Canadian Open Practice Session Pictures & Thoughts

Roddick85

Roddick85

Hall of Fame
Hey everyone

Been to the practice session this morning of the canadian open in Montreal, saw Nadal practicing with Alex Bogomolov and Roger Federer with Wawrinka.

Nadal is pretty tall in person, he looked fresh and moved quite well during practice, his foot must of healed. He really seems to give it all during practice as some of the shots and serves were really hit hard. No sign of uncle Toni in the crowd or near him. His serve seems faster than what it was this spring/Wimbledon, perhaps we'll see that US Open serve back now.

Nadal was nice with the fans, acknowledged them when he was introduced and signed a bunch of autographs at the end, unfortunately he didn't come next to me, so I didn't get one. Ladies seemed to be quite please that Nadal changed shirt 4 times...

One of the kids asked Alex Bogomolov for his racquet, he gave the kid his towel, but didn't sign any autograph, not that I'd want one, but still would of been nice if he did for the fans.

Next Roger came in, shaked hands with Nadal. Roger was given a big ovation when he came in, people seemed more excited for him than Nadal, unfortunately, Roger didn't acknowledge the fans or the warm reception he was given, which is becoming is trademark everytime he comes to Montreal, last time he was there, right after he had his twins, fans had made a big banner saying "Congratulations Mirka & Roger" and he didn't react or say/do anything, a shame as he's my favorite player, but oh well...

It's amazing watching Roger in practice, he's very laid back and doesn't push, complete opposite of Nadal. Paul Annacone was with him. Roger had a few really good rallies with Wawrinka, very fun to watch, Roger's technique is so impressive and effortless. Some people in the crowd were asking which of the player is Roger??? Shame on them, lots of people in Montreal who go watch tennis and don't even know how to play nor do they follow the game, yet they have better seats than real fans...that's sad.

Roger signed very few autographs in the end, less than Nadal, he ignored most of the fans who were next to him, begging for autographs, I didn't get one either

I understand they can't give autographs to everyone, but in practice session like that when it's more laid back, they should give more time to the fans at the end, afterall if we wouldn't be watching them or buying the products they endorse, they wouldn't have all those crazy multimillion dollar contracts.

Anyways, save for the interactions with the fans and the extremely hot weather, it was a great experience.

Here's a few high res pictures I took, enjoy!

Roger

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Nadal

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Yeah waited 4 hours in the terrible heat & sun (got huge sunburn) but didn't get either one, could live without Rafa's autograph but really wanted Fed, had bought the jumbo tennis ball for them to sign. What's ironic is that Nadal stood at one spot to give autograph, I was at the 2nd spot and he didn't come, so when Federer was there, I got to the same spot Nadal was giving autograph, only for Federer to go to the spot I was for Nadal, pretty ironic.

Oh well, going tomorrow again for the qualifications and next saturday night for the semi final, got excellent tickets for both.
 
Really nice post!!

Sorry to hear about the autographs

To read this about Federer made me a bit dissapointed...
 
Yeah I was a bit disappointed about Federer too, but seeing him play live from real close is such a nice experience, as he's my favorite player, that I can forgive him hehe. At least he did wave a bit when he was making his entrance as people got really excited when people saw him coming from the locker room, but didn't acknowledge the annoucement nor the fans afterwards.

But you know what, I saw Nadal/Federer practice and 5 mins of Djokovic practice. As soon as they enter or play, they all act as if the fans in the center court don't exist. When Djokovic entered, he was going to his chair to drop his bag, 3 feet away from me and there was a guy next to me litterally begging Djoko for an autograph and Djoko totallly ignored him and just looked away.

One guy also tried to have Federer's attention by speaking to him in German, Federer didn't even look at him even thought we were standing 5 feet away and Federer was on break.

Wawrinka didn't even stop to sign a single autograph either.

