When It Rains It Pours

And so the case is in Beijing. Everybody here has said that this summer has been unusually wet, I wonder why ;)... So the first day of competition was rained out. They were able to get a few matches in before it really started pouring. The match on our court started but had to be put on rain delay twice before they cancelled all games for the day so we got to leave early. Our bosses warned us that it would mean more games for Monday as they had to keep to a certain schedule to be done by the following Sunday. So, while only three games were scheduled for my court today, we ended up having four which lasted until about 12:30 am.
The first game on my court during my shift was Andy Murray and a player named Lu Yen-Hsun from Taiwan. Murray is ranked 6th in the world and the other player 74th, so it was expected to be an easy win for Murray. But, let me tell you, the Taiwan guy gave him a run for his money. One player would have an advantage point, but then lose it and the other player would have advantage which seemed to go on forever. The Taiwan guy eventually won after an over two hour game and was definitely the hero of the night - the screams and cheers were very loud! Later in the doubles game my room mate told me he got hit the face by a ball by his opponent and didn't seem all too ready to acknowledge the opponent's apology, so I guess he maybe was still quite upset.
Then, of course, very exciting, Federer and his doubles partner Wawrinka played the duo from Italy. I played my part when I picked up two balls that got hit into my moat and gave them to the ball boy - no, unfortunately I was not able to keep one as a souvenir! At the end of the game, which Federer and co. won quite easily, the fans went crazy when Federer threw his wristbands into the crowd. The fans were absolutely rabid to touch him or to have something touched by this man who is considered a tennis god.
I then got to watch the number one woman's player Jankovic from Serbia play an invited player from Zimbabwe, Cara Black who used to be the number one woman's doubles player. Both players had their own vocal cheering squads, the Serbs' louder than the Zimbabweans,' but definitely present. Some family member of Black's kept on shouting "Let's go bub" or "sug" which was quite cute. The underdogs need all the support they can get! While Black gave a good effort, in the end Jankovic won.
I was all ready to pack up and go, but then we got word that another game was to be played on our court. Now you have to understand I'd been sitting for the most part of 7 hours, with about 45 minutes for dinner and brief breaks between matches. I was so ready to go sleep, but then a game between an Estonian and Czech player was announced to take place, so I had to go back and sit for another hour or so. The extra game was because the rain had delayed many games that needed to be played in order to finish the schedule on time. I finally got to leave with my two fellow Missouri photo volunteers just after midnight. It was absolutely pouring when we walked back from our bus to the hotel and with me forgetting my poncho at the venue got absolutely soaked!
I began the third day of competition with a game between Djokovic, the number three ranked player, and Schuettler from Germany. I narrowly missed a ball to my head that was hit by Djokovic into my moat, but other than that not much excitement as Djokovic won within two sets quite easily. He threw a piece of his clothing into the crowd as well and the crowd went berserk.
The next match between Davydenko of Russia, ranked 4th in the world, and Mathieu of France, ranked in the 30's, was a surprise as well. Mathieu won two sets to one, and really fought for it so the happiness he showed at the win seemed genuine. It's games like these and the Taiwanese-British ones that are most exciting to watch as the lower ranked players really have to fight for a win, and fight for it they do. For the fans however the most excitement comes with these top ranked players and any Chinese players, as it did for Li Na in the next game on my court.
Li Na is ranked in the 40's in the world, but I don't think it really mattered at all to the hundreds of Chinese fans that came to watch her last night. The court was absolutely packed with spectators who were very vocal in their support, so much so that they had to be told to be quiet during the point by the umpire more than once. There was an announcement to please show support for both players, which some did when Morita, her Japanese opponent, earned a point, but it was a lot more subdued than the support shown for Li Na. She is definitely the darling of the Chinese tennis fans' eye. Morita made her earn her win, but Li Na pulled through with a win for China.
The ball boys had a new title during this match: bug retrievers. Yes, I say retrievers because they had to retrieve many an insect that landed on the court during this and the following games. Li Na seemed quite frightened by one that got in her way of serving. The insects were predominantly giant green grasshopper looking things that look like they could blend in with any bright green leaves. They were quite slippery little buggers when the boys tried to catch them, but eventually they got the idea to envelop them in towels and then dispose of them in the trash. In my moat I get a plethora of insects ranging from moths to beetles to wasps, its quite the menagerie!
The last match was between Hantuchova and Husarova of Slovakia and Yan and Zheng for China. Both of these doubles teams came with impressive credentials and were well matched for each other as the game had to be played to tie break with one team gaining advantage and the other team then getting it back. This tie break lasted for a long time, making the game almost two hours in length with the Chinese making a final wins that brought many cheers of congratulations from the Chinese fans. For the results to this and other matches, check out this web site. I am a photo assistant for any game on Court 1 after 5pm.
I also noted two new additions to the court that day. The first were cheerleaders who seemed require to cheer equally for both sides. About twenty Chinese girls dressed in navy would cheer for both players, even for Morita against Li Na, but when it got to the Chinese women's doubles they forgot their duties and clearly showed allegiance to the Chinese players. The second were seat fillers all dressed in the same China t-shirts. Read this New York Times article for more info, all I can say is that it is true. I'm not quite sure why they brought in Chinese seat fillers for such popular games with Chinese players in them, but they indeed were there. We finally left at around 1 am because all of our games went later than expected. It is nice to have night games as they are cooler, but then we have to wait for our games to finish at all hours of the night!
More to come later, we'll see who is on my court tomorrow.