Tochi's Hut

… maybe next year.  Got tickets to Rogers Cup, one of the tennis tournaments that is a precursor to the US Open and Olympics this year.  For 2008, the gentlemen tournament was held in Toronto, with top 42 players in the world participating. 

Decided to get bronze level tickets this year, given my super far seats last time.  It was worth every penny.  Today’s match was the second round.  I checked the match up this morning and found that current World #1, Roger Federer, the Fed Express was playing tonight on center court!  Nadal was playing in the afternoon.

Given the tremendous thunderstorms in the afternoon, the afternoon matches were delayed and Nadal’s match didn’t start until 5pm!  I was totally worried that Federer’s match would be delayed until tomorrow.  Fortunately, the skies cleared up by the time I got to York University and the match started without a hitch.

Today’s match pitted Roger Federer (1) against Gilles Simon.  This was my first time watching a men’s match live.  I’ve had seen a couple women’s matches before and KL has always told me that men’s services were so much faster.  This is one of those things that you just cannot appreciate on TV until you see it live.  Roger’s serve reached over 220km/h (130mph+).  Holy crap. 

Roger pretty much dominated the first set, taking it handedly 6-2.  We were joking that this would be a quick match.  Roger just seems to be in all the right places at the right time.  His motion is so fluid that it was really tennis artistry at its best.  KL kept on pointing out the little things that Roger does so well, perhaps most impressive to me was his aggressiveness on the ball.

The second set was much more entertaining.  Simon picked up his game as he was actually holding serve!  All of a sudden, Simon broke Federer’s serve.  Eh?  Federer would return in the next set and dominate, so everything was good.  However, Federer seemed to be a bit slower.  He was letting some passing shots by without giving it a challenge.  Taking nothing away from Simon, as those were some really good shots, but I just somehow expected more from the master.  At 5-5, KL made the bold prediction.  Either Roger breaks Simon’s service in the next game, or we are seeing a tie-breaker.  He has NEVER seen Federer lose a set on a break.  Simon handedly won his game.  5-6, Roger’s turn to serve.  This game went to deuce.  Why doesn’t Roger just put Simon away with some aces, like he did whenever he got into trouble at Wimbledon.  Simon somehow came through and won the deuce to take the set.  Hmm.  KL jinxed it for Federer.

After two sets.  The number of Aces by Federer – 0.  Something wasn’t right.

The third set was more or less a continuation of the second.  Roger spent two of his three challenges, and at times, seemed quite frustrated.  He even had a heated exchange with the referee.  I was dying to know what he was saying – too bad he wasn’t wearing a microphone.  He had so many chances, but seemed to be unable to put Simon away.  It was eerily similar to Wimbledon’s 2nd set.  Roger was just committing so many unforced errors that was so unnatural of him.

The highlight of the set was when it was 3-3.  Roger and Simon got into this long rally.  A barrage of long, low and fast shots both on the forehand and backhands were exchanged.  It was really amazing to watch.  Everyone in the stadium was on the edge of our seats.   After probably 20 shots, Roger managed to finish the rally off with an amazing passer into the back corner.  The crowd literally erupted after that shot.  I was out of my seat with both hands in the air too (as was everyone else).  Totally reminded me of the Lynah experiences. 

Roger had broken serve earlier, but Simon crawled back with one of his own.  All of a sudden, Simon was ahead 5-4, with Roger’s service again.  Two forehands that went long.  Roger had gotten under the ball too much and drew some unforced errors.  Love-30.  No panic yet.  This is Roger.  He’ll come back with Aces for sure.  Another point.  Love-40.  Triple Set point.  Uh-oh.  Then another long bomb by Federer.

What?!?  Roger lost another set?  This is going to be a long night – a 5-setter.  Wait a second, why is Simon so happy?  Why are Roger and Simon shaking hands.  OMG.  This stupid tournament isn’t an Open.  It’s best of 3 sets.  WTF.  No. Impossible.  Roger Federer did not just lose.  Two losses in a row including Wimbledon.  It cannot be. 

But it is.  Roger is packing up.  He’s leaving the court.

So yeah, I just witnessed an event few people have seen live.  THE Roger Federer having lost a match.  As KL put it, there is only one punctuation to describe this – !!!!!!!!!!!  The media is going to get even crazier about Roger’s #1 status.

This experience rivals being at Brett Favre’s miracle game against Oakland 24 hours after his father passed away.  Wow.  What a night.