The Deuce Club, 7.15

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by Jackie Roe, TW Social Director

Evening, gang. I have a real treat for you guys tonight; as noted in last week’s Deuce Club, several TWibers attended the Davis Cup tie in Austin, and Beth, Whitney, and Linz were kind enough to send in their tournament reflections. Ladies, take it away!

Beth:

As I have already posted during the matches, I won’t go into the whole tennis thing . . .  except to say that the Davis Cup is intense! Unlike a large tournament, there are no other matches to check out, so your whole focus is on the one match being played. And when the matches are as long and close as these were (well, at least the first and last one), it gets pretty intense.

A few things come to mind outside of tennis:

*1) Meeting other TWibers is cool. As I have been lucky enough to meet quite a few, I can say we are a pretty fun group. GVGirl, Whitney, and Linz are all just delightful! I actually met Whitney and Linz in the elevator on the way to GVGirl’s arranged meeting at another hotel. We recognized each other right away and just clicked. Shared a cab, a few drinks, and wound up at the Spanish players’ hotel—eating a light dinner and having drinks right next to them! So, well, that was pretty. :) And, on Sunday, we had a brief meet-up with TWiber Carrie, who recognized us from pictures posted here. Meeting her was another pleasant encounter. And sorry we never found or connected with Rudy3.
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2) Texas is hot—unbearably hot—and the breeze is not refreshing. It feels like the hot air that comes off a blast furnace. Even the pool at the hotel was not refreshing. (Tepid bathwater is a good description.) Jenn and I made the mistake Friday morning of taking a walk to a campus breakfast spot (that was reported to us as “close”) and the walk turned into what I would better describe as a death march. Every step we took, we were getting hotter, hungrier, and further away from the Frank Erwin Center. I thought she was gonna kill me.

3) Which brings me to point 3. Texas is huge. They call the campus “the 40 acres.” Pfffffff. I am not sure just how big an acre is, but on that death march for pancakes I am sure I covered each and every one of them—probably more. We started out in time to get breakfast but wound up having lunch at another place because we could not take one more step and we still had not found our original destination. We did get there the next day—by cab—and the pancakes were delish. Oh, and we took the bus back to the stadium. A free line that circumnavigates the campus called—you guessed it—the Forty Acres bus. They dropped us off at “the stadium” . . . only it was the football stadium. So we walked across a vast parking lot—probably another acre at least—to get to the tennis. But we made it!

4) Austin is fun! We had great meals. Friday at a cool little place called Bess’ Bistro, owned by none other than Sandra Bullock, Saturday at the Roaring Fork in downtown, and on Sunday, Tex/Mex and margaritas. All different and delicious. Not to mention the pancakes, as I said above. And then there is the music; everywhere you go, musicians play—on the street, in the restaurants, and in the bars! Wish I had a pair of cowboy boots on when I was in the Chuggin Monkey (owned by The Bachelor Brad Womack) on 6th Street. What a bar—long neck beers, live music, dancing. The guitarist played a solo standing on our table! A great cover of “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC . . . he really rocked. It was all really a blast.

Well, except for that one minor detail—the home team lost.

Whitney:

Hello TW'ers! Many of you may remember me as a poster a few years ago. I think I started posting around 2007 or so. Not only did I get my tennis "fix" by talking to the knowledgeable and humorous posters here, I also made some great friends. I had the pleasure of meeting some of those people this past weekend at Davis Cup in Austin. As Beth said, we had a great group of people and had fun not only at the matches, but also out and about in Austin.

Davis Cup was my first live tennis experience (graduate school really cuts down on travel!), and I could not have picked a better venue to attend. The whole weekend was INTENSE! Since just one match is being played, the whole stadium is focused on what is happening on the court. It's amazing to see how hard and fast the players hit the ball. But I also learned that sitting in one seat for 4 hours is exhausting. I felt like I'd just played a match! As a longtime Andy Roddick fan, I was shocked at how fast and furious his forehand is (not to mention that serve). At the tense moments in the matches, you could feel the entire stadium holding their breath. Also, the atmosphere was crazy! I heard that Mardy Fish said it was one of the loudest environments he'd played in, and I believe it! Even though the weekend didn't go well for my American boys, it was still awesome to see all the players live. I definitely have the live tennis bug now! Next stop is Atlanta!

One of the best parts is realizing these guys are just as nice as they are talented. We went for drinks at the Spanish players’ hotel and they were so accommodating to the people asking for autographs and pictures. They never acted frustrated or tired of the interruptions. As Lindsay and I were waiting in the airport on Monday, we found ourselves next to Mardy Fish, Mike Bryan and Jim Courier. We finally decided to congratulate them on a job well done. They all said thanks and Jim even said "Glad you enjoyed it." I mentioned Atlanta to Mardy and he said "See you there." Then we all left to get on our respective planes. It was a great way to end the weekend.

Linz:

Beth and Whitney pretty much covered it, but here are a few additional thoughts:

~ The introductions: They’re not televised, but every day before the matches there were theatrical introductions for each team, including anthems. It was really special and gave me goosebumps each day! Seeing the guys on both teams singing along to their national anthems was amazing.

~ Meeting everyone was the highlight of the trip. Whitney, Beth, Jenn, and all my friends from TW and Twitter were just a blast.

~ It was disappointing that the Americans lost, and that Roddick had such a poor showing, but the atmosphere was incredible and exhausting—you hung onto every single point for dear life. And it was a blast to be able to cheer like crazy and bang thundersticks and see how into it the whole crowd was. I have never experienced anything like it.

~ I agree with Whitney, seeing the American guys at the airport was a perfect way to end the trip. Courier was on my plane ride back to Newark and from boarding to baggage claim there were people coming up to him for autographs and to talk, and he was so kind and gracious to everyone. He must have been devastated, but he wasn't sulking . . . it definitely helped me get over the loss more quickly!

Many thanks to the three of you for sending in these write-ups. Sounded like a wild time! Wish I could’ve been there . . .

And what a lovely photo. From L to R, that’s Jen (who heads the Racquet Required blog), Linz, Whitney. You gals are gorgeous!

Have a nice weekend, everyone!