Sunday, August 07, 2011

Legg Mason 2011 - Hot, Wet and Fun

It's that time of year again - Legg Mason Tournament time. You know, the time of year, when you voluntarily sit in the broiling hot sun to watch sweaty men duke it out on the tennis court.

This year, Shira upgraded our seats and we sat under shade. It was definitely an upgrade worth making. Sure, I still chattered nearly non-stop about the heat and how it was absurd to be playing tennis in August in DC. But, it was infinitely better than if we'd been without shade. Not to mention, part way into the singles match, the skies opened up and we got drenched with rain. Again, our covered seats more than proved their value.

The rain delay, which all told took about an hour, was actually impressive site to see. To watch the court go from sloshing wet, to absolutely dry in a matter of minutes (say, 45?), was quite the feat. Between squeegees, air blowers, and even manually toweling off the court, the staff had the surface back to dry in an impressive amount of time.

As for the tennis, it was excellent, as one would expect. The doubles, which I tend to prefer, definitely didn't disappoint. Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic were evenly matched against Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau for the first set. Then Lindstedt/Tecau pulled again in the second set, managing to get what appeared to me, to be a comfortable lead. In the end though, Llodra and Zimonjic, not only caught up, but ended up beating Lindstedt and Tecau. It was tennis at its best - you think for sure you know who's going to win, and then you're proven wrong.

The singles match was more straightforward - Radek Stepanek played Gael Monfils, and by the second set, Stepanek was proving too solid a player for Monfils to beat. Still, it was quite the entertaining match to watch, what with Monfils losing hold of his racket a number of times, and making a couple especially daring dives for the ball.

All in all, as my once a year to sit and bake while watching tennis, I was definitely not left disappointed.

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