So here we are, already in the last day of this ultra long weekend. Tomorrow I will have to go back to work again, and actually I am quite excited about that, hahaha . But still, this long weekend has gone much faster than I thought it would be though…
Brussels
Actually, on Friday my friends invited me to join them on a spontaneous (impromptu) weekend trip to Brussels. The train tickets were still relatively cheap at that time (not the fast one, but the one with some transfers). At first I was really interested as I had nothing else planned anyway. I even already browsed for a hotel or hostel and actually found a good offer from one hotel with a single bedroom. However, then I remembered that for some reasons, I could not join the trip. Well, then I had to say no; it was kinda too bad actually…
DST
Anyway, this Sunday, the Daylight Saving Time (DST) took place in the Netherlands (and the whole Europe, I think); and this one was my less favorite one where the time was forwarded by one hour on Sunday morning. So on Sunday, we only had 23 hours in one full day.
Speaking of this DST, this year marks the third time I have had this forward DST in my life. And I think there is something about this forward DST because just like last year and the year before, I still “suffer” from jetlag-ish effect because of this DST. I don’t know. I think this year my body has handled it much better than the previous years though, but I still do feel the effect. So weird…
Indian Wells and Miami
Speaking of tennis, this weekend the series of two consecutive big tennis tournaments on hard court in Northern America was concluded. Indian Wells finished two weeks ago with Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova came on top. And Miami (Key Biscayne) was concluded this Sunday with Andy Murray and Serena Williams won their 26th and 48th title, respectively.
What can I say? Rafael Nadal surprised me by winning Indian Wells. I mean, we all know he is a top player but he had been off the tour for seven months. Okay, he played three Southern American clay tournaments in February, reached the final of all of them, and won two. But the field in Indian Wells was much stronger with the presence of the other big four, and it was on hard court. So at first I thought his goal was just to try his best and see where he was. But he ended up winning. Wow!
As for the women, I have to say Serena Williams showed why she is the best women tennis player in the world. She did not play anywhere near her best for the whole two weeks in Miami, and she ended up winning the title. She produced her comeback trademark in three matches: against Dominika Cibulková in the fourth round, Li Na in the quarterfinals, and Maria Sharapova in the final. It was just fantastic mental quality that she showcased there.
So now, we move on to the clay season…
Rafael Nadal’s reaction after winning his third Indian Wells title. Photo credit: Michael Heiman/Getty Images North America
Serena Williams’ reaction after winning her sixth Miami title. Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America
BAHASA INDONESIA
Disinilah kita, sudah berada di hari terakhir ultra long weekend kali ini. Besok aku akan kembali bekerja, dan sebenarnya aku malah excited loh dengan hal ini, hahaha . Tapi tetap aja sih, long weekend ini berlalu dengan lebih cepat daripada jangkaanku loh…
Brussels
Sebenarnya, di hari Jumat temanku mengajakku untuk jalan-jalan spontan (dadakan) akhir pekan ke Brussels. Ada tiket kereta yang harganya relatif murah waktu itu (bukan dengan kereta yang cepatsih, tapi kereta yang dengan beberapa transit). Awalnya aku tertarik banget karena toh aku tidak ada rencana lain kan. Aku bahkan sudah browsing hotel atau hostel loh dan sebenarnya telah menemukan satu hotel dengan kamar single yang harganya oke juga. Namun, aku kemudian teringat bahwa karena beberapa alasan, aku nggak bisa ikutan deh. Jadilah ajakannya harus kutolak; agak sayang sih, tapi mau bagaimana lagi…
DST
Anyway, hari Minggu ini, Daylight Saving Time (DST) kembali berlangsung di Belanda (dan semua Eropa, kayaknya); dan ini adalah DST yang lebih tidak aku sukai dimana jamnya dimajukan satu jam di Minggu pagi. Jadi hari Minggu kemarin, dalam satu hari hanya ada 23 jam saja.
Ngomongin DST ini, tahun ini adalah tahun ketiga aku mengalami DST maju ini. Dan rasanya ada sesuatu deh dengan si DST maju ini karena seperti tahun lalu dan tahun sebelumnya, aku masih merasakan efek seperti jetlag karena DST ini. Nggak tahu deh kenapa. Tahun ini rasanya badanku meng-handle-nya dengan lebih baik daripada tahun-tahun sebelumnya sih, tapi tetap aja gitu efeknya terasa. Aneh deh…
Indian Wells dan Miami
Ngomongin tenis, akhir pekan ini satu seri dua turnamen besar di lapangan keras di Amerika Utara berakhir. Indian Wells berakhir dua minggu yang lalu dengan Rafael Nadal dan Maria Sharapova sebagai juaranya. Dan Miami (Key Biscayne) berakhir hari Minggu ini dengan Andy Murray dan Serena Williams memenangi titel ke-26 dan ke-48-nya, secara berturutan.
Apa yang bisa kubilang ya? Rafael Nadal mengejutkanku dengan menjuarai Indian Wells. Maksudku, kita semua tahu lah dia adalah pemain yang hebat tetapi ia sudah tidak bermain selama tujuh bulan. Oke, memang sih dia bermain di tiga turnamen tanah liat di Amerika Latin di bulan Februari, mencapai final di ketiganya, dan memenangi dua di antaranya. Hanya saja, daftar pemain di Indian Wells jauhlah lebih kuat dengan hadirnya tiga anggota big four lainnya, apalagi turnamen ini di lapangan keras. Awalnya aku kira tujuan utamanya dia adalah tampil yang terbaik untuk melihat dimana levelnya berada. Eh tetapi akhirnya dia bisa juara. Wow!
Untuk tur putri, harus kubilang bahwa Serena Williams menunjukkan mengapa dialah petenis wanita terhebat di dunia. Ia sama sekali tidak bermain dengan performa terbaiknya selama dua minggu turnamen Miami, dan akhirnya ia menjuarai kejuaraan ini. Dan ia memproduksi trademark comeback-nya di tiga pertandingan: melawan Dominika Cibulková di babak keempat, Li Na di perempat final, dan Maria Sharapova di final. Ia menunjukkan kualitas mental yang fantastis di turnamen ini.
So, the first grand slam tournament of 2013 has just been concluded today. And as usual, I am going to make a short review about it.
Women’s Singles
Even since before the first match of the tournament was played, the title had already been “given” to one player. She was, interestingly enough, not the number one player in the world; but had been in dominating form for the second half of 2012 and this form seemed to continue to 2013 as she won the title in Brisbane, which had a strong field (9 of the top 10 players competed there), easily. She was, obviously, the heavy favorite. She was none other than Serena Williams.
Nevertheless, tennis is a sport and someone still needs to win seven matches to get the singles trophy. Anything can happen, anything. And something did happen. In her first round match, Serena rolled her right ankle, badly. But she still won that match, devastatingly as well, with 6–0, 6–0 scoreline. She appeared fine by putting together devastating performance to reach the quarterfinals. There, however, another injury was exposed: a back injury. She lost in the quarterfinals through a tough three-setter.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the draw, the second-seed, Maria Sharapova, also put together impressive performance. She reached the semifinals just by losing nine games along the way! So, with Serena’s loss, the title was automatically “given” to her. But again, this is tennis. Sharapova had to win two more matches if she wanted that title. And she didn’t. The sixth-seed, Li Na from China, put together a very impressive performance, destroying Sharapova 6–2, 6–2 in the semifinals.
The defending-champion and world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, had tougher road along the way. But nevertheless, she managed to go through it all and reached the final. The final was another dramatic match. Li Na took the first set 6–4 before rolling her left ankle mid-way in the second set. Azarenka then took the second set 6–4. In the third set, Li Na, again, rolled the same ankle and fell down, and her had banged the court. I was like “What the hell” when it happened. So weird! Azarenka took the third set 6–3 and won her second grandslam title.
By doing so, Azarenka maintains her world number 1 status (if she had lost, Serena Williams would have replaced her as number 1). Serena raised to number 2 and Sharapova stepped down to number 3.
Anyway, congratulations Victoria Azarenka! You definitely deserve it!
Men’s Singles
One of the headlines before the start of the tournament was the absence of Rafael Nadal. So, this grand slam was the second in a row which he missed due to the prolonged injury. But still, the rest of the top four in the men’s game were still the favorite, with the world number 1, Novak Djokovic, as the defending champion.
Djokovic made his way to the final, after overcoming an epic fourth round encounter against Stanislas Wawrinka. He cruised through his semifinals match against the fourth-seeded, David Ferrer. On the other side of the draw, the second and third seeds, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, were on collision track and they did meet in the semifinals. Coming to the match, Murray was 10–9 against Federer but 0–5 in grand slam. This time, it was Murray’s time. He beat Federer in five set to reach his third Australian Open final.
In the final, Andy Murray made the first move, taking the first set 7–6(2) despite having no break point along the set (while Djokovic had some). Things were kept on level in the second set which forced another tiebreak to be played. This time, Murray was a little unlucky serving at 2–3 in the tiebreak when a bird feather fell down disturbing his concentration. He double-faulted at that point and it seemed the momentum heavily swayed to Djokovic afterwards, and the rest of the match. Djokovic won the tiebreak 7–3, and the last two sets 6–3, 6–2. He won his fourth Australian Open title, and third in a row. By doing so, he became the first man in the Open Era to win three consecutive Australian Open title.
Congratulations Novak Djokovic!!
Fans-Friendly Grandslam
Just like last year, what I really like about this grandslam is their interaction with fans. The same Pick Em Game that was introduced last year was run for the second time in a row this year. Even, the game expanded to not only cover the Australian Open itself, but also three of the warm-up tournaments leading up to it: Brisbane (men and women), Sydney (men and women), and Hobart (women).
I finished the game ranked 164th (out of 4808 participants) last year. So it made sense that my target was to finish within the top 100 this year, huahaha . There were 3207 participants this year. I was quite in a good position coming in to the final stage of the tournament. I think I was sitting somewhere inside the top 50. But then I was so unfortunate in the final where I made some wrong predictions, causing my position to drop, hahaha . In the end, I ended the game ranked 65th overall. Not bad, I guess.
Victoria Azarenka successfully defended her title. Photo credit: Michael Dodge/Getty Images AsiaPac
Novak Djokovic won his fourth Australian Open title. Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images AsiaPac
BAHASA INDONESIA
Jadi, turnamen grand slam pertama tahun 2013 baru saja berakhir. Dan seperti biasa, aku ingin menulis sebuah review singkat tentangnya.
Tunggal Putri
Bahkan semenjak sebelum pertandingan pertama di turnamen ini dimainkan, titelnya telah “diberikan” ke satu orang pemain. Ia, menariknya, bukanlah pemain berperingkat satu dunia; hanya saja ia berada dalam form yang sangat mendominasi di setengah tahun 2012 dan form ini nampak berlanjut ke tahun 2013 dimana ia menjuarai turnamen pemanasan di Brisbane, yang mana field-nya kuat (9 dari 10 pemain 10 besar bermain disana), dengan amat mudah. Tentu saja ia adalah yang difavoritkan untuk juara. Ia, tak lain dan tak bukan, adalah Serena Williams.
Walaupun begitu, tenis adalah sebuah olahraga permainan dan seorang pemain harus menang tujuh pertandingan sebelum mendapatkan piala juara tunggal. Apa saja bisa terjadi, apa saja. Dan sesuatu beneran terjadi. Di pertandingan babak pertamanya, Serena mencederai pergelangan kaki kanannya, dengan amat parah. Tetapi ia masih memenangi pertandingan ini, dengan amat meyakinkan malah, dengan skor 6–0, 6–0. Ia nampak baik-baik saja dengan bermain secara meyakinkan sehingga ia mencapai perempat-final. Hanya saja, disana, sebuah cedera lain mulai menampakkan dirinya: cedera punggung bawah. Ia kalah di perempat-final melalui pertandingan tiga set.
Sementara itu, di sisi lain undiannya, unggulan kedua, Maria Sharapova, juga bermain dengan impresif. Ia mencapai semifinal hanya dengan kehilangan sembilan game saja! Jadi, dengan kalahnya Serena, titel-nya otomatis “diberikan” kepadanya. Tapi sekali lagi, ini adalah tenis. Sharapova harus menang dua pertandingan lagi kalau ia mau mendapatkan titel itu. Dan ia gagal. Unggulan keenam, Li Na dari China, bermain impresif dengan menghancurkan Sharapova 6–2, 6–2 di semifinal.
Sang juara bertahan dan peringkat satu dunia, Victoria Azarenka, harus menjalani jalan yang lebih berbatu. Walaupun begitu, ia berhasil melalui semuanya dan mencapai final. Finalnya adalah final yang dramatis lagi. Li Na memenangi set pertama 6–4 sebelum mencederai pergelangan kaki kirinya di tengah set kedua. Azarenka memenangi set kedua 6–4. Di set ketiga, Li Na, lagi-lagi, mencederai pergelangan kaki kirinya yang sama dan jatuh, dan kepalanya menghantam permukaan lapangan. Waktu nonton itu, reaksiku “Gila, apa-apaan sih ini“. Aneh banget! Azarenka memenangi set ketiga 6–3 dan memenangi gelar grandslam keduanya.
Dengan begitu, Azarenka mempertahankan peringkat 1 dunianya (andaikata ia kalah, Serena Williams akan menggantikannya sebagai nomor 1). Serena naik ke nomor 2 dan Sharapova turun ke nomor 3.
Anyway, selamat untuk Victoria Azarenka! Kamu benar-benar berhak mendapatkannya!
Tunggal Putra
Satu berita utama sebelum turnamen dimulai adalah mundurnya Rafael Nadal. Jadi, ini adalah grandslam kedua dimana ia absen karena cedera berkepanjangan. Walaupun begitu, pemain empat besar lainnya masihlah favoritnya untuk juara, dengan peringkat 1 dunia, Novak Djokovic, sebagai juara bertahan.
