My First US Open

Hello my fellow Manamantha bloggers,

With everyone contributing so nicely to the blog, I thought I would put my own two pennies as well :) So, here's a brief story of my recent trip to the US Open.

When Anand told me that we would be going to the US Open, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I wanted the experience of going to a major sports event in New York. But, I wasn't sure if I would be able to watch hour after hour of tennis either ;) Anyhow, I decided to give it a try.

As planned, I worked until 3pm, and came home by 3:50pm. We (Sai, Sasidhar, Harika, and I) were supposed to take the 4:24pm train from New Brunswick to New York Penn station. Due to some horrible miscommunication, we ended up missing this train, and took the 5pm train to New York instead. Anyhow, we reached Penn station half-hour late, and started our walk towards Grand Central. We met my husband and Giri on Park Avenue and 32nd Street, and proceeded for our supper at the Grand Central food courts. Food was expensive there, but there was lots of choice. Some of us ate North Indian food ($9.95/plate which includes a choice of three curries, and a helping of fried rice), and some had falafel.

Anyhow, we were supposed to take the 7 train from Grand Central at 6pm, but because of the delays ended up catching one at 6:50pm instead. The train we got on was local, but were at the Stadium by 7:40pm. Giri got the pre-purchased tickets from the counter, and there was a few more minute delay at the entrance, as we had to go back to check-in the schoolbag for security reasons - a sign of the age we live in. So, by the time we got in, it was 7:55pm - nearly an hour late.

We couldn't have picked a worse day to watch tennis at the US Open even if we wanted to :) None of the stars - Agassi, Federer, Williams sisters, etc. - were playing that evening. Check on the draw, if you don't trust me.



The first match we saw was in a side court - Richard Gasquet vs. Giorgio Galimberti. This was actually a day match (our tickets were for the night matches), but they will let you in anyway. This was a small stadium, and our seats were just 5 or 6 rows from the court. Alas, the match was over within 10 minutes (just 4 games) after we went there as Giorgio retired due to some injury.




Back at the Arthur Ashe, Amelie just completed road-rolling her opponent 6-0 and 6-1, and by the time we got there, the stage was set for James Blake vs. Igor Andreev. We made our way on to the third level, row Q. While you can still see the ball being hit around there, it was not very clear what's going on. I felt a bit of vertigo because to the steepness visible from my level. The weather, however, was very pleasant - cool with low humidity. More than the tennis match, I enjoyed the ambience. There were two huge screens on both sides of the stadium, where you can watch the players close-in, and some replays as well.



The match was a totally one-sided affair, and at the end of the second set we were joined by Anand's colleague (Asif) and his son (Aahil). As it was becoming clear (against most of the spectator's wishes) that this match was going to be over soon, people started leaving from all levels. We took advantage of the opportunity, and kept gradually moving down until we got to a place where we were very close to the action. You can even begin to recognize the players' expressions from this level.

Anyhow, the match over too quickly, and we minute t waited until the lasto see if we would get those prize balls hit by Blake at the end of the match. But, we weren't so lucky :) On our way back, we saw some side courts, and took some snaps. It felt quite different to be walking on the same courts where you see players play on the television.

We collected our bag, and made our way back to the subway as part of a huge crowd. The crowd wasn't bad at all once we reached the subway. The 7 train arrived within 5 minutes after got on to the platform, and all of us found seats. This time, we went beyond Grand Central, and got off at 42nd Street (Times Square). It was nearly 11:45pm, but the Times Square and the city was as lively as if it were daytime - all the shops were still open, and people were actually shopping. We walked back to Penn Station, but missed the 11:45pm train, and had to wait until the 12:37am train. In the meantime, Harika and Sasidhar had Caramel Milk Shakes, Anand got a Green Tea Frappuccino, Giri had Nesquik Strawberry Milkshake, and Sai had some hot coffee.

Anand bought a crossword book before boarding train, and tried solving it with our help in the trian. We met Anand's friends Vivek and Minhas in the train. We got off at Jersey Ave by 1:40am. We dropped Sasidhar and Harika at their place, Asif and Aahil at their home, and reached home by 2:10am.

In conclusion, it was a nice trip but the travel was tedious and boring. But, the experience as a whole was very good.

That's all I can say about my trip to US Open,
Ajitha.