Paris, Day 6 aka French Open, Day 3

Paris, France

I grabbed a quick breakfast in the hotel then met Jeffrey and Julie in the lobby to head back to Roland Garros. The rest of the group was planning to meet us in time for the 2nd women’s match, Serena vs. Roberta Vinci. We got to the venue without any trouble and walked around a bit to show Julie what we had seen the day before. We found our way onto one of the outer courts to watch the first set of a mixed doubles match: Lisa Raymond and Bruno Soares vs. Hlavackova and Dlouhy – fun stuff! Then we made our way around to watch some of the junior boys play – what a treat! We saw the top French boy play a tough South American kid – both of them hit the smack out of the ball!

After watching several games, we picked up some lunch then went to our seats in Chatrier to watch the end of the Kuznetsova/Kerber match. Momma, Daddy, and Matthew arrived just as that match was finishing up, so we were all together for the rest of the day. What a great slate of matches! After Serena whomped Vinci and answered some interview questions en francais, Jo-Wilfred Tsonga came on court to play Viktor Troicki, and the crowd went wild. With our binoculars, I could see Roger Rasheed, Tsonga’s coach, watching, as well as Ion Tiriac. Luckily, Tsonga won so we got to see his cute on-court victory dance and hear his interview – what a great personality! Between matches, I was looking through the day’s newspaper, and I finally know what Afflelou is – it’s the name of a French clothing designer who sponsors this tourney.

Next up was the match we had been waiting for: Roger Federer vs. Gilles Simon. It didn’t disappoint! Federer came out firing on all cylinders, hardly missing at all. The crowd started shouting, “Allez Gillu!” to urge on their man. After one of the sets, Roger took an off-court (bathroom?) break, and one of the cameramen followed him off the court – hmmm. The match went 5 sets with Roger emerging victorious. In his post-match interview, Roger said at least now at least he knows Gilles’s nickname, “Gillu”!

Souvenir shopping came next, then we took the Metro back and all met up at Terminus for another great, late, dinner. Onion soup and a chocolate crepe for me, s’il vous plait, again served by Nicolas!