when we watch live there, it's very important to stay calm. There are times when we should not cheer and times when we should cheer. For example, we should not cheer when they are playing. Maybe after in between the balls.
But, it must be so awesome to watch Nadal play too.
And if you notice, the way Federer plays is awesome! He's so graceful on court. Btw, did you see Mirka??