Djokovic berhasil masuk ke final, setelah melewati pertandingan epik di babak keempat melawan Stanislas Wawrinka. Ia memenangi pertandingan semifinalnya melawan unggulan keempat, David Ferrer, dengan mudah. Di sisi lain undian, unggulan kedua dan ketiga, Roger Federer dan Andy Murray, terus melaju dan saling berhadapan di semifinal. Masuk ke pertandingan ini, rekornya Murray melawan Federer adalah 10–9 tetapi 0–5 di grand slam. Kali ini adalah waktunya Murray. Ia menang dari Federer dalam lima set dan mencapai final Australian Open ketiganya.
Di final, Andy Murray membuat gebrakan pertama, memenangi set pertama 7–6(2) walaupun tidak mendapat kesempatan untuk mematahkan servis Djokovic di sepanjang set (sementara Djokovic memiliki beberapa kesempatan). Pertandingan berlangsung imbang di set kedua sehingga tiebreak harus dimainkan lagi. Kali ini, Murray agak kurang beruntung ketika sedang akan servis di posisi 2–3 di tiebreak ketika satu bulu burung jatuh dan mengganggu konsentrasinya. Ia melakukan double-fault di poin ini dan karena itu, nampaknya, momentum beralih ke sisi Djokovic setelahnya, dan sepanjang sisa pertandingan. Djokovic memenangi tiebreak itu 7–3, dan dua set selanjutnya 6–3, 6–2. Ia memenangi gelar Australian Open keempatnya, dan yang ketiga berturutan. Dengan begitu, ia menjadi petenis putra pertama di Era Terbuka yang memenangi tiga Australian Open berturutan.
Selamat Novak Djokovic!!
Grandslam yang Ramah Fans
Seperti tahun lalu, yang aku suka dari grandslam ini adalah interaksi mereka dengan fans. Game Pick Em yang sama yang diperkenalkan tahun lalu diadakan lagi tahun ini untuk kedua kalinya. Bahkan, game-nya dikembangkan tidak hanya mencakup Australian Open-nya saja lho, tetapi juga tiga turnamen pemanasan ke Australian Open ini: Brisbane (putra dan putri), Sydney (putra dan putri), dan Hobart (putri).
Tahun lalu, aku menyelesaikan game ini berperingkat 164 (dari 4808 peserta). Jadi, wajar dong kalau targetku tahun ini adalah selesai dengan masuk ke peringkat 100 besar, huahaha . Ada 3207 peserta tahun ini. Aku berada dalam posisi yang baik sebenarnya ketika masuk ke final. Kalau nggak salah aku berada dalam posisi 50 besar deh. Tapi kemudian aku sial di final dimana aku membuat beberapa prediksi yang salah, sehingga posisiku turun deh, hahaha . Akhirnya, aku beraada di peringkat 65 secara keseluruhan. Lumayan lah ya.
Previously on Southern France and Austria Trip: Zilko went on a trip to southern France and Austria with his parents who were visiting him this October. After spending five nights in France and two nights in Vienna, they were now in the city of Salzburg, Austria.
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Day 9 (Saturday, 27 October 2012)
After buying the very useful (and recommended ) 24 hour Salzburg Card at our hotel’s reception, we started the day with making our way to our first destination: Schloss Hellbrunn. As I mentioned during my previous visit there, the Schloss was located at the outskirt of the city; and so it took some time to get there.
Anyway, we arrived at the Schloss at around 10:25. It was already fall and so the tour to the watergames part of the Schloss did not start for every 15 minutes, but every 1 hour instead, and the next tour would start at 11:00. To kill some time, we walked around around the Schloss first. My parents were big fans of the Sound of Music, so our destination in the Schloss would be the “16 Going On 17″ pavilion from the film which was stored there.
After taking some pictures around the pavilion, we went back to the gate where the tour would start. At 11:00 sharp, the watergames park tour started. Well, I already took the tour last year so I already knew what was going on and pretty much where the “traps” were, huahaha . But overall, because it was already fall (so it was much colder than my previous visit, which was in the middle of summer), the guide also took it more easily and didn’t just activate the “traps” (water sprays) to the visitors. He even warned us before he turned some of them on, hahaha .
At the end of the tour, they also sold pictures of us which they took when we were entering the watergames area. As always, I was good-looking in my picture (huahaha ). But they sold it for freaking €7! Well, if it was €3 or less, I would have bought it; but €7 was definitely too much for one piece of photograph!
Anyway, after the tour, we visited the small palace and then walked back to the bus stop to get back to the city center. At the city center, we visited Mozart Geburtshaus (Mozart’s Birthplace House), the building where the world-famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756. Then, we had lunch at a nice classic restaurant also in the city center. Btw, at this restaurant, my mom ordered a soup which turned out to taste like bakso!
After lunch, our plan was to visit the Hohensalzburg Castle which was located on top of the hill. We took the funicular to get there (which was free because we had the Salzburg Card ). Up there, it was so windy btw! Well, it was not stronger than normal strong Dutch wind though, so not that I was too “surprised”; but nevertheless, it was still so strong! At the castle, we decided to join the castle tour, which I did not do during my previous visit to Salzburg. So yay! I still had a new thing to do! The tour was very nice, as the evolution (or development, but I kinda like the word “evolution” more ) of the castle was explained in details. There was also the “Torture Chamber” where a lot of medieval torture devices were stored, even though apparently they did not torture people in that chamber. We also got to one of the tops of the castle, which offered very nice view of Salzburg and its surrounding!
We took another route to go back “downtown”, as we planned to stop by at the Nonnberg Abbey, another setting of the Sound of Music. Unfortunately, when we got there, the church was closed because there was a mass liturgy or something that was being held there. So, we just continued walking down the hill, where at one point my dad recognized a cemetery which was used as the setting in the film as well. We crossed Salzach River to get to the famous Schloss Mirabell.
Feeling a bit tired, we planned to go back to the hotel. But then, we realized it was still 17:30 and the thought of going back to the hotel this early appeared to look like a “waste of time”. So, we went back to the city center, planning to take the free (free because of the Salzburg Card ) boat tour down the Salzach River. When we arrived, one tour just departed; so I asked the guy in the ticket booth about the next departure. And he was like: “Tomorrow” . At my previous trip to Salzburg, I was sure the tour ran until around 20:30 or something like that. But it was during the summer so maybe they had different timetables. But the point was: we missed the last tour of the day just by literally two minutes! Damn!
Okay, we were already there, so we decided to take one random bus whose destination was the “Salzachsee”, which should mean “Salzach Lake” in German. We arrived at the Salzachsee but it was already dusk and the lakes (yes, plural) were located in a small forest so it looked a little bit spooky, hahaha . Finding nothing interesting in particular, we took the next bus to get back to the city center. We had dinner at the same Chinese food restaurant as the day before, but of course we ordered different menu.
When we finished our dinner and left the restaurant, the weather forecast was correct, it was SNOWING!! Yay! My parents were very excited because it was their first encounter with a snowing weather! (Well, they already had seen snow before, during their previous stop to the Switzerland. But it was piled snow on top of a mountain, so not while it was really snowing where the snow fell from the sky). Then, we went back to our hotel.
Day 10 (Sunday, 28 October 2012)
We had to go to Innsbruck today, our last stop on this Southern France and Austria Trip. After looking at the train schedule, we decided to take the 10:02 train service; and so, we planned to check out at 9:15. As you may remember, today was the DST day which meant the time was reversed by one hour during the night; and my parents did not know this. In my mom’s watch, it was already 9:00 while in my smartphone’s clock, it was 8:00. So she was already packing and stuffs while I was just chillin’ and writing down that post for my blog (link above), huahaha . I remember thinking: “Why is mom so rushing and packing already?” while my mom was, apparently, thinking: “Why is Zilko still chillin’? It is almost 9:15!!“, huahaha . When my mom eventually told me it was time to check out (she thought it was 9:15 already while it was actually still 8:15), I told her it was still 8:15 so why in a hurry? Then she insisted it was 9:15 and showed me her watch. And then I remembered it was the DST day!! So I explained to her about it and everything was cleared up, hahaha.
Anyway, it was, apparently, snowing all night long. So as you can see in that post I published on this day, it was all white!! It turned out that snow fell in a much larger area in Austria, as during our train journey to Innsbruck, it was also almost all white! So beautiful!! Btw, this was pretty much our route from Salzburg to Innsbruck (we took direct train to Innsbruck). Yes, part of the journey was actually in Germany!
We arrived at Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof at around 11:55. We took bus line M to get to our hotel in the Altstadt (Old Town); and after checking-in, we had lunch at the same restaurant as I did (for dinner) on the first day of my previous visit to Innsbruck. I ordered rump steak while my dad ordered the Tirolean Kedgeree.
Btw, if two days prior my dad was not feeling well, this time, it was my mom’s turn (Ah, why did anyone have to get sick during a trip? ). So after lunch, she went back to the hotel to get some rest while my dad and I decided to walk around a little bit. Well, actually, during their tour prior to meeting me in the Netherlands, my parents already visited the Altstadt of Innsbruck though so basically there was not so much left to see for them. So we also went back to our hotel a bit early.
What did we do in the hotel? Well, after a short nap, I watched the final of the WTA Tour Championships (the year-ending championships for the 2012 top women tennis players) between Serena Williams, the third seed, and Maria Sharapova, the second seed . Serena Williams won the match handily, with a scoreline of 6–4, 6–3 for her seventh singles title of the season.
After the match, my dad and I decided to have dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby.
Next on Southern France and Austria Trip:
- More of Innsbruck
- A one day trip to get back to the Netherlands
Back to Schloss Hellbrunn
16 Going on 17 Pavilion in Schloss Hellbrunn
Back to this wonderful Watergames Park in Schloss Hellbrunn
The trap, this guy already knew the trick, I think
Built in 1750, this water-operated mechanical music theatre still worked perfectly!
One of the traps
The city of Salzburg and the Hohensalzburg Castle
The City of Salzburg from Hohensalzburg Castle
On top of the Hohensalzburg Castle
Back to Schloss Mirabell
Is it just me or that these trees do look so awkward??
Snowing in Salzburg!!
Salzburg Hbf
Snowing in Salzburg
Also snowing in Austria!!
The Golden Roof in Innsbruck
So Sultan HB X was once in Innsbruck
Sill River in Innsbruck
Maria-Theresien Square in Innsbruck
So the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once stayed in our hotel also, about 243 years ago
The stairs in my hotel
BAHASA INDONESIA
Sebelumnya dalam Southern France and Austria Trip: Zilko berjalan-jalan ke Prancis selatan dan Austria bersama orangtuanya ketika mereka sedang mengunjunginya di bulan Oktober. Setelah lima malam di Prancis dan dua malam di Vienna, kini mereka berada di kota Salzburg, Austria.
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Hari 9 (Sabtu, 27 Oktober 2012)
Setelah membeli Salzburg Card 24 jam yang sangat berguna itu (dan amat disarankan loh ), kami memulai acara kami hari ini dengan pergi ke tujuan pertama kami: Schloss Hellbrunn. Seperti yang kusebutkan di kunjunganku sebelumnya kesana, Schloss-nya terletak agak di luar kota; sehingga membutuhkan waktu untuk mencapainya.
Anyway, tibalah kami di Schloss-nya sekitar jam 10:25. Karena sudah masuk musim gugur, tur ke bagian watergames dari Schloss-nya tidak dimulai setiap lima belas menit sekali, tetapi setiap sejam sekali dan tur selanjutnya baru akan dimulai jam 11:00. Untuk menghabiskan waktu, kami berjalan berkeliling Schloss-nya dulu deh. Orangtuaku kan ngefans banget sama film Sound of Musictuh, jadilah tujuan pertama kami di Schloss-nya ya Paviliun “16 Going On 17″ dari film ini yang memang disimpan disana.
Setelah berfoto-foto di paviliunnya, kami kembali ke gerbang masuk dimana turnya akan dimulai. Jam 11:00 tepat, turnya dimulai juga. Yah, aku sudah pernah ikutan turnya tahun lalu ya jadi aku sudah tahu tentang lokasinya dan dimana “jebakan-jebakan”-nya berada, huahaha . Tapi secara keseluruhan sih, karena sudah musim gugur (jadi kan udah lebih dingin dibandingkan kunjunganku sebelumnya, yang mana kulakukan di tengah-tengahnya musim panas), pemandunya juga lebih santai dan nggak terlalu tega menyalakan “jebakan”-nya (semprotan ait) ke pengunjung-pengunjungnya. Malah beberapa kali dia memberi-tahu kami lho sebelum dia menyalakan jebakannya, hahaha .
Di akhir tur ini, mereka juga menjual foto-foto yang mereka ambil ketika kami memasuki area watergames-nya itu. Seperti biasa lah, fotoku tentu sangatlah tampan rupawan ya (huahaha ). Eh tapi kok harganya €7 selembar ya! Yah, andaikan harganya €3 atau kurang, oke aja deh aku beli; tapi €7 jelas kemahalan lah untuk selembar foto doang!
Anyway, setelah turnya, kami mengunjungi istana kecilnya dan kemudian kembali ke halte bus untuk kembali ke pusat kota. Di pusat kota, kami mengunjungi Mozart Geburtshaus (Rumah Tempat Kelahiran Mozart), sebuah bangunan dimana Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart yang amat terkenal itu dilahirkan di tahun 1756. Lalu, kami makan siang di sebuah restoran klasik yang oke di pusat kota. Btw, di restoran ini, mamaku memesan semangkok sup yang rasa kuahnya itu mirip bakso loh!
