Weekend in Miami (27-30 March 2009)
Gill and I have just returned from a fabulous, long-weekend down in Miami. It was supposed to have been Gill's birthday gift to me, but it was actually a birthday gift to both of us from both of us.
We'd purchased Stadium tickets online to see three sessions of magnificent tennis at the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, and drove down on Friday afternoon (March 27). Surprisingly (because this was the first time we ever drove down there), the trip used just half-a-tank of gas. Our 9-yr-old Grand Marquis (and its 200 hp V-8) still gets fantabulous mileage.
First stop, the hotel-- a Staybridge Suites at the airport --which we also booked online-- using Hotwire.com --for the great price of $72/night (this, in the midst of both the tennis tourney and spring-break)! Apprehensive as we were about booking a hotel before knowing its name, the place was just perfect, and that makes us very satisfied Hotwire first-timers.
Next stop, a wonderful dinner at Tani Thai (on the South Dixie Hwy, near Kendall) with friends Renee & Tere. The food was great, the company even better. Although we haven't seen Renee in many moons, it's been even more moons since we've had the pleasure of seeing Tere, as well. I capped-off the evening by picking-up a beautiful, carved-sandlewood Buddah wall-hanging at a lovely shop right next to the restaurant, using the gift-money sent to me by Grace & Fred-- Gill's parents --for my birthday (it's already hanging in our bedroom, thanks to Gill).
Saturday morning, we made the drive down to Key Biscayne for a full day and night of tennis. As newbies to the Open, we didn't know that our Stadium tickets also entitled us to free first-come-first-seated entry to all the outer courts, including the Grandstand, so we just made a bee-line for our Stadium seats and made-do with matches that featured Fernando Verdasco (who nearly beat fellow-Spaniard, Rafael Nadal, in Australia), Serena Williams, Andy Murray, Juan Monaco, Venus Williams, and Shahar Peer. After the Venus-Peer match, we took a food break at the Veuve Cliquot tent for salads (and an $18 flute of Veuve for Gill !!!!), then traipsed back to the Stadium for the Main-Event, an evening match between Rafael Nadal and sacrificial-lamb-with-the-heart-of-a-lion, Teimuraz Gabashvili (an up-and-coming young Russian). The crowd went wild following a tough 6-2 first-set, as Nadal beared his bod while changing shirts courtside. Gill quickly grabbed the binocs from our beachbag for that better-than-anything-on-TV, up-close Rafa-Experience! Nadal quickly ended the Russian's dreams in a repeat 6-2 set that was never close. Having seen the lion's-feast, atop a day of six wonderful matches, we decided to skip the Jelena Jancovic - Gisela Dulko finale (Dulko won) and head back to the hotel while we were still awake.
Sunday morning, and back to Key Biscayne. First-up, Andy Roddick vs Dimitry Tursunov-- a very tight first-set that went to a tie-breaker, followed by a Roddick barrage in the second, and that was that! Venus was back again for the day's second match, in a competitive test against Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who was dispatched in two sets by the improving Williams. We then watched in awe as the second-German-in-a-row went down, though this time with barely a whimper. It was the usually-tough Nicolas Kiefer, who was demolished-- seemingly with ease --by the amazing Roger Federer, whose grace, killer-shots, and cunning were beautiful to behold. What a treat!
The Federer avalanche was followed by France's Amelie Mauresmo taking-on Flavia Pennetta of Italy. Although this was a well-contested match between two top-20 seeds, the Stadium emptied following Federer's win (we later learned that the crowd was headed over to the Grandstand to catch a very exciting win by Gael Monfils over Marat Safin). And that left barely 200 of us (if that) in a vacuum as desolate as the moon. Gill and I felt the drain very quickly, and decided to end our tournament on the high of the Federer and Williams wins. So, we left, too. Poor Amelie and Flavia had to battle it out in front of a handful of true diehards.