I'm starting to wonder if the player are really all a bit arrogant, or they are told to act a certain way by they're PR team as the more you analyze they're behavior, the more you can see how similar they all act.

Some more pictures

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You have to be arrogant in this sport, unfortunately. I personally feel your frustration at them dedicating little time to the fans when you take into consideration that without them they'd be nobodies.
 
Roddick85 said:
Yeah I was a bit disappointed about Federer too, but seeing him play live from real close is such a nice experience, as he's my favorite player, that I can forgive him hehe. At least he did wave a bit when he was making his entrance as people got really excited when people saw him coming from the locker room, but didn't acknowledge the annoucement nor the fans afterwards.

But you know what, I saw Nadal/Federer practice and 5 mins of Djokovic practice. As soon as they enter or play, they all act as if the fans in the center court don't exist. When Djokovic entered, he was going to his chair to drop his bag, 3 feet away from me and there was a guy next to me litterally begging Djoko for an autograph and Djoko totallly ignored him and just looked away.

One guy also tried to have Federer's attention by speaking to him in German, Federer didn't even look at him even thought we were standing 5 feet away and Federer was on break.

Wawrinka didn't even stop to sign a single autograph either.

I'm starting to wonder if the player are really all a bit arrogant, or they are told to act a certain way by they're PR team as the more you analyze they're behavior, the more you can see how similar they all act.
Click to expand...

Federer, Nadal and Djokovic (and other popular players) have experienced what you describe in your posts probably thousands of times. Entering the court, acknowledging the crowd (in practice), signing for the fans etc, do you think they are going act oh so nice and graceful every single time?.. Quite an obvious perspective that I guess sometimes escapes people, because I can't help but frown a bit when I read these "<name of player> wasn't that nice with the crowd today, and didn't sign for all the 243 people there".. What do you expect?.. Maybe they don't really care about those stuff at that moment?

I'm sure sometime later you're going to read a fan's report when Federer was "so nice with the crowd, signed so many autographs"..

No annoyance intended btw.. And don't forget not everyone gets to experience what you did (cough)...

Thanks for sharing and hope you stand at the right spot next time to get an autograph.. :D
 
I'm with you, for sure, they all have bad days as we all do, and they sure as hell can't sign autographs to everybody thats unrealistic expectations, just I thought that since this was a practice, the atmosphere would of been more relaxed and would of allowed for more fan interaction you know.

As I said, that doesn't really change my admiration of Federer, of course having his autograph would of made my day, but at least I saw him play from up close so I did gain something at the end of the day hehe.
 
Thanks for sharing the pics. Watching practice is a lot of fun. Especially being a lot closer to the court and getting to appreciate the pace and spin on the ball.

But totally reject your complaints about autographs. Nothing on the ticket contract says anything about any expectation of getting an autograph or getting to talk to a player. They sign as many as they can, based on that day's schedule.
 
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Roddick85 said:
Yeah waited 4 hours in the terrible heat & sun (got huge sunburn) but didn't get either one, could live without Rafa's autograph but really wanted Fed, had bought the jumbo tennis ball for them to sign. What's ironic is that Nadal stood at one spot to give autograph, I was at the 2nd spot and he didn't come, so when Federer was there, I got to the same spot Nadal was giving autograph, only for Federer to go to the spot I was for Nadal, pretty ironic.
Oh well, going tomorrow again for the qualifications and next saturday night for the semi final, got excellent tickets for both.
Click to expand...

Damn, that's bad luck :?

Anyway, thanks for the post and hope you have a great time in the matches :)
 
West Coast Ace said:
Thanks for sharing the pics. Watching practice is a lot of fun. Especially being a lot closer to the court and getting to appreciate the pace and spin on the ball.

But totally reject your complaints about autographs. Nothing on the ticket contract says anything about any expectation of getting an autograph or getting to talk to a player. They sign as many as they can, based on that day's schedule.
Click to expand...