Setelah makan siang, rencana kami adalah mengunjungi Kastil Hohensalzburg yang berada di atas bukit. Tentu saja kami naik kesana dengan menaiki funicular (yang mana gratis loh karena kami memiliki Salzburg Card ). Di atas sana, cuacanya berangin banget! Nggak lebih kencang daripada tipikal angin kencangnya Belanda sih, jadi ya bukannya aku “kaget” banget; tapi tetep aja lah ya kencang! Di kastilnya, kami memutuskan untuk ikutan tur kastil, yang mana tidak aku ikuti di kunjunganku ke Salzburg yang sebelumnya. Jadi, yay! Ada sesuatu yang baru juga untuk dilakukan! Turnya oke juga lho, soalnya evolusi (sebenarnya perkembangan sih, tapi aku kok lebih suka kata “evolusi” ya ) dari kastilnya dijelaskan dengan amat lengkap. Ada juga “Ruangan Penyiksaan” dimana ada banyak alat-alat penyiksaan dari abad pertengahan disimpang disana, walaupun ternyata dulu ruangan ini tidak dipakai untuk menyiksa orang. Kami juga mencapai salah satu puncak kastilnya, yang mana memberika pemandangan yang oke banget akan Salzburg dan sekitarnya!
Kami mengambil rute lain untuk kembali turun ke kota, karena kami ingin mampir di Nonnberg Abbey, salah satu lokasinya Sound of Music juga. Sialnya, ketika kami tiba disana, gerejanya sedang ditutup karena sedang ada misa atau acara apa gitu di dalamnya. Jadilah kami terus turun menuruni bukit, dan di satu titik papaku menyadari sebuah kuburan yang juga digunakan di filmnya juga. Kemudian, kami menyebrangi Sungai Salzach dan pergi ke Schloss Mirabell yang terkenal itu.
Merasa cukup lelah, kami berencana untuk kembali ke hotel. Namun kemudian, kami menyadari bahwa waktu masih menunjukkan jam 17:30 dan rencana untuk kembali ke hotel seawal ini kok nampak seperti “buang-buang waktu” ya. Jadilah kami kembali ke pusat kota lagi, berencana untuk naik tur kapal gratisan (gratis karena Salzburg Card ) di Sungai Salzach. Ketika kami tiba di dermaganya, sebuah tur baru saja berangkat; jadilah aku bertanya ke petugas di loketnya mengenai jadwal keberangkatan selanjutnya. Dan dia menjawab: “Besok” . Nah, di kunjunganku ke Salzburg yang lalu, aku yakin kok kalau turnya masih ada sampai jam 20:30 juga atau sekitar itu lah. Tapi waktu itu pas musim panas sih jadi mungkin mereka juga memiliki jadwal yang berbeda. Nah, intinya adalah: kami ketinggalan tur terakhir hari itu hanya karena datang kesiangan dua menit saja! Sial!
Oke deh, kami sudah terlanjur disana, jadi kami memutuskan naik sebuah bus secara acak yang tujuannya adalah “Salzachsee”, yang seharusnya berarti “Danau Salzach” dalam bahasa Jerman. Kami tiba di Salzachsee tetapi hari sudah senja dan danau-danaunya (ya, jamak) berada di dalam hutan kecil jadi ya kesannya agak serem juga, hahaha . Karena nggak ada yang menarik, kami naik bus selanjutnya untuk kembali ke pusat kota. Kami makan malam di restoran Chinese food yang sama seperti semalam sebelumnya, tetapi tentu saja kami memesan menu yang berbeda.
Ketika kami sudah selesai makan dan mau pulang, ramalan cuacanya benar dong, BERSALJU!! Yay! Orangtuaku bersemangat sekali karena kali itu adalah pertama kalinya mereka merasakan cuaca yang bersalju! (Yah, mereka sudah pernah lihat salju sih, ketika mereka mampir di Swiss. Tapi itu kan hanya tumpukan salju di gunung saja, jadi bukan pas sedang bersalju, yaitu ketika sedang hujan salju dimana saljunya jatuh dari langit). Lalu, kami kembali ke hotel.
Hari 10 (Minggu, 28 Oktober 2012)
Kami harus pergi ke Innsbruck hari ini, perhentian terakhir dari perjalanan ke Prancis selatan dan Austria ini. Setelah melihat jadwal kereta, kami memutuskan untuk naik kereta yang jam 10:02; dan jadilah kami berencana check-out jam 9:15. Seperti yang mungkin pada ingat, hari ini adalah hari DST jadi jamnya mundur satu jam gitu semalamnya; dan orangtuaku nggak tahu ini. Jadi di jamnya mamaku, jam menunjukkan pukul 9:00 sementara di jam smartphone-ku masih jam 8:00. Jadi ya mamaku sibuk packing dan lain-lain sementara akunya santai-santai aja dan menulis posting itu untuk blogku ini (link di atas), huahaha . Aku ingat banget aku berpikir: “Ini mama kenapa buru-buru banget sih kok sudah packing segala?” sementara mamaku, ternyata, berpikir: “Ini Zilko kenapa kok masih santai-santai sih? Udah hampir jam 9:15 kan!!“, huahaha . Ketika akhirnya mamaku menegurku bahwa ini sudah saatnya berangkat (ia kira sudah jam 9:15 padahal sebenarnya masih jam 8:15), aku bilang bahwa saat itu kan masih jam 8:15 jadi kok buru-buru amat? Lalu ia bersikeras bahwa saat itu sudah jam 9:15 dan menunjukkanku jam tangannya. Lalu aku ingat deh kalau hari itu adalah hari DST!! Jadilah aku jelaskan dan semuanya jelas deh, hahaha.
Anyway, ternyata saljunya itu turun semalaman lho. Jadi seperti yang bisa dilihat di posting yang ku-posting hari itu, semuanya nampak putih!! Dan ternyata saljunya turun di area yang cukup luas juga di Austria, karena sepanjang perjalanan ke Innsbruck, pemandangannya juga putih-putih! Indah banget!! Btw, beginilah kurang lebih rute perjalanan kami dari Salzburg menuju Innsbruck (kami menaiki kereta langsung sih menuju Innsbruck). Dan ya, sebagian dari rutenya memang melewati Jerman!
Kami tiba di Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof sekitar jam 11:55. Kami naik bus jalur M menuju hotel kami di area Altstadt (Kota Tua); dan setelah check-in, kami makan siang di restoran yang sama seperti yang pernah kukunjungi (untuk makan malam) di kunjunganku ke Innsbruck sebelumnya. Aku memesan rump steak sementara papaku memesan Tirolean Kedgeree.
Btw, jika dua hari sebelumnya papaku lah yang sakit, kali ini gilirannya mamaku dong (Duh, kenapa sih ini kok harus ada yang sakit segala pas jalan-jalan? ). Jadilah setelah makan siang, mamaku kembali ke hotel untuk beristirahat dan papaku dan aku memutuskan untuk berkeliling sedikit. Yah, sebenarnya sebelum bertemu denganku di Belanda, mereka sudah mengunjungi Altstadt-nya Innsbruck sih jadi pada dasarnya nggak banyak yang belum mereka lihat disana. Jadilah kami kembali ke hotel agak awal.
Apa yang kami lakukan di hotel? Ya, setelah tidur siang sebentar, aku menonton finalnya WTA Tour Championships (turnamen tutup tahun untuk pemain tenis top wanita tahun 2012) antara Serena Williams, unggulan ketiga, dan Maria Sharapova, unggulan kedua . Serena Williams menang dengan mudah, dengan skor 6–4, 6–3 untuk gelar tunggal ketujuhnya musim ini.
Setelah pertandingan itu, aku dan papaku makan malam di sebuah restoran Thailand di dekat sana.
Today, the tennis event at the 2012 Summer Olympics Games in London was concluded. And because Olympics is such a special event, not only because it is held only once every four years; but in tennis, if a tennis player has won titles from the four grandslams AND the Olympics, they are said to have accomplished the “Golden Slam”. Because of this, I would like to write a special post for this event, hehehe .
Anyway, prior to this Olympics, only three players in the history of tennis have won Golden Slam in singles: Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, and Rafael Nadal; two teams in doubles: Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde and Venus Williams/Serena Williams. In this edition of the Olympics, three singles players competing in this year’s Olympics are bidding for that title: Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova; and one doubles team: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan. Interestingly enough, ALL of them advanced to the final of their respective events!
Btw, just as Wimbledon last month, I did not make any prediction prior to this event. And AGAIN, it was proven to be a good jinx because not only my favorite players performed well in the competition, they WON!! So, maybe I should never again make any prediction prior to the start of any tournament, huahaha .
The Golden Slam
As I said above, one of the highlight of this Olympics that stayed last until the very end was the topic of the Golden Slam. All three “Golden Slam” chasers in singles and one team in doubles made it to the final.
Serena Williams
The first ones to take the stage were the two ladies, Serena Wiliams and Maria Sharapova who advanced to the final of the women’s singles event. Coming to the final, Serena Williams was the huge favorite because she had been performing incredibly well in the tournament, losing just 16 games in five matches to get there, including outclassing the world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. Combining this factor with the stat that she lost her last seven matches against Serena, and also that this was the same grass court where Serena just triumphed in Wimbledon Championships four weeks prior, a few would have picked Sharapova to win the match. However, very few would have expected the final to be very lopsided where Sharapova only managed to win one game. Serena Williams played an incredibly confident tennis (this is Sharapova’s words) in the final, winning 6-0, 6-1! Thus, Serena Williams only lost a total of 17 games in the entire tournament, which translated to a loss of just less than three games in average per match!! That is stunning stat!!
With the victory, Serena Williams won a gold medal, and earned the “Career Golden Slam” title in singles. She became just the second woman to do so, after Steffi Graf. However, one more fact that is, sometimes, forgotten is that Serena Williams has also achieved the “Golden Slam” in doubles, twice. Yes, she has won all grandslam titles and Olympics gold medal in singles and doubles!! With this, she is the only tennis player, male or female, in the history of tennis, that has achieved such a feat!! Yes, she has had, indeed, a very incredible career!!
Bob and Mike Bryan
The second one who took the stage was Bob and Mike Bryan, or the Bryan twins. The legendary pair had not won an Olympics gold medal before, even though they won bronze in Beijing in 2008. In London this time, they tried to step it up two notches. Their opponent in the final was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Michaël Llodra from France. Llodra was quite a doubles-specialist, ranked 6th in the doubles ranking, while Tsonga was a more singles specialist; so it was indeed a good chance for the Bryans because their opponent did not play together that much on a more regular basis. And indeed, the Bryans took advantage of this by winning the gold medal match 6-4, 7-6(2). It turned out to not be an easy match, still, by no means, but the Bryans still got the gold.
Roger Federer
It was a repeat of the Wimbledon final. Roger Federer was taking on local hope, Andy Murray. Unlike the previous rounds in the Olympics, the final would be a best of five sets match, just like Wimbledon’s final. Bouncing well from the Wimbledon loss, however, Andy Murray played incredible tennis while Federer’s level was not as good as during Wimbledon’s final, while it was still not bad either actually. Andy Murray won in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to win the gold medal!! He denied Roger Federer the Career Golden Slam title!! It was such an impressive performance by Murray!!
And for me, as Murray’s fan, I do hope that this incredible experience will boost his performance in the grandslam finals to come. It was a perfect experience for him because the match was on Centre Court of Wimbledon in a best of five sets match! It was just like a grandslam final! And he could win that match, against the Roger Federer!! Yes, Andy Murray has it in him, he just needs to unleash it in the next grandslam final to finally win at least one title!!
My Thought of the Olympics
The singles competition in the Olympics is recognized by the ATP and WTA, the two governing bodies that run the men’s and women’s tennis tour respectively; which means that the results from the Olympics count toward the ATP and WTA world rankings. The ATP puts the Olympics in the middle between the ATP Masters 1000, which rewards 1000 point to the titlist, and ATP World Tour 500, which rewards 500 point to the titlist; while the WTA puts it between WTA Premier 5, which rewards 900 point to the titlist, and WTA Premier, which rewards 470 point to the titlist. Therefore, Andy Murray earns 750 point and Serena Williams earns 685 point for winning gold in singles.
Well, as much as I understand the ATP’s and WTA’s decision to categorize this Olympics event to where they are now (perhaps so that their “main” events are still more prestigious, at least ranking-point-wise, than the Olympics, which is held by the ITF (grandslams are held by the ITF as well btw)); I do think the event itself deserves more “recognition” than that, ranking-point-wise. The players field in the event was wonderfully very strong while the “smaller” draw than grandslam put some very interesting match-up already in the earlier rounds; and millions of people around the world had their eyes on the event (just because it was the Olympics). In my opinion, if the points rewarded should not be as much as ATP 1000 or WTA Premier 5, it should be, at least, leaning towards them rather than sitting in the middle between them and ATP 500 or WTA Premier, respectively. So, instead of giving 1:1 weight, 2:1 or 3:1 might be better, again, in my opinion. Ah, but well, it is their decision anyway. I am just a fan who wants to let out some ideas I have in my mind, hahaha
***
So anyway, the bottom line is. Congratulations to all the medalists of this event!! In the other two events, Venus and Serena Williams played impressive doubles matches to win their third gold medal in women’s doubles together; and Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi from Belarus won the gold medal in mixed doubles.
