The event was held at the Impact Arena. It's part of a massive property, about 20 minutes away from Bangkok's Victory Monument. The arena itself was impressive, although the bleacher type seats were a bit scary. If you have vertigo, don't look between the steps!The restrooms were impressive too! The ground floor restrooms have, I think, 30 stalls. The toilet-flushes work. The faucets have running water. The soap dispensers dispense soap. The hand dryers work. The tissue dispensers contain hand towels.
Just the other day, I saw the men's final replay on TV. The court looked more spacious on TV. I was just thinking how spectacular Rafa Nadal would look while shouting vamos on that court (not picking his pants, though). Or how fascinating it would have been to see Marat Safin lumber along the baseline or even smash one of his rackets into oblivion. Obviously, I am a Safin fan.
Poor Thai Open. Until about a month ago, the organizers were proudly proclaiming that half of the world's top 10 were coming. Nadal was supposed to be the top seed. After the US Open and the Davis Cup ties, only Tomas Berdych and Tommy Haas made it. Well, Andy Roddick sort of made it. He arrived in Bangkok only to injure his foot in practice.
Poor Kumi and Ces. We bought tickets months ago, rubbing our hands in anticipation of Nadal, Djokovic, and Roddick. Instead, in the first match we saw, we had to settle for Benjamin Becker vs. was it Meffert? Heck, until now, I can't remember the guy's name. All I know is that he's a qualifier from Germany. To his credit, Mr. M made Becker work hard for the victory.
Okay, it wasn't too bad. It's all in the way you look at it. On the brighter side, we were in Bangkok, we were watching a sport we are passionate about, and we were on a vacation.
Since Nadal wasn't coming, I told myself I'll cheer for Dmitry Tursunov, whose sense of humor I absolutely adore. Usually, a stamp of approval from yours truly would guarantee a loss in the early round. The fates have been good to Dmitry. He went on to win the tournament.
The real darling of the crowd, though, was Benjamin Becker. I didn't know he was big in Bangkok. The crowd shouted encouragement, applauded his winners, and gave him a warm tribute as he stepped up the red carpet as the losing finalist. The tennis fangirl in me kicked in when, after the final, I took a picture of him and got his autograph when I had the chance. Don't ask me why; I'm not even a fan of his.
Dmitry actually went out first, just zooming by much to the disappointment of the waiting fans, including myself. Man, I was two feet away from him two days ago. My fangirl instincts should have kicked in then. I should have shouted, okay not shouted, but called out his name. Even if he snubbed me, at least I tried. But no, like a school girl, I just stared after him and giggled. Don't ask how old I am! In all due fairness, Dmitry spent a long time giving autographs for the courtside (therefore, already privileged) fans.
A few minutes later, Becker went out. He was a real sweetheart to the waiting crowd. He took his
time to give autographs and chat with fans. Maybe that's one of the reasons the Bangkok tennis fans loved him.That Sunday afternoon, on the last day of September, I walked away from Impact Arena and its impressive restrooms not a fan of the on-court Benjamin Becker, but of the off-court one.
0 comments:
Post a Comment