A Great Day in NYC

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I’ve had the best day!! I decided to ditch the Federer/Muller match and just go for the nite match of Roddick and Djokovic, so I had a whole day of freedom! Fabulous! What to do first? There is a photography show that I’ve wanted to see at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so that will be my first stop. Entitled, “Photography on Photography: Reflections on the Medium since 1960”, it features images from some of the best contemporary photographers in the last 40 years.

On the way to the Met, I walk up Madison Ave, checking out the windows of shops that I can never afford to shop in. I do browse a bit in one that claims to feature designer label clothing at with discounted price tags. I find a beautiful silk blouse for the bargain price of $1,225.00. Think maybe I’ll get one in every color. Oh well, can’t wear silk tops in the photo pit anyway.

My destination is on 5^th Avenue so I cross over and look at the work displayed by artist’s who have set up stalls on the sidewalks surrounding the Met. Some nice work, and some very ordinary.

The photography show is excellent, I’m glad I went, but I wanted to get back outside and continue my wonderful free day. Walking back toward the hotel through the park, I come to the Boathouse and I notice that they have bicycle rentals. Great! I spend the next hour and a half pedaling around the park. The paths are shaded and cool, it’s fun to cruise along, and I can go a lot further than when I’m walking.

Back at the boathouse, I have a quick bite of lunch then head for Columbus Circle where they are having a huge NFL kickoff concert. I sort of assume that it’s going to be mobbed and a pain in the neck, but I want to see what it’s all about anyway. It is mobbed, but not really a pain in the neck. The music is pounding and the energy is great. Football fans in their favorite team jerseys are having a great time arguing the merits of players, and the season hasn’t even started. I hang out there for an hour or so before starting back to the hotel.

I make it back in time for the 5PM happy hour... take a plate of snacks up to my room, get cleaned up and go for the 7PM bus. The two women behind me on the ride out to the Open spend the entire half hour trip debating the merits of two different brands of caramel corn, then move on to the best cheese popcorn in NYC, from there they discuss breakfast sandwiches, deli sandwiches, and hot dogs from street vendors, they had just started on frozen yogurt when we arrived. I was dying to turn around and have a look at them but didn’t want to be too obvious, so I just waited and let them get off before me… as you might expect they were not thin.

The big match between Djokovic and Roddick proves to be disappointing. Roddick really didn’t get going until the third set, and by then it was too late. Everyone was betting on Andy, he’s been playing great tennis, dispatching Gonazles in the last round barely breaking a sweat, while Djokovic struggled with both injuries and Robredo in his last match.

The most interesting part of the match came during the on court post match interview when Djokovic slammed Roddick for Roddicks comments on Djokovic’s fitness. In an earlier press conference Andy made light of the Serbs injuries and need for a trainer saying that he Novak had about “16 injuries”. Djokovic obviously did not find this humorous; the crowd booed loudly when he said, "That's not nice anyhow to say in front of this crowd that I have 16 injuries and I am faking it.”

Well, anyone that knows Andy at all knows that he loves to joke around and shouldn’t take things like this too seriously. Djokovic loves to make fun and do imitations of everyone... and they are hilarious... He did one of Roddick on kid’s day that broke Andy up, so if you want to dish it out, you need to learn how to take it.

However Djokovic did apologize to Roddick in his post match press conference stating, "Unfortunately, Andy made a statement, and I don't think it was intentional," he added. "He made a joke and it was a misunderstanding.

"I exaggerated and I reacted bad in that moment. I apologise if I reacted like that. It was just impulsive and I had a lot of emotions in the last two days.”

I think that we sometimes forget how young these guys are and the kind of pressure they are under.