Tennis tennis tennis

The trip to the Hilton was entertaining. We went there about 11AM Sunday and as it turned out, Melaku was in a tournament and was playing his next match at noon. Once we got there he showed me the entry on the bulletin board schedule and it was at 1PM not noon. We watched the tail end of a match then a set or so of play between two women. One was noticeably stronger than the other, evidenced by the score.

Then I was informed that Melaku's match was about to begin on another court, so off the fan club trundled. Supposedly the guy he was playing is from the national team and a very strong player. Melaku had his problems right from the start. The first of which was that for the first 2-3 games, the guy did little or not moving around the court to return Melaku's ball. From his play that I have seen before, his as his frustration level increases, his racquet gets dropped on the court more often in parallel. After the two-set loss, Melaku told me he played like a beginner, and I quipped "You mean like me :)". We watched another set or so between two other very strong players whose serving and forehand were marvelous. I then went back to the guest house stopping at Blue Drops for a bite.

I looked up the ATP tennis final on DsTV and was told it started at 4PM in Ethiopia. I went down to Blue Drops but was unable to wrestle the TV away from a football show someone was watching so realized I would just miss the final. The phone rang about 6 and Melaku mentioned he was somewhere watching the start of the match. I went to Blue Drops again but the TV was anxiously being watched by many people. I called and asked him to let me know what happens and he offered to come pick me up.

We went to the Bolé 23 tennis club close to the airport, and the 6 birr beer coupled with the tennis was GREAT! The place was packed. Davydenko in particular but both he and Del Potro had amazing cross-court returns that seemed to travel parallel to the court and from a point close to top-left of the offensive court into the same location for the opponent to return (which was next to impossible). After the 2-set match, he dropped me at the guest house.