Quiver to the Max!! - A Fishy bit of Salmon ...

Day 2 of Rafan's reports from the O2 as she Quivers to the Max! and brings us all her World Tour Final experiences ...

I got up to the O2 at about 12.30 yesterday. Despite my best intentions of just going up later and having a more relaxing day I just couldn't keep away! AM was on the practice court, with quite a few fans watching as I zoomed by.

The fan zone was finally open, where you can have a go at lots of things like testing the speed of your serve, or playing a rally with a coach and different competitions to enter. They've also got the players' "lockers" on display, the contents of which are being auctioned to raise money for charity. I think a much fairer system would be to do a raffle where tickets cost £5 (or even £10) – I mean, which run of the mill fan has the type of money that it would take to win an auction? Rafa's locker contained a signed racquet, trainers, WTF outfit (including the jacket), a lovely signed photo, calendar, signed hat, cuddly toy (made up the last one). I'd LOVE to win it, but it's not even worth attempting to bid - unless I win the lottery on Wednesday!

Daveed and Nicoooooooooooo were on the practice court in the fanzone so I watched for a couple of minutes, and then wandered off to find my partners in crime and start the first of our visits to the Clipper. A nice surprise was the drivers from last year that we spoke to were there again, and remembered us! We were saying that it only seems like a week ago that we were last there. They said Rafa wasn't on the clipper due in at 2.30pm (which was true), so we just saw Llodra and Zimonic coming off the boat, along with some "VIPs" – no idea who they were though!

It was time for another restorative latte (I managed to resist the cake this time) and then we went and stood by the practice courts, to be treated to another session with the PoD, who was practising with Nicooooooooooo. They had a little footie session at the end, and I took a small video but my camera gave up and decided to focus on the netting instead, hehe ...

After a bit of packed lunch we went back down to the pier. By this time there was thick fog and you couldn't even see the boat come in – the public clippers had actually stopped running. But the drivers confirmed that Rafa was on the next one, and sure enough, along he came (wearing a black and grey striped hat (no pom pom)) and headphones. He gave us a wave and came and signed for a couple of other people that were also down there. I didn't ask for any more autographs, and just took a couple of not very good pictures. (Wooffs…I haven't got any video footage of Rafa arriving from any of the days – sorry – I was too busy with "pen pen" and newspapers and the like ;) ).

We high-tailed it back to the practice court and took up position at 4 pm. Some of the staff said "You know he's not due for another hour" and we said we knew that. Who wants to come back at 5 o'clock and look at the back of the crowd's heads?! Wooffs texted to let me know that Rafa had gone straight into the arena to watch the end of Roggie's match and was already in his shorts so may practice in there first. That was the very reason that I wanted the Roggie/Tsonga match to go long, and whilst I was pleased that it went to 3 sets, they all seemed to be very quick!

5 pm came and a camera turned up – which seemed positive – and then some bananas – which seemed even more positive, but then it got to 10 past, quarter past, half past, and we were beginning to fade. Wooffs sent the news that Rafa had finished in the main arena and Fish was practising now, and I hoped that Rafa might come and do a bit of serving or something but nada.

At 6.15 pm we gave up – all the blood had pooled into my feet and I felt exhausted (and slightly foolish for waiting for so long!). I thought I might as well go in and actually watch some tennis! There were big queues to get in and I had to wait for two changeovers (nearly had to wait for 3 but clung on to someone's coat tails and pretended I was with their group!). My seat was fab-u-lous, in Row D right behind the player to the left of the umpire (which I prayed would be Rafa). The doubles match was entertaining – I wanted the Polish players to win for no other reason than Zimonic is a Serb. One of the Poles was a bit of a chubster which also made me warm to him. Of course, as I wanted the match to be done quickly it went the distance, with a long match tie-break to boot, but it was good and I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't felt the pressure that Rafa's match needed to be on and off quickly in order for me to get my last train home!

Finally the Poles won and straight away it was Rafa time and Mo was in the chair!

Everything goes dark and the heartbeat starts, with the crowd clapping along. Mardy got a good reception and of course Rafa got a great cheer. And he was sitting right in front of me!! He straightaway had an issue with his finger tape and the trainer was called to sort that out before the match started.

The first set went by in the blink of an eye – probably Mardy was a bit nervous in the first game, but Rafa seemed to be playing really well and it was smooth sailing. I was very pleased and thought that I'd be able to see the whole match plus the on court interview, and then the signing bit. But no. Suddenly Mardy hit that purple patch – he was S&V like a demon, all his shots were flat and fast and Rafa was scrambling and looking fed up. As soon as Mardy took the second set I knew I wasn't going to be able to see the whole thing.

A good first game in the third from Rafa and at the changeover he spoke to Mo – presumably he told him he was going to have to go off court, but good on him for doing it after Mardy's serve (which of course he broke) so as not to put him off his rhythm! I wonder if the hatahs took that into consideration. After he'd won the second game Rafa just put his racquet down in the corner of the court and ran out through the gap in the corner. He was gone longer than the time it takes to do a wee, so obviously he was suffering.

He held his hands up as if to say sorry when he came back onto court, and apologised to Mardy – I couldn't catch what he said but I think it was something along the lines of if he hadn't gone off court there would have been an accident (or words to that effect).

Mardy then proceeded to break back, win his serve and then break again. At which point I had to leave or spend the night under my desk. I am gutted to have missed the end – to see Rafa fight for it, and overcome the barriers once again. What a trooper! And then to apologise for being ill.

Thank you to Wooffs for keeping me updated – I had to dash for the tube to Waterloo so I could get to Clapham Junction for a train back to the south coast, and then drive for 45 minutes through the dark, foggy countryside. Which actually was quite a nature treat – I saw a fox, lots of rabbits and even an owl! So I finally got home at 1 am, with a blinding headache, took two paracetemol and fell into bed, to be awakened by my alarm at 5.30 to get up for work.

No tickets available for Tuesday night, so it'll just be enjoying it from the sofa. Let's hope Rafa has recovered and can get revenge for last year's defeat.

VAMOS RAFA!!

I have pictures which I will try and download tonight for your viewing pleasure. Particularly lovely ones of Rafa's back ... *thud*