Serena Williams completed the Career Golden Slam in singles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe
Bob and Mike Bryan completed Career Golden Slam in doubles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer to win gold in men’s singles event. Photo credit: Luis Acosta/AFP/GettyImages
Serena and Venus Williams won their third gold medal together. Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images Europe
BAHASA INDONESIA
Hari ini, event tenis di Olimpiade Musim Panas di London telah berakhir. Dan karena Olimpiade itu adalah sebuah acara yang amat spesial, bukan hanya karena diadakan satu kali setiap empat tahun saja; tetapi di tenis, jika seorang pemain tenis telah memenangi seluruh empat gelar grandslam DAN Olimpiade, ia dikatakan telah meraih apa yang disebut “Golden Slam”. Oleh karenanya, aku ingin menulis sebuah posting khusus tentang event ini, hehehe .
Anyway, sebelum Olimpiade kali ini, hanya tiga pemain di sejarah tenis yang telah mendapatkan Golden Slam di sektor tunggal: Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, dan Rafael Nadal; dan dua tim di sektor ganda: Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde dan Venus Williams/Serena Williams. Nah, di edisi Olimpiade kali ini, tiga pemain yang berkompetisi di sektor tunggal berkesempatan memasuki jajaran elit tersebut pula: Roger Federer, Serena Williams, dan Maria Sharapova; dan ada satu tim ganda yang juga mengejar gelar yang sama: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan. Yang menarik, KESEMUANYA berhasil lolos ke final di event-nya masing-masing loh!
Btw, seperti Wimbledon bulan lalu, aku tidak membuat prediksi apa pun kan sebelum turnamen ini dimulai. Dan LAGI-LAGI, ternyata ini adalah sebuah keputusan yang bagus karena nggak hanya pemain favoritku tampil baik di turnamen ini, mereka MENANG!! Jadi, kayaknya memang sebaiknya aku tidak usah lagi deh ya membuat prediksi-prediksian gitu di turnamen-turnamen yang selanjutnya, huahaha .
Golden Slam
Seperti yang kubilang di atas, satu fokus dari Olimpiade kali ini yang bertahan hingga akhir adalah topik Golden Slam. Kesemua pengejar gelar “Golden Slam” di tunggal dan ganda berhasil lolos ke final.
Serena Williams
Yang pertama-tama naik ke panggung final adalah kedua petenis putri, Serena Williams dan Maria Sharapova yang lolos ke final tunggal putri. Masuk ke final, Serena Williams adalah yang lebih difavoritkan karena performa briliannya sepanjang turnamen ini, yang mana ia hanya kehilangan 16 games dari lima pertandingan yang ia mainkan untuk lolos ke final, termasuk menghancurkan pemain peringkat 1 dunia, Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-2 di semifinal. Menggabungkan ini dengan statistik bahwa ia selalu kalah dari Serena di tujuh pertandingan terakhir, dan lagi final diadakan di lapangan rumput yang sama dimana Serena baru saja menjuarai Kejuaraan Wimbledon empat minggu sebelumnya, hanya sedikit saja yang mungkin memfavoritkan Sharapova untuk menang. Walaupun begitu, aku rasa hanya sedikit saja yang menduga finalnya akan sangatlah berat sebelah dimana Sharapova hanya berhasil memenangi satu game saja. Serena Williams memainkan tenis yang sangat amat menakjubkan di final, dan menang telak 6-0, 6-1! Oleh karenanya, Serena Williams hanya kehilangan total 17 games sepanjang turnamen ini, yang artinyarata-rata ia hanya kehilangan kurang dari tiga games per pertandingan!! Ini adalah statistik yang sungguh mengagumkan!!
Dengan kemenangan ini, Serena Williams memenangi medali emas, dan mendapatkan gelar “Career Golden Slam” di sisi tunggal. Ia menjadi wanita kedua saja yang berhasil mraih gelar ini, setelah Steffi Graf. Namun, satu fakta lagi yang, kadang kala, terkesampingkan adalah Serena Williams telah meraih “Golden Slam” di sektor ganda juga loh, dua kali malahan. Ya, ia telah memenangi kesemua gelar grandslam dan juga medali emas Olimpiade di sektor tunggal dan ganda!! Dan dengan ini, ia adalah satu-satunya petenis, baik putra maupun putri, yang telah meraih raihan ini!! Ya, memang ia memiliki sebuah karir yang sangat fenomenal!!
Bob dan Mike Bryan
Yang kedua yang naik ke arena final adalah Bob dan Mike Bryan, alias si kembar Bryan. Pasangan ganda legendaris ini belum pernah memenangi medali emas Olimpiade sebelumnya, walaupun mereka berhasil meraih perunggu di Beijing di tahun 2008 sih. Di London kali ini, mereka mencoba meningkatkan prestasi itu dua tingkat. Lawan mereka di final adalah Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Michaël Llodra dari Prancis. Llodra adalah pemain spesialis ganda yang berperingkat 6 dunia di sektor ganda, sementara Tsonga merupakan pemain yang lebih spesialis ke sektor tunggal; jadi memang inilah kesempatan baik bagi si kembar Bryan karena lawannya tidaklah sering bermain bersama. Dan memang, si kembar Bryan memanfaatkan ini dan memenangi medali emas dengan skor 6-4, 7-6(2). Finalnya ternyata bukanlah final yang mudah ya, tapi toh si kembar Bryan tetap berhasil memenangi emas.
Roger Federer
Ini adalah ulangan final Wimbledon. Roger Federer akan melawan pemain tuan rumah, Andy Murray. Tidak seperti babak-babak sebelumnya di Olimpiade, finalnya ini adalah pertandingan best of five sets, seperti finalnya Wimbledon. Namun, seperti telah [ulih dengan baik semenjak kekalahannya di final Wimbledon, Andy Murray bermain dengan amat baik sementara levelnya Federer tidak sebaik levelnya ketika ia berada di final Wimbledon, walaupun ia juga tidaklah bermain buruk. Andy Murray menang dalam straight sets langsung 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 dan memenangi medali emas!! Ia menggagalkan harapan Roger Federer untuk mendapatkan gelar Career Golden Slam itu!! Benar-benar sebuah performa yang brilian dari Murray!!
Dan untukku, sebagai fans-nya Murray, aku sangat berharap final ini akan menjadi pengalaman amat berharga yang akan meningkatkan performanya di final-final grandslam selanjutnya. Ini adalah pengalaman yang sempurna baginya karena pertandingan ini diadakan di Centre Court-nya Wimbledon, di pertandingan best of five sets! Auranya mirip sekali dengan final sebuah grandslam! Dan ia berhasil memenanginya, melawan sang Roger Federer!! Ya, Andy Murray memang memilikinya di dalam dirinya, ia hanya perlu mengeluarkannya di final-final grandslam selanjutnya untuk memenangi setidaknya satu gelar!!
Pendapatku akan Olimpiade
Kompetisi tunggal di Olimpiade diakui oleh ATP dan WTA, dua badan yang menjalankan tur putra dan tur putri; yang mana artinya hasil dari Olimpiade bakal ikut dalam perhitungan peringkat pemain di ATP dan WTA. ATP mengategorikan Olimpiade di tengah-tengah di antara ATP Masters 1000, yang memberikan 1000 poin ke si juara, dan ATP World Tour 500, yang memberikan 500 poin untuk juara; sementara WTA mengategorikannya berada di tengah-tengah di antara WTA Premier 5, yang memberikan 900 poin untuk juara, dan WTA Premier, yang memberikan 470 poin untuk juara. Artinya, Andy Murray mendapatkan 750 poin dan Serena Williams mendapatkan 685 poin dengan kemenangan medali emas yang mereka peroleh.
Yah, walaupun aku mengerti latar belakang keputusannya ATP dan WTA ini untuk mengategorikan Olimpiade seperti sekarang ini (mungkin supaya event “utama”-nya mereka itu tetap lebih prestigius, setidaknya dari segi pemberian poin, daripada Olimpiade, yang diadakan oleh ITF (grandslam juga diadakan oleh ITF btw)); aku merasa event Olimpiade ini sendiri berhak mendapatkan “pengakuan” lebih dari ini deh, dari segi poin yang diberikan. Daftar pemain yang berpartisipasi di Olimpiade ini sungguhlah bagus sekali sementara undian yang lebih “kecil” daripada grandslam memungkinkan pertemuan yang menarik antara beberapa pemain terjadi di babak-babak awal turnamen; dan juga toh jutaan mata menonton acara ini di seluruh dunia (ini kan Olimpiade gitu ya). Jadi, menurutku sih, kalau pun banyaknya poin yang diberikan tidak bisa sebanyak ATP 1000 atau WTA Premier 5, seharusnya sih, setidaknya, poinnya berada agak lebih dekat ke kedua kategori ini deh dan bukannya berada tepat di tengah-tengah antara keduanya dan ATP 500 dan WTA Premier. Jadi, bukan bobot 1:1 yang diberikan, mungkin 2:1 atau 3:1 lebih pantas deh, menurutku sih ya. Ah, tapi ini toh keputusan mereka. Aku kan hanya fans saja yang ingin mengeluarkan unek-unek di kepala ini, hahaha
***
Jadi, akhirnya, intinya adalah: Selamat buat para peraih medali dari Olimpiade kali ini!! Di dua event lainnya, Venus dan Serena Williams bermain ganda putri dengan amat menakjubkan dan berhasil meraih emas untuk sektor ini; dan Victoria Azarenka dan Max Mirnyi dari Belarusia berhasil meraih emas untuk sektor ganda campuran.
Previously on 2012 London Summer Trip: Zilko went to London to do sightseeing and to watch the Wimbledon Championships. He spent his entire second day there in the Championships. Now, he was ready for some London…
*** Day 3 (Wednesday, 27 June 2012)
Obviously I was so exhausted after spending the entire day in Wimbledon the day before. I got up at 7 AM and did not plan to go to Wimbledon today. So, after having the complimentary breakfast at the hostel, I decided to go to probably the most touristic place in London: the Westminster area.
I took the tube (subway) and got off at Westminster station. When I exited the tube station, I saw the Clock Tower (or is now officially known as The Elizabeth Tower), the tower where the famous Big Ben was located!! It was another surreal experience!! Just as expected, it was such a big and beautiful tower! I walked to the Westminster Bridge to get the classic scene where I could see The Elizabeth Tower and the House of Parliament. And of course, I must take some pictures!! hahaha
The other side of Westminster Bridge also offered another spectacular view. It was the famous London Eye, a giant Ferris wheel, just by the side of the Thames River. The London Eye wasn’t open yet as it was still early in the morning. But at the time, I wasn’t that interested to get on one of the capsules anyway as I already got on the Singapore Flyer about three years ago. I thought it would just be the same. But now that I think about it, it would not be the same because this was the London Eye, in London! So at least the view would have been completely different!! hahaha .
Then, I walked towards the famous Westminster Abbey. It turned out that we had to pay to enter the church; and in my opinion, it was quite expensive. For an adult, it was £16. Even for student, it was still expensive at £13 each!! Well, at the time it wasn’t open yet anyway so I did not enter the church, hahaha. After Westminster Abbey, I decided to walk to the Trafalgar Square. I decided to take a short break by sitting at the square. It was a nice place!
It was around 10.30 AM and somehow I started to feel quite hungry. My friend, Ken, told me that there should be a Jamie Oliver’s restaurant nearby Trafalgar Square. So I looked for it. But after circling the square twice, I did not find any! So I decided to go to a tourist information nearby and asked the lady with a computer about it (so she could google it, huahaha ). She found one, but it was not by the Trafalgar Square. It was in Covent Garden, still within walking distance from Trafalgar Square but it was not what I would call “nearby”, hahaha.
After some time of looking around, finally I found the place. However, it was still quite too early as the restaurant would not open until noon or so. So, I decided to just walk around and stopped at a Spanish deli to have my brunch there. After brunch, I continued my random walk around London. Btw, at one time, I saw a quite big crowd at one pathway and so I decided to take a look. Indeed, there was a celebrity there, and I knew who the celebrity was! It was Dara Ó Briain, a stand-up comedian who was also the host of The Apprentice: You’re Fired!!!
My next destination was the Buckingham Palace. I arrived at the palace but (of course) I could not enter it, hahaha . Finally, I also saw the guard in their world famous guard costume!! After Buckingham Palace, I took the tube to go to Baker Street. Does the name of this street sound familiar to you?? Well, well, well, yes, it was where Sherlock Holmes’ office was (it was real! ). I decided to pay a visit to the Sherlock Holmes Museum (for £6). It was a nice museum, but kinda small, in my opinion, hahaha.
Later on, I became even aimless as I just went randomly in London, hahaha . I went to the Natural History Museum and Science Museum, because they were free (I love you Natural History Museum and Science Museum!! ). And after a while, I decided to go back to my hostel and had my dinner there…
Day 4 (Thursday, 28 June 2012)
My plan for today was, again, Wimbledon Championships!! I did the same thing as I did in Day 2, except that I was like 15 minutes earlier (because somehow I got up earlier ) and was able to catch the first train from Waterloo Station at 5 AM. As I said in the previous part of this journey to London, walking from Wimbledon Station to the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) was not a smart thing to do. I got an idea this morning to take a bus ride instead from Wimbledon Station to AELTC. The first bus would leave the bus stop at the station at around 5.40 AM and it should arrive at the venue like five to seven minutes later.
I executed the idea, and it turned out to be a smart one. I was able to arrive at the Queue a bit earlier, and without feeling physically tired after all the 30 minutes-ish walk from Wimbledon station to AELTC! I was feeling fresh!! And also, the best part was that I was number 1288 in the Queue today, a 500-ish jump from my first visit!! Good!! Being the 1288th person in the Queue pretty much guaranteed (at least) a No.2 Court today. Well, the schedule in No.2 Court for today was not that interesting for me though, so I was also thinking about just buying the much cheaper groundpass for today.