Well, players are not obliged to sign autographs, sure... but it goes a little beyond that, like just aknoledging the fans, like the OP mentioned...
 
Very nice photos and a really nice post.
Sorry to hear you didnt catch any autograph, still hope you have a nice time in Montreal..:)
 
Weather is nice in Montreal, i'm from Montreal so I know what to expect but it was really hot today, can only wonder how bad it must of been for the players on court. Got hit bad by the sun in the face and on the arms even thought I had my RF Cap :)
I'll post some photos of the qualification and the semi-final for sure, even have a few 1080P HD movie of Fed & Nadal today, but those take so long to upload.
 
Great pics Roddick85! Thanks for posting them. I wish I could drive to Montreal to see the tournament :(

Sucks that you couldn't get either of their autographs, but hey at least you got to see em both hit on the same day :)
 
Ballbashing Grinder
Nope didn't wanna stay for Djokovic practice, sun was killing me and I was on the verge of having a heat stroke so I left, and I really wanted to see Fed, Nadal was a bonus. Even thought I have lots of respect for Djoko, i'm not a huge fan of his game, same goes for Berdych, and anyways i'm pretty sure I might see Djoko in the semi.

LemonedYeah I realize that about autographs now, guess I had high expectation as the wife of one of my friends went to a practice session 2 years ago and she got a bunch of autographs including Fed & Nadal very easily.
 
Roddick85 said:
Ballbashing Grinder
Nope didn't wanna stay for Djokovic practice, sun was killing me and I was on the verge of having a heat stroke so I left, and I really wanted to see Fed, Nadal was a bonus. Even thought I have lots of respect for Djoko, i'm not a huge fan of his game, same goes for Berdych, and anyways i'm pretty sure I might see Djoko in the semi.

LemonedYeah I realize that about autographs now, guess I had high expectation as the wife of one of my friends went to a practice session 2 years ago and she got a bunch of autographs including Fed & Nadal very easily.
Click to expand...
Guess someone was super lucky then. :cool: Isn't this their first official practice for Federer/Nadal/Djokovic? If so, probably they wanted to keep focused on their work than usual, especially it's been a long time since their last match.
 
I guess these top players do take their practice seriously, even though it may appear laid back; they probably are not able to make an exception when signing autographs, ie, if they sign one or two, they would have to sign for every one there, which is definitely not possible. Anyway OP hope you have more luck with autographs the rest of the tourney! :)
 
Roddick85, Nadal averaged 118mph in the Wimbledon final, and got 78% of 1st serves in. At the 2010 US Open, there were only 2 matches where Nadal averaged over 120mph. And at Wimbledon he doesn't even go for full pace usually, uses slice more. And on clay, Toni said Nadal was tactically never committed to serving fast.
 
I think players seem to always be in a rush like for example, I work there and I was at the Nadal private practice on Thursday and there was 20 people by the time his practice was done and even though he took the time to take some pictures with some people, after taking pictures with 3-4 people he left real quick.
 
The "row of honor" between center court and the entrance to the players locker rooms is where people line up to get autographs after practice. Fed signed plenty of autographs there and reacted positively to people singing Happy Birthday (a few days early) to him in French. I don't give a hoot about autographs but since my sister-in-law must be one of the world's biggest *******, I tried to take a pic with my buddy's Blackberry. I'm quite tall but there were a few people in front of me so I had to raise my hand up and try to angle the phone downwards to take the pic. Ended up with a pic of his chest and a bit of his chin. lollll

Didn't watch Djoker, it was just too darn hot in that stadium. Went to court #1 instead and watched Murray for a while. Then walked around to the outer courts to watch various players. If you've never seen pros play/practice, the closer the better. TV or YouTube doesn't even begin to reflect the speed, power, skill and athleticism required to play tennis at that level today. We watched Tomic and Gasquet on court #2, sitting directly in line with the net, about 10 feet away from the netpost and we could barely move our heads from side to side fast enough to follow the rallies. At one point in a rally, Tomic absolutely crushed a forehand to Gasquet's backhand, and it came back just as fast as a winner down the line.
 
