Before we went, everyone asked, wouldn't we get tired of watching so much tennis? (That is, everyone except Coach Rick, who was bummed that we "only" got the night sessions.)
Answer: Nope. Loved every minute.
This was the view from our seats in Arthur Ashe Stadium (Section 325, Row W, Seats 9 and 10, our home away from home):
We were pretty far up, but sometimes people left early and we snuck down to take their seats. Here's the closest we got. (See Federer in the background?! This was after he won against Soderling.)
The best match: Dent vs Navarro; not one, but TWO serve-and-volleyers, playing five full sets. What more could we ask for? And Dent is American so the crowd got really into it.
The best drink: The Honey Deuce. Grey Goose + lemonade + Chambord + three honeydew melon spheres on a toothpick (for the tennis balls, awww). Chris has been making these for himself ever since we got home.
The best song: I Gotta Feeling, by the Black Eyed Peas. They played this *every* single night as the players were warming up, and now I can't listen to it without being totally pumped to watch some tennis.
The best shot ever: We were there for Federer's self-proclaimed "best shot ever" and the entire stadium went totally crazy.
Over Labor Day weekend, my blockmates came to New York and got in on the fun!
Since most of us play some tennis, we were psyched to try to get some courts and hit a few balls together. Alas, it's insanely hard to get courts in Manhattan, with the cheapest private courts being $65/hour, and the lines for public courts being over THREE HOURS long! I've never even seen a line for tennis courts before, much less one with 17 people in it.
So instead, we took a stroll along the High Line, which I thought was really nice, but...
Best quote: "Okay, we have these in Alabama too, but WE call them weeds." –Phyllis.
Together, we explored Queens, ate at Katz's, ate Kati Rolls, and played Rock Band. They insisted that I sing...but after one song, I never got the mic back, hrm... :-)
My blockmates got the Holiday Twilight Plan, so they got to enter the grounds earlier (4pm instead of 6pm) which gave Chris and me a chance to wander around taking pictures (and eating more).
Best treat: Lemon Ice King. I never had Italian ice before, so thanks to a co-worker for the suggestion! On the way, we walked past the Queens Zoo and the most packed park I have ever seen; practically every square foot of grass was being used, seriously.
Best landmark: The Unisphere.
As I wrote earlier, this post doesn't do justice to all the awesome things we saw and did (and ate), but come talk to us, and we'll be happy to rant. And we have about 200 more pictures if you want to see them!
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