Btw, to queue today, I decided to buy the picnic mat so that I could do this while queuing:
Lying on the grass to kill some time was really fun!!
huahaha . Lying down on the grass on a picnic mat to kill time with a paper while queuing was really nice!!
At around 8 AM, some honorary stewards showed up. They said that they still had two kind of wristbands for today: No.1 Court wristband and No.2 Court wristband!! I was so shocked as I knew Maria Sharapova would resume her suspended match the day before in No.1 Court!! And so I decided to get the No.1 Court wristband!! Wow!! This Wimbledon experience was just getting better and better and better!! After an unexpected No.2 Court ticket on my first visit, now I got a No.1 Court ticket!! Wow!! . And finally I got to watch Maria Sharapova’s match!! Justice was served (I got a ticket for Maria Sharapova’s match during my last visit to Roland Garros but the match was cancelled due to the longevity of Isner-Mathieu match)!!
Anyway, after like four hours of queuing, I arrived at the turnstile and entered the AELTC grounds again. I had my breakfast right away: a fish and chips. It was a really hot (and humid) day today. I felt like I was about to melt if I kept staying outside ( ), and so I decided to go into some shops around the grounds to chill. I also decided to pay a visit the AELTC Museum, a museum about the history (up to the present) of Wimbledon Championships.
To get in the museum, I had to pay an admission fee (so it was apparently not free even for Wimbledon spectators ); but it was really cool (and also literally; it was like a perfect oasis in the middle of a hot and humid day in London, hahaha ). It was definitely worth a visit!! The highlight was that I gotta take a closer look (and take some pictures of course ) of the champions’ trophies of the Championships. Really cool!!
While all matches outside of the Centre Court and No.1 Court started at 11.30 AM, the first matches at these two courts would start at 1 PM. So I had quite some time. But because it was really hot, after buying an ice cream, I decided to just go to my seat in No.1 Court. Finally, some minutes after 1 PM, both players, Maria Sharapova and Tsvetana Pironkova, entered the court. As I said earlier on, this would be a resumption of their suspended match the day before. Maria Sharapova was leading 7-6(3), 3-1 when the match was suspended due to darkness.
After warming up, the two ladies continued their match. And for me, finally I was able to witness first-hand Maria Sharapova’s “noisy” match, huahaha . To give you a little bit of how loud Maria Sharapova is during her match, here is a short video of the match point, which Sharapova won, of this second round encounter:
Yeah, she was that loud. Once, her grunt was recorded just as loud as a lion’s roar!!
Anyway, back to the match, Sharapova started quite slowly and she got broken in her first service game. Then, both players held their serves to force a tiebreak to be played in the second set. Sharapova, however, became the more tentative one in the tiebreak as she double-faulted three times, basically giving a very expensive present for Pironkova. Pironkova capitalized on this and took the second set 7-6(3)!! Sharapova, however, rebounded in the third set and was merciless to Pironkova as the world no.1 took the third set 6-0. So, Maria Sharapova defeated Tsvetana Pironkova 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-0.
The next match on No.1 Court was between a British wild card and world no. 173, James Ward, against the world no.12 and the 10th seed, Mardy Fish, from the USA. It turned out to not be as one-sided as some might predict as the world no. 173 gave it all in this match. Fish, however, was still able to take the first set 6-3. At this point, I was feeling really hungry. So, I decided to leave my seat and tried to get myself a lunch. I decided to buy a tomato and tuna pasta salad as my lunch (wow, I was living a healthy life, hahaha ).
After lunch, I decided to walk around the grounds. Then, if during my trip to Roland Garros last month I took some pictures of this player during her practice session, this time, I took a picture WITH her!!
With Ana Ivanovic!!
Yes, I was taking a picture with the one and only Ana Ivanovic!! Muahahaha . And as I said in Paris, she was much more gorgeous in real life than in pictures!!
By this time, Mardy Fish was leading 2 sets to 1 against James Ward in No.1 Court. I decided to go back there and watched the fourth set. At first, it seemed that Fish would win it handily, he even had a match point. But Ward was not about to give up. He kept fighting and forced a tiebreak to be played. In the tiebreak, he carried his momentum and took the fourth set, somehow!! The crowd went crazy when it happened!!
The fifth set should be interesting because of this but I decided to, again, leave my seat because I wanted to watch a match on one of the outer courts, the No.18 Court. The Williams sisters would play their first doubles match in competitive level since Wimbledon in 2010 there. I did not get a seat in No.18 Court but I got a spot at the terrace overlooking the court. I had to stand though, but I was more than okay with it . I was really happy because finally I got to see Venus Williams in a match!!
The Williamses were still not at their best form (especially Venus), but they were still too strong for their opponents as they quickly took the first set 6-0 and led 3-0 in the second. Their opponents, Vesna Dolonc and Olga Savchuk, finally got more grips on the match as they held their serves from hereon. But again, the Williamses also held their serves quite comfortably; and the sisters won 6-0, 6-3. It was a good start for the Williams team as eventually, they won the title!!
At this time, Mardy Fish won the fifth set. Even though Ward lost, he still got a lot of standing applause as he was able to show a really good fight against the tenth seed, despite being ranked 173rd in the world.
I was feeling tired, and so I decided to go back to my hostel…
Next on 2012 London Summer Trip:
- Eating at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant
- Greenwich
- More Wimbledon!!
The famous Clock Tower (or now known as The Elizabeth Tower) and Big Ben
London Eye by the River Thames
A very classic view of London!!
With Big Ben
The London Eye and Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Trafalgar Square in London
Finally I found it! :D
Dara Ó Briain, a stand-up comedian…
The Buckingham Palace
They are real!!
Sherlock Holmes Museum at Baker Street
I was more efficient that I was the 1288th person in the Queue on Day 4.
Scheduled matches at No.1 Court for me today…
The trophies for the ladies (top) and gentlemen (bottom) singles champion
In No.1 Court of Wimbledon
My ticket to Court No.1 today
Maria Sharapova arriving at the court
Maria Sharapova hitting a forehand
Maria Sharapova between points
Tsvetana Pironkova between serves
The first seed, Maria Sharapova, taking on Tsvetana Pironkova on Court No.1
Maria Sharapova serving
Maria Sharapova won the match 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-0
Mardy Fish, the tenth seed from the USA
World no. 173, James Ward, from Great Britain
Tomato and tuna pasta salad as lunch
Daniela Hantuchová during her doubles match with Dominika Cibulková
The Williams Sisters, Venus and Serena Williams, returned to doubles competition since 2010 Wimbledon
I gotta stand all the way but this was the view from the terrace
Venus Williams firing a serve.
The Williams sisters talking strategy between points
Venus Williams returning a first serve. Look at how close she was standing to the baseline!!
BAHASA INDONESIA
Sebelumnya dalam 2012 London Summer Trip: Zilko pergi ke London untuk berjalan-jalan dan menonton Kejuaraan Wimbledon. Ia telah menghabiskan hari kedua sepenuhnya di Kejuaraan itu. Kini, ia telah siap untuk melihat lebih banyak akan London…
*** Hari 3 (Rabu, 27 Juni 2012)
Tentu saja aku merasa amat lelah setelah seharian penuh di Wimbledon sehari sebelumnya. Aku bangun jam 7 pagi dan tidak berencana untuk pergi ke Wimbledon hari ini. Jadi, setelah makan pagi di hostel, aku memutuskan untuk pergi ke salah satu tempat yang mungkin paling turistik di London: area Westminster.
Aku menaiki tube (kereta bawah tanah) dan turun di stasiun Westminster. Nah, ketika aku keluar dari stasiunnya itu, Clock Tower (atau yang sekarang dikenal secara resmi dengan nama The Elizabeth Tower (Menara Elizabeth)), menara dimana Big Ben yang amat terkenal itu berada, berdiri dengan megah di depanku!! Rasanya benar-benar wow deh!! Dan seperti yang aku sangka, menaranya itu besar dan indah! Aku berjalan ke Jembatan Westminster untuk mendapatkan pandangan klasik dimana aku bisa melihat Menara Elizabeth dan House of Parliament di sebelahnya. Dan tentu saja, aku foto-foto dong!! hahaha
Sisi lain dari Jembatan Westminster juga menyajikan pemandangan yang spektakuler. Disana terdapat London Eye yang terkenal itu, sebuah Ferris wheel raksasa, yang berada di tepian Sungai Thames. Jam segini, London Eye-nya belum buka karena masih terlalu pagi. Ah, walaupun begitu, aku juga nggak terlalu tertarik kok untuk naik karena toh aku sudah pernah naik Singapore Flyer sekitar tiga tahun yang lalu. Waktu itu aku pikir rasanya bakal sama aja. Tapi sekarang setelah aku pikir-pikir lagi, rasanya jelas nggak akan sama lah ya karena ini adalah London Eye, di London! Jadi, jelas setidaknya pemandangannya akan berbeda sekali!! hahaha .
Kemudian, aku berjalan ke arah Westminster Abbey yang terkenal itu. Ternyata, untuk masuk gerejanya kita harus membayar dong; dan menurutku sih harga tiketnya mahal banget. Untuk orang dewasa, harganya per orang £16. Bahkan untuk pelajar aja harganya £13 per orang!! Yah, waktu itu kebetulan tempatnya juga belum buka sih jadi aku nggak masuk, hahaha. Setelah Westminster Abbey, aku memutuskan untuk berjalan ke Trafalgar Square. Aku memutuskan untuk beristirahat sejenak disana dengan duduk-duduk santai di square-nya. Tempatnya oke juga loh!
Waktu menunjukkan sekitar jam 10.30 pagi dan entah kenapa aku mulai merasa cukup lapar. Temanku, Ken, pernah bilang bahwa seharusnya ada restorannya Jamie Oliver gitu di dekatnya Trafalgar Square. Jadilah aku kemudian berkeliling mencarinya. Tapi setelah mengelilingi square-nya dua kali, restorannya nggak ketemu juga! Makanya aku memutuskan untuk pergi ke pusat informasi turis di dekat situ dan bertanya ke petugasnya yang memiliki komputer (jadi kan bisa di-google gitu, huahaha ). Ia menemukan satu restorannya, tetapi lokasinya tidak berada di Trafalgar Square. Lokasinya ada di Covent Garden, masih bisa dicapai dengan berjalan-kaki sih dari Trafalgar Square, tetapi jarak segitu sih nggak aku kategorikan sebagai “di dekatnya” deh, hahaha.
Setelah mencarinya selama beberapa waktu, akhirnya restorannya ketemu juga. Hanya saja, waktu itu masih terlalu awal karena restorannya baru akan buka jam 12 siang. Jadilah aku memutuskan untuk mencari tempat makan lain dan kemudian makan di sebuah kantin masakan Spanyol. Setelah makan, aku melanjutkan acara berputar-putarku yang acak di London. Btw, di satu waktu, aku melihat ada kerumuman orang di trotoar dan aku iseng melihat ada apa. Ternyata sedang beneran ada selebritis loh disana, dan aku tahu selebritisnya! Ia adalah Dara Ó Briain, seorang stand-up comedian yang jugalah pembawa acaranya The Apprentice: You’re Fired!!!
Tujuanku selanjutnya adalah Istana Buckingham. Aku tiba di istananya tetapi (tentu saja) nggak bisa masuk, hahaha . Akhirnya, aku juga melihat si penjaga istananya dengan kostumnya yang terkenal itu!! Setelah Istana Buckingham, aku naik tube untuk pergi ke Baker Street (Jalan Baker). Apakah nama jalan ini terdengar tidak asing?? Ya, ya, ya, di jalan inilah kantornya Sherlock Holmes berada (ternyata beneran ada loh! ). Aku memutuskan untuk mengunjungi museumnya Sherlock Holmes (seharga £6). Museumnya oke juga, tapi menurutku agak kecil gitu ya, hahaha.
Kemudian, aku menjadi semakin tak punya tujuan dan semakin acak lah acara jalan-jalanku di London, hahaha . Aku pergi ke Museum Sejarah Alam dan Museum Sains, karena biaya masuknya gratis (aku cinta kalian, Museum Sejarah Alam dan Museum Sains!! ). Dan setelah beberapa waktu, aku memutuskan untuk kembali ke hostel dan makan malam disana…
Hari 4 (Kamis, 28 Juni 2012)
Rencanaku untuk hari ini adalah, lagi-lagi, Kejuaraan Wimbledon!! Aku melakukan hal sama seperti yang kulakukan di Hari 2, kecuali hari ini aku lebih awal 15 menit (entah bagaimana aku bangun lebih pagi gitu ) dan sehingga aku bisa menaiki kereta pertama dari Stasiun Waterloo jam 5 pagi. Seperti yang kubilang di bagian sebelumnya rangkaian cerita ke London ini, berjalan kaki dari Stasiun Wimbledon ke All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) bukanlah sebuah keputusan yang bijak. Aku mendapatkan ide untuk naik bus dari Stasiun Wimbledon ke AELTC. Bus pertama berangkat dari halte bus di stasiun jam 5.40 pagi dan seharusnya tiba di area turnamennya sekitar lima sampai tujuh menit kemudian.
Aku menjalankan ide ini; dan ide ini ternyata memanglah ide yang cerdas. Aku tiba di the Queue agak lebih awal, dan tanpa merasa lelah secara fisik akibat berjalan kaki selama sekitar 30 menit dari Stasiun Wimbledon ke AELTC! Aku merasa segar!! Dan juga, yang paling oke adalah hari ini aku berada di nomor urut 1288 di the Queue, kemajuan sekitar 500an posisi dari hari pertama kan!! Lumayan banget!! Menjadi orang ke-1288 di the Queue sih pada dasarnya telah menggaransi (setidaknya) tiket Lapangan No.2 lah ya untuk hari ini. Namun, sayangnya jadwal di Lapangan No.2 hari ini kuranglah menarik bagiku sehingga aku juga berpikir untuk membeli tiket groundpass aja untuk hari ini.
