Chennai Open!
A majority of thursday and friday were spent in the Chennai Tennis Stadium , witnessing the 3rd round and quarter-final matches of the Chennai Open! Believe it or not, this is the first time in the competition's history that tickets for the semi-finals and finals were sold out almost a week in advance! So much so that the shutters of ticket counters were permanently closed today, and will be tomorrow! So thats precisely why I'm sitting at home typing this, while the match is going on there!...*sob*...
All the matches were terrific with the sole upset being in the form of Paradorn Srichapan who lost tamely to an unknown player Kristof Vleigen. We were later informed that he was suffering from a left thigh injury, but one never knows. All we see is a new girlfriend accompanying these tennis stars, every other time! ;)
The personal highs and lessons from the two days were
1. I clocked speeds of 88 km/h and 111 km/h in the 'Serve Challenge' which is a fun competition where one is allowed to serve into a netted enclosure in the presence of a speed gun which measures and displays the service speeds! For a guy who's never caught a tennis raquet before, i was mighty pleased!
2. Truckloads of 'Mercedes' sponsored babes!!!! Everytime a match heated up, there a visual distraction to cool ourselves with!
3. Buying tickets at 50 bucks most often guarantees one a place in seats which are four times the price(how do u think i got to sit in the very first row !). Hint: Keep a straight face to the cute ticket-checking girls and pretend to know a LOT about the game!
4. It was very easy to shout profanities at Charu Sharma, being sure that he hears us too, and let him know that he's not the smart-ass that he thinks he is!
5. Learnt how to get all the attention by constantly supporting the player who's not the crowd favourite!
6. Learnt to swear at the linesman, who we presume are always erratic, while we conveniently forget the presence of a term called 'Parallax Error'!
Well thats just about it, and here's another BIG tip. Get to know someone who owns a Merc. Cos that way, you are guaranteed a few passes for the last two days along with a buffet dinner from 'The Park'!
All the matches were terrific with the sole upset being in the form of Paradorn Srichapan who lost tamely to an unknown player Kristof Vleigen. We were later informed that he was suffering from a left thigh injury, but one never knows. All we see is a new girlfriend accompanying these tennis stars, every other time! ;)
The personal highs and lessons from the two days were
1. I clocked speeds of 88 km/h and 111 km/h in the 'Serve Challenge' which is a fun competition where one is allowed to serve into a netted enclosure in the presence of a speed gun which measures and displays the service speeds! For a guy who's never caught a tennis raquet before, i was mighty pleased!
2. Truckloads of 'Mercedes' sponsored babes!!!! Everytime a match heated up, there a visual distraction to cool ourselves with!
3. Buying tickets at 50 bucks most often guarantees one a place in seats which are four times the price(how do u think i got to sit in the very first row !). Hint: Keep a straight face to the cute ticket-checking girls and pretend to know a LOT about the game!
4. It was very easy to shout profanities at Charu Sharma, being sure that he hears us too, and let him know that he's not the smart-ass that he thinks he is!
5. Learnt how to get all the attention by constantly supporting the player who's not the crowd favourite!
6. Learnt to swear at the linesman, who we presume are always erratic, while we conveniently forget the presence of a term called 'Parallax Error'!
Well thats just about it, and here's another BIG tip. Get to know someone who owns a Merc. Cos that way, you are guaranteed a few passes for the last two days along with a buffet dinner from 'The Park'!
posted by Unknown at
11:22 pm
11 Comments:
nice one ..........will b prepared for the nxt yearz open ....
By
Kausikram Krishnasayee, at January 07, 2006 11:41 pm
aahhh..
just read about this one at sid's site.
en exciting event.
enjoy yourself guys.!
By
Pandhu, at January 08, 2006 7:39 am
@mark: hey, have u been coming for the Chennai Open this time?
@reva: sid and i are cousins. And we were together on both the days! :)
By
Unknown, at January 08, 2006 9:02 am
hmmm. i didn't know chennai open was being held this yr. what i heard last yr was they were gonna scrap it coz tata backed out. anyways, its good to c that it stays in good ol' chennai.
By
Aashish, at January 08, 2006 12:31 pm
hmm.... wow!! that sure is a lot of lessons u've learnt!! did u learn so much in 4 years of clg?? ;)
By
Deepti Ravi, at January 09, 2006 8:59 am
@aashish: It's been rechristened to 'Chennai Open' cos the TN govt is funding it now! There's talk of constructing an even bigger stadium in Chennai and making the event bigger!!
@deepti: LOL...did i ever learn any lessons in college??!!
By
Unknown, at January 09, 2006 11:12 am
well seems like u have enjoyed many more thnings just that the game ... hehe:)
By
Viewer, at January 09, 2006 8:41 pm
well seems like u have enjoyed many more thnings other than the game ... hehe:)
By
Viewer, at January 09, 2006 8:41 pm
@vikram:
nope wasnt in chennai open this time .......wasnt in chennai at all for that matter ...i was on the roads travelled almost 600 km in one week
By
Kausikram Krishnasayee, at January 09, 2006 10:59 pm
why didn't u mention me whacking those 185kmph serves huh???
By
Sid, at January 10, 2006 6:48 pm
@viewer: any game is to be seen holistically! ;)
@mark: man, thats quite some distance! What were the places that you covered??
@sid: yeah right, in that case the fastest serve ever was served at a 1000 kmph!
By
Unknown, at January 10, 2006 11:19 pm
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