Monday night at the U.S Open

Monday night at the U.S Open
Originally uploaded by lools.

Our friend Joy had secured two tickets to the U.S Open and had invited Harsha to go. Knowing what a big tennis fan I am, Harsha very sweetly suggested I go with Joy instead of him. That's how I ended up going to Flushing Meadows for the first time in my life.

We took the 7 train from Grand Central Station to Flushing, passing the famous Jackson Heights (Indian neighbourhood) on the way. It would have been so great to stop for some pani puri but we were running a bit late so decided to give it a skip. We got to the stadium in 30 minutes flat. The grounds were fairly crowded as folks from the morning session were just making their way back home. I was totally excited to be at the stadium. I was keenly on the lokoout for tennis stars bit did not have much luck. Don't know where they were all hiding out!

Joy was devastated to find out that Federer was not to play as his opponent had pulled out due to a bad ache. We go really lucky though as the rescheduled game was Martina Navaratilova/Leander Paes vs Maria Sharapova/Max Myrni. Leander did India proud and really stole the limelight. Martina played well too - I can't believe that this was her 27th year at the Open! Sharapova, dressed in a tangerine tank top and skirt could not find her rhythm at all and Max tried his best and served up some 130 mph serves but clearly that was not good enough. Leander and Martina won easily in straight sets mostly due to their brilliance at the net.

The second featured match was Nadia Petrova vs. world number one, Justine Henin-Herdenne. Petrova was on fire and knocked out Justine in straight sets.

Overall, I felt so lucky to be a part of this sporting event. It's so nice to watch the matches live rather than on T.V. We had to strain our eyes though as we were at the far top of the stadium. In hindsight, we should have taken binoculars. Throughout the evening, I kept reminding myself that watching the U.S. Open every year is yet another advantage of living in Manhattan!