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thepsychologist said:
I think players seem to always be in a rush like for example, I work there and I was at the Nadal private practice on Thursday and there was 20 people by the time his practice was done and even though he took the time to take some pictures with some people, after taking pictures with 3-4 people he left real quick.
Click to expand...

Same here I am always in a rush.
 
Where are the Canadian Bester and Polansky in the Montreal draw?

Bester qualified Canada in the latest Davis Cup.
He's not even in Qs.
Nor is Polansky.

Are they injured?
 
Lemoned said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YdWUUPcXIo

Rogers Cup Practice session 05/08/2011, Rafa Nadal, Alex Bogolomov Jr., Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka, Thomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray.

Hope you don't mind me putting this here, Roddick85. ;)
Click to expand...

Am I the only one who loled when the vid suddenly changed to Murray's practice session and then there was no one more in the stands??? :lol:

Poor Andy... :( :)
 
Marius_Hancu said:
Where are the Canadian Bester and Polansky in the Montreal draw?

Bester qualified Canada in the latest Davis Cup.
He's not even in Qs.
Nor is Polansky.

Are they injured?
Click to expand...
Yes. Bester got a one initially, then had to give up at the end. Gulbis took it.
Polansky "Groin still bugging a bit, wont be playing Vancouver. Sucks!! : ("
There was disharmony between Dancevic & Tennis Canada. TC turned down his MD WC request, he decided not to play qualifying.

Fate Archer said:
Am I the only one who loled when the vid suddenly changed to Murray's practice session and then there was no one more in the stands??? :lol:

Poor Andy... :( :)
Click to expand...
According to JustBob's comment, it was court#1 where Andy was practicing. :p
 
JustBob said:
The "row of honor" between center court and the entrance to the players locker rooms is where people line up to get autographs after practice. Fed signed plenty of autographs there and reacted positively to people singing Happy Birthday (a few days early) to him in French. I don't give a hoot about autographs but since my sister-in-law must be one of the world's biggest *******, I tried to take a pic with my buddy's Blackberry. I'm quite tall but there were a few people in front of me so I had to raise my hand up and try to angle the phone downwards to take the pic. Ended up with a pic of his chest and a bit of his chin. lollll

Didn't watch Djoker, it was just too darn hot in that stadium. Went to court #1 instead and watched Murray for a while. Then walked around to the outer courts to watch various players. If you've never seen pros play/practice, the closer the better. TV or YouTube doesn't even begin to reflect the speed, power, skill and athleticism required to play tennis at that level today. We watched Tomic and Gasquet on court #2, sitting directly in line with the net, about 10 feet away from the netpost and we could barely move our heads from side to side fast enough to follow the rallies. At one point in a rally, Tomic absolutely crushed a forehand to Gasquet's backhand, and it came back just as fast as a winner down the line.
Click to expand...

Didn't know about that spot, might go there in the semi if Fed makes it there, maybe i'll get his autograph who knows :)
 
Roddick85 said:
I'm starting to wonder if the player are really all a bit arrogant, ..
Click to expand...
Perhaps we should organise 500 people to come to your place of work when you're trying to concentrate and distract you every time you really want to focus. These guys are great because they can focus on their work and ignore outside factors as much as possible.

Don't be dark on them for it. If you had to sit through every movie screen test, line-reading, practice takes, reverse angle filming etc etc you'd end up thinking the same of all your favourite actors too.

Note: Federer's shoes... they've finally made him his custom Vapour 6s but with much better Vapour 8 paint-job.
 
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Lemoned said:
Yes. Bester got a one initially, then had to give up at the end. Gulbis took it.
Polansky "Groin still bugging a bit, wont be playing Vancouver. Sucks!! : ("

There was disharmony between Dancevic & Tennis Canada. TC turned down his MD WC request, he decided not to play qualifying.
Click to expand...

