Fangirl in the City ...

Bonjour everybodyguys ...

The French Open is now well underway (unless, of course, you're Rafa ...), I've been home from Paris now for a couple of days and I thought it about time that I dust off my blogger's keyboard and write a little post about how this #humble fangirl rubbed shoulders with the "knowledgeable" French crowd.

*ahem*

So it was on Sunday afternoon after we'd come back down from our excursion to the top of the Eiffel Tower that we heard that Rafa had been scheduled to play on Monday and on Philippe Chatrier court. If I hadn't been so green around the gills from my terrifying ascent into the sky to the top of said Tower and clinging on to the side for grim death whilst I was up there, I might have been able to summon up a little bit more of a *happydance*. You see, we only had tickets for Monday and Tuesday, both were for Chatrier, and as we'd been watching the forecast like a hawk, we knew that Monday was supposed to be sunny and fine, whilst Tuesday was to be wet, cold and damp. So having Rafa up on Monday on Chatrier was the best possible result ever! Equally, it meant that later we could sell our tickets for Tuesday on-line via the RG website because let's face it ... who wanted to spend the day trying to avoid the inevitable showers only to see the odious Prince of Darkness and a couple of wimmin's matches? I am nothing if not a fangirl, after all.  ;)

So Monday morning dawned, and Rafandready and I set off to walk to Roland Garros via a stop off for a traditional French breakfast. Delicious. We arrived at the stadium well in time for the gates to open, and took our place in one of the endless queues we had to endure during our time in gay Paree. At 10 o'clock, the gates opened, and we made our way through the check points inside. A word of advice. If you're ever tempted to go and chance your luck and purchase a ticket outside of the official channels note this. When you book, the person who has made the booking gets sent e-tickets. Upon entry, you have to put your e-ticket up to a reader which checks the bar code and then another ticket is printed off which has your own name printed on it. You then have to take this ticket with some form of ID (like a passport) to be checked by an usher to make sure that your ID and the name on the ticket match. All of this happens pretty smoothly, but maybe think twice if ever tempted to buy from a tout and equally ... don't forget your passport!!

So now we're inside and we walked the avenues which are lined with boutique shops towards the courts themselves. Rafa was second up that day, and we found out later that he'd already been in early to practice on Chatrier well before the gates were opened, so we had no chance of catching practice that day. Undeterred, we had a lovely stroll just to capture the ambiance of the place. We came upon the Place des Mousquetaires, which has a bronze copy of the Davis Cup in the centre with the dates of all the times the French team have won it, and it is surrounded by the bronze statues of the Mousquetaires themselves; Rene Lacoste, Jacques Brugnon, Jean Bororta and Henri Cochet. (Yes, I had to look them up. I only know Rene Lacoste because of the t-shirts :D). Any rumour you may have heard that Gilles Simon is also to be captured in bronze is a complete fabrication. The sculptor fell asleep whilst making it ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The square is flanked by court Philippe Chatrier on one side, and Court No. 1 (the bullring) on the other, and there is a large screen up there to enable spectators to follow the matches. It's a lively meeting place and we ate lunch there, entertained (if that's the right word) by some bloke making animals out of balloons (the French find this crap hilarious), and then by a 4 piece band who played Irish jigs and the music from Star Wars ... :-/

I was happy to take a stroll and just feel the atmosphere of the place. Looking at it all on the telly, my view was that Chatrier was a very ugly, concrete structure, but in real life, it looks so much better. Roland Garros itself is awash with greenery and it is indeed a very pretty forum. It's well set out for the fans with plenty of shops, eating places, and decent toilets with very exciting handles that were green when vacant and then turned red when they were occupied. Wow! *giggle* We took a stroll down the avenue leading to Suzanne Lenglen court (or Suzy Longlong as we like to call it), and came across V-Ber ladydks, who is doing the epitome of the Grand [tennis] Tour, as she's travelled from Canada to go to Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, (I think she passed on Rome), and now here at the French Open before on to Halle (I think) and camping at Wimbledon. And oh ... a little trip to Mallorca and a Rafa-meet in Manacor was all part of the fun too. It was lovely to meet her.

Talking of reprobates (hehe), we eventually met up with MAC, jen, loobyloo, cathieb, tiggi, cockneygirl, and our Rafateer pal Womble, and shared the inevitable conversation on quantum physics, the Eurozone crisis and the Act of Succession. LOL. If anything, this is one of the best things about being a Rafa fan ... the people you meet. It still continues to amaze me that all of us from our completely different walks of life and the different places we live in, can all converge, meet up and make friends with each other ... all because of our shared passion of tennis and the great player that is, Rafael Nadal.

It was also nice to peek in on the side courts, and the overwhelming thing for me ... the colour. The orange/red colour of that crushed brick to make the clay. My only other experience of a Grand Slam venue is Wimbledon, and so to come from looking onto the crisp, green grass, to the earthy, red dirt was phenomenal.  I loved it.

But then the wimmin's match on before Rafa was starting to come to an end, so we went into the walkway that gives you access to the court and eventually took our seats.

So here I was - me, Wooffie - sitting on the court where Rafa has built his own history, at the place where I first caught him playing tennis back in 2005, and only continued to watch because this kid from Mallorca, in the funny clothes and with the long hair, was giving twonky Feds the runaround. It was magic ...

