Helping other people: A lady named Kat

I know very little about this lady, except that we met every day at the US Open Tennis. That may not seem so surprising, given that she is meant to usher people to the right areas, but I never met her twice in the same place or at same time. Kismet? I have a list of coincidental meetings and those who have read the Celestine Prophesy will understand what I mean by saying there is a reason why I met this lady.

During our last exchange on Thursday, I told her that I wrote a blog and asked if she would be happy to be featured. She was and quickly took up a great pose! Her name is Kat, and when I asked her if it was spelt C.A.T., she replied sweetly, "Do I have four legs?"

Most of the week in New York City was pleasant, as previous trips have been in recent years. Manhattan has become cleaner over the years. Travelling by subway is relatively straight forward, and not too expensive. Food is always a great adventure, as is exploring the various neighbourhoods. Though I am no lover of shopping, it's hard to find a better place for bargains. I don't really know many New Yorkers well but the people we've met often have those well-known characteristics of the city: fast talk, quick wit, acid tongue (sometimes with a few foul mouth expressions). But we have also found New York people to be helpful, even kind. Some say that this has become more noticeable since the tragic events on September 11, 2001. A few examples for me on this trip. My wallet fell out of my trousers pocket on leaving a subway and a lady quickly signalled that before I got off the train. We stayed in the apartment of people whom we had met in Barbados, and with whom we had 3 days' contact: we had arranged a house swap but they could not make it south, but still left us the full run of their place.

I don't know if this lady is a native New Yorker but she is a great advert for the place. We had met because of her hat, which she promised me at the end of the tournament, but I told her I would not be in New York then. After that, we had met at various points in the huge tennis complex at Flushing Meadows.
Whatever the reason for the meeting, all will eventually become clearer, I hope. New York City is also a place for younger people, and even though children can have a good time there, taking very young ones around the city is really tiring. This time our little one did not travel, but we're still tired! But no complaints. We had great fun.

Start them young: A twist on doubles tennis at the US Open

We watched Bahamian Mark Knowles and his Canadian partner, Daniel Nestor, make easy work of their 1st round men's doubles match. There were some spectacular plays at the net as usual, but also some superb serving and hitting from the #2 pair. But the highlight was really after the match. Usually, after the matches the players are escorted away by their security handlers and not seen again till next match day, or by chance on TV with a press conference. This time, in the early evening, the players hung around and chatted with family and friends. Mark then heard the call of his 2-year old son, Graham, who appeared with his mini racket, and wanted his dad to hit balls. Mark stopped everything to get his racket and ball and then did as his son requested. There is already a little similarity evident between the big and little Knowles, especially their smiles. So, remember, a few years from now that you saw the budding player here.

Rolle it, girl! A special day at the 2007 US Open Tennis

If you are involved in sports, you often wait for those days when you feel that you are witnessing something great, or someone who is bursting onto the scene. You may not be right, but the sense that this is happening is something special. Today, at Flushing Meadows, 22-year old, Ahsha Rolle, had one of those days. She had entered the tournament as a "wild card", being ranked as the world #109, and had already caused a major upset by beating the #17 seed in the tournament in the 1st round (see blog from August 28). Today, she played a 20-year old Italian, Karin Knapp, who is ranked #57 in the world, and won again. I focus on Ahsha mainly because, though listed as American, her family hail from The Bahamas (the islands of Exuma and Andros).

When Ahsha played on Monday, many things were different, not least the atmosphere, as she played on one of the outside courts, without all the hoopla that is associated with playing on the big stage "show" court. Today, she had to deal with the big stage, playing on the Grandstand court, and did so very well. This is not the place for a play-by-play analysis, but here is a flavour of the key parts of the match. After a rocky 1st set, which Ahsha lost 3-6, the 2nd set was tense and delicately poised at 3-2 in favor of Ahsha. The next game was for me the turning point, as the players fought to win and the score was tied at 40-40, 10 times, if I recall correctly, and the game seemed to go on for at least 10 minutes before Ahsha got the winning point. Ahsha wasted many chances but kept on getting help from her opponent's inability to serve well. When the game resumed, things remained tense and Ahsha tried everyone's hearts dearly by wasting more chances to win easily, though finally got the set at 6-4. The third set was equally tense, but one had the feeling that the Italian realized that she was up against an opponent who had found a deep conviction to win and it seemed clear that the tables had been turned.

When Ahsha won the final point of the set, she collapsed on the court and enjoyed her moment of glory sprawled alongside her racket, perhaps because the match had been over 2 1/2 hours (the longest women's match of the tournament so far).
She soon made the customary waves and started to enjoy the victory as she should. On Monday night, she had been ready to sign almost anything presented to her and had stayed on court a long time trying to satisfy the fans. This time, she was not allowed the same luxury, but she did a good amount of greeting and appreciated the well-wishers from The Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica. Her parents, grandmother, other close relatives, coach and friends were there and understandably ecstatic.

Ahsha has a very tough 3rd round match ahead, against Russia's Dinara Safina, the #15 seed. One could say that nothing should be expected of Ahsha, but I'm beginning to wonder if we should expect much more of her. This could be her time to burst out.