Lots of Tennis!

Cincinnati was a lot of fun this year. We spent a lot of time, as always, going between watching games in the stadiums and the practice courts. The practice courts are small, fenced-in courts with a few bleachers outside them so you can watch the players warm up before their games and try to get autographs. We saw Andy Roddick on the practice courts the first day, but the crowd around him was so bad that we didn't stay long. Someone else who draws a crowd is Roger Federer. I really wanted his autograph, but the first day we saw him at a practice court, the crowd was too thick to even get near him.The second day, we waited for Federer on the practice courts and again, the crowd was incredible. He came out and practiced, then sat down to rest before he left. Everyone who wants an autograph always waits at the fence and he walks across and signs them. So we waited there with our books over the fence, and he came across and signed mine and Gabrielle's first! He signed them really neat too. You can almost read them. It was really impressive the amount of time he took and the good attitude he had about signing autographs. We watched him play a really great game that afternoon against Marcos Baghdatis. It was so close. Definitely one of the best games we've seen in person.
We've found out that watching a player on the practice courts can totally change your opinion about him. My dad has always been a Federer fan, whereas I had some other players I liked better. He was so nice and not in the least bit arrogant when he was on the practice courts that he made a fan out of me. Other players can have the opposite effect. :( Most of the top players have pretty good attitudes, though. I managed to get autographs from all the players I wanted to this year, so my autograph collection is finally complete!