It Must Be Love

I took a day off the Friday after I got back from the West Coast so I could go to this year's US Open. This outing almost didn't happen because of my stupidity (didn't get tix early enough), but my persistence paid off and I was able to snag two general admission tix the day before thanks to Ticketmaster and the USTA tennis center organizers. Thank goodness for last-minute tix!

My day started a little rocky with a small morning work problem and tons of traffic in the city, but by 11:30 a.m. JM and I were at the tennis center for a great day of tennis. The weather was beautiful and the atmosphere was awesome. If you're a tennis fan, there's nothing like spending an entire day at the US Open. General admission tix are the way to go and such a great deal.

So, what was the first thing we did? Hit up the Grey Goose stand for our liquid breakfast. This is the special honey deuce drink created just for the US Open:

It's made of Grey Goose vodka, lemonade and Chambord. They even added three honeydew balls that looked like tennis balls. It was so good--I didn't even taste the alcohol. I just strolled around the grounds watching tennis and sipping my drink. Of course, it later came to kick me in the ass when the sun started beating down hard. Thankfully, JM, a lobster roll and some waffle fries got me through, otherwise it wouldn't have been a pretty picture. I have an iron stomach, but not when it comes to alcohol.

Walking the grounds was fun. Just hearing the sound of tennis balls going back and forth was like music to my ears. I really wanted to get on the courts and hit a few balls, especially after being beaten the week before in doubles by JG and SJ. Don't even get me started on that one. I'm even embarrassed admitting I lost. No doubt JG is going to chime in because he'll take any opp to gloat. Bring it on...next time I'm kicking your ass!

Anyway, back to the main event. Here are some pics:

I forgot what court this was, but this is Marin Cilic during a changeover.

This is Na Li vs. Maria Kirilenko in the Grandstand. I read an article where Patrick McEnroe said the best place to watch a match was the Grandstand, and he was right. You get the feel of a big match in a small, intimate space. It's awesome!

This is Taylor Dent serving to Ivan Navarro in the Grandstand. See how close we are?! After the previous match we moved down to the second row. We could feel Dent's 140-something-mph serves. I thought some of the old guys sitting with us were going to have a heart attack.

Tennis legend Nick Bollettieri signing JM's visor.

Kim Clijsters defeating Kirsten Flipkens in the Louis Armstrong Stadium. Clijsters has been amazing during this whole tournament. Didn't look like she took a 2-year hiatus from tennis. She was in top form.

The brackets. It was cool how quickly they changed this thing. Here's one of the guys updating it.

I meant to get a pic of the moon in this one because it looked cool, but the clouds started moving in and blocked it.

Goodbye, US Open. It was so fun! I had an awesome day and can't wait to do it again.

Before leaving, I did manage to pick up a souvenir or two. When we saw this T-shirt, we knew I had to have it, so JM got it for me as a belated bday present:

She also got one for her hubby and I purchased one for my sister. If you've seen me or my sister on the court, you know how fitting this is.

This was the slogan for this year's Open, which I really liked, so I had to have it in T-shirt form. I also went home with my Grey Goose US Open honey deuce cup (which lists all the previous champs), a bag for my mom and a cap for WH.

Like I said, it was a fabulous day and I can't wait to do it again next year!