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Laura's Fan Report
Wimbledon
2003
It was 10am on Sunday, 22nd of June when we first got down to
Wimbledon. We had loaded our car full of camping equipment for the week. Our
tents were set up and we were just about ready to enter Wimbledon for the first
time in 2003. We had gone previous years, but making new friends meant we could
go together, and this time...it was personal.
We were about 30 from the
front in the Monday queue. As we had all met through things relating to Nico
(Nicolas Lapentti), we had intentionally gone to support him. His match was 3rd,
and Mario Ancic Vs. Rafael Nadal-Parera, looked like a brilliant match. I
thought Ancic would win, obviously I was unaware of Rafi's true talents. By the
end of this match, we considered ourselves fans of Rafael, and we knew he was
aware of us, as we were the only ones shouting "Vamos Rafael", "Si se puede",
"Venga Venga" !!
After watching Rafael, and then Nico, both reach the 2nd
round, we queued monday night, just to see them both practising on Tuesday,
which they did. It was great, Rafi walks around a lot, and we saw him on many
occasions, thats probably why I have about four autographs from him. I think he
knew who we were for sure after this day, the Spanish flag kinda gave it
away.
Tuesday night, we couldn't take the pain to wait for the order of
play. When it finally came out, we were over the moon. Rafael was on first, and
taking on Lee Childs of Great Britain. Me being half British half Spanish, there
was no issue on who to support! Rafael, d'uh! I love it when you support the
opposition to one of your countries, especially in that country, as the posh
people love to tut and mutter at you, its so much fun, because then you just
cheer even more. Nico was on 3rd match Court 1, so I had to fork out �35 pounds
to see that nail biting, terrifying match.
Anyway, Wednesday came
eventually, I couldn't sleep much that night, we were up and ready to go.
Luckily we got right to the front of the queue, as we were the first people to
want Court 1 tickets (for Nico's match). 12 noon came, and they stepped on to
the court. Wow. Looking gorgeous as usual Rafi! Even when they were pracitising,
it was obvious who the better player was. And then when the match took place, it
was rather funny, seeing our little baby beat the "mighty Brit". Faboulous
match. Put him right in his place. 6-2 6-4 6-3. Great scoreline, and couldn't
believe it when Lee Childs hardly praised Rafael, but just blamed his
"errors"....erm yeah right, sorry mate, Rafael is the best, you are just crap.
LOL.
After this match, Rafael had a photo with me, and signed our flag,
really big so everyone could see it. We then went to see Nico practising, and
then his big match against Schalken on Court 1. Nico was winning 2 sets to 1. It
was a tie break. Nico lead this tie break 4-0. Can you believe it? He lost the
tie break 7-4 and the 5th set 6-3. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was all due to
a dodgy line call my the umpire, which was a terrible, and ridiculous decision.
My heart truly broke that evening, and I just couldn't seem to stop crying. It
felt as if the world had ended. Outside, me still in tears, we saw Giovanni -
Nico's brother, his doubles partner, and a great tennis player who nearly nearly
nearly qualified for Wimbledon. Anyway, he said to me..."Don't cry, its just the
way sport goes, don't cry" - at that point he had a puppy dog look on his face
and just looked gorgeous. He gave me a big hug, at which point I burst into even
more tears! That night, we waited for Nico and Giovanni to leave, and Nico gave
me a wave...he looked quite upset, and he knew I was.
Then came Thursday,
which was Nico and Giovanni's doubles match. They had never lost a doubles match
on grass. They lost the 1st set, we didn't worry, its some sort of tradition for
them to drop a set, but they won the next three. Nico kept looking at me, and I
knew he could tell I was the one who was crying, Giovanni must have told him.
I'd like to think they won that match for me.
Oh dear. Friday. Oh the
memories of another painful defeat. Before the match started, we watched Rafi
practice on an outside court. It was there, that I had a nice chat with one of
his friends, and his uncle (his coach). Of course, his friend had to translate,
not being on the ATP tour long shows when you cannot speak much English, but
they will learn very very quickly, as there are lessons. We were talking about
if they remember us from the matches, they said yes of course, and also about
where they lived in Mallorca, what it was like etc. I told them how I go to
Mallorca every year, and he said that was great.
I was happy after this
chat, and when we took our seats on Court 1, I began to get quite excited, as we
knew we could get the whole of this crowd on Rafael's side, and thats exactly
what we did. Even though he lost in straight sets, most people were supporting
Rafael. A three set to love win was a very flattering result. I think it came
down to experience in the end, which Paradorn has a lot of. But Rafa played his
heart out, and we supported him until the end. The odd tear did spring to my
eyes, and probably next year, more will come as by then I will have been a fan
for a long time, like I am with Nico.
The Wimbledon experience 2003, cost
me a fortune, but it was all worth it. Tears, triumphs and laughter.....it was
brilliant. I hope to see both Nico, Giovanni and Rafael in the near future, as I
miss them all already! Well thats my story, and really it all rolls down to one
thing...Dedication.
Laura Ortiz
**Thanks for the great
experience, Laura. We can tell Rafi is one special guy.**