Masters Tennis at Albert Hall.
We caught the tube to South Kensington Station, using our Oyster Cards which make catching a bus or train a breeze as long as we keep them topped up.
Had lunch in the very excellent café of the Victoria and Albert Museum then off to Albert Hall… where we were approached by several people offering us free drinks! It was a promotion for Shloer, which are really delicious Grape juices with a tang… we couldn’t get enough of it.
Albert Hall looked incredible with the tennis court set up in the middle, there was a net all around the court to protect us from any stray balls, I did think the overall look was spoiled by the advertisements all around though. Our seats were excellent and so close to the action as you can see in the photos. The first game was between Sergi Bruguera from Spain and Mikael Pernfors from Sweden… Bruguera won easily! Then a brilliant doubles game between Peter McNamara and Illie Nastase against Mark Woodforde and Mansour Bahrami… who we had never heard of but we now will never forget and if we are lucky enough to get the chance to see him play again we will jump at it. Bahrami is Iranian who’s father was shepherd, he wasn’t allowed to play tennis because it was a game for the rich, eventually he made it onto the Iranian Davis Cup team only to have the Ayotollah close down all the tennis courts, he is a master of the tennis racquet but not in the conventional way, he uses it as a clown would which makes for one very interesting game. I don’t think the laughter died down for more than 60 seconds at a time and I think David laughed louder than me!
Illie Nastase is one player I was very fond of watching many years ago and he was just as funny as I remember and what a thrill to see McNamara and Woodforde play! Woodforde has thicken up a lot which makes him look a more huggable which I almost did when I saw him in the hallway… I controlled myself and just thanked him very much for a very entertaining 90 mins.
After a break with more samples of the delicious Shloer, we were thrilled to have Jim Courier and Mats Wilander play, Jim was in top form and beat Mats pretty convincingly, both of them were very funny but not a patch on that great doubles match we’d just watched.
How lucky we were to be able to see so many of my favourite players… we think we’d love to go to more Masters Tennis games one day… if they come to Australia that is.
We discovered it was Steak Night at Wetherspoons when we got off the tube at Wood Green so what better way to finish off a great day than with a steak!! Then to add the final touch David entertained me by reciting all the stations from South Ken to Cockfosters… he’s so clever, I do love him so!!
Albert Hall Organ.
Doubles, tossing of the Coin with much chat.
Nastase and McNamara
Jim Courier.
Mats Wilander
Had lunch in the very excellent café of the Victoria and Albert Museum then off to Albert Hall… where we were approached by several people offering us free drinks! It was a promotion for Shloer, which are really delicious Grape juices with a tang… we couldn’t get enough of it.
Albert Hall looked incredible with the tennis court set up in the middle, there was a net all around the court to protect us from any stray balls, I did think the overall look was spoiled by the advertisements all around though. Our seats were excellent and so close to the action as you can see in the photos. The first game was between Sergi Bruguera from Spain and Mikael Pernfors from Sweden… Bruguera won easily! Then a brilliant doubles game between Peter McNamara and Illie Nastase against Mark Woodforde and Mansour Bahrami… who we had never heard of but we now will never forget and if we are lucky enough to get the chance to see him play again we will jump at it. Bahrami is Iranian who’s father was shepherd, he wasn’t allowed to play tennis because it was a game for the rich, eventually he made it onto the Iranian Davis Cup team only to have the Ayotollah close down all the tennis courts, he is a master of the tennis racquet but not in the conventional way, he uses it as a clown would which makes for one very interesting game. I don’t think the laughter died down for more than 60 seconds at a time and I think David laughed louder than me!
Illie Nastase is one player I was very fond of watching many years ago and he was just as funny as I remember and what a thrill to see McNamara and Woodforde play! Woodforde has thicken up a lot which makes him look a more huggable which I almost did when I saw him in the hallway… I controlled myself and just thanked him very much for a very entertaining 90 mins.
After a break with more samples of the delicious Shloer, we were thrilled to have Jim Courier and Mats Wilander play, Jim was in top form and beat Mats pretty convincingly, both of them were very funny but not a patch on that great doubles match we’d just watched.
How lucky we were to be able to see so many of my favourite players… we think we’d love to go to more Masters Tennis games one day… if they come to Australia that is.
We discovered it was Steak Night at Wetherspoons when we got off the tube at Wood Green so what better way to finish off a great day than with a steak!! Then to add the final touch David entertained me by reciting all the stations from South Ken to Cockfosters… he’s so clever, I do love him so!!
Albert Hall Organ.
Doubles, tossing of the Coin with much chat.
Nastase and McNamara
Jim Courier.
Mats Wilander
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