 |
| Latest News |
| Search Articles |
| Audio Listing |
| Photo Galleries |
|
|
 Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 30 Jun 2007 |  Photographer: Susan Mullane
Date: 03 Jul 2007 | | | | |
|
| 30 Jun 2007 - Wimbledon - Johnny Hamui and Naomi Cavaday | |
| Johnny's final Wimbledon blog |
SUNDAY
JOHNNY
My last day at Wimbledon wasn’t a successful one on the tennis court but I certainly enjoyed every bit of it. Donald and I lost our semifinal doubles match in the decisive third set tiebreaker to Trevisan and Lopez (who by the way might’ve been a bit ticked off about my attacks on his change of nationality yesterday, as he fired 3 aces to start the match). Earlier that day Donald won the Singles Championship in straight sets.
After all the junior matches were over, the remaining players on site gathered in the now food-less cafeteria, to watch how the fifth set between Federer and Nadal unfolded.
Soon after Federer dropped to his knees and started crying, we all let out a sigh of relief and headed back to the Uni.
Later that day, as we were about to leave to Fulham, Trevisan and Lopez barged into my room dressed in tuxes, and in dire need of hair gel. Most people can improvise when it comes to their hair-do, but all of you who’ve seen Trevisan’s hair would understand why he was freaking out. There was no way the Italians were going to show up to the Wimbledon Ball with a bad hair-do!
As we were in our usual place in Fulham deciding where the night would eventually lead, there was a celebrity guest who joined us. She celebrated with us and got a small taste of what junior tennis is off court; that is before she got scared and ran off home. Since she is a very important person that is always on the public eye, I’ll keep her name undisclosed as a showing of respect and appreciation for her short but graceful appearance.
We had all agreed to write this blog TOGETHER whenever it was that we returned to the Uni. Of course it didn’t happen. So now more than a week later, fully recovered, I write one last time to say goodbye and to state that...
Wimbledon is without a doubt the best tournament in the world!!
SATURDAY
JOHNNY
Today I’m writing a joint blog for Friday and Saturday since I was so busy yesterday and didn’t have time to write something.
Once again I’m writing you from the pressroom only this time with a smile on my face. About a half an hour ago, Donald Young and I came through in straight sets in our doubles quarterfinal. I’m thrilled to be one of the four remaining teams in the draw, and hopefully we can improve that ratio tomorrow.
Yesterday was a very long day. Since Donald played two singles matches, I had to wait a bit for our doubles to go on. I arrived at the site at 1pm just in time to warm up and get a bite to eat. I decided to sleep in since, along with a couple other players, we stayed up a little too late the night before. You form your own conclusions; I’ll just tell you that it involved some volleying on the sidewalks of Fulham.
We won our first round doubles against Albot and Mirtea 6/3 6/4. Afterwards I went back to the Uni where I ate dinner and showered. From there I went on the now customary trip to Fulham, only this time I cut it short to allow myself to get in almost 11 hours of sleep.
Today I came to the site at around 11am. I warmed up with my father, who for those of you who know him, is always waiting around anxiously for a chance to hit some balls. The warm-up must’ve done something good because I played well and we ended up winning both our doubles matches. I’m very excited since tomorrow we’ll have a shot at reaching the final which would be my first. Our opponents in the semis will be Italians Matteo Trevisan and Daniel Lopez (who is actually Paraguayan and has no friends for being a TRAITOR! I despise people who change nationalities…)
It should be a good match…
I have to get ready since Kellen is coming to pick me up to go to Fulham. Yes, I’m superstitious. I can’t stop now! But don’t worry I won’t be out too long……
THURSDAY
JOHNNY
After almost a week at Wimbledon, we finally had a fairly complete day of play. As I had feared, I woke up a bit late for my warm-up with Kellen. I scrambled through the crowds at the All England to get to the practice courts all the way on the other side of the complex. Even though we were only able to hit for about fifteen minutes, it seemed to be enough for him since he succeeded in winning his first match later that day. Later that day he fell in a tight three-setter against Brydan Klein. I think it’s important to mention that I take no responsibility for the loss since he decided not to warm up again before his match.
Since I was only alive in the doubles, I was left waiting all day for the two rounds of singles to be completed. So with a lot of time on my hands I went to write my blog in the pressroom next to the ITF communication team. After watching them work, I think it’s a job that I will definitely look into after my tennis career. I was impressed with their impressive multi-tasking ability. I watched as they worked diligently on coming up with stats for TV commentators, while at the same time updating their profile on Facebook. Even though it was a lot of pressure writing my blog among real professionals, I enjoyed every minute of it. So much so, that I offered my services at the US Open, even it only meant taking out the trash and bringing them coffee.
Of course as I’ve grown used to, it started raining before we could go on court for doubles. So we waited and waited for an announcement from that solemn voice we’ve all grown to hate. He finally informed us that play had been cancelled and we left immediately.