Thanks ...

It is a shame what Tennis Canada did to Dancevic.
He's the #2 Canadian on the computer, in the end.
 
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Roddick85 said:
Ballbashing Grinder
Nope didn't wanna stay for Djokovic practice, sun was killing me and I was on the verge of having a heat stroke so I left, and I really wanted to see Fed, Nadal was a bonus. Even thought I have lots of respect for Djoko, i'm not a huge fan of his game, same goes for Berdych, and anyways i'm pretty sure I might see Djoko in the semi.

LemonedYeah I realize that about autographs now, guess I had high expectation as the wife of one of my friends went to a practice session 2 years ago and she got a bunch of autographs including Fed & Nadal very easily.
Click to expand...

yea the thing is the pros dont like any interruptions at all during practice. its serious for them. but after they should sign some!
 
Bobby Jr said:
Perhaps we should organise 500 people to come to your place of work when you're trying to concentrate and distract you every time you really want to focus. These guys are great because they can focus on their work and ignore outside factors as much as possible.

Don't be dark on them for it. If you had to sit through every movie screen test, line-reading, practice takes, reverse angle filming etc etc you'd end up thinking the same of all your favourite actors too.

Note: Federer's shoes... they've finally made him his custom Vapour 6s but with much better Vapour 8 paint-job.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I noticed too. There still seems to be a fit frame, and the heel mould from the Vapor 6, but there's also the window panels, and other features from the 8 that make it unnoticeable to everyone bar us TT'ers.
 
The never ending stream of autograph and picture seekers must be overwhelming to the pros. It's a miracle they do any at all.

They simply do not have the time. The pros are practicing hard because their results depend on it. Sometimes they have specific court time assignments they need to get to, even for practice. While we are on vacation or enjoying a weekend at these events, they are working.

The most respectful setting in which to ask for an autograph is where there is a formal signing event. At the Bank of the West last week they had many on the grounds, all free to the general public, including Cibulkova, Kirilenko, Bartoli, A. Radwanska and Goerges. The gals happily signed and posed for pictures for a long time.

It's not fair to make assumptions about whether a player is "nice" if you are hounding for autographs in a context where that is not their priority.
 
Bobby Jr said:
Perhaps we should organise 500 people to come to your place of work when you're trying to concentrate and distract you every time you really want to focus. These guys are great because they can focus on their work and ignore outside factors as much as possible.

Don't be dark on them for it. If you had to sit through every movie screen test, line-reading, practice takes, reverse angle filming etc etc you'd end up thinking the same of all your favourite actors too.

Note: Federer's shoes... they've finally made him his custom Vapour 6s but with much better Vapour 8 paint-job.
Click to expand...

Well, that's not the same at all, really. Tennis players work in front of the public all the time. They need them there, for that matter. Not really comparable to other kind of job.
 
Fate Archer said:
Am I the only one who loled when the vid suddenly changed to Murray's practice session and then there was no one more in the stands??? :lol:

Poor Andy... :( :)
Click to expand...

It looked early, I think he was the first one on, so most likely fans hadn't arrived yet, versus he showed up and they took off.
 
Got back from the qualification today. Saw Nadal practice again for 2 hours on center court, pretty much the same story as yesterday. Roger & Djoko practiced later on court #4, it was so crowded in there that it was impossible to watch, Tsonga was also seen practicing.

Saw 1 qualification match, quite a contrast as Nadal's practice feels more intense than whatever happened in that match, quite a sleeper as neither player could get the edge really, one tie break lasted over 10 deuces.

Was an okay match to watch i'll guess, but having been to the canadian open every year since 98 and having seen only quarter final or best, you can really tell that there's a huge difference between seeing the top 10 in the world vs someone from top 150.

