The Magüi Maniacs at the Madrid Open 2001. !!

After arriving in Madrid on the Tuesday morning at 8am, (an hour later than expected), after what was supposed to have been an eight hour train journey from Barcelona, I was thankfully met at Chamartín station by Bea, Bea’s sister María, and Mel, and driven back to Bea’s house for a few hours of much needed rest before setting off to my first day, (everyone else’s second day), at the Madrid Open 2001.

My first day at the tennis involved lots of kissing and hugging and meeting up with old friends from last year’s unforgettable summer of tennis. That done, we settled down to actually watch a few matches!!

Well, I have to say that the tennis we watched that week wasn’t actually that great, nevertheless we still managed to create loads of great memories that will stay with us forever. Now, as I am writing this report, errm shall we say, just a little while, (*coughing* apologies, Bea, I have been busy though!!), after the event and thus can’t exactly remember what happened when, I’ve decided that this report will concentrate on the most memorable moments of that week, rather than matches we saw day by day.

OK, where to start?!?! Well, it was hot, very hot, in Madrid that week and the whole group of us were dying out there, so Bea had the bright idea to ask the guy spraying the courts if he would spray us too. Innocent enough, you may be thinking, and of course, we never though he’d actually do it anyhow. So, Bea put forward our request to him, and to our shock he immediately turned around and began spraying us, however, as we were to find out a few seconds later, we were not the only ones to be shocked by this. Upon hearing, “hey, hey, hey” being called out from behind us, we swung round to see a very unamused Patricia Tarabini getting wet too!!!!

Then of course there was the moment where Bea asked Magüi to sign a photo and to dedicate it to Magüi Mania, then proceeded to ask her if she knew what Magüi Mania is!! Poor Magüi got all shy and replied, “sí” whilst giggling and never looking up once!!

During the tennis itself, more amusement occurred, during the Patricia Tarabini/ Nicole Pratt vs. María José Martínez/Anabel Medina match. At one point Anabel got annoyed by her partner missing a shot, leading Bea’s sister María to shout to her in Spanish, “hit her with your racket!” Then there was Nicole Pratt herself, becoming more and more pumped and excited as the match went on. However, what was a pretty good, fun, match, unfortunately ended on a sour note as a severe argument over the rules between Pato, Nicole and the umpire brought about match point for the other team. One more point and it was all over, Pato leaving the court still visibly angry.

Then there was finals day! During the morning Stacey called my mobile and insisted on us finding Arantxa and asking her to speak on the ‘phone with her. Mel being the only one of us willing to fulfil Stacey’s request, eventually caught up with Arantxa and just said, “Arantxa, ‘phone call for you!”, Arantxa was like, “What? Who is it?!?!?”, Mel explained that it was Stacey and Arantxa took the ‘phone and spoke with her briefly. Of course, Arantxa went on to take the title, which was fantastic.

Then came the doubles final: Vivi Ruano/ Paola Suárez vs. the top seeded paring of Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs. Lisa and Rennae got off to a great start and, let’s be honest, were about to take the match in straight sets, but then the crowd, rather than becoming silenced by their home player being about to be defeated, suddenly began to get louder and louder. Aut it seemed to have the desired effect as Vivi and Paola began to losen up and play better and at the same time Lisa and more specifically Rennae began to get more and more irritated by the crowd. As the score became closer, the crowd became louder, as Rennae started losing her temper and screaming at the umpire and even the crowd, the crowd got even louder still, and the atmosphere became one worthy of a Fed Cup final. And lo and behold Vivi and Paola managed to come back and take the match in three sets! It was truly amazing.

With that our week at the tennis was over, but our holiday in Madrid was not quite, as though we had a plane to catch to Paris the following morning at 11am, we still managed to go out to a few clubs that night!!!!!!