I went to dinner with my parents and my uncle Simon to a great Chinese restaurant in Waterloo. Afterwards I joined a couple of my friends in Fulham where we…
(I’m sorry, they just called me to play my doubles match. I’ll talk to you again later)
WEDNESDAY
JOHNNY
With the usual grey skies and occasional showers, Tuesday came about as what has been a typical day at Wimbledon. Players waited patiently as mixed doubles and “legends” matches seemed to be endless. In what seemed like an instant though, junior matches began to be called one after the other. The boys locker room became completely hectic with players stencilling racquets, getting treatment, and some even going completely nuts watching deciding third-set tie-breakers on the small TV.
As for me the day seemed almost too long to bear. I was on with my usual hit with Kellen, on our usual court (number 11), before Jon Eysseric and Cindy Chala came barging in and kicked us off the court. Cindy had this look on her face that made my knees tremble. I walked of the court with my head down trying to avoid making eye contact with her. Everyone knows, you don’t want to get on Cindy’s bad side…
Once again, there was a bit of rain after our practice session. We waited anxiously as we feared that play would be suspended once more. Luckily it stopped quickly and matches got going again. Even though play had resumed, I still had to wait for a mixed doubles match to go on, followed by a Legends match. Since the mixed doubles went three sets (of course!) my chances of playing looked pretty slim. Thankfully my buddy Mr. Gene Mayer and his partner Mansour Barhami took care of business fairly quickly allowing me to go on court.
At 7:45 pm two security staff-members escorted Dragos Mirtea and I to our court. Conditions weren’t the greatest to play tennis, as the wind blew steadily and light was scarce. By 9:15 pm, we walked up to the net and shook hands; Dragos definitely being the happier of the two. To make my defeat even more sour, I watched in despair as a ballboy took away what I thought was my only silver lining. HE TOOK MY WIMBLEDON TOWEL!!! I was done….
I headed back to the hotel and as I was getting ready for bed, I received a sms from Kellen asking me to warm him up at 9:30 the next morning. Since I know of his outstanding record after warming up with me (7-1 with the only loss being to Ignatic in the semis of the French, after leading a set and 3/0), there was nothing I could do but show up.
Hopefully I’ll be able to wake up in time for Kellen’s warm-up, and things will go better in the doubles.
TUESDAY
JOHNNY
The rain did it again. Just when we thought we would finally be able to play, the sky turned black and the rain started pouring. Even though some juniors were able to complete their matches, most of them are still yet to play on the Wimbledon grass.
Different from the past few days, today there were some periods of sunshine that allowed players to hit some balls at the Aorangi courts. Brazilian Henrique Cunha took advantage of a brief period of sunshine to get a practice in. Mobs of girls watched enthusiastically as Cunha, wearing a blue Adidas sleeve-less shirt, delighted the teenage fans with his impressive Nadal-like biceps.
On a court nearby, the man himself, Roger Federer, had his usual practice as players, coaches and parents enjoyed the show. One of the players watching was Gastao Elias. He is one of the fortunate players to have practiced with Federer. As he watched, a camera crew came up to him and asked for an interview. He looked pleased and one could almost say proud. As I watched nearby I saw that the purpose of the interview was, not so much to get to know Gastao, but to learn more about Federer. They asked him all questions regarding Roger, and as he answered I thought to myself, “That’s when you know you’re good; when people who have had the chance to be close to you are interviewed to get their take on you”. Even though Gastao looked a bit disappointed that this time the interviewer wasn’t so much interested in him, I’m sure in the future interviews will become routine. ;-)
After Federer’s practice I decided to go get some lunch with Jon Eysseric. On our way up to the cafeteria, we stopped for a second and engaged in a “friendly” argument on his stupidity. Right when I was about to prove my point, the debate was interrupted by somewhat familiar voice calling out Jon’s name. As I looked up, I realized who it was. “Ca va Roger?” asked Jon. He engaged in a brief and courteous conversation in French during which I listened attentively in case Roger needed help remembering the name of the bar I took him to last night. As they said goodbye and Federer walked away, Jon turned to me with an accomplished smile on his face. I felt stupid. There was nothing I could say or do anymore but to walk away.
After lunch there was another badge of sunshine during which I immediately jumped on court with Kellen Damico to get a second practice in. Kellen took out his new Prince racquets to which he switched (from Wilson) just yesterday. I thought it was a VERY stupid decision. Gladly, I was proved wrong. Not only can I not tell a difference in his game, but to everyone who is skeptical about his decision, let me remind you that it during last year’s Wimbledon that he switched racquets before his third round of doubles. As you all know he ended up taking the title with Schnugg.
As we walked off court the showers began. Matches were cancelled shortly after and everyone headed back to their rooms at the Uni. I think that the only good thing that came from the rain today is that all junior matches tomorrow will be played at Wimbledon. Everyone is very happy and relieved with that decision.
