The Deuce Club, 2.25
The Deuce Club, 2.25
by Jackie Roe, TW Social Director
Hi, everyone. Today's Deuce Club features a special tournament report from a beloved TWiber, which we'll get to in just a bit.
Some business first:
Last week I started taking a head count for all Indian Wells attendees; if you missed the post and want to be a part of our TW gathering there, let me know in the comments or via e-mail. I'll have logistics on the get-together in next week's DC.
The Oscars are this Sunday, and some of you asked if we were having another virtual Oscar party (I think we did it two years ago?). I don't plan on putting up a separate post this time around, but feel free to return here during the show (assuming another thread goes up between now and then) to chat about this year's films, winners and losers, fashion hits and misses, the whole nine.
Now, on to the DC main event! TWibe regular Linz made her way to the Memphis tournament last week and documented her experience for us, both in writing and on video. Linz, thank you for sharing this—and how perfect that you were able to see your favorite win the whole thing! You must be his good luck charm, eh? Enjoy, everyone:
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about defining moments—of the tennistical sense. Those matches and moments, both live and on TV (or tiny internet stream or scoreboard, whatever it may be) that make us who we are as fans. I think we all have a handful of them, and I must say that my entire four days in Memphis was one giant defining moment for me, both tennis-wise and personally.
Of course, let’s start with the obvious—Andy Roddick won the tournament! I was there for four days and got to see four incredible Roddick wins. Having never seen him win a match live before, this was beyond anything I could have ever hoped for. To see him win a title, especially in that fashion (THAT POINT!), was an experience that I will never forget. I hope that every fan gets the opportunity to see his/her favorite player win a trophy live.
But beyond that (as if it weren’t enough!), this was my first tournament with a press pass. It happened at the very last minute (which is probably a good thing—I didn’t have time to frazzle!); I had brought my camera equipment with me to Memphis and was able to get a pass to film videos for a tennis blog. I had always envisioned myself backstage at tennis events shooting and editing interviews with players, but I didn’t realize it would happen so soon! Once I was in the media room I was able to film all of the pressers and shoot and edit player interviews with The Koz from Indietennis.com. (All of the videos I shot can be found here.)
One of the craziest moments for me came when I got to film an interview with Roddick (click here to see it) after his win against Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals. As I was (somewhat steadily) holding the camera a mere 5 feet away from him, it suddenly occurred to me that the first post I ever commented on here on TennisWorld was the Hewitt/Roddick semifinal match in Memphis in 2009. It was such a cheesy “full circle” moment! [JR: Collective “awwww.” :)]
The video at the top of the page is my cheesy Memphis highlight reel. Many thanks to naughty T for the music suggestion.
(I also have to give a shout-out to all the fabulous people I met in Memphis, most notably fellow TWibers Bobby Chintapalli and Brad Hunter (jbradhunter), who were just as sweet in person as you would think they would be.)
TWibe, I’d love to hear about some of your “defining moments” as tennis fans. Some of my other ones are the Hewitt/Roddick 2001 US Open quarterfinal (though a loss, it cemented my love for Roddick—and my inability to embrace Hewitt) and the Tsonga/Gonzo US Open 4th rounder in 2009, which was the most electrifying tennis match I have ever seen live (well, before last week!). What would your moments be?
Terrific reporting, Linz. I’m thrilled you had such a memorable time . . . and in addition to being ARod’s good luck charm, you’re also quite the budding filmmaker! Keep up the good work!
TWibe, have a nice weekend, and I'll see you here on Sunday!