Fresh From New York City: A US Open Package

(I'm the one with the ponytail)

 I write this fresh from New York City.  Yesterday I experienced what was probably the most unforgettable day of the entire summer--visiting New York City, which is, conveniently, not a long drive from our middle-of-nowhere residence.     The day started out with an early departure at quarter of seven am.  We were about ten minutes into the drive when my mom asked my dad cautiously, "You DO have the tickets, don't you?" and my dad almost swerved off the road when he had the realization that, no, he had forgotten the tickets.  Typical Dad.  We turned right back around, got the tickets, and were on the road, but then heard from my oldest brother, who was meeting us in New Jersey to spend the day with us, and realized that he was sick with a fever, vomiting, chills, and everything bad you can think of.  So he didn't end up coming.  About an hour later, we pulled into Flushing Meadows Park (that name makes me laugh every time I hear it, for some reason), and walked to the U.S. Open tennis tournament, 2012.

Music swirled around, the crowds' voices turned into a vague murmur, and the scorching August air slowly burned our skin.  If you're a tennis fanatic, like I am, you know that the biggest tennis stadium in the entire world lies in Flushing Meadows Park, New York, with 22,000-some seats.  At first we thought we'd get stuck with the ones way high up where you can barely see the ball, but then my parents' friend showed up with front-row tickets and immediately the day turned from awesome to awesomer, if that was even possible.

Yes--this was literally how close we were to Serena Williams

Yep, I was about ten yards away from Serena Williams (who, if you are clued in to the best sport to watch in the world, is American) in that first match.  And Roger Federer (from Switzerland) in that second match. It was extremely surreal sitting that close up to the play. I still had to process this in my brain and by the time both matches were over, I felt a bit dizzy, as if I'd just woken up from a wonderful dream.   The highlight of the day was when Serena Williams won and as she was getting applauded, she looked straight into my eyes and grinned.  No, I'm not making this up.  No, I didn't imagine this.  Ask my mom.  And the second-best part of the day was when, after winning a long point, Serena turned to her box, made that tigress face, and yelled, "C'mon!" with a fist pump.

Me in front of the court

Of course, those weren't the only two matches we saw.  We started off by heading over to the Grandstand (which is one of my favorite places ever, despite being puny compared to Arthur Ashe) to see Jack Sock, from the USA, and Nicolas Almaro, from Spain.  I must admit I loved this match (yes, partly because, I guiltily admit, I'm a bit head over heels in love with Jack Sock,even though he ended up losing in 4 sets).  After the first set we left to go see the end of Agniezka Radwanska, from Poland's, match, where she beat Jelena Jankovic, of Serbia, in 2 pretty easy sets.  Then we saw Serena and Roger.  Roger Federer seems much taller in person and also much more real.  I don't really think of these people as real since I had never actually seem most of them in person.  But yes, they are living, breathing people. (Of course they are.) Then after their matches, we rushed back over to the Grandstand, where James Blake (USA), and Milos Raonic (Canada) were about to begin.  Okay, one thing.  I was rooting for Blake at first, because after all he is American like me, but then my dad and I were sitting in a crowd of Canadians (and I consider myself to be partly Canadian lol) so I cheered right alongside those Canadians for Milos.  Those were all the matches we watched.

On the way home, I kept replaying each match in my head, from the first match to the last match.  All were amazing and unforgettable.  I'll never forget seeing Serena Williams and Roger Federer that close up, I'll never forget hearing Americans chanting, "USA! USA!" and then all the Canadians yelling back, "Can-A-Da! Can-A-Da!" I'll never forget when Serena looked straight at me, or when I screamed, "I LOVE YOU ROGER!" when he was signing autographs. I'll never forget the Grandstand. I'll also never forget walking around the Open, breathing in the New York City air, and getting lost for 12 hours into the world of tennis.