Btw, untuk mengantri kali ini, aku memutuskan untuk membeli tikar piknik sehingga aku bisa melakukan ini sembari mengantri:
Guling-guling di atas rumput untuk membunuh waktu itu asyik juga loh!!
huahaha . Tidur-tiduran di atas rumput di atas tikar piknik untuk membunuh waktu dengan satu koran itu nyaman loh rasanya!!
Sekitar jam 8 pagi, beberapa honorary steward tiba. Dan mereka berkata bahwa saat ini mereka masih memiliki dua macam gelang yang tersedia: gelang Lapangan No.1 dan gelang Lapangan No.2!! Aku kaget sekali karena aku tahu Maria Sharapova akan melanjutkan pertandingannya yang tertunda sehari sebelumnya di Lapangan No.1!! Dan jadilah aku memutuskan untuk mengambil gelang Lapangan No.1-nya!! Wow!! Pengalaman Wimbledon ini semakin lama semakin mengasyikkan dan berkesan aja deh!! Setelah tanpa disangka-sangka bisa mendapatkan tiket Lapangan No.2 di kunjungan pertamaku, kini aku mendapatkan tiket Lapangan No.1!! Wow!! Dan akhirnya, aku bisa melihat pertandingannya Maria Sharapova juga!! Keadilan telah ditegakkan (kan aku mendapat tiket untuk menonton pertandingannya Maria Sharapova di kunjunganku yang lalu ke Roland Garros tetapi pertandingannya dibatalkan karena panjangnya pertandingan Isner-Mathieu)!!
Anyway, setelah mengantri selama empat jam, akhirnya aku tiba di loketnya dan kemudian memasuki arena AELTC lagi. Yang pertama kulakukan adalah membeli makan pagi: fish and chips. Cuaca hari ini sangatlah amat panas (dan lembab) btw. Rasanya kayak mau meleleh gitu deh kalau aku berada di luar terus-terusan ( ) sehingga jadilah aku masuk ke beberapa toko untuk nebeng ngadem. Aku juga memutuskan untuk sekalian masuk ke Museum AELTC, museum yang berisikan sejarah (hingga masa kini) dari Kejuaraan Wimbledon.
Masuk ke museumnya harus bayar loh (ternyata nggak gratis bahkan untuk penontonnya Wimbledon ); tapi memang museumnya cool sekali sih (dan juga dalam artian sebenarnya; tempat ini jadi semacam oasis yang sempurna di tengah terik panas dan lembabnya London, hahaha ). Bener-bener worth it untuk sebuah kunjungan deh!! Highlight-nya untukku adalah aku bisa melihat dengan lebih dekat (dan foto-foto tentunya) piala untuk para juara Kejuaraan ini. Keren banget!!
Ketika semua pertandingan di lapangan selain Centre Court dan Lapangan No.1 dimulai jam 11.30 pagi, pertandingan pertama di kedua lapangan ini baru dimulai jam 1 siang. Jadi, aku masih ada waktu deh. Tapi karena memang cuacanya yang panas banget, setelah beli es krim, aku memutuskan untuk langsung menuju kursiku di Lapangan No.1 saja. Lalu, akhirnya, beberapa menit setelah jam 1 siang, kedua pemain, Maria Sharapova dan Tsvetana Pironkova, memasuki lapangan. Seperti yang kubilang di atas, ini akan menjadi kelanjutan dari pertandingan mereka yang ditunda sehari sebelumnya. Maria Sharapova sedang unggul 7-6(3), 3-1 ketika pertandingannya ditunda karena gelap.
Setelah pemanasan, kedua pemain melanjutkan pertandingan mereka. Dan bagiku, akhirnya aku bisa menyaksikan secara langsung pertandingan “berisik”-nya Maria Sharapova, huahaha . Untuk sedikit memberikan gambaran seberapa berisiknya Maria Sharapova di pertandingannya, berikut ini video singkat match point di pertandingan ini, yang dimenangkan Sharapova, di pertandingan babak kedua ini:
Ya, berisik sekali kan. Grunt-nya itu pernah diukur dan pernah mencapai sekeras aumannya singa loh!!
Anyway, kembali ke pertandingannya, Sharapova mulai dengan cukup lamban sehingga servisnya berhasil dipatahkan di service game pertamanya. Lalu, kedua pemain mempertahankan servisnya masing-masing untuk memaksa tiebreak di set kedua ini. Namun, Sharapova justru menjadi pihak yang agak tentatif di tiebreak ini karena ia melakukan double-fault sebanyak tiga kali, yang pada dasarnya berarti memberikan sebuah hadiah yang amat mahal untuk Pironkova. Tentu saja Pironkova memanfaatkan kesempatan ini dan memenangi set kedua 7-6(3)!! Namun, Sharapova kembali di babak ketiga dan bermain tanpa ampun sehingga si pemain peringkat 1 dunia ini memenangi set ketiga 6-0. Jadi, Maria Sharapova mengalahkan Tsvetana Pironkova 7-6(3), 6-7(3), 6-0.
Pertandingan selanjutnya di Lapangan No.1 adalah antara pemain wildcard dari Inggris berperingkat 173 dunia, James Ward, melawan pemain peringkat 12 dunia dan unggulan ke-10, Mardy Fish, dari Amerika. Pertandingan ini ternyata tidak menjadi pertandingan berat sebelah seperti yang mungkin banyak diperkirakan orang karena si pemain peringkat 173 dunia ini bermain total. Namun, Fish tetap mampu mengambil set pertama 6-3. Lalu, aku merasa lapar. Jadilah aku memutuskan untuk pergi sebentar untuk mencari makan siang. Aku membeli salad pasta tomat dan tuna untuk makan siangku (wow, makanan yang sungguh sehat, hahaha ).
Setelah makan siang, aku memutuskan untuk jalan-jalan aja di area turnamennya. Nah, kalau di perjalananku ke Roland Garros bulan lalu aku mengambil foto pemain ini ketika ia sedang berlatih, kali ini, aku foto BARENG dengannya loh!!
Foto bareng sama Ana Ivanovic!!
Ya, aku foto bareng sama Ana Ivanovic!! Muahahaha . Dan seperti yang kubilang di Paris itu, ia ini jauh lebih cantik aslinya loh daripada di foto-foto!!
Di waktu ini, Mardy Fish sedang unggul 2 set lawan 1 melawan James Ward di Lapangan No.1. Aku memutuskan untuk kembali kesana dan menonton set keempat. Awalnya, nampaknya Fish akan menang dengan mudah, ia bahkan mendapatkan match point loh. Tapi Ward tidaklah menyerah begitu saja. Ia terus berjuang dan memaksa tiebreak untuk dimainkan. Di tiebreak, ia mempertahankan momentumnya dan memenangi set keempat!! Penontonnya kontan bersorak-sorai karenanya!!
Set kelima seharusnya menjadi menarik karena ini tetapi aku memutuskan untuk, lagi-lagi, meninggalkan kursiku karena aku ingin sekali menonton sebuah pertandingan di salah satu lapangan luar, Lapangan No.18. Williams bersaudara akan memainkan pertandingan ganda di level kompetitif pertamanya semenjak Wimbledon di tahun 2010 di lapangan ini. Aku tidak mendapatkan kursi di lapangan ini, tetapi aku mendapatkan posisi yang bagus di teras dengan pandangan lapang ke arah lapangan ini. Aku harus berdiri sih di terasnya itu, tetapi nggak papa deh . Dan aku bahagia karena akhirnya aku bisa melihat Venus Williams di sebuah pertandingan!!
Kedua Williams sedang tidak berada dalam kondisi terbaiknya (terutama Venus) tetapi mereka masih terlalu kuat bagi lawannya karena mereka langsung memenangi set pertama 6-0 dan memimpin 3-0 di set kedua. Lawan mereka, Vesna Dolonc dan Olga Savchuk, akhirnya mulai mendapatkan kontrol di pertandingan dengan mereka berhasil mempertahankan servis mulai titik ini. Tapi sekali lagi, kedua Williams juga dengan meyakinkannya mempertahankan servis mereka; sehingga kedua bersaudari ini menang 6-0, 6-3. Sebuah awal yang baik bagi tim Williams karena pada akhirnya, mereka menjadi juara!!
Di waktu ini, Mardy Fish memenangi set kelima. Walaupun kalah, Ward masih mendapatkan banyak standing applause karena ia mampu menunjukkan pertandingan yang sangat seru melawan pemain unggulan kesepuluh, walaupun ia berperingkat 173 di dunia.
Aku merasa lelah, dan jadilah aku memutuskan untuk pulang ke hostel…
Previously on Paris Trip: 2012 Roland Garros: Zilko went to Paris to watch the second grandslam tournament of the year, Roland Garros (or the French Open). He had access for three days to the tournament; and he had spent his first two days there. Now he couldn’t wait to go to his third and last day…
***
Day 4 (Friday, 1 June 2012)
Doing exactly the same procedure as the previous two days, I got into the grounds at around, again, 9.45 AM. Just like Thursday, I also got Philippe Chatrier access this day. However, unlike the previous access, I was not that much excited as this was the schedule of play in Philippe Chatrier for this day:
1. Sloane Stephens (USA) vs Mathilde Johansson (FRA) at 11 AM; followed by:
2. Agnieszka Radwańska [3] (POL) vs Svetlana Kuznetsova [29] (RUS); followed by:
3. Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [5] (FRA); and followed by:
4. Roger Federer [3] (SUI) vs Nicolas Mahut (FRA).
In my opinion, the schedule of play in Suzanne Lenglen for this day was much more interesting. The cancelled Ayumi Morita vs Maria Sharapova which was supposed to be played the day before in Philippe Chatrier was played today but in Court Suzanne Lenglen (damnit! ). However, there was still one big name in Philippe Chatrier today: Roger Federer.
Anyway, the guess I made the previous day was correct. Serena Williams’ mixed doubles match was scheduled to be played this Friday! Yaaay! It would be the last (fourth) match at one of the outer courts, Court no.2, after the Andreas Seppi [22] vs Fernando Verdasco [14] match. Because Court no.2 was one of the outer courts where everyone in the grounds could access it, there was no seat number in the court. For this kind of courts, the system was “one out one in“. Court no.2 was probably the most famous outer courts (it was indeed the “biggest” outer court) and I knew a lot of people would like to queue to watch the matches played in it. Because Serena’s match would be the last match, I had to strategize a little bit to be able to get a seat for her match. My strategy was to queue in the middle of the match before hers (thus, the Seppi vs Verdasco match) to hopefully get a seat before that match was over. Smart, right? Well, but it came with a price where I had to quite sacrifice my seat in Philippe Chatrier. But whatever, the matches in Philippe Chatrier were not that interesting for me anyway…
Btw, as much respect as I have towards Roger Federer, as I believe he is one of the greatest tennis players ever in the history of tennis, I am never really a fan of his. I don’t know why. Therefore, even though I got access to watch Federer’s match, I was willing to sacrifice this access to increase my chance of watching Serena’s match, hahaha #bigfanindeed .
Like the previous days, I also walked around the courts to see some players preparing themselves for their matches. That morning, I saw Ryan Harrison, Matthew Ebden, Tomáš Berdych, Dominika Cibulková, Kaia Kanepi, Samantha Stosur, Nuria Llagostera Vives, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Ayumi Morita, Robert Lindstedt, Horia Tecău, Mariusz Fyrstenberg, Marcin Matkowski, and Robin Haase, the current Dutch number 1 at number 39 in the world. After seeing all these players across the grounds, I walked back to Philippe Chatrier as I felt quite tired. But then, in one of the TV screens, I saw that Maria Sharapova was practicing at one of the outer courts. It was Court no. 14 and it was at the other end of the venue (read: so far away from where I was at that time). But whatever, I decided to run to Court 14 so that even though I didn’t get the chance to see Sharapova in a match, I still got the chance to see her practicing, huahaha .
After that, I was somehow quite hungry and decided to buy a French sandwich for lunch (it was like sandwich but instead of using normal bread, it used French bread, so it was huuuge!! ). After that, I decided to take a quick look at some underway doubles matches at Court no.2 and Court no.3. In Court no.3, Argentinian pair, Gisela Dulko and Paola Suárez, were in action; while Ryan Harrison and Matthew Ebden were taking a French team in Court no.2. After awhile, Sloane Stephens vs Mathilde Johansson match was almost concluded and I decided to go to Philippe Chatrier, well, to at least watch one match there (as the element that made my ticket more expensive that day was the access to Philippe Chatrier, so I should use this special access at least once, right? ).
Sloane Stephens, the promising young American, defeated the Frenchwomen handily 6-3, 6-2. The next match was supposed to be interesting on paper as the number three player in the world, Agnieszka Radwańska, was taking on the 29th seeded and 2009 French Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova. However, it turned out to be a very one-sided match, with the side heavily favoring Kuznetsova. She quickly built a 5-0 lead in the first set before sealing it 6-1. The second set went pretty much in the same fashion. Radwańska did put a fight earlier in the second though; but she just couldn’t match Kuznetsova, who was performing incredibly well. Kuznetsova upset Radwańska 6-1, 6-2 in just 72 minutes.
I stayed for the first three or five games of the next match between Fabio Fognini and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before I decided to leave the court to prepare myself to queue for Court no.2. I still had time though, so I decided to walk around the grounds, again. I stopped at Court no. 12 to see the Chinese player, Li Na, practicing. When I was taking some pictures, someone was passing me just by my side (I didn’t really pay attention who it was because I was busy taking pictures) before I realized that Amelie Mauresmo, a tennis professional retiree and former number 1 player in the world, was also coming from the same direction. Two seconds later, I remembered that Amelie Mauresmo was hired by the current world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, to assist her during the clay season. And then I realized that that someone who was just passing by me was the freaking Victoria Azarenka!!
