When you see it live, it all changes
Note: Glad to see that you are interested in this section of my website as well! It was definitely the one I struggled the most with, involving many hours of creating and a simple but clean layout, but I eventually did it. Enjoy!
I do believe in the power of carefully chosen words in the sense that they can really change the way you look at a specific thing. In this case, I hope I would share a bit about what makes tennis so important to me.
This is the story of the first tennis tournament I attended live. It was May 2017 and after several years of playing at an amateur - semi-pro level, I really wanted to see how the big names play ... I wanted to see the best players in the world live! After careful research, I decided that the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome would be the best option. I planned a trip to Rome for three days, two of which were dedicated to tennis. The first impressions cannot be properly described in words. It was a mix of fear, excitement, confussion, all in one. It was crowded, the wather was very hot and it was full of children asking their parents to buy them the classical huge tennis balls, competing with each other to see which one is able to get more signatures from their favorite players(and from players whose names they did not even know)
I am going to start describing the second day, as that one involved me sitting on the main arena, The Grand Stand. It was there when I first got to see Stan Wawrinka, who was coming after a streak of three consecutive years during which he won 1 Grand Slam title every year. This was and still is up to date quite a result as, beside the Big Three (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic), nobody achieved such a solid performance for 3 consecutive years in the last 15 years. My excitement was very big. It was the night session, Stan played agains Benoit Paire, another constant name in the tennis world, the match being a beautiful one, perhaps a bit unbalanced.
I want to focus more on the experience, as this is the one that tells this experience apart from simply watching a match in front of the TV. I finally understood and experienced why people choose to go such events. It's all about the atmosphere, the public shouting and cheering, making a seemingly normal game transform into a mental battle, which in this case ended with a smashed racket and several rounds of talking to themselves from both players, denoting the passion the both have for the game, both of them constantly trying to push themselves in order to succeed.
I have to say that the first day was the magical one for me. I was seated on the second largest arena in the Foro Italico complex, on the second row. The decision of choosing a better seat not on the most popular arena was the best decision and one I would definitely recommend. I was there for four matches, approximately 8 hours of tennis which transformed into an amazing memory. Seeing the players literally within meters gives you the sentiment that you are really a part of the whole event. You can see the movement of the players, you see angles you never see on TV, you feel the conditions the players experience and you can really appreciate the INTENSITY.
I really thought a lot about this word, intensity, a constant high-level intensity is what differentiates these players from the average ones. The level of focus of such players, some of the younger than myself back then was absolutely admirable and worth to be followed. It was a very valuable lesson, that could be definitely extended beyond tennis. I hope it makes a difference for you, too!
P.S. The ball above was signed after one of the matches in the first day by Alexander Zverev, who was world number 16 back then. Later that week, it turned out that this would have been the first ATP Masters 1000 that he would have won and the start of an impressive journey for the young German who got up to the 4th position in the ATP Leaderboard later that year. What a nice coincidence! I was really grateful for being able to be part of such an event and it was the one that made me attend several tournaments afterwards, allowing me to gather many beautiful memories.
Stay tuned for more stories from the inaugural edition of the Laver Cup in Prague and ATP World Tour Finals in London! Take care!
31.05.2020