nothingnew wrote:6000 people were cheering sania yesterday in a stadium with capacity 4500. What an atmosphere it would have been. In an interview Shikhs told that even federer woiuldn't have played in such an environment. This just shows the intensity of crowd in hyderabad yesterday. Hats off to them. I don't think any other city supported their player as much as hyderabad supported sania. Right from the time when she won her first ITF tourney in India, crowd were behind her. Hyderabad is a blessing in disguise for her. Let it be sponsorship, crowd support, government support, sports body support etc. Sania got everything from hyderabad, including her first WTA tournament. I really miss the crowd and sania's matches in Hyderabad. This is the first time I am missing sania's matches in hyderabad. Sania's remarks towards crowd were like "Half of them don't even know how the scoring is done, but they come and watch just becasue they love game". Hmmmmmmmm, do they love game or sania. Anyway ONce again hats off to the crowd and fans who are supporting Sania.
Well sorry man i didn't get to watch this match much . I went there at around 7 pm and it was packed to the tilt as there was not even place to stand as people were even sitting on the steps and all. Well this is a first timer for me to see this much crowd at the Hyderabad Open. Then went to the outside courts as they were deserted and also b'coz Pelletier was playing the last set ( Received quite a few requests to take pics of her). Then got a chance to speak to her and Mandy Minella and both were very nice and also told her about the number of fans she has on Wtaworld. She nodded as if she already knew about that site.
Then again tried to enter the arena and had to stand at the entrance as it was still packed. Well i agree with the support man but this crowd behaviour worries me man. I mean they were screaming when the opponents were serving , shouting when the rallies got past the 6 shots stage, shouting in between points almost every other point,etc,. I mean what message will it pass on among other players . Well i have ranted about this before and so would stop it here. It was 4-3 when i entered and the opponents were staging a comeback. Sania was not playing at her best but Shikha was very solid today and her serving was the best of the 4. Her interceptions, volleys and all were top notch in those games. Soon it became 5-5 and then in the middle of the game, the boisterous crowd had got to the nerves of the opponent pair and they talked about it with the Chair umpire for a good while. There are people who revel in such conditions and there are some who don't and well Sania and Shikha seem to have revelled in these conditions especially Shikha. Well it just seemed that the opponent pair just gave up as they seem to just go for the service return winners and when it was Chan's turn to serve , there was just no power in her serve and it was a very timid game which ended with two double faults i think. The Lady Indian Express really gelled well and there was also high intensity in their play. All in all a very good beginnnig for the pair which augurs well for the Fed Cup.
Just finishing on the crowd , there were quite a few people like me too who couldn't get into the stadium and i hope the organisers capitalise on this b'coz frankly if there is ever a time when many people would be willing to pay to watch an event here then this is it with the tennis mania going on in the city. They could still keep the mass interested by keeping some stands free.
Updated Sunday's pics . Lots of Kirilenko pics as she had become fav non-indian player of mine and also of my friends and also there are quite a few pics of Saana and Shikha. Still haven't got a chance to take pics of Sania as she just doesn't seem to practise in the outside courts and it was impossible to take pics in the Centre Court without a tripod espcially in the night without a blur on the pic. I can't believe they scheduled matches on the C2 . It's impossible to get a clear view of that match for even the coach let alone me with two matches going on on either side of that court. Well i hope to watch the matches of Kirilenko, Shikha and Sania today.
