fairweather sport

Who knew . . . row O was the place to be?

My friend Tracy (my tennis friend who grew up in Seattle for those of you keeping track of my posts and my friends) and I went to the US Open. Tracy is a US Open pro. And when I say pro I mean she probably attended 80% of the days the Open took place. She was always there! Needless to say she loves tennis so going with her is a lot of fun.



We were scheduled to watch the women's doubles quarter final and men's single quarter final matches but we were a bit disappointed that the women's double match took place earlier in the day because of the chance of rain. At least we would still be able to see a great match between Gonzales and Nadal or so we thought when we left work and headed out to Queens.



As we arrived in the stadium we climbed up to the upper bowl and then again up to row O. It appeared to be the last row up against the press boxes on one end of the stadium. There were seats on the side that were higher but being up against the press box made it seem like we at the top. It wasn't until it started raining that we appreciated being in the last row against the press boxes over head as this row was the only covered seats in the stadium. We didn't even know it was raining until they called a rain delay. Ohhhhh that is why every one started to pull out their umbrellas. The entire stadium was getting soaked we stayed dry comfortably sitting in our seats (wishing I had listened to Tracy and wore another layer of clothings as it was windy and cold).

A view from row O.

The announcer and officials announced the storm would pass in about 45 minutes. I wonder what satelites and radars they were using to predict the weather down to the minute but apparently whatever tools they used they were accurate. Play resumed for almost another set when it started raining again. People started leaving in droves but because Tracy and I were covered we sat back and decided to wait it out. After another hour of waiting the stadium was nearly empty so when the rain stopped and they started to dry the courts we made our way down to the lower bowl and found two open seats 10 rows from the side line. We were really excited and glad we stayed for such great seats. Right as we thought the players would come out to start playing the announcer delivered bad news. More rain was on the way and the match was rescheduled for the next day and tickets were not transferable. Oh well, the two sets I saw were pretty amazing and as usual it was fun hanging out with Tracy but I was somewhat relieved because we could have been there until 1am and it was a work night.

A view from the 10th row.

Soooo between my US Open experience and waiting over 1.5 hours on average for courts in Manhattan I am starting to think that tennis is more time consuming and slower than baseball or golf. This just tops all the fun Tracy and I have had playing tennis this summer:

• rocking beginner tennis lessons in china town - "don't twist the wist", "wally at the net".


• selling our place in line at the tennis courts for $50 a piece.


• keeping court time straight by watching the large clock across the river in NJ.


• meeting all sorts of characters while waiting for a court.


• playing doubles until the sun went down and we were kicked off by the only city employee actually doing their job.


• spending hours on friday nights or labor day morning chatting and sharing stories.

I can't wait until next summer when tennis will resume but for now we are on rain/winter delay.