Legg Mason Opening Weekend

Another uninteresting week has passed at work. We said goodbye to Julia, which means that starting Monday, I will officially take over her responsibilities. I'm hoping that between my boss and myself, we will actually remember what all of those responsibilities are.

This morning I ran the Dog Days of Summer 8k, which is organized by our local running club. In June, I ran their Father's Day 10k and was excited to finish with a 9:10 mile pace. I have been working on getting down to 9:00 miles, but it's hard to train for speed in the Maryland heat. Today was a dog day of summer, indeed. It was only in the mid 70s for the race, but it was above 90% humidity. I finished with a pace of 9:44 miles, and overall I was just glad that I finished below a 10 minute pace. The course was really difficult-- lots of trail running with several steep inclines and declines. Billy said that several of the guys at the front of the pack said it was a difficult course, so that made me feel better. The women's division was won by a 10 year old girl who ran 7 minute miles-- that did not make me feel better. Now it's time for me to start training for the Army 10 Miler on October 4 in DC. My Nike+ sensor has been giving me problems, so I'm hoping I can get that fixed soon.

The most exciting news of the week, however, is the beginning of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in DC!! Last summer, Billy bought me tickets to both semifinal matches for my birthday. This year, they more than doubled the prize money and were designated an ATP 500 level tournament, so there are a lot more top players in the field. We wanted to go to the quarterfinal and semifinal matches, but for only a little bit more, we could buy tickets to the whole tournament. Happy Birthday, Liz! Billy is an ideal husband. Before we were married, he had no interest in the sport whatsoever. Now he not only tolerates my obsession but takes an active interest in the tournaments.

The tournament began on Saturday with the qualifying round. We saw some good tennis, and I was excited to see Josselin Ouanna (110) play up close. He beat Marat Safin in the second round of the French this year, and won his match yesterday against some bizarre Russian with a topknot and mismatched socks. When you're only sitting a few feet off the court, you really realize how hard they hit the ball and how fast it travels.

Today there were some more qualifying matches, and we saw the first two matches of the main draw. Both were fairly competitive and fun to watch. The best part of our trip out there today, though, was seeing the top players who were hitting on the practice courts. When we got there, Lleyton Hewitt (40) was hitting with Juan Martin del Potro (6). Hewitt looked good, and said "sorry, mate" every time he hit a bad shot. But even though it feels weird to be calling someone who is only a year older than me "old," he's starting to look old.
Del Potro looks like he has put on a lot of muscle since we saw him in the semis last year. He also looked out of shape when he was bending over this evian bin like he was about to heave. This leaves me doubtful about whether he will be able to defend his title, but we will see.

We also saw Marin Cilic (15) working on his serve. I am a little bitter that he recently knocked the US out of Davis Cup contention, but it was still cool to see him practice.

Ivo Karlovic (25) looks even taller in real life. In this crouch, I think he was still standing higher than me. I didn't get to see him serve, so I'm hoping to catch his match tomorrow.
Fernando Gonzalez (11) was also on the practice courts. If Hewitt looked old, Gonzalez looked ancient. His forehand is pretty unbelievable up close, though.
But the highlight was, of course, Mr. Andy Roddick (5). Shirtless, even. He is in unbelievable shape. As Billy noted, "he has a six pack on his back." I couldn't identify any lingering signs of the hip strain. I managed to avoid shrieking like a 12 year old girl. I also determined that if I was standing on the opposite baseline trying to return his serve, I would be unable to get my racket on it. I would probably try to swing about the time the ball hit the fence. Unbelievable.

Tomorrow Danielle and I will get to see more opening round matches. Wednesday I'll get to see the top seeds with Anne-Marie. Friday and Saturday Billy and I will attend the quarters and semis, at which point I hope Andy will still be in contention. Sunday we'll head over for the final, assuming we're interested in the matchup and can still stand sitting on the bleachers. What an exciting week!!