Monte Carlo Day 5 - The Quarters ...

Considering all that had gone on with Thursday, ie. the pushing and shoving practice session and the late finish, I decided that I would take a break from practice on the Friday and take myself off into Monte Carlo for a bit of sight-seeing and a hopefully more relaxed day before going up to the Club for the matches. Rafan still headed up there to see Rafa, and on this day he'd been put on Court 11 which is much more civilised for watching as there is a seating area for the crowds, but the downside to all of that is that he is behind wire meshing which does affect the pictures somewhat. However, at least on Friday Rafan was spared being turned into a climbing frame ...

It was a stunning morning and the sun was shining brightly, and I can't really describe what that light is like in the South of France, but its like nothing I've seen before and its simply brilliant ('scuse the pun). So I took the infamous No. 100 bus and alighted at the Tourist Office which is right in the heart of the town. Again its hard to describe Monte Carlo, and when you actually walk around it, there are old pictures all over the place which take you back to the very early 20th Century and however wonderful it still is, it does make you realise just how much it has actually changed over the years and how utterly stunning and amazing it was in the early days. That said, in the heart of the town in the streets leading up to the Casino and that particular area itself with the famous Hotel de Paris to the right, and the ability to walk to the terraced promenade which enables you to look right out over the famous azure sea and to the mountains surrounding the city, and the famous harbour which then draws your eyeline upwards as you see the Grimaldi family's Pink Palace and then you look across to see the Old Town which houses the Cathedral and is only a short walk away from the Palace - well, it takes your breath away.

Stunning, simply stunning.

Notwithstanding all of that, the people watching there is immense. Style, elegance, simply oozing money and plenty of other sights that just simply make your eyes roll. And the cars! I'm not that mad keen on cars, but there are seriously hot little motors driving around its streets. I tell you, if you ever have the chance to go then do so. Its totally immense.

So as you can no doubt tell, I had a wonderful morning and early afternoon in the city, but then it became time to make my way up to watch the matches.

I only saw the final couple of games of Andy Murray's match with Rolf - which took an age - and according to Rafan, Rolf really played well and deserved his victory. Then it was the PoD and then it was Rafatime!!

On Friday, we'd changed location on the Centre Court and had moved across to the stand which is directly opposite the players and the umpire's chair. It is from this position that you truly get to see why Monte Carlo has to be THE most beautiful court in the world. You have the Club House to the left, the lovely red clay of the court down below you, and you can see right up into the cliffs and across the bay to the fabulous blue, Mediterranean Sea. Its immense. And a certain hot Spaniard helps of course, too. Hehe ... ;) The Birkin bags (that I've previously mentioned) and which all ladies simply MUST have before they will be granted access to the VIP stands, also enjoyed the view too. Particularly the one below, which actually had the best seat in the house ...

Because we had a different vista, I was happy that I managed to photograph a lot of Rafa's infamous tics. The water bottle placement, the energy bar, the jumping at the net. Suck on it hatahs ... I love the routine!! Also from our angle, you got to see more of Rafa's footwork and his movement across the clay. I love to see him slide. To be honest, he doesn't seem to do quite as much of it now as he did in his earlier career, but I was happy to be able to photograph some of the marks that he had made on the clay. He opponent today was Stanisilas Wawrinka (Stanford), and to be honest, his matches with Stanford on clay do seem to have a bit of a repeat pattern. It always seems to be a very hard and tightly fought first set, and Friday was no exception. There were breaks by each player, until Rafa recovered the vital one and took the first set, 7-5. In other matches between the pair, Stanford seems to then crumble after not making the breakthrough after all his effort in the first, but this wasn't quite the case that day. Rafa still prevailed though, to take it 6-4, but it was a much more difficult encounter than what he had experienced the previous day.

We didn't hang around for the Simon/Tsonga encounter as we wanted to head back as early as we could. That night's forage for a restaurant eventually lead us to one on the same block as our apartment, where the steak and sauce I had was to die for ... as was the news that the Maitre d' delivered. For ease, I always say I live near Manchester when asked because then people have some sort of idea of where I come from. Which then lead him to ask whether I was from the Red half or the Blue half of the city (this is football speak, folks ;) ) I said in a very high voice that of course I was from the Red half, and he then went on to tell me that The King - no, not Elvis - but only, ERIC CANTONA!! had eaten in his restaurant and was staying nearby as he was in some sort of theatre production in Nice. *thud* The French footballer, Eric Cantona is - in my opinion - the greatest ever player to ever pull on a Manchester United shirt and I was simply stunned to hear the news. Rafa himself walking into that restaurant wouldn't have dumb-founded me as much as the news about Eric. :D :D The chap then brought me his phone to show me the picture he'd had taken with him. Pure *envy* ... and I told him to say "hi" to Eric from me if he ever came in again. ;)

So then it was time to embark back up those 120 steps to the apartment as a very early start awaited us the next day. Semi-finals day ... against the last remaining French player, Gilles Simon.