Trip to Flushing Meadows

I can safely say that most of my sports interests come from my dad. My dad will watch any game that airs on TV and has played cricket with passion for the better part of his life. There have been many times we've been stopped on the streets to be told that someone or the other has played cricket with my dad at the National College grounds.

Anyways, that said, I am an avid tennis fan. I remember the time my dad hurriedly bought a color tv just before Wimbledon, so we could watch in color. I am poor at remembering stats-like I can't remember who played which match in which year but I have strong prejudices for certain players. I love their style and strength. I've watched my dad cheer for Navratilova and Chris Evert and Connors and McEnroe. I have since developed likes and dislikes of my own. I adore Graf and have had a poster of hers in my room for most of my teenage years. Agassi and Sampras have been my favorites in recent times but I've rooted for Becker and Edberg and Sabatini and the best of the best for many years. And I always vowed to myself that I'd watch some(if not all) of them play live sometime in my life.

Let me stop rambling and launch into the reason for this post. I was at the US Open men's final yesterday. We spent the whole day lounging at the USTA center since the match wasnt scheduled to begin till later in the evening. I had great run-ins with Navratilova and Connors- tooks pics and got autographs. I was awe-struck coming face to face with these tennis greats. People I had watched many times on TV and never imagined I'd get to see them in person. Can you believe that Martina won her doubles title just the day before and at this age? What amazing dedication and brilliance. I was sure proud to witness in live her induction into the Court of Champions. Truly a glorious moment.

Sighted some celebrities, played the stop-pong game, grabbed souveniers and generally had a great day at one of the great tennis stadiums. The weather was perfect The finals, well what can I say? There's got to be someone out there to beat Federer-Roddick sure had a good fight going for a bit, but didnt go all the way. Maybe next time. For now Federer rules.

An awesome day and makes me want to visit the Wimbledon and the French and the Aussie Opens. Maybe some day...................