Sunday, November 13, 2005 (continued) Sunday, November 13, 2005 After lunch, Tanya and I went to the Federer/Nalbandian match. It was pretty much what I expected until the second set, when Federer's play dropped off, and Nalbandian started to play really well. He broke Federer twice to take the second set. Fed was making very uncharacteristic errors (probably from his lack of play over the past two months), and David was capitalizing on them. In the third set, David broke Fed again, and Tanya said, "Looks as though Nalbandian is going to win this." I said, "No, he won't. He's going to wake up and realize who is across the net and that he may actually beat Federer." He probably will lose the next service game. And that's exactly what happened. Tanya looked at me as though I had sprouted horns. And I said, "This is typical when guys play Federer. Even when they have chances to win, they don't believe they can do it." I told her that Roger would hold serve comfortably, and he would break David again and that David likely would be broken when he served to stay in the match. I was right on the first two counts, but was a bit surprised that David managed to hold in his last service game, forcing Fed to serve out the match. But Fed only needed the one additional break. Final score: 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. The Ljubicic/Coria match was less exciting. It was pretty much was I expected, except that Coria did manage to break back in the second set. But that was his only moment of glory. Because in the next game, Ivan broke back. They had a terrific rally on breakpoint on Coria' serve -- the longest rally I've seen on this fast surface. And then Coria tried this stupid dropshot and missed, basically handing Ivan the match. Final score: 6-2, 6-3. On Tuesday, Fed will play Ljubicic, and Coria will play Nalbandian. I don't see Coria winning that match either -- his serve really has been a liability lately. As for Fed/Ljubicic, that could be interesting, particularly if Fed is as rusty as he appears today. Since it's not a final, Ivan may not lose his cool, and could give Fed a run for his money. When I left the stadium, I walked pass the player's entrance. I heard (and then saw) a bunch of young girls yelling "Rafa, Rafa," and literally screaming in general. I looked over, and Rafa was coming out and heading to his car. He quickly put some stuff in the trunk of the car, and jumped in it. So that's my first glimpse of Rafa this week -- and it simply highlights what an icon he has become in the sport. I understand he was in the stands watching the Federer/Nalbandian match. After the matches, I did my interview with Mimi of Oriental Sports Daily. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. She was less interested in the business aspects of this site and how it was founded, and more interested in my personal interaction with Rafa, which basically has been limited to site business. Still, it was fun to recount my various meetings with him over the years. I think she was surprised that we've been doing this site since June 2003! When we were finished, I had 5 minutes to catch the bus back to the hotel. I caught it just before it left, which was good, else I would have had to wait another hour. I ordered some dinner, which was horrendous. A trip to McDonald's will be in order soon, and or I will lose quite a bit of weight while I'm here. The tournament organizers have arranged a bus tour of Shanghai for the morning, and I signed up. So I'll take that at 9 a.m., and then we'll return here, where I will catch the bus to the tennis. I plan to get there by 4 p.m., so I'll have a chance of catching Rafa's practice before his match. I will not be able to get good photos from my place in the stadium. But there are desks at our seats, so I may be able to bring my laptop in. If I'm allowed to do that, and if I get an internet connection, I will do a Live Match blog during the match. I'll test it out during the Agassi/Davydenko match, so you will know in advance whether it will work. Stay tuned for Monday in Shanghai . . . I'm off to get a bit more sleep before my sightseeing tour. I'll be in touch when I get to the stadium. Vamos, Rafa!!!! posted by Susan @ 1:13 PM