So, Victoria Azarenka took over the court from Li Na for her practice session. And I stayed there for awhile to see how the number one women’s player practiced. After watching the practice, I realized the difference between Azarenka and Sharapova, who are both known as the women’s tour’s loudest grunters. During their practice session, Sharapova was very quiet (she didn’t make any noise) while Azarenka was just being Azarenka. She also grunted the same way during practice as she was in a match. And the grunt got louder and louder as the practice went on…
Anyway, time was ticking (to Serena’s match) and my camera’s battery was also quite concerning. So I decided to go to the charger to recharge my camera’s battery a little bit to make sure I had enough power until Serena’s match. After charging my camera for around 25 minutes, I did my final preparation before joining the queue to enter Court no.2: I bought some snacks (so in case I got hungry inside Court no.2, I would not need to get out which was equivalent to sacrificing my spot in the court) and also peed, hahaha . At the time, Tsonga’s match was getting closer to the conclusion where he won in straight sets.
I started to queue at one of the three lines toward Court no.2. And indeed it looked like a really long queue. At the time, the Federer’s match at Court Philippe Chatrier was already started. Finally, after queuing for around 1 hour (yeah, it was that long), I got my access to Court no.2. The Seppi vs Verdasco’s match hadn’t ended yet and it was 2 set to 1 for Seppi. The fourth set was played and Verdasco was able to win the set forcing the fifth set to be played. And I was like: “Dear God, please don’t let this fifth set take too long like the Isner-Mathieu match“. I mean, I didn’t want the next match to be cancelled because of the longevity of this match, hehe. And so I was like supporting whoever got ahead first in the fifth set, so that the match would finish quicker, hahaha . Andreas Seppi quickly took control of the set though, and he won 6-2 in the fifth to set up a meeting against the world no.1, Novak Djokovic, in the next round.
After the match, however, there was an announcement that I did not understand (because it was in French). Some guys spread the word that the next match was forfeited or something like that. I quickly became disappointed, of course. But then, there was an official announcement in the scoreboard that the match was not forfeited, but moved to Court no.3!! And so I dashed out from Court no.2 and quickly joined the crowd to enter Court no.3!! And I was like: “Damnit, had I known it would be moved to Court no.3, I could have watched at least the first set of Federer’s match!!“. But well, who knew this would happen anyway?? hahaha.
I was quite worried I would not get access to Court no.3 as there were so many people entering the Court no.3′s gate that we literally didn’t have to walk to enter the gate as everyone was pushing. So we were, sort of, automatically pushed towards the gate, hahaha. But lucky there was still room for me!! Yeaaah!! And then, yes, Serena Williams and Bob Bryan (and also their opponent, Gisela Dulko and Eduardo Schwank) were really warming up for the match on the court!! And I was really really happy!! hahaha
I took a seat in the court; and btw, because Court no.3 was one of the outer courts (which were generally smaller), it provided a much up close view to the court itself; as a result, I could see the players much clearer as they were just standing like 5 meter in front of me!! And it was Serena Williams, who normally played in big or main courts and so it would be quite difficult to get a more up close view. I also realized that in the exactly opposite side of the court, the Williams team (including Venus Williams) were sitting cheering for Serena, hahaha.
Anyway, so the match began. Serena showed a lot of signs of rust in doubles though; as everyone could hear Bob Bryan shouted out some basic instructions to Serena like ”up” and “switch” and other basic stuffs in doubles play during the match. Serena’s reflex was also still quite in singles mode as she made a fatal mistake at one point where she tried to run for a ball which was actually within Bob Bryan’s reach (so she left her post). Serena ended up hitting the ball, but not good enough unfortunately, and Dulko/Schwank could easily hit it back to the now left-open area. It cost them a point. But well, this was actually understandable though; as it was Serena’s first competitive doubles match since Wimbledon (July) 2010, first with someone else other than Venus Williams since Leipzig (September) in 2002, and first with a male partner since Australian Open (January) in 1999 (yeah, I did my research, hahaha ). So a little bit of rust was quite expected.
In the end, Serena Williams/Bob Bryan lost the match 5-7, 6-3, [6-10] against the more doubles-in-form team, even though leading 5-3 in the first set. Serena also saved a match point by serving an ace in the super tie-break (typical Serena though, hitting a very good serve to save a match point, hahaha ), but in the end it wasn’t enough. But well, it should be an interesting a few months heading to Wimbledon and the Summer Olympics in London!
After the match, I decided to go back to my hostel; and there my trip to this year’s edition of Roland Garros ended. And I was really happy…
Day 5 (Saturday, 2 June 2012)
I checked out from my hostel at around 10 AM and went directly to the bus station to take my 11.30 AM bus to Den Haag. Well, it was another long bus-ride, though a bit faster and more on time than my departure trip. However, this return trip was better because there were not so many people along the trip (so there was more space) and the aircon worked better, hahaha. Btw, here is the bus route from Paris to Den Haag and back (I forgot to attach this route map file in the Part I post ).
Paris Gallieni International Bus Station to Den Haag Centraal Station
We arrived at 6.40 PM at Den Haag Centraal Station and I took an intercity to get back to Delft. And here my trip officially ended…
THE END.
The queue that morning
Tomáš Berdych practicing a forehand
Maria Sharapova practicing a service return
Maria Sharapova hitting a forehand
Gisela Dulko and Paola Suarez from Argentina, the 17th seed in women’s doubles
Ryan Harrison and Matthew Ebden playing doubles with the “I” position strategy
Schedule of Play that day
My Philippe Chatrier ticket that day
Agnieszka Radwanska, the third seed, hitting a backhand
The Eiffel Tower as seen from Court Philippe Chatrier
Court Suzanne Lenglen. At this time, Sharapova/Morita match was underway. Sharapova eventually won 6-1, 6-1
The 29th seed just upset the 3rd seed
Former player and number 1, Amelie Mauresmo
The world no.1 player at that time, Victoria Azarenka
The long queue to Court no.2
Andreas Seppi of Italy hitting a smash
Court no.2
Fernando Verdasco of Spain. He lost the match in a five-setter
Serena Williams and Bob Bryan warming up for the match
Serena Williams
Team Williams
Serena Williams returned to mixed doubles match since 1999
Serena Williams preparing to hit a serve
Serena Williams serving
Gisela Dulko and Eduardo Schwank from Argentina
Serena Williams and Bob Bryan after Williams made a fatal mistake by chasing a ball which was within Bob’s reach
The bus which brought me back to Holland from Paris
BAHASA INDONESIA
Sebelumnya dalam Paris Trip: 2012 Roland Garros: Zilko pergi ke Paris dalam rangka menonton turnamen grandslam kedua tahun ini, Roland Garros (alias French Open). Ia mendapatkan akses selama tiga hari ke turnamennya; dan ia telah menghabiskan waktu dua hari disana. Kini ia tidak sabar untuk menggunakan akses hari ketiganya, yang juga hari terakhirnya disana…
***
Hari 4 (Jumat, 1 Juni 2012)
Melakukan hal yang sama persis seperti dua hari sebelumnya, aku masuk ke dalam area turnamennya, lagi-lagi, sekitar jam 9.45 pagi. Seperti hari Kamisnya, aku juga mendapatkan akses ke Philippe Chatrier hari ini. Namun, tidak seperti hari sebelumnya, aku tidak terlalu tertarik dengan jadwal pertandingan di Philippe Chatrier untuk hari ini:
1. Sloane Stephens (USA) vs Mathilde Johansson (FRA) jam 11 pagi; diikuti oleh:
2. Agnieszka Radwańska [3] (POL) vs Svetlana Kuznetsova [29] (RUS); diikuti oleh:
3. Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [5] (FRA); dan diikuti oleh:
4. Roger Federer [3] (SUI) vs Nicolas Mahut (FRA).
Menurutku, jadwal di Lapangan Suzanne Lenglen hari ini lebih menarik deh. Pertandingan antara Ayumi Morita dan Maria Sharapova yang seharusnya dimainkan sehari sebelumnya di Philippe Chatrier akhirnya dimainkan hari ini, tetapi di Lapangan Suzanne Lenglen (sial! ). Namun, masih ada satu nama besar sih di Philippe Chatrier hari ini: Roger Federer.
Anyway, tebakan yang aku buat di hari sebelumnya ternyata benar. Pertandingan ganda campurannya Serena Williams dijadwalkan untuk dimainkan hari Jumat ini loh! Yaaay! Pertandingannya akan menjadi pertandingan terakhir (keempat) di salah satu lapangan luar, yaitu Lapangan no.2, setelah pertandingan antara Andreas Seppi [22] dan Fernando Verdasco [14]. Karena Lapangan no.2 adalah lapangan luar dimana semua orang di dalam area turnamen bisa bebas mengaksesnya, di lapangan ini nggak ada nomor kursi deh. Untuk lapangan semacam ini, sistem yang digunakan adalah “satu keluar satu masuk“. Lapangan no.2 mungkin merupakan lapangan luar yang paling terkenal (dan memang lapangan yang paling besar) dan aku tahu ada banyak orang yang akan mengantri untuk menonton pertandingan di dalamnya. Karena pertandingannya Serena adalah pertandingan terakhir, aku jadi harus berstrategi supaya bisa mendapatkan kursi untuk pertandingannya. Jadilah strategiku adalah untuk mulai mengantri di tengah pertandigan sebelumnya (yaitu Seppi vs Verdasco) untuk mudah-mudahan mendapat kursi sebelum pertandingan ini selesai. Cerdas kan? Hmm, tapi ini juga harus ‘kubayar’ karena ini berarti aku harus mengorbankan kursiku di Philippe Chatrier sih. Ah, tapi biar lah, toh pertandingan di Philippe Chatrier juga kurang menarik buatku…
Btw, sebagaimana hormatnya aku akan Roger Federer, karena aku pun yakin ia adalah salah seorang pemain tenis terhebat sepanjang masa, entah kenapa aku nggak terlalu pernah ngefans sama dia deh. Nggak tahu deh kenapa. Makanya, walaupun aku mendapatkan akses untuk menonton pertandingannya Federer (hoki-hokian lho supaya bisa mendapat akses seperti ini), aku rela untuk mengorbankannya deh demi melihat pertandingannya Serena, hahaha #fansberatmemang .
Seperti hari-hari sebelumnya, pagi itu aku berkeliling areanya untuk melihat-lihat beberapa pemain mempersiapkan pertandingannya. Pagi itu, aku melihat Ryan Harrison, Matthew Ebden, Tomáš Berdych, Dominika Cibulková, Kaia Kanepi, Samantha Stosur, Nuria Llagostera Vives, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Ayumi Morita, Robert Lindstedt, Horia Tecău, Mariusz Fyrstenberg, Marcin Matkowski, dan Robin Haase, pemain Belanda berperingkat tertinggi sekarang di posisi nomor 39. Setelah berkeliling melihat para pemain itu, aku berjalan kembali ke Philippe Chatrier karena merasa lumayan lelah juga. Tapi kemudian, di salah satu layar TV, aku melihat bahwa Maria Sharapova sedang latihan dong di salah satu lapangan luar. Lapangan itu adalah Lapangan no.14 yang berada di ujung lain dari area turnamen (baca: jauh sekali dari lokasi dimana aku berada saat itu). Tapi biar deh, aku memutuskan untuk berlari ke Lapangan no.14 sehingga biarpun aku nggak berkesempatan nonton Sharapova bertanding, seenggaknya bisa melihat dia latihan deh, huahaha .
Setelahnya, aku merasa cukup lapar dan memutuskan untuk makan sebuah sandwich ala Prancis untuk makan siang (makanannya itu kayak sandwich tapi rotinya bukan roti tawar biasa gitu, tapi roti pentung Prancis, jadi ukurannya guedee!! ). Setelahnya, aku memutuskan untuk melihat sedikit pertandingan ganda yang berlangsung di Lapangan no.2 dan Lapangan no.3. Di Lapangan no.3, tim ganda asal Argentina, Gisela Dulko and Paola Suárez, sedang beraksi; sementara Ryan Harrison dan Matthew Ebden sedang melawan ganda Prancis di Lapangan no.2. Setelah beberapa waktu, pertandingan antara Sloane Stephens dan Mathilde Johansson hampir selesai dan aku memutuskan untuk pergi ke Philippe Chatrier untuk menonton setidaknya satu pertandingan disana (karena elemen yang membuat tiketku hari ini lebih mahal kan akses ke Philippe Chatrier ini, jadi aku harus menggunakan akses khusus ini setidaknya satu kali dong, betul? ).
Sloane Stephens, pemain muda dari Amerika yang berbakat, mengalahkan si pemain Prancis dengan mudah, 6-3, 6-2. Pertandingan berikutnya seharusnya cukup seru di atas kertas karena pemain nomor tiga dunia, Agnieszka Radwańska, akan melawan unggulan ke-29 yang juga merupakan juara French Open 2009, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Namun, pertandingan yang berlangsung ternyata berat sebelah, dimana ‘lebih berat’-nya ini adalah ‘lebih berat’ ke Kuznetsova. Dengan cepat ia langsung unggul 5-0 di set pertama sebelum menutupnya dengan skor 6-1. Set kedua berlangsung dengan pola yang mirip. Radwańska memberikan perlawanan di awal babak kedua sih; tetapi nampaknya tidak cukup untuk menghadapi Kuznetsova yang sedang tampil amat baik. Pada akhirnya, Kuznetsova mengalahkan Radwańska 6-1, 6-2 hanya dalam waktu 72 menit.