Our seats were towards the end where the players enter the court, on the side of the umpire's chair and we were in the first tier above the corporate boxes. Again, from the telly, the court looks high and huge, but sitting there, it feels rather intimate. It does, of course, feel massively open because there's no roof or any cantilever structure over it at all, so on a warm, sunny day like we had, it was great.  Not so if it's cold and wet, me thinks.  It's also not as high as you think. Whilst the seats are steeply banked, the great benefit of this is that you get a good view of the court from wherever you sit. No people's heads in the way, no peeking through the gaps of people's hats, and the seats and leg room is also good. I wouldn't have any qualms about going in the "cheap seats" on high, because I still believe you'd get more than a reasonable view.

And so eventually, it happened ... showtime ... Rafatime ... and here he was. Our Champion, taking to the courts to open his 2013 campaign with the aim to becoming the victor again for the 8th time in 9 attempts ... 8 years of still being at the top on this surface following his first success here. A truly, truly remarkable record.

Rafa's first round opponent was the German, Daniel Brands, and I won't go into too much detail about the match itself as you've all seen it and know the outcome. To be honest, I was looking forward to having an easy afternoon of it. You know, some lovely stress-free Rafa time, just marvel at the man on this surface because nothing, simply nothing is like watching him play on clay. But Brands seemed to have other ideas.

Let's just have a word about the crowd. It's been talked about many times before and people will continue to do so, but I have to say that there was a lot of support for Rafa around that court that day. Whether it was people like me who'd come to see him play as confirmed Rafa fans anyway, I don't know ... but there were plenty of claps and shouts of encouragement for him. Equally, there is that faction - like the two women who were sat in front of me - who clearly have every intention to clap and applaud every single shot or winner hit against Rafa with a vigour that can only be best described as if they were there to support one of their own family. A shout from the male with them of "Come on Daniel", was clearly aimed in my direction because of my many "Come on Rafa!!" shouts ... and they do it because I believe that it's just become sort of accepted sport within a certain French faction ... just like their tedious matador trumpet sounds and shouts of "Olé", and their unnecessary whistles and jeers. But as I say, there were still plenty who were there to cheer Rafa on and we all made him aware of our support.

As did Toni ... The players' box was across from us, and we could easily see Maymo, Benito, Carlos and Toni. I've never heard so many "Vamos Rafel"'s from Toni. Like ... ever. I do kind of blow mostly cold with him, so I did at first think it good that he was having some encouragement for once, but then the worry beads took over as to whether he knew more than we could possibly know and that Rafa's struggles where somehow expected.  Try as I might, I can't stop the stress.  Anyhow, after applause, Toni is also the last to clap ... two claps ... and I think we decided amongst us that that could be some kind of code, but let's wait for the commies to pick up on that one, eh?

I felt that Rafa essentially gifted the first set away with that poor service game, and other than that, he was serving reasonably well ... as was his opponent, and Rafa could barely get a sniff. My stomach was in knots when that tie-breaker loomed, and got even worse when Rafa went 0-3 down. Sitting there trying to scratch out a win from 2 sets down was certainly NOT in my script for the day. But Rafa rallied, kept colm and managed to eke out that second set win. I was out of my seat and so was Toni (I think), but phew ... that was too close for comfort. An early break in the third set then started to see Rafa on his way, and the crowd silent. That's all he has to do really ... shut them up with his own great play, give them nothing to cheer about. As I say, it's like some stupid sport for them, some silly game they feel entitled to play, but Rafa playing well took the fizz out of the whole arena. And as for "knowledgeable" ... my arse.

Another early break in the fourth set sealed the deal for Rafa, but do you know what? I'd so much prefer him waltzing through his opponents and giving my heart an easy ride. Hehe. He clapped his opponent off the court and acknowledged his play in his later presser. And as Rafa usually does, the shirt comes off at the end of the match whilst he towels himself down before putting on his trackie top. And he gave a smile and chuckle for the many wolf whistles that echoed around the court when we were treated to Rafa's shirtless self. I've been practising that whistle for weeks ... :-/

So that was it. My experience of Rafa on the red dirt of Roland Garros. Simply brilliant.

We stayed on for a little while to watch the Gael Monfils vs. Berdych match (and to see Rolf's skinny girlfriend having kittens).  But then we got the call for drinkies with the rest of the girls, so we left our seats and went to join them whilst we dissected Rafa's match and exchanged our porn star names ... (you had to be there). We then carried on the evening by saying "adieu" to Roland Garros as we headed off to have a lovely dinner with each other. Very happy times.

Et voilá!! My Parisian adventure is now over, and my summing up thoughts? Well, there's always a special atmosphere at the Grand Slams. You just get this sense that you're at a big event, and the French Open proved to be no exception. I'd heartily recommend anyone to go. I felt it catered well for the fans, the Roland Garros site is lovely to see, and the colour and the slides on the court are something not to be missed. We all know how the Parisian crowd are to Rafa, but forget it ... the experience of seeing him play on that court will always be one of my very special Rafa moments. He owns that court, the records are his ... and they are his because he's an outstanding and special, special talent on that surface. There are certain factions that don't appreciate him ... but we do, and he's awesome. And the whole experience of seeing him play there was also awesome. Double that up with the magnificence of Paris as a city, and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Alleeeeeez!!!

[I've taken tons of photographs, and you can find the first set here on Flickr and the second set here . Flickr has changed it's format, so I'd just recommend you clicking on the first picture, go to the three dots at the bottom right-hand corner, choose "view slideshow", set it on fast ... and away you go. I hope you enjoy!]