BAD NEWS -- RAFA IS PULLING OUT OF THE EVENT! Monday, November 14, 2005 This story is just developing, and is not official yet. But apparently he is injured. More soon. . . . Sorry for the delay in doing my blog, but I've been busy. It's been quite hectic since Rafa withdrew from the event. And now I need to head over to watch the Bryan Brothers perform two songs from Oasis and U2. I'll take a few photos and then come back. Stay tuned . . . It was, of course, very disappointing that Rafa had to withdraw. By now, you've heard the whole story, but basically he hurt a ligament in his foot, and the doctors felt that he could aggravate the injury by playing on it. He did his best to assuage the fans' disappointment. He personally made the announcement, which was met with dismay by the crowd. Althought he announcement was made in Chinese, the groans translate to any language. Rafa then gave a press conference and apologized to everyone. He looked disappointed, but he made the right decision, especially with the surface. It is difficult to move on this surface, which is sticky. If any surface would aggravate a foot injury, it would be this one. Fortunately, I had brought our Christmas gift and bears (for Canada, Beijing and Madrid) to the tennis. Carlos Costa and Rafa's Dad, Sebastian, were at the press conference, and Carlos suggested that I give the bag to Sebastian, which I did. He said thanks. Obviously, it was not the best of circumstances to speak with them, but I'm glad we were able to deliver the gift. At the press conference, they announced that Rafa would come back tomorrow to meet with fans and sponsors. I took a few photos at the press conference, which are now up on smugmug: I was disappointed when I went back to the hotel, and was ready to join Carly and MAC at the bar *lol*, but I also realized that it's not every day I get to go to China. And if there's a place to be stuck for a week, without Rafa news to cover, this is a pretty good choice. So with that attitude, I looked ahead to the next day. posted by Susan @ 3:30 AM