Looking forward to the semi next saturday, hopefully there's not too many delays as they are forecasting rain for tonight, tomorrow and monday.
 
Roddick85 said:
Got back from the qualification today. Saw Nadal practice again for 2 hours on center court, pretty much the same story as yesterday. Roger & Djoko practiced later on court #4, it was so crowded in there that it was impossible to watch, Tsonga was also seen practicing.

Saw 1 qualification match, quite a contrast as Nadal's practice feels more intense than whatever happened in that match, quite a sleeper as neither player could get the edge really, one tie break lasted over 10 deuces.

Was an okay match to watch i'll guess, but having been to the canadian open every year since 98 and having seen only quarter final or best, you can really tell that there's a huge difference between seeing the top 10 in the world vs someone from top 150.

Looking forward to the semi next saturday, hopefully there's not too many delays as they are forecasting rain for tonight, tomorrow and monday.
Click to expand...

Been there today all day and got some really nice pictures too but I can't seem to be able to post them... are there different levels of access?

At some point 4 of the top 12 were training on 2 adjacent courts - Djoker, Fed, Gasquet and Fish... to my amazement Fed even sweated a bit, which is not at all like himself in practice... Djoker opposed Gasquet was a total delight to watch... then later on so was Almagro against Gulbis - both these guys were absolutely crushing the ball, as if they were out there to prove a point... and all seen from courtside level you really appreciate the kind of power they play each other with... Was also 3 feet away from Nadal on center court - he looks much slimmer in person and did not look like he was altogether on top of his game. After his practice match with Monaco he continued practicing backhands by himself on a side court for a half an hour. He sure has reasons to.
 
marcub said:
Been there today all day and got some really nice pictures too but I can't seem to be able to post them... are there different levels of access?

At some point 4 of the top 12 were training on 2 adjacent courts - Djoker, Fed, Gasquet and Fish... to my amazement Fed even sweated a bit, which is not at all like himself in practice... Djoker opposed Gasquet was a total delight to watch... then later on so was Almagro against Gulbis - both these guys were absolutely crushing the ball, as if they were out there to prove a point... and all seen from courtside level you really appreciate the kind of power they play each other with... Was also 3 feet away from Nadal on center court - he looks much slimmer in person and did not look like he was altogether on top of his game. After his practice match with Monaco he continued practicing backhands by himself on a side court for a half an hour. He sure has reasons to.
Click to expand...

Do you mean Djoker as opposed to Gasquet? or Djoker against Gasquet, as in they practiced with each other? Thanks for the info mate :)
 
jokinla said:
It looked early, I think he was the first one on, so most likely fans hadn't arrived yet, versus he showed up and they took off.
Click to expand...

Again, Murray was on court #1, not on center court, which explains why you see fewer people in the stands.
 
Fifth Set said:
The never ending stream of autograph and picture seekers must be overwhelming to the pros. It's a miracle they do any at all.
Click to expand...
Well said. Especially because some of the people are borderline unhinged, screaming and jamming things in their faces.

It's usually more good luck than anything.
 
marcub said:
Been there today all day and got some really nice pictures too but I can't seem to be able to post them... are there different levels of access?

At some point 4 of the top 12 were training on 2 adjacent courts - Djoker, Fed, Gasquet and Fish... to my amazement Fed even sweated a bit, which is not at all like himself in practice... Djoker opposed Gasquet was a total delight to watch... then later on so was Almagro against Gulbis - both these guys were absolutely crushing the ball, as if they were out there to prove a point... and all seen from courtside level you really appreciate the kind of power they play each other with... Was also 3 feet away from Nadal on center court - he looks much slimmer in person and did not look like he was altogether on top of his game. After his practice match with Monaco he continued practicing backhands by himself on a side court for a half an hour. He sure has reasons to.
Click to expand...

You need to upload the pictures somewhere else than here, like on TinyPic.com and once they are uploaded, you can link them when you post here.
 
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