Rainy Thursday at the Estoril Open

Thursday morning I didn't do anything special, I just had some more pasteis and a coffee before going to the tennis matches. I was early at the Estadio Nacional so I was able to see some of the remaining players on the draw practicing.

There was Nikolay Davydenko and his coach and brother practicing as he didn't have to play that day. And on another court were Gicquel and Serra practicing as they will both meet Davydenko in the next rounds (Davydenko beat Gicquel Friday and will meet Serra on the second SF). As there were few people watching players practicing, they were all on Davydenko, so when both Frenchman went back to the lockers room, I had the opportunity to talk with them and they were very nice and we had a good talk. Then Olivier Rochus went out to practice for his doubles afternoon match, as he lost in the first round against Federer in the singles tournament.

Then after the lunch it was the time for the second Round match of Federer against Victor Hanecu, when both players entered the court it started raining ! They still played their match without any interruption, but it was raining the all match. Federer didn't have to force his talent as he crushed to the victory in 61 min, 6-3 6-2 without facing a single break point.

Then it was scheduled a match between two Portuguese players Frederico Gil and Joao Sousa, but they had to stopped the match after Gil won the first set 7 points to 5 in the tie break.

I didn't stay on the central court to see this match because I wanted to visit a bit more the city, so I was heading to exit slowly when I saw Federer coming out of the lockers to have some practice because his match was very short. So I stayed to this his practice session where he still worked on his backhand, and it was very impressive because I was right behind him, it was like I felt the ball, it was really nice sensation. He also practice his serve on the left side and we could actually really see how the ball bounce after the serve and each time he does the same movement to serve and the bounce is different, there I understood that it was impossible for his opponents to read his serve.

After that I went to Estoril but it was raining a lot more than during the matches, so I went into the famous Casino of Estoril to have some fun, and to be in a dry place !

This was my last day in Lisbon, and I was very happy with my trip and the good tennis matches I've saw. I loved the tournaments because it is a small one and you can really see the player practicing or playing, the Central court is quite small as there is only 6500 seats, so every seat is a good one, you are never too far away from the game, and if you are in the first rows you have a really good look at the matches and it is a lot of fun.

See you next week in Monaco, for the 3rd ATP Masters Series of the Season and the first on clay this year. All the big players are there so I think it will be a nice tournament, see you there...