And so, we took-off from the Stadium, planning on a quick trip over the causeway to meet-up on Brickell Key with Renee and Tere for a dinner on the bay at Cafe Sambal. Unfortunately, a confirmation call to Renee from the tourney's parking lot revealed that she was terribly ill-- likely from a spider bite she'd received in the middle of the previous night --so, we were on our own. We'd also hoped to hook-up with another friend of ours on Sunday evening-- Evy --but she'd lost her ride. Now, we were all alone in Miami, with no friends to savour our evening with. Rather than feel sorry for ourselves (don't forget, we could have stayed at the Open and watched more matches), we decided to head over to the restaurant, anyway, and enjoy dinner for two.
Good move! Cafe Sambal turned-out to be perfect... in every way. The food, a fusion of East Asian and Mediterranean, was delicious. The service was beyond compare. The presentation was elegant. And the atmosphere-- candle-lit seating on a terrace over-looking Biscayne Bay and the Miami Skyline --was gorgeous! The bill was high, but we were on vacation, it was a birthday celebration, and this was our last night in Miami.
And that ended our wonderful weekend of great tennis, delicious meals, a rendezvous with old friends, and an unforgettable birthday gift... for us both.
Miscellaneous Notes
My health: I was okay. Yes, I ached and suffered my usual
issues, but I wasn't bed-ridden, and the meals went down with only small
hitches. Although sitting for hours-on-end was tough, I got up
frequently, took a few rests beneath the palms outside the Stadium (though,
while doing so, I did miss a lot of what Gill told me was a great match between
Andy Murray and Juan Monaco), and rested as much as I could back at the
hotel. In a nutshell, between the 500-mile roundtrip in a car, the 17-hrs
of tennis, the three meals-out, and all the other physical stresses of the
weekend, I did way better than I could have imagined. Either it was the
adrenaline, the Humira, being in the round-the-clock company of me Babe, or a
any combination thereof. Who cares! I was a happy camper.
The Everglades: This was my first time traveling through the famous River of Grass. I was reminded of a conversation I'd had with my dad when I was eight or nine. There'd been a television show back in 1961-62 called, "The Everglades," about the exciting life of an air-boating Everglades County Sheriff's Deputy It looked so cool that I asked my dad if we could take a family vacation there one year. He was kind of stunned by my interest in the place, and answered me thus: "Why would you want to go there? It's just a big swamp." Nearly 50 years later, and I can honestly say he was right.
The Nadal-Federer rivalry: Gill and I have often talked about how fortunate we are to be living in the time of Federer and Nadal. Seeing them on TV is one thing, but to watch them perform before our eyes in the intimate arena on Key Biscayne is entirely another. They are each sensational! Rafa is explosive, precise, full of power, tenacity, and guile. His Mr. Universe body belies his stunning tennis and tennis-mind. He pulls you into the game with his unbelievable athleticism, deadly aim, and unsurpassed passion. Roger is his perfect nemesis, cool, fluid, incredibly quick, shockingly powerful, as sharp as a rapier, smart-like-a-fox, and a stone-cold, racket-wielding, serial-killer. We "ooo'd and ahh'd" these gods from Olympus like it was going out of style. Each man is just one-shy of a career-Grand-Slam. Federer is chasing Nadal for the one title that eludes him-- Roland Garros (where Rafa has trashed him 3-0). With a win there (or at any other Grand Slam), Roger ties Pete Sampras' record 14 men's Grand Slam Singles titles. Rafa is just getting started, with six-- five of them against Federer (whom he has now beaten at every major tourney other than the US Open-- Roger's last piece of unshared real estate). It's a battle of titans out there, and we got to see them both.
[02 April 2009- Sadly, we’ve just learned that Rafa was beaten today
by Argentine Juan-Martin Del Potro. Gill is in mourning]
Links:
The Sony Ericsson Open
Staybridge Suites- Doral
Hotwire.com
Cafe Sambal
