Singles SemiFinal between Gabine Muguruza (No.3) and Agnieska Radwanska (No. 5)
The last week of October was a real serendipitous one for me. In the midst of work pressure and end of year move out of our office, my friend Jason Lu offered me free tickets to Cat 1 and Cat 2 seats for the WTA Finals held at the indoor stadium from 23 Oct - 1st November. Initially I was reluctant to go, but after several friends told me I would be watching world class tennis in air-cond comfort with top 10 ladies singles players, I thought "why not " ?
So I rushed down and met 2 other friends, Michael and Looi and was enthralled to watch the match between Maria Sharapova (No. 4) and Simona Halep (No.2). As the world No. 1 Serena Williams was out njured, this was the perfect opportunity for the 2nd to 8th ranked ladies to shine in their own capacity. Garbine Muguruza herself had beaten Serena in this years French Open and was the losing finalist to Serena in this year's Wimbledon. A breakout year for Garbine.
Michael, Me, Looi
To watch tennis on TV is one thing, to watch it live and the players no further than 50 me away from you grunting, striving for every ball, the drama of in or out calls, and the cheers from the loyal fans won me over. It is not everyday that I can watch world ranked players battling tooth and nail for the coveted points and winning matches in air-cond comfort !
My favourite is Garbine, she is a photogenic, very athletic and goes for every ball. A Venezuelan by birth, she is a Spanish player who is only 22 and up and coming, winning the recent China Open in early October and then flying early to Singapore for up to 2 weeks to train for the WTA Finals. A true passionate competitor who in my opinion will be the No. 1 ranked player in 2016.
World No.3 Gabine Muguruza
The final was between Agnieska Radwanska (Poland) and Petra Kvitova (No.6) was over in 3 hard won sets, 6-2, 4.6 and 6-3. Radwanska, won the championship and the crowd was on its feet for the most part, such was the closeness of the match and the competitivess of the players. Not a single ball flew out of court, that is how well controlled the players are.
There is no love lost between competitors but as can be seen in world ranked players, it is "kill or be killed" No one is here to make friends, everyone fights for his place and staying in the tournament is the No. 1 priority.
I will indeed go again next year, such is new found my interest. World Class Tennis in Singapore is now a reality - at least for the next 5 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment