Barclay's ATP World Tour Finals

Most of my close friends know that growing up around tennis made me a pretty big fan of the sport.  However, I lost interest somewhere in my mid 20’s after my college tennis career was over and really didn’t follow the sport.  Then a man named Federer came around and changed the way the sport is played.  Though on the same court with his opponent, it seems like he is playing a different sport altogether.  Instantly I was a fan.  As John Keats said, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”.  It became my goal to watch the genius live.  Since then I’ve made 4 US Opens but didn’t once manage to watch him, as he was always off on the day I had tickets.

The view from our seats

London hosts the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals which is the year end tournament for the top 8 tennis players of the world, and I knew Federer would be there.  I happened to get tickets for a Tuesday evening session, and although I made an educated guess, I still wasn’t sure who would play on Tuesday evening.  The lineup came out and it was Federer vs Nadal! The only thing better than the match-up would be for Federer to whoop up on Nadal.

I had a crazy day at work so we got there about 5 minutes after the match began.  The stadium was small and although we were in the nose bleed section it was amazing.  Both Erica and I are huge Federer fans  and to watch him live was incredible.  If it’s even possible, he looks more effortless live than he does on television.  Needless to say, he was on fire that day.  Nadal did have some health issues so he was not 100 percent, but I don’t think it would have mattered.  “Vintage Federer” was there and he put on a show.  Federer quickly won the match 6-3, 6-0, and Erica and I were probably the only two people in the stadium who didn’t mind the total beat down of his greatest nemesis.

Roger signing autographs after the big victory

After the match we both ran down to the lower level to try to catch a closer glimpse of Federer in person.   We were both so giddy from the win and the chance to get that close to the greatest tennis player of all time.  It was definitely one of the days I will never forget and one experience marked off of my bucket list.