(Photo by Val)
Now, that I’m back, it’s time to make a brief summary of my week in Monte-Carlo.
I arrived with my friend Aurélie, on friday. Aurélie likes Fernando but her favourite player is Tommy Haas. Unfortunately, this year, he withdrew 
Hopefully, she had the chance to see Fernando lol When Tommy is not at a tournament, she watches Fernando with me, but hopefully it’s ok, she finds him very nice and he is born the same day as her, so he’s like a twin 
Aurélie only stayed in Monte-Carlo for the week-end, she had to come back to Paris on monday
Monte-Carlo is a great place to watch tennis, with the sea nearby the stadium (see the picture). Personally, I would never go there for my holidays because mostly people are not very nice (except in the stadium, people are nicer in MC than in RG) but during the tennis tournament, I think it’s a great place and it’s also a place to dream a little bit, it’s different from our “normal” life. When you stay there for tennis, you forget your problems of the real life, you are totally disconnected. And, besides watching tennis and your favourites players, you can meet other tennis fans, you become friends because sometimes, you don’t have only tennis in common, it’s always great to speak to people from other countries, discover new cultures, talk foreign languages.
This year, I’ve been lucky to see Fernando at the trainings and at the matches (one single and two doubles), I also met other tennis addicts, so an almost perfect week. “Almost” because I’d have liked to see Fernando go further in the tournament.
[To know more about Monte-Carlo]
Monday, April 16th, 2007
First day and first match with Fernando. Fernando played with Ivan Ljubicic the doubles tournament, maybe to have some practrice on clay. It’s great to see Fernando playing doubles because he’s always smiling during the matches. I remember that when I discovered him, he was playing a double match with Roddick in Paris Indoors, I noticed him mostly because he was always smiling during his match
I also think it’s a good way to improve his net game, it’s relaxing, he has fun, so I hope he’ll continue to play in the doubles even if he’ll stay in the top 10. For their first match, they def. Berdych/Hrbaty 67(5) 64 10-6 (Match TB).
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
Fernando entered in the tournament. I knew that playing Andreev wouldn’t be so easy. Igor defeated him in the DC 1st round this year in Chile, so personnally, I wasn’t very confident. When I discovered the draw, I knew that it would be a tough tournament for Fernando. During that match, I don’t think that Fernando played well, especially at the beginning of the match. The warm-up wasn’t good, many balls out and the start was bad. Igor won easily the first set, 6/2. Fernando, as a fighter, came back in the second set, and played better, he won 6/2. I thought that Fernando was back for real, but Igor won 6/3. Of course, I was disappointed, but I think Fernando really lost the match, my point of view is that he didn’t play really well. I was not as disappointed as in the last Paris Indoors, when he lost to Bennetteau. That day was terrible because Fernando played well and he didn’t deserve to lose that match, that defeat against Andreev wasn’t so painful. When he left the stadium, I saw Fernando disappointed Last year, he reached the semis so we can understand his reaction.
Thursday, April 19th, 2007
Fernando has practriced for two hours with Larry Stefanki, lucky I was It’s good to see the practrice, it’s of course different from the match. You can see all the preparation of the player, how he works, the communication with the coach. During the days of practrice, Larry communicated a lot with Fernando showing the things to do, it was very interesting. Before starting his training, Fernando warms up, especially his right shoulder, and than, plays tennis, a little warm up and sometimes a short match (when he plays with other players). During these two hours, he only practriced with Larry. I think there were many things to work after that defeat. It was funny because Larry had to pick up the balls and during that time, Fernando was sitting on a chair and watched, he didn’t help Larry a lot. On the other court, next to Gonzo’s, there was Paul-Henri Mathieu practricing and he had to pick up the balls with his coach lol
In the evening, Fernando and Ljubicic played their second match in the doubles against the doubles specialist, Knowles/Nestor. A very good result because Fernando and Ljubicic defeated them 36 64 10-4 (Match TB). Knowles and Nestor were the seed number 3. And, also a good result because Ljubicic played a very long match vs Gasquet and lost it. I thought that they could withdraw to be honest. I think Ljubicic had only 1h15- or 1h30 to rest. So, congratulations guys
I was happy for them but at the same time sad, because on friday had to see my family on the other side of the Mediterranean sea.
I spent a great time there watching Fernando, other players, meeting my friends, enjoyed the beautiful weather. Can’t wait for the next tournament !!
Fernando will play in Estoril next week. In a minor tournament, he has good chances to go very far, so I cross my fingers for him, he can do it !! VAMOS !!!
