Tennis, Anyone?

Let it be known throughout the realm that Azeezah brought yet another lifelong dream to fruition by attending the French Open at Roland Garros, 2011.

 On May 17th, I, along with fellow Trojan Jamie K. and Aussie Andrew G., went to the first day of qualifiers for the French Open. This may not seem like that big of a deal for most people but for me, an avid tennis fan and recreational player, this was monumental. Because it was the qualifiers for the tournament, it lacked the marquee names of later matches but none of the excitement. Our tickets allowed us to roam freely across the auxillary courts, taking in matches as we saw fit. We decided to use our time rooting for the Australians and Americans competing to move forward in the tournament.

We we we so excited!

This was my first time attending a professional tennis tournament, let alone a grand slam, so it was pret-ty darn cool for me. The wind kept blowing the famous Roland Garros terre battue into our eyes, and each time the linesperson called "FAULT!" I could not only hear but feel the sound vibrations emanating from each bellow.

Suzanne Lenglen Statue

One of the cooler parts of the day had to be when Jamie and Andrew pointed out to me that while we were sitting watching Australian player Luczak play another player, Australian tennis star and former number one Lleyton Hewitt was sitting mere feet away from us, muching on a sandwich, no  less! He eats sandwiches just like us regular people!

Luczak tearin' it up

The Crew

One of the most interesting parts about going to see professional tennis played in person was watching the human drama unfold in front of you. When we watched the Luczak match, we could see the defeat in his posture and on his face when he was struggling against his opponent. When he managed to turn the match around and win, it made the victory that much more amazing. All in all, another great day watching the sport I love in the city that I'd come to call home.