Hopefully the rain will allow play tomorrow and we’ll finally be able to get this tournament going.
NAOMI
The first round of Junior Wimbledon finally got underway today, with blue skies and sunshine, albeit short lived. The showers came and went again and again, as it has done for the most part of the tournament this year. But when it hasn't been raining it has been play as normal and I managed to complete my first round win in the Juniors against Tinjic with just the one rain break earlier today.
I have been at SW19 for over a week now as I was given a chance to play the main draw of singles and doubles with a wild card. I was drawn against Martina Hingis in the first round, which was a fantastic oppertunity especially with a home crowd. We were delayed for a couple of hours but when we took to the court I felt right at home. Maybe this was because of the fantastic crowd on court 2, or maybe it was because I live 5 minutes away! I started off well and took the first set in a tiebreak. The threat of rain was constantly with us, but only a few spots fell and we remained uninterrupted for the rest of the match. After 2 hours of fighting She came out on top and took it 6-7(1) 7-5 6-0. I played a good match but I was obviously incredibly gutted to be so close and lose out.
The rest of the week has been frustrating as the rain has pretty much been the story of the tournament, causing major disruptions. It is pretty tough to amuse yourself at Wimbledon with nothing much to do except wait. I am one of the lucky ones as I can easily go back to my house and relax if the rain is determined to stick around for a while. I have kept myself busy with training and also some visits to the Play Tennis Zone which is indoors thankfully! I played doubles with some of the kids, and then started a competition playing tennis on the Wii. This was great fun but it is pretty different to the real thing. In the end we had to call it a tie but I'm pretty sure I won!
Only a few of the junior first round matches were completed today meaning that I'm one of the lucky ones. It has been the wettest Wimbledon for 25 years which is a huge contrast to last year where it was hot and dry nearly all the way through. I actually prefer Wimbledon when it is a little damp as the courts stay softer for longer, but I think that this year the court coverers have been working overtime! It has been a fantastic week for me so far and definitly one of the highlights of the year for me. Everyone is hoping that it will stay dry long enough to complete their matches and that we won't get even further behind.
MONDAY
JOHNNY
Today, once again we were left sitting around in hope of a chance to play that never came. It rained steadily through the morning causing another big delay in the schedule of play. After quite a long and frustrating wait, it was finally announced that all junior matches had been cancelled for the day.
Right after the announcement I headed over to some indoor courts nearby where I was able to hit some balls with Kellen Damico. Afterwards I had dinner with my parents and went back to the Uni. Most players were roaming around waiting for the schedule of play to come out. As I asked around for any interesting news that I could include in the blog, the answer from every player remained the same. “Talk about how annoying the rain is and how there is nothing to do here”, they all complained. Their answered just but confirmed my fear that there isn’t anything interesting to write about. Or let me rephrase; there isn’t anything interesting happening that would be appropriate to include in the blog.
Everyone is going out of their minds as it will be Tuesday tomorrow and not a single ball has been hit by the juniors. To add to the already irritating situation, tomorrow some players will be forced to play their first round matches at an alternate site. Yes; not at the All England Tennis Club. I would say that I’m very happy to be scheduled to play at Wimbledon, but unfortunately after seeing the forecast, I’ll probably end up playing at the alternate site, on Wednesday.
We seriously need to start playing tennis; this is getting really annoying!
SATURDAY
JOHNNY
Today was a typical day in London, with play cancelled due to rain. Most players were stuck at the courts all day, where they took advantage to catch up with friends and family.
After the long and pointless wait at the site the players took advantage of the “No-Play-On-Sunday” tradition to get to know the London night life. A group of my friends and I went to downtown London to get some dinner and have a good time. Tomorrow players will try to get a light hit in if the weather allows it and use the day to get ready for match-play on Monday.
Since there really isn’t much to tell about today I’ll fill you in on my very entertaining day as a reporter for juniortennis.com on Friday. As once again the rain disrupted play and we were all left waiting, juniortennis.com took advantage of the relaxed mood to get some interviews with the players.
We went around the players lounge at Roehampton and interviewed anyone that we could get our hands on! The players certainly got some good laughs and are excited about checking out how the interviews came out at the website.
You all have to go and check them out!
After the rain stopped, I headed to Wimbledon with Jon Eysseric. Naturally since I went with him, I was stuck watching French players all day. I’m not complaining...
The best part of the day though came when in our desperate search or food, we accidentally ended up in the Pro Players Lounge. We walked up the stairs thinking it was the junior dining area and once up there we knew something wasn’t right. We figured since we were already there we might as well eat something. So we bought got some food and headed to the famous balcony overseeing Court Two. We ate lunch among the Pros and watched some great tennis from our elite seats. I don’t think my first day at Wimbledon could’ve been any better!
I’ll get back to you guys when I have something exciting to tell you…
^ Back to Top
|
|
|
|
