We've been extremely spoilt to have Rafan bring us her wonderful reports and pictures from the O2, and here is her final input. Thank you so very, very much for taking the time to do this and share it all with us. And so glad that you were rewarded with your very own Rafameet ...
I’ve had another few sessions at the O2 – I went to the Rafa/Djokovic match on Wednesday but everyone already knows about that – I just went after work so no chance for practice watching or any extras, but I attach my Facebook photo album (my Flickr account has reached it’s monthly maximum!).
On Thursday and Friday I was off work – hurrah!
Thursday started in the fanzone drinking free Winter Pimms with fellow Rafa fan (and Maymo lover) Kim, while watching Berdych practice. After he’d finished, we went down to the Clipper pier in search of the elusive pom pom photos, but unfortunately Rafa had arrived early (shocking!) so it was to no avail. We found out from the security people that Rafa was due to practice at 4 pm, so we headed for the court. Toni arrived first, and I swear Rafa kept him waiting for about 10 minutes :-). He practised for about an hour, seemed quite grumpy and his doctor was with them. I don’t know if anything in particular is troubling him, or if he’s just fed up with something. For one the cold weather in London – there have been heaters on the practice court every day!
After Rafa’s practice, we went back down to the Thames Clippers. There were loads of Roger fans down there, and he was due; we prayed he would come out before Rafa so that they wouldn’t be there cramping our style LOL. Luckily he did come first – and I have to say that whilst I haven’t seem him practice at all in the O2 (apparently he’s been practising at Queens) and I thought it was a bit “treat them mean, keep them keen” towards his fans, he was lovely with them all when he arrived for the Clipper – probably about 10 of them had separate photos taken with him and he was doing autographs. Bearing in mind it was absolutely freezing cold, I thought he was a true gent.
Then…RAFA! The security guards had warned us he wasn’t happy, but said we could ask him for autographs etc, and he might say no (eek). I asked if I could have a photo with him and he said yes, though he said it would have to be quick because there were lots of people waiting on the boat. He also signed a photograph that I had with me of him with the Wimbledon trophy. We were so lucky again because really there was no-one about. He then had a couple of photos taken with the ATP drivers and headed down the gangway to the boat, while Kim and I screamed our way back up to the O2 and then home. Unfortunately the pom pom proved elusive – I am too short for both me and the pom pom to appear in the picture LOL.
Today I got up to the O2 for 10 am, and knowing that Rafa would probably practice at 11, I headed straight down to the Clipper and within 10 minutes – RAFAAAAAA! POM POM AHOY! This time I managed not to shake, didn’t ask for autographs etc, and focused on capturing that pom pom on celluloid (well, a memory card :-)). I wished Rafa good luck as usual and he waved and then dived into the car.
Straight up to the O2 and to the practice court and sure enough Rafa was due in 15 minutes. Of course word had already got round, so the end where Rafa has been mainly practising this week was full. I stood at the other end and just enjoyed the view rather than looking through the lens. Rafa practised for an hour and then went off with another good luck ringing in his ear.
Then – I am ashamed to say – I went and lied my bottom off…I had Level 4 tickets for the match today, so I went up to customer services and said that I’d had seats in Level 4 yesterday (true) but that I’d felt dizzy while I was sitting up there (not true, because I didn’t use them, I was too busy watching Rafa practice), and I had been told they’d be able to accommodate me at a lower level this afternoon. They said yes, and gave me a ticket court end in Row A. This is about 5 rows from the front as there is EE, FF, GG, HH before A for some weird reason.
Anyway, I settled in and enjoyed watching lovely Kubot and Marach beat Nestor and Zim (can’t spell the rest of his name).
Then I noticed the customer services lady asking people in the very front row if they wanted to move, because you couldn’t see the baseline from that seat. Some said yes! So…I went and asked her if I could take one of those seats – and she said yes! And that’s how I ended up front row for the price of a Level 4 ticket (£22.50!). To save my honour slightly, I had originally asked at the box office if I could exchange my ticket and pay the difference, but they said no exchanges and no refunds – so that’s their bad luck!
The match itself was fabulous, once Rafa had got mad he was even better, I think it really fired him up. I loved being so close and able to see it all – and in fact I didn’t even take that many photos because I was just enjoying it.
At the end the whole Nadal family walked past – Mama is gorgeously slim and pretty, and I waved hello to Maymo. I’m so happy Rafa won – what a difference a year makes!
I had booked in for a cut and colour tomorrow afternoon – guess my hairdresser will be getting a slightly apologetic phone call saying I won’t be able to make it afer all.
Um…I think that’s all, I attach the pom pom pictures too!
Vamos Rafa, and thank you once again for so many lovely memories
Here's the link to Rafan's report on NadalNews ...
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