Quiver to the Max!!!

For the next few days, I'm going to be turning over some posts my very good pal, Rafan, as she QUIVERS TO THE MAX! and tells us all her stories and experiences as she follows Rafa at the World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London.

Here's her first report and my word ... after a slow start, could it have got any better ... ???

Good evening all lovely Rafafans,

I'm trying to piece together in my mind everything that's happened today ... are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.

I got the 07:23 red eye to London Bridge where I met up with Kim. Our original plan had been to go to the O2 first thing and see what was happening, but she had heard rumours of players practising at Queens, then about the press shindig happening in the morning instead of the afternoon etc, so in the end we decided that we'd make our first stop at the clipper pier at Westminster (via the very nice toilets in the players' hotel). We worked out the cut through the hotel to the pier without walking all the way round the hotel, so hung about near there in the hope that Rafa would come out and we'd have him all to ourselves. Mwah ha haaaaa. I made sure that Wooffs would keep us in touch with any twitterings that might be made in the meantime.

There was already a clipper at the pier, and the first people we saw leaving the hotel were Danny (Murray's hitting partner) and a companion. No Mr Murray though. Next was Zimonijc (?sp) and Llodra, then Melzer and Petschzner. Then Chris Kermode came past, and I said hello and asked him when the press gathering was happening and he said it was at 2 pm. We asked if the players were practising this morning and he confirmed that yes they were. He said that most of them had gone on the 9 am clipper but that there were a few on the 10 am one. So we decided to wait and see if Rafa came out, and if not we would hotfoot it over to the O2. So 10 am came and the clipper left ... no Rafa. We headed off to Waterloo and got the tube to the O2, where we met up with another friend (Rathi).

There was no-one on the practice court (which still had white plastic sheets round as they are putting the last minute touches to it) so we wandered down to the Fanzone (still a building site) and then we decided we'd take a walk down to the clipper pier (there will be a running theme here) and see who was coming and going. We hadn't been there long when the Bryan Bros arrived and then Tsonga. I didn't rush for autographs ;) Benito also came off the boat - hurrah - a Team Rafa member! I asked him if Rafa was practising and he confirmed that Rafa had started practice at 10.30. I asked if we could watch, but he said he couldn't get us in. I said we had our books with us for signing, and he said that when Rafa came out he would sign them for us, and that he'd be leaving at about 4 pm. I told him to wish Rafa good luck from us and he went on his way.

After that we went back to the arena, checked the practice court (no action) and went for a coffee in Starbucks. While we were sitting there I suddenly saw a tennis ball appear over the plastic sheets and went into Rafaradar alert. I popped out to sneak a peek through the tiny gap -and there .... was .... RAFAAAAAA. I rushed back to Starbucks, said "IT'S HIM!" and we all bundled out and started peeking. Now for those who've been to the practice courts at the O2 previously you'll know that it's not ideal - there's black mesh up to stop the balls coming out of the court so we had that to contend with, plus a gap the size of a peephole to gaze through.

Rafa was doing drills - Toni feeding the balls and Rafa doing backhands then forehands and then a long serving practice. He had previously been in the main arena (Wooffs kindly informed me) so this was just an added extra - and hurrah for it because we were starting to feel a bit glum that it wasn't going to be our day! He seemed quite grumpy but it does seem that is his general demeanor during practice! After he'd finished he sat and chatted to Benito for a while and then went.

By this point it was lunchtime so we sat and ate our packed lunch (we all came well prepared) and then I suggested a wander back down to the clipper - after all, it was getting close to the press interview time, and some last minute stragglers might turn up. We'd barely been there 10 minutes when who should turn up but Roger and Djokovic. I turned my back on Djokovic, but called to Roger and he signed my ticket envelope and then I had my picture taken with him. He was very nice (sorry Wooffs and Denz), and he had his picture taken with all four of us separately and signed as required. Only a Murray fan would have anything to do with him, so he was outnumbered 4 to 1 for fan requests. Ha! Roggie was looking very snuggly in his sweat shirt and trackie bottoms, his hands were lovely, and as I've said occasionally, he looks so much better of court! Not so thin and his nose looks smaller. :D

We then went back up to the arena and Murray was practising. Despite Benito saying Rafa wouldn't be leaving until 4 pm, we got ants in our pants and decided to head down to the clipper (again) at about 2.45. First arrival was one of the Indopak Express. It was the Indo half and he had his picture taken with Rathi.

Not long after, Mardy Fish came out (a ridiculous security guard motioned "shh" to us as he came past but we ignored and said "Hi" to Mardy). He had his picture taken with Rathi (she likes pictures with tennis players). Muzz's fan asked about his practice with Ollie Golding this morning, and he said it was great. Next was Tsonga - he was on the phone so we quietly piped "Jo, Jo, Jo" as he walked past and he turned and gave us a smile and a wave, and I though awwww (unusual!). Then Toni, Maymo and Carlos Costa turned up! I thought about asking Toni to sign my book but decided against it, so we just said "hello" to them and Maymo gave us (or maybe it was just Kim) a lovely smile.

All these people had come down the players' route by car so we were looking for another car bringing Rafa. But then, down the main pedestrian route to the clipper came a couple of big security men who tried to block our way, followed by Benito and Rafa!!! When Benito saw the security blocking us he said "No, they are ok, they are ok" so we were released to see Rafa - no barrier or anything between us. He signed my book with the RN squiggle and R Nadal (using the Rafa pen which a friend bought me for my birthday) and signed stuff for the other girls too (including a pair of Armani pants for Judith ).

Kim asked where Marc! was and he said he's injured :( . I said, "How are you Rafa" and he said "Perfect" and I thought yes you are! Kim had a Porto Cristo postcard signed and said she'd been there and that he came from a beautiful place. Then, despite Benito saying they really had to go, he posed for a group photo with us and I managed to get next to him, and snuggle up to his lovely sweat shirt and feel his arm on my back. It did make me laugh because we were like a gaggle of hens round him, talking to him and getting things signed. We wished him luck and he ran off, jumped up Benito's back and stopped for a picture with a man who might be something to do with the Halle tournament as he had a Gerry Weber poster for next year with Rafa's name on it.

We then, amidst much babbling, swooning and giggling, floated our way to the tube and back home. And that's my lot for today. I've uploaded my pictures to Flickr - practice ones aren't so good and not plentiful but it's something.

Oh yes, and there was no pom pom ahoy today - Rafa's hair was freshly washed and fluffy.

How good is that!! Can't wait for more stories tomorrow ... keep posted everybody!!

EDIT : Judith (Haselmere) has loaded a video clip of the girls' meeting with Roggie off the clipper (as Djokovic had to stand on by :D ). Its priceless!