Sunday in the Sun

Yesterday Cory and I met Rashmi, Mark and Michele out at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow for the practice day before the tournament started today. It was a beautiful day, though a hot one, and we had a a great time running around the grounds, watching some top players and doing some stargazing.

One of the highlights for me was seeing one of my personal tennis heroes out of retirement and in action (at least for the moment.)


Yup, that's Johnny Mac himself, whacking a serve. He was playing an informal game with some guy nobody seemed able to recognize. I'm thinking maybe a contest winner, silent auction for charity, something like that. The guy was pretty good too, but what a treat to see one of the guys who got me really into tennis in the first place.



We moved over to the Louis Armstrong stadium and saw Dinara Safina hitting with Carla Suarez Navarro.



It was just practice, of course, but that's the number one women's tennis player in the world and we were there on a beautiful day watching her for free. Pretty rad.


I like this shot a lot. [As usual, clicking on these shots lets you see a bigger, more detailed image. I recommend it.]

And over on the practice courts there was some guy who really grabbed Rashmi and Michele's attention:


Ok, ok, he's not just 'some guy.' That's Marat Safin, Dinara's older bro, and a former U.S. Open Champion and World Number One himself, walking onto the court with his hitting partner. I guess for some reason certain people find him sort of watchable, because there were some fans tucked into a little corner where there was a gap in the hedge bordering the practice courts, and a whole group of fans crowded up to the top of the bleachers for court 4 that let you peek over that hedge.



I eventually got tired of slipping on all the drool that was collecting on those bleachers and wandered around the compound on my own a little.



Fun way to spend a Sunday. Thanks to Rashmi for the invitation!