We dropped the two kids off in Holyrood, and then bee-lined it to the facility. It was an 11:00 am start for the fourth seeded Japanese Nishikori, against a less heralded American - can't remember his name unfortunately. He was pretty much a whipping boy against his more seasoned opponent on this day. That is the thing with tennis. It seems often enough that some player trying to make a go-at-it on the real seen, they scratch together enough play to barely "make-it" into a big-show tournament, only to loose quite handily. However - there are obviously lots of lesser matches and games out there that don't draw the big-guns out to them.
After that game finished we scouted over to a 2nd tiered court to watch a wild card enter Canadian Polansky in his 2nd round game. I can't say he is even ranked in the top 200 in the world, but he did beat his first round opponent from Australia who has held some lower ranked world positions (Kyrigios sp?), so there was a bit of a buzz with him. He landed in the tournament on some sort of charity case I am guessing. He probably won the Toronto Island "pro-club" championship a few days before against some other hack.... But he had no sponsorship logo on his shirt, hat, or wrist guards. To be quite honest he didn't look like a proto-typical tennis pro; he wasn't over 6 feet tall, nor did he look to weigh 190lbs of serving muscle... Arms didn't seem long.... He didn't have 4 extra strung rackets at his disposal.... No entourage..... Polansky was ousted.....
Acting, singing, sporting, writing, and the like; there are just tens of thousands and thousands of people who scratch by, like probably not exactly poverty line and below scratching by, but nothing too great, just because of the love of it.... Well, some of them probably are poverty line and below actually.... And watching this tennis and the lesser players just reinforced that for me. The Taylor Swifts, Sydney Crosbys, Matt Damons, & Novak Djokoviches, are not the norms out there. The people you see on t.v., are not the norms either - they are not the standard of the game, or the regular talent of the event = they exceed so incredibly much. It is the Polansky's and the American whipping boy whom I love to root for though. Those who really don't have much hope whatsoever. And they don't quite frankly. They have no $, no fancy cars, no fancy hotel. They literally scrape by. I am sure some of these tennis players raid the buffet table at these tournaments and save the food to eat during the next week. And I am talking about the sub-ranked golfers, or hockey players, or actors or models or whatever as well....
They do their craft like the camel who wanted to be a dancer. The camel who was teased and made fun of because it wasn't graceful, or even any good, at dancing. But it danced on anyway because it made him happy to do it. It was a way to pursue a dream, and not be dismayed by what others said - satisfaction comes to those who please themselves.
So I see these guys at this "professional" tournament. And I think what a way to slog it out and make a living for now.
At any rate - we walked around the grounds quite a lot and there was all sorts of interactive things going on.... By mid afternoon the biggest gun out there, Djokovich, (no current slogging) was set up against a formidable challenger from Luxemberg - 6 foot four player, huge left handed server.... Gilles somebody or other. He looked like he could be trouble.... He looked like he was a few grades higher then the typical tournament slogger. Novak disposed him somewhat easily - 2 sets, but 2 full 7-5 and 7-6 sets..... I was kind of glad it didn't go to a third as it was sooooooo hot..... In the post match interview the giddy interviewee only talked about and asked questions about Milos Raonic, and what Novak thought of his game. Talk about a homer.....
Anyway it was a great day out and we stayed the night and hit up downtown a bit for some eats and drinks....
