I played a lot of tennis as a kid and still dabble when I can, but it’s very infrequent. None the less, I’m still a tennis fan and my visit to the US Open last night was nothing short of awesome!
Going to the US Open wasn’t something I intended to do yesterday, but given that there’s a chance the weather might not be great this weekend and that ticket’s may no longer be available, the thought of going entered my mind midday. Then, when I realized Andy Roddick was playing, a player with lots of character, I knew I wanted to go.
That was it. I was going to the US Open! Tickets were no longer available online so I decided to risk my luck and see if I could purchase one at the box office. Here’s what’s funny. Upon purchasing my ticket the older gentleman behind the ticket counter said,
“You are one lucky guy. You just bought the last available ticket that’s currently for sale.”
It doesn’t get much better than that.
It’s one of those events I’ve seen on TV time and time again, but to suddenly be there in the moment, it was nothing short of amazing. Standing in line typically isn’t much fun, but as the crowd grew in mass at the entrance my excitement also seemed to grow.
The first match I saw featured last year’s champion, Kim Clijsters and she was a beast on the court. Match two featured Roddick, but unfortunately his game wasn’t on and he was defeated after four sets.
One interesting little thing happened right before the men’s match got underway. An 11-year old girl that was chosen to sing America the Beautiful was doing a fantastic job singing the song, then, out of the blue… the camera guys decide to show that Kanye West was in attendance by putting him on the big screen. The crowd instantly let out an “ahhhh;” hopefully it didn’t mess the young girl up too much. Other stars in attendance last night included John Legend and Usher.
Oh, and there’s something else worth mentioning. The staff at the event could not have been better. They were polite, eager to help and always seemed to have a smile on their face. I’m not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t expected to have a delightful female standing at the exit gate saying, “I hope you had a great time!”
As one of my top New York City activities thus far I could ramble on and on about the experience, but I won’t. Just trust me when I say it rocked!
Take a moment and check out some of the photos below (all taken w/iPhone).
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