Finally the Final Day

I thought I’d be winging west this afternoon, but no, I’m not going to be on that flight until early tomorrow morning. The men’s final is scheduled for 5 PM today, so I’ll be spending one more day at the US Open.

Since this really is my final day at in NYC, I decide to take a last walk in Central Park. This is always one of my favorite ways to start the day. It’s so different from my morning walk on the beach in Southern California. I love the fact that I can experience them both.

The huge trees in the park are so beautiful, forming a shady canopy over the walkways. We don’t have trees like this in So Cal. We have Palm Trees.. tall silly things that don’t help a bit in the shade department. One thing I have noticed is that in places with outdoor dining, Angeleno’s (people who live in Los Angeles) fill up the tables in the shade first, and New Yorkers prefer the ones in the sun. I also notice that Angeleno’s wear dark glasses, and New Yorkers wear dark suits. Angeleno’s read the entertainment pages first, and New Yorkers the financial section. I could go on and on, but lets continue with my walk.

A jazz saxophone is playing, “What the World Needs Now, is Love, Sweet Love”... so nice, so true. This older jazzman is terrific... love the pink satin shirt, the shiny shoes, the tambourine attached to his ankle, the white straw hat, and the flower that’s attached to his music case, spinning in the breeze. This cat can play and he’s got it going on! He makes me smile, I love people being themselves, I love people with initiative, I love people that try to do something special. I love the effort he’s made to make a cool appearance even though he’s just playing by himself in the park. I stop and listen for awhile, drop a few dollars in his basket and continue my walk.

A very pretty girl with a slight accent asks me to take her picture with her camera. I’m happy to do this, and tell her that I’m a photographer. I chat with her a few minutes and find that she is from Barcelona, Spain. I tell her that I work on the tennis tour and that it seems like all the men from Spain are gorgeous, like Nadal, Verdasco, Moya. I joke that maybe I should move to Barcelona, but she say’s “no, I think there are many more handsome men in the US, I’m always falling in love with American men.” Well, you know the saying “the grass is always greener”.

Strolling, on, I come to the south end of Pall Mall which is also known as Poet’s Walk. Doesn’t William Shakespeare look regal, looking down at you from his pedestal in the trees?

The paving stones in this area bear the names of people who have made an endowment to care for the trees. What a nice way to remember or honor someone. The other thing you can do is adopt a bench, this cost’s around $7,500. 00 but it is your for life. Each bench carries a personal inscription on a metal plate. They commemorate, births, lives, celebrations, and have been used for wedding proposals. I love this!! I want one! When I make a lot of money, I’m going to get one!

I’ve had a lovely morning, and now it’s time to head to work. I have a feeling that I’d better be on time because I think it could be a short match.

I was SOOO right. Roger claimed the title, 1.5 million prize money and a new Lexus. Not bad for a couple of weeks hitting a little yellow ball around. He also became the first man to win five successive titles at two different Grand Slam events (the Open and Wimbledon). Murray gets $750,000.00 plus some US Open Series bonus bucks, so he’ll take home around a million. Of course a million in US currency doesn’t go very far in Great Britain, so Andy may have to forgo any huge expenditure, but I’m sure he’ll get by.

Does it seem to you that tennis is getting a little like baseball... all about stats? We’ve been hearing about this five in a row for Federer all week, there were also some stats about Nadal if he won, and of course the stat on how long it’s been since a Brit won this event…all the numbers are making my head swim.

Winning this last Slam of the year obviously meant a lot to the Swiss former number one. This is the first year since 2002 that he has not won one of the big ones… see there we go with stats again.

The third set went so fast, it was match point before I could believe it. Murray is in very bad humor. Roger went up 5-1 in record time and was serving for the match at my end of the court, when Murray came to life a broke him... NO! This is very bad, because now Roger will probably win at the other end, and I won’t have a clean shot of him… Of course this is what happen, Roger wins the next game, fall onto the court in back of the net, I run off as many photos as I can, but I have no idea if they are I focus because I don’t have time to switch the auto focus off and so the camera is probably focusing on the net instead of Roger. You see how difficult my job can be.

I do have to say however, that Roger has the trophy photo thing down pat. He poses in every possible direction, kisses the trophy multiple times... I find it odd that he closes his eyes when he does this... like it was a romantic moment... who knows maybe it was.

So the 2008 US Open has finally drawn to an end, and I’m ready to head back to the beach. Check in with me again for future adventures, and be sure to read all about it in the Drop Shots Column.

Cynthia

Sunday in NY

Today should have been the last day for the US Open, but unfortunately the men’s semi didn’t’ finish yesterday, so Nadal and Murray will finish today. The good news is that they are not scheduled until at least 4PM, so I have the morning free to check out the Washington Square Art Fair. It’s a beautiful sunny day with not a cloud in sight so I decide to walk, it’s about 3 miles from 54^th and Park to Washington Square, so I’ll work off that bagel and cream cheese I had for breakfast.

Walking along the streets surrounding the square, browsing the various art and crafts, strains of jazz coming from a alto saxophone, is a very nice way to spend some time before going to the site. I’ve been working on making collages out of my photos, and there are a few very interesting collage artists here, and some nice jewelry. I love things that are made by human hands. Something with a person’s fingerprints on it, something that someone loved making, something that is a product of someone imagination. I buy a beautiful pair of gold earrings for my sister’s birthday, and a hand made book for my little four year old cousin. Then it’s back to the hotel to get ready to go to the site.

A lot of the media people just go to the Open, and back to their hotel everyday, but I like to take in the sites, experience whatever city I’m in has to offer. What’s the use of traveling if you aren’t going to see new things, have new adventures? Meet new people.

I still have the leftovers of my great noodle salad from last night, but darn... do not have a fork and the breakfast is no longer being served so I’m going to have to be cleaver. There is an old saying that necessity is the mother of invention... ok... I’ve got it... and this is a good tip if you are ever stuck without eating utensils. Two coffee stirs make very usable chopsticks. They are a little short and thin, but I manage to eat my salad without making a mess. Of course, I’m very good with chopsticks, so you might have a little more difficulty than me, but if you’re desperate it does work.

The Brits are going mad... Sir Richard Branson is in the player box with his Mom and girlfriend watching as Andy Murray defeated world number one Rafael Nadal, to reach his first Grand Slam final. He’ll be facing Roger Federer tomorrow at 5PM. Murray is really a Scot, but the English don’t have Henman to cheer for anymore, so Andy has become their man. They are totally different players from my point of view. Henman very much the proper, well mannered Englishman, and Murray the wild Highlander.

Okay, that’s finished, now for the women. As I predicted, Serena defeated Jelena Jankovic in two sets, and with this win will also become number one in the rankings. Jankovic played a pretty good match, but was totally out powered by Serena. However,

JJ, as people call her, definitely won the fashion contest. I love her yellow dress, (I talked about this in an earlier blog) and tonight she came out with a really cute sheer little jacket over the dress, this outfit is cute enough to wear to go out, and with hemlines so short this year, it wouldn’t look out of place off the court, and the gold sparkles sprayed on her dark hair were a cool touch. Very nice Jelena.

As for Serena, her dress was a disaster in my opinion. The dark red color was not flattering and looked horrible when it got wet and stuck to her. On the plus side, she wore a BEAUTIFUL diamond bracelet on her left writs. No huge earrings, which was a surprise... these are usually won of her most prominent accessories.

Well, that’s it for tonight; I’m catching the 2AM bus back to the city.