Aku tetap duduk disana sampai tiga atau lima game pertama pertandingan selanjutnya antara Fabio Fognini dan Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sebelum aku memutuskan untuk meninggalkan arena untuk menyiapkan diri mengantri untuk Lapangan no.2. Masih ada waktu sih, jadilah aku berjalan-jalan keliling areanya, lagi. Aku berhenti sejenak di Lapangan no.12 dimana seorang pemain Cina, Li Na, sedang berlatih. Ketika aku sedang fokus mengambil foto, seseorang lewat tepat banget di sebelahku (aku nggak terlalu perhatian siapa itu karena aku fokus banget mengambil foto) sebelum aku kemudian menyadari bahwa Amelie Mauresmo, mantan petenis profesional yang dulunya pemain nomor 1 dunia, datang dari arah yang sama. Dua detik kemudian, aku ingat bahwa Amelie Mauresmo kan dipekerjakan pemain nomor 1 dunia saat itu, Victoria Azarenka, untuk mendampinginya sepanjang musim tanah liat. Dan jadilah aku baru sadar bahwa seseorang yang barusan lewat di sebelahku itu Victoria Azarenka dong!! :shock:
Jadi ceritanya, Victoria Azarenka menggunakan lapangan itu setelah Li Na untuk sesi latihannya. Jadilah aku tinggal disana sebentar untuk melihat sesi latihannya petenis wanita nomor satu dunia. Setelah menonton sesi latihannya itu, aku menyadari perbedaan antara Azarenka dan Sharapova, yang mana keduanya dikenal sebagai pemain top grunters (aku nggak tahu nih padanan katanya di bahasa Indonesia apa) terberisik di tur wanita. Di sesi latihannya, Sharapova itu tenang sekali lho (ia nggak berisik sama sekali) sementara Azarenka ya seperti Azarenka gitu deh. Ia juga grunting di sesi latihan sama seperti di pertandingan. Dan grunting-nya juga semakin keras gitu deh sepanjang latihan…
Anyway, waktu semakin mendekati waktu perkiraan pertandingannya Serena dan kondisi baterai kameraku agak mengkhawatirkan. Oleh karenanya, aku memutuskan untuk menge-charge baterai kameraku dulu supaya aku yakin aku memiliki cukup baterai sampai pertandingannya Serena. Setelah aku menge-charge-nya selama sekitar 25 menit, aku melakukan persiapan terakhir sebelum bergabung di antrian menuju Lapangan no.2: aku membeli beberapa snack (siapa tahu kan aku lapar ketika di dalam lapangan, sehingga aku nggak harus keluar gitu yang ekuivalen dengan mengorbankan tempatku di dalam lapangan) dan juga ke toilet dulu deh, hahaha . Pada waktu itu, pertandingannya Tsonga sudah semakin mendekati akhir dimana ia menang dengan straight sets.
Aku mulai mengantri di salah satu dari tiga antrian panjang menuju Lapangan no.2. Dan antriannya beneran panjang sekali lho. Pada waktu itu, pertandingannya Federer di Court Philippe Chatrier sudah dimulai. Akhirnya, setelah mengantri selama satu jam (iya, selama itu deh ngantrinya), aku mendapatkan akses masuk ke Lapangan no.2 Pertandingannya Seppi dan Verdasco juga masih belum selesai dan waktu itu Seppi unggul 2 set melawan 1. Set keempat dimainkan dan Verdasco berhasil memenanginya sehingga set kelima harus dimainkan. Dan waktu itu yang aku pikirkan adalah: “Aduh, jangan sampai set kelima ini berlangsung terlalu lama kayak pertandingannya Isner-Mathieu deh“. Maksudku, aku nggak mau dong lagi-lagi pertandingan selanjutnya harus dibatalkan saking panjangnya pertandingan yang ini, hehe. Dan jadilah aku mendukung siapapun yang lebih dulu unggul di set kelima, supaya pertandingannya beres lebih cepat gitu, hahaha . Andreas Seppi dengan cepat mengambil kontrol di set kelima, dan akhirnya ia menang 6-2 untuk mendapatkan tiket ke babak selanjutnya dimana ia akan bermain melawan pemain nomor 1 dunia, Novak Djokovic.
Setelah pertandingannya selesai, tiba-tiba ada pengumuman gitu yang aku nggak ngerti deh artinya apa (soalnya pakai bahasa Prancis sih). Beberapa orang menyebarkan berita kalau pertandingan berikutnya dibatalkan atau gimana gitu. Jadilah aku kecewa dong, jelas aja. Tapi kemudian, tiba-tiba ada pengumuman di papan skornya bahwa pertandingan selanjutnya itu bukannya dibatalkan, tetapi dipindah ke Lapangan no.3!! Dan jadilah aku langsung berlari keluar Lapangan no.2 dan buru-buru memasuki Lapangan no.3!! Dan reaksiku waktu itu: “Sialan, tahu begini kan aku bisa setidaknya nonton set pertama dari pertandingannya Federer!!“. Ah, tapi siapa juga yang tahu ini akan terjadi kan?? hahaha.
Aku agak khawatir aku tidak akan mendapatkan akses ke Lapangan no.3 karena ada banyak sekali orang yang mau masuk ke Lapangan no.3 bahkan sampai-sampai kami nggak harus berjalan loh untuk memasuki lapangan karena semua orang mendorong gitu deh (ini beneran!). Jadi ya kami tuh secara otomatis didorong masuk ke gerbangnya gitu deh, hahaha. Untungnya aku masih kebagian tempat!! Yeaaah!! Dan ya, waktu itu, Serena Williams dan Bob Bryan (dan juga lawannya, Gisela Dulko dan Eduardo Schwank) sedang pemanasan di lapangan!! Dan aku merasa bahagia deh!! hahaha
Aku duduk di lapangannya; dan btw, karena Lapangan no.3 itu jugalah salah satu lapangan luar (yang secara umum ukurannya lebih kecil), lapangan ini memberikan pandangan yang cukup up close ke lapangannya loh; yang mana artinya kita bisa melihat para pemainnya dengan amat jelas sekali karena mereka bermain sekitar 5 meter aja di depan kita!! Dan yang ketika itu bermain adalah Serena Williams, yang biasanya bermain di lapangan besar atau utama sehingga sulit deh untuk menontonnya dengan up close gitu. Btw, kemudian aku juga menyadari yang duduk tepat di seberang lapangan adalah tim Williams (termasuk Venus Williams) yang berada disana untuk mendukung Serena, hahaha.
Anyway, kemudian pertandingannya dimulai. Serena menunjukkan ‘karat’ yang cukup banyak di pertandingan ganda; karena semua orang bisa mendengar Bob Bryan meneriakkan beberapa instruksi dasar ke Serena semacam ”up” dan “switch” dan beberapa hal mendasar lainnya di permainan ganda di sepanjang pertandingan. Refleks-nya Serena juga masih berada di mode tunggal sehingga pada suatu waktu ia membuat kesalahan fatal dimana ia mengejar bola yang sebenarnya berada dalam jangkauannya Bob Bryan (jadi Serena meninggalkan posnya gitu). Serena akhirnya memukul bola itu, sayangnya tidak terlalu baik, sehingga Dulko/Schwank bisa dengan mudah memukul bola itu balik ke area yang kini ‘terbuka’. Williams/Bryan kehilangan satu poin karenanya. Ah, tapi ‘karat’ ini bisa dimaklumi sih; karena ini adalah pertandingan kompetitif ganda pertamanya Serena semenjak Wimbledon (Juli) 2010, pertama kali dengan pasangan selain Venus Williams semenjak Leipzig (September) 2002, dan pertama kalinya dengan pasangan pria semenjak Australian Open (Januari) tahun 1999 (yoi, aku riset dulu dong, hahaha ). Jadi ya adanya ‘karat’ adalah sesuatu yang bisa dijangka lah ya.
Pada akhirnya, Serena Williams/Bob Bryan kalah 5-7, 6-3, [6-10] melawan tim ganda yang lebih in-form, walaupun mereka sebenarnya sempat unggul 5-3 lho di babak pertama. Serena juga sempat menyelamatkan match point dengan membuat servis ace di set super tie-break (tipikal Serena sih, memukul serve yang amat baik untuk menyelamatkan match point, hahaha ), tapi akhirnya itu tetaplah tidak cukup. Tapi, yah, bagaimanapun juga, beberapa bulan ini akan menjadi lebih menarik karena Wimbledon dan Olimpiade di London akan segera berlangsung kan!
Setelah pertandingan, aku memutuskan untuk kembali ke hostelku; yang mana ini berarti perjalananku ke Roland Garros tahun ini berakhir sudah. Dan aku merasa sangat senang…
Hari 5 (Sabtu, 2 Juni 2012)
Aku check out dari hostelku sekitar jam 10 pagi dan langsung pergi ke terminal bus untuk naik bus jam 11.30 pagiku ke Den Haag. Yah, perjalanan ini kembali menjadi perjalanan yang panjang ya, walaupun sedikit lebih cepat daripada keberangkatannya sih. Eh, tapi perjalanan pulang ini lebih enak lho soalnya di sepanjang perjalanan ada nggak terlalu banyak penumpang (jadi ada lebih banyak ruang gitu) dan AC-nya bekerja dengan lebih baik, hahaha. Btw, berikut ini peta rute perjalanan busnya dari Paris ke Den Haag dan sebaliknya (pas di posting bagian pertama aku lupa meng-attach peta rutenya soalnya ).
Terminal Bus Internasional Paris Gallieni ke Stasiun Kereta Den Haag Centraal
Aku tiba sekitar jam 6.40 sore di Stasiun Den Haag Centraal dan kemudian aku naik kereta intercity untuk kembali ke Delft. Dan kemudian perjalananku resmi berakhir…
Earlier today, the second grandslam tournament of the year, the 2012 French Open, was concluded. I did make a prediction about two weeks ago for the singles events and it turned out that I was (mostly) correct Let me start with the women’s singles first.
Women’s singles
The only thing that I missed to see coming was Serena Williams’ shocking loss in the first round to Virginie Razzano. But who on earth would have predicted this occurrence to happen? Serena had never lost a grandslam singles opener before, she was in a hot streak on clay this year, and she was facing the world no. 111. I don’t think that even (most) people who do not like Serena would have predicted this to happen. During my first night in Paris (the day Serena lost), there was one guy in my hostel who asked me by how much Serena won after seeing me opening the French Open’s official website in a public computer in my hostel. I told him Serena lost, he looked surprised but then he was like “Yes!“. So, it was clear that he did not like Serena Williams but still found it surprising to see her lost her opener.
Anyway, moving on, I did say in the prediction that the two favorites to win the title was Serena and Maria Sharapova; and because Serena and Maria were in the same quarter of the draw, I predicted that this half of the draw would be represented in the final by either one of this two (and I picked Serena at that time). Because Serena lost in the first round, it sufficed to imply that my second choice was Maria Sharapova. And this became a reality as she advanced to, indeed, her first French Open final in her career by generally winning quite comfortably, albeit that quite rough fourth round match that lasted for more than three hours.
The quite ‘scary’ thing was that my prediction for the other half of the draw turned out to be correct also. The finalist from this part of the draw was indeed someone from the lower seed or lower rank, though I did not name a name. Sara Errani, the world no. 23 and the 21st seed, had a fairy-tale run after defeating 2008 and 2009 champions, Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and followed this by winning her first two matches against top 10 player: Angelique Kerber and Samantha Stosur. Actually, Errani herself already had quite a run this year. After reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, she has since performed really well on clay by winning three titles on it. However, all titles were relatively small so she was still overshadowed by bigger names in the form of Serena and Sharapova.
The final went as predicted, with Sharapova won 6-3, 6-2. The score looks ‘easy’, but the match itself was actually not that “easy” for Sharapova as Errani put some really good, crafty, and smart fights. The victory completed Sharapova’s collection of grandslam titles, with now she has won all of the four grandslams once. On top of that, her run to the final guaranteed her ascend to the world no.1 position as of today.
So, congratulations Maria Sharapova!
Men’s Singles
It was more straight-forward for the men’s singles as the top two players in the world, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, advanced to the final. Interestingly enough, this was the fourth consecutive time these two met in a grandslam final (starting since last year’s Wimbledon)! More interestingly, both were chasing their own record-breaking history. Novak Djokovic was looking to be the first man in 43 years to hold all four grandslam singles titles at once; and Rafael Nadal was looking to be the first man ever to win seven singles titles at Roland Garros, surpassing Björn Borg’s record of six. So, no matter what the result would be, this final would be indeed a very historic match from both sides of the court.
As I said, coming to the final, Rafael Nadal was the clear favorite. He was also in a better position than last year where he lost two finals on clay to Djokovic. He turned that around this year and it was also reflected in his path to the final. Not only he did not surrender any set in his six matches, his service was broken only freaking once during all those six matches, which happened in the second set of his first round match! Djokovic had a rougher path to the final where he had to come from two sets to love deficit in the fourth round to win against Andreas Seppi and followed by another five setter in the quarterfinals against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But he was the world no.1 and of course he could not be sidelined just like that in the final, even though Rafael Nadal was awaiting.
The match turned out to be a very dramatic one, on top of that history-making at stake. It took two days to complete due to the bad weather over Paris. Nadal took the first two sets 6-4, 6-3 but Djokovic made a remarkable comeback by winning the third 6-2. Djokovic was leading 2-1 on his serve when the match had to be postponed due to the ongoing rain. The match was continued the next day (today). Nadal quickly erased the slight advantage Djokovic had by breaking him right away, leveling the match back to 2-2. The two men held serves until 5-5. The next game was Nadal’s serve and it was not