Andaaaaaaaay

Neutral Omes:

Andy Murray has made history becoming the only Brit to win two Queen’s trophies since 1920-somethin’-a-rather. The world no. 4 battled from a set down, fighting off a Tsonga that looked to have all the answers (even diving for a good few of them,) right until the second set tie-break. The Scot will be a serious threat for Wimbledon now. And I’m not saying this because of his game – his game has always been there. But today we were treated to a much calmer, level-headed Murray who shook off mistakes and seemed to always be looking forward. Coming in from the French Open with an injury yet to fully heal, he’s done very well mentally to get to this point. No, not even the ankle could stop him looking forward. And now with the confidence of the Queen’s trophy, he’ll no doubt be looking forward to Wimbledon.

Fanatic Omes:

Oh no, Andy is blatantly going to be in Rafa’s side of the draw. It’s difficult ‘cause I don’t want Andy to lose, but I want Rafito to win. It’s hard work splitting your loyalty. I did say Andy could have next year’s Wimbly so, yeah we’ll just stick to that. Well done Andy, but kindly step aside darling.

(Pic: Omes Tennis) 
 

Rain, rain, don't go away...

Fanatic Omes: 

So it turns out that:

Rain = Boredom = Twitter

Our players had a twit-tastic day that would have made Roland Garros shiver with regret* having discovered the players’ readiness for karaoke.

I don’t think I could do justice to what went down, so I’ll let them tweet for themselves:

Nole:

Muzz:

Serena:

Gosh how we love our guys and gals.

In other depressingasIamatworkandcan’bbelievethepriceofthetickets news, Queens’s finals tickets cost a tenner. That’s £10 for you non-UK folk. Go on type that into Google and see how much it is in your currency. 

The online tickets sold out in an hour but the good people at Queen’s reserved 1000 more to be sold at the door. I understand that people had been queuing since 2.00am. (Uh guys, you know it’s a best of three right?)

So the final should begin in about half an hour. There’s no rain in sight, but as discussed earlier that may actually be a bummer.

*RG opted not to do players karaoke this year. Booo.

 (Pics: blueyed-cutzie.blogspot.com, artblog.hk, wildmind.org)

So like, I went to Queens...

Fanatic Omes:

Queuing for long enough to make life-long friends and being treated like vermin at the entrance because for some reason, for about 2 and a half hours only residents to the area were allowed into the site aside,...I had a lovely time.

We arriv-ed at the tournament site, where they were kind enough to dangle the scores of the Rafa/Stepanek in front of our eyes whilst we were being held in the queue. 

With Rafa serving for the match I prayed that he would be a dear and take it to three. So you can imagine the joy when Rafa felt my cosmic synergy and kindly oblidged; so after hustlin’ we got to watch the last set. (I missed Rafa’s fall though.)

 

I also got to watch James Ward! ‘Twas was a lovely jubbly atmosphere despite the lack of people. And now the former no. 208 has only just gone and made it to the quarters. Vamos James!

 

Then came the crux of the evening: Rafa’s doubles play was halted due to poor light. And being a freak, I had the foresight to run to one of the court one exits to watch him come out. And then he did! Just can say: why can’t more guys look like Rafa? : (

Then it was home time. :’ (

So I’ll leave you with the inner monologue in my head for the five seconds I saw Rafs up close:

“Oh Rafa’s leaving the court, OMG OMG, let’s run to go see him up close!

Poor Rafa! I can’t imagine being mobbed like all the time. Not to mention people shoving camera phones in your face. I feel so bad. Swarms of people are just following him.

Proceeds to chase Rafa towards the locker room.

I miss Rafa. “

More photos after the jump break. 

Rafa and Queens and things.

(Pic: Omes Tennis)

Fanatic Omes:

So I’m sure you’ve all heard Rafa has qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals! Ole Ole Ole! (cf. this).

So...I WENT TO QUEENS TODAY : D. Detailed post about the happy haps coming up soon. Oh and I’m going tomorrow as well. Oh and I saw Rafa up close. Thank you and goodnight.

Here is some cuteness to keep you going through the night. Not in a gross way.
 

Ward-ing off Opposition

Neutral Omes:

The story of Queens so far has been world no. 216 and Britain’s no. 2 James Ward’s victory over world no. 14 and 4^th seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. The Brit closed out the victory in straight sets - 76 63, after winning a convincing tiebreak 73 and using the momentum to break early in the 2^nd set. Ward is currently being mentored by Argentinean mixed martial arts cage fighter, Diego Visotzky, who according to (a slightly frightened) Ward, enjoys putting his mentee in headlocks. The Brit now faces defending champion Sam Querrey and will certainly need all the fight he can muster.

Fanatic Omes:

Congrats to James Ward but doesn’t he want to go to the gym? I think all the Brit baby boys should take a page from Andy Murray’s book. Andy is a brick.

In other news, how cute is this photo?

"Hi guys. I'm cute"

 (Pics: Getty)

 

The Grass is Greener

Fanatic Omes:

It’s grass o’ clock! Which means tennis comes to London where I live. Which also means I get depressed that I can’t pack up and move into the tournament sites; – so tantalisingly close yet so far.

Anyway so here’s the 411 so far:

Rafa, looking all bicep-y, practices at Queens

Fed pulls out of Halle
Nole, Gasquet and Fish pull out of Queens
Roddick goes for the ankle-sock look....ok

Nalbandian and Roddick do doubles at Queens

Muzz was also there

Serena returns to the tour at Eastbourne (well rest of WTA, it’s been fun)

Would it be ridiculous to buy a grounds ticket and wonder around a tennis tournament by yourself?...No? Ok.