Winston -Salem 2019

Third year in row, Mark and I get to go to Winston-Salem Open-- professional tennis tournament. This year we had to go on a Wednesday, as Robert's birthday fell on the day we usually go (the quarterfinals day).

We arrived to the venue at around 1:30 to check out the booths and maybe see some famous players warm up (we didn't:)).

It was HOT. Good thing I stopped by H&M at the mall on the way here and bought a hat (I accidentally left my at home!) or I would have died in the sun. 

We watched the first match between American Johnson and Norwegian Ruud (Mark was rooting for him;)) in the VIP seats as during the day session no one really cares where you sit. It was awesome! We got to be on TV (as Katya reported to us diligently:))

Shortly after the first match we walked over to the doubles court but only got to see one game before all play was stopped because of a massive thunderstorm brewing really close by. 

We ran to the car just in time as it started POURING! We knew that matches will be delayed so we drove to grab some dinner and by the time we came back, matches resumed.

We got to watch Shapovalov defeat Kecmanovic. Shapovalov is from Canada but his parents are Russian. 

So right after the match, we happened to be in the right place in the right time by the main court as Dennis Shapovalov exited the court. A crowd of people swarmed him, of course, Mark and I were nearby and as we were really close to him, I just said in Russian, "Dennis, could we get a picture with you?". He right away looked up at me and asked Mark to stand by him. Mark got his tennis ball signed as well!!!

He was soooo excited!! 

Well, our experience was not quite over yet!

Although delayed, we had the pleasure of watching Coco Gauff play Ashleigh Barty in an special, first time in Winston-Salem Open history, exhibition match.  Coco has become super famous as the youngest American this summer to go very far in Wimbledon and Ashleigh Barty is #1 in the world at the moment (she is from Australia).

For this one, we couldn't really sit wherever we wanted as people actually had to pay lots of money for good seats. So we found our average seats and then Mark went down closer to find a much better spot on his own:)

It was a FUN match! 

This is Coco! She is awesome! She is so young yet so real and is such an awesome example to so many young players!

And this is Ashleigh, who also has a very sweet and humble personality which matters so much to the fans. 

The match was a lot of fun to watch, they even turned on some music to entertain the audience. I don't even remember who won, but that's why it was an exhibition match. These players are top notch and it was fantastic to see them in action! So much talent!

Mark was fortunate to sit really close to the court exit (strategically placing himself on the very edge). He managed to get Coco to sign his tennis ball!!!  

Look at that! 

Lucky kid! 

Finally, it was getting super late (like 10 pm...) and we decided to watch the first set of the last match where American Sam Querrey was playing. We bought our traditional bucket of popcorn and enjoyed the cooler air of that North Carolinian summer night. (whoa, what happened to Mark's ear here?;))

And the tradition lives on!!! Winston Salem, we'll be back next August!! I hope.

Lyana.