[Alvarillo]

Ok, let's go
I went to Valencia again this year to stay as a lineman, from Saturday of Qualys until Thursday coz i had to comeback to Madrid before Friday and on Thursday a lot of linemen leave the tournament cos the Schedule since Friday is smaller and they don't need such a big number of linemen.
The experience was incredible again, i arrived on Friday and i went with another lineman to pick our clothes and the tarjet that let us to enter to the Valencia Tennis Club.
This year the clothes were much better, TTK clothes, 2 t-shirts, 1 shorts, 1 cap, a pair of sport shoes, socks and a swatshirt, so now i will use the clothes to play tennis
Linemen have to stay in the club one hour before matches start, our boss give us a paper that tells you which is your team and the line you're going to work in, the first 2 days i was in the left baseline, it's a difficult one beacuse i'm used to stay in the laterals, but it was nice.
1st day was really tough, you work 1:30 and rest 35 minutes, and after lunch, with the sun being 1:30 on court is a nightmare

on saturday of qualies we started at 11:00 and finished at 20:00, a marathon day, 16 matches in 4 courts, i worked in Almagro vs Peric match, it was fine, noone could imagine Nico reaching the final 8 days later, i had to go to the bathroom with Tomislav after the second set, it was the first time i had to do and it was great, people looked at you as ohhh you're important!

the tougest match for me was in the second round of Qualys, Gimeno-Traver vs Sanchez De Luna, i was in a lateral line and when Gimeno served with an open serve, Sanchez with his position didn't let me to see the bounce so 2 times it was like oh i think is IN but i really didn't see it
Sanchez asked the referee to check one mark but touched (fortunately) the line so the referee told me from the chair, come on, keep it on

(post and continue)

[Fisico]

Originally Posted by Alvarillo

the tougest match for me was in the second round of Qualys, Gimeno-Traver vs Sanchez De Luna, i was in a lateral line and when Gimeno served with an open serve, Sanchez with his position didn't let me to see the bounce so 2 times it was like oh i think is IN but i really didn't see it
Sanchez asked the referee to check one mark but touched (fortunately) the line so the referee told me from the chair, come on, keep it on

keep it coming

[Alvarillo]

But the worst experience was in Calatrava vs Schukin match, i was sick beacuse of the food of that day but i had to enter to the court, 45 minutes later i wanted to die, i was very sick and i told to the referee, quickily they asked for another one with a walkie and in the next change of side one partner entered in my position, i run to the toilet .... and the end of the story much better if i don't write it

and then the week was great i was in matches of, Almagro, Davydenko, Simon, Volandri, Gaudio, Sluiter, Starace, Feli, Verdasco, Pavel, Sanguinetti, Gavashvili, Zib, Mayer, Ascione, Dlouhy, Meffert, Navarro-Pastor, Gimeno, Luckzak, Mertinak or Calatrava

[Fisico]

haha, you dont have to go into details with this story

did you get a chance to be in the Ferrero vs Almagro match? i just wanted to know how JC played

[Alvarillo]

about the referees, Mohamed Layhani is simply the best
in the center court, after and between matches this year they put a song, it was Love Generation and if you see Layahni on court 1, with the music since the center court, dancing with his feet the song, simply hilarious it was like, Mohamed can i dance too??? he is always supporting you and if someone makes an error he makes feel you like, don't worry i'm here to correct you, it doesn't matter! keep it on!
sometimes you know is like imposible to say if it's in or out, sometimes with the same mark a chair umpire says in and another one out so .......
also spanish chair umpire Poncho Ayala was very friendly, very nice out of court, but for example it's not the same with Lars Graf, he's very serious, it's different.
Poncho Ayala wrote a note and post it in our room on Thursday before leaving the tournament:
"You're all a disaster on court but also great people, take care, see you"


also this year we went to the official party, it wasn't as funny as last year but i took a pic with Albert Costa, he was very nice, also attended Ferrero, Corretja, David Marrero or Feliciano López with his girlfriend, a former Miss Spain, this year i didn't see a plyer drunk, a shame cos JC last year was hilarious!

[Alvarillo]

Originally Posted by Fisico

haha, you dont have to go into details with this story

did you get a chance to be in the Ferrero vs Almagro match? i just wanted to know how JC played

nop, a shame i saw it in the stands!
Ferrero didn't play bad but he is not the guy who won RG

[Fisico]

Originally Posted by Alvarillo

nop, a shame i saw it in the stands!
Ferrero didn't play bad but he is not the guy who won RG

i was afraid you would say that, but i think he has not been the same player for a long time now

[Alvarillo]

and now some pics!!!

[Fisico]

Originally Posted by Alvarillo

Poncho Ayala wrote a note and post it in our room on Thursday before leaving the tournament:
"You're all a disaster on court but also great people, take care, see you"

also this year we went to the official party, it wasn't as funny as last year but i took a pic with Albert Costa, he was very nice, also attended Ferrero, Corretja, David Marrero or Feliciano López with his girlfriend, a former Miss Spain, this year i didn't see a plyer drunk, a shame cos JC last year was hilarious!

JC last year??? spill the beans

[Alvarillo]

and some more

i have to say that this year a lot of foreing lineman came to the tournament, as i speak (or at least i try it) english i was friend of them, it was very nice to share the experience with this people, Donalie from the UK, Marissa, Frank, Timo, Sina ... and more (germany), Gianluca (italy) and of course a lot from differnt parts of spain!!

[Alvarillo]

i hope some friends send me mor pics and i will post
i hope all of you enjoy the thread!

Fisico, last tear in the players party, Ferrero after losing against Nadal drunk too much and was completely drunk, afther the pub closed he was in the street shouting "who drives my car" "in which car i go", but completely drunk with the tipical voice of a drunk, his girlfriend Patricia was very angry with him, like, what the hell are you doing, fucking idiot??? hilarious

[Fisico]

i wouldnt have expected that from JC!! he's usually so quiet and quite reserved, its good to see he can let loose and have a bit of fun sometimes, nice one JC

thanks for the report and pics, sounds like you had a good time

[Lee]

And thanks for the pix and report.

[Sjengster]

Originally Posted by Alvarillo

i hope some friends send me mor pics and i will post
i hope all of you enjoy the thread!

Fisico, last tear in the players party, Ferrero after losing against Nadal drunk too much and was completely drunk, afther the pub closed he was in the street shouting "who drives my car" "in which car i go", but completely drunk with the tipical voice of a drunk, his girlfriend Patricia was very angry with him, like, what the hell are you doing, fucking idiot??? hilarious

I'll bet he really felt the pression when he woke up the next morning.

[cobalt60]

Thank you Alvarillo! Wonderful report and pics. When and where will you be a linesman again?