Good evening Rafafans,
So today was another day of two halves - or maybe a quarter, then a half and then another quarter.
I arrived at the O2 at 10.15 and went along to the practice courts which had all hoarding removed and were ready for action. No-one was about and Kim and Rathi had also arrived so we thought we'd have a check on the 10.30 Clipper and see who was coming in. Off strolled the Bryan Bros ... and then Team Rafa! We asked Maymo when Rafa was practising, and he said it was at 11 am. Unfortunately there were masses of people getting off the boat so we couldn't shout anything that Rafa could hear (though I did try to no avail!).
We thought yessss, we are in luck and raced back to the practice court, where our friend Jackie joined us. But ... to our complete and utter disappointment, who should turn up but the Prince of Darkness himself. Gaah! Cue groans of disappointment all round and little hopeful noises that maybe Rafa would practice with him. But nope. Tipsarevic turned up. Cue more ... gaah!!
We hung around the court, chatting and make generally disparaging comments and kept everything crossed that maybe Rafa would have an hour in the main arena and then come out to the practice court. Sure enough, at midday the PoD packed up and we got a little quivery again ... only for Berdych to come along. *sigh*
So we popped back down to the Clipper but there wasn't anyone about, so it was time to ease the pain with a coffee and mince pie in Starbucks.
Next up on the practice court was Danny (Murray's practice partner) and by then it was 1 pm so we figured Rafa had been practising for 2 hours and probably wouldn't be ours today.
We were starting to flag and decided to go back down to the Clipper to see what was occurring and if anyone was leaving on the 2 pm boat. A big minibus turned up, loads of people disembarked and...step forward Mr Roger Federer! I will steal Jackie's story here - she had her Wimbledon programme with her, all primed on the Rafa page but I egged her on to get Roger to sign it. I nagged her to find a Roggie picture and as he approached said, "Roger, can you sign a Wimbledon programme please?" and he came over and signed it for Jackie. He was very nice and said "You're welcome", "thank you" and "bye". We'd be lying if we said this didn't give us a lift and so we felt ready to hang around the O2 a bit longer.
Unfortunately it was not a good day for practice people...next up on the court was Paes and his doubles partner. So we had a bit of a sit and then along came a lone Murray fan. Anyway - I didn't realise at the time she was for Andy, and then she was bemoaning that she'd gone for Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday tickets which were completely wrong. Me and Jackie looked puzzled - and I said who do you support? She said Murray. I said "oh" in a kind of meh way and she said "sorry to disappoint you".
By then it was getting towards 2.45 pm so we thought we'd try the 3 pm Clipper for a final Rafa departure. We got down to the pier and along came the big minibus again. And it was ... Rafaaaaaaa!
Xisca and Carlos got off the bus first (Xisca looked petite and chic in a grey number), then it was Rafa, who went round the back to get his bags, while we primed ourself with a pen pen. He came past and he signed my "El Dia" paper from the DC final and Jackie's Wimbers programme, saying "Perfect" as he did so. Oh yes, Rafa, you are ...
We wished him good luck for tomorrow and he trotted off down the ramp to the boat and we waved them goodbye. Time for the tube home ... and tomorrow we get to see him play *yahoo*.
So ... an exciting start ... a lull ... and an exciting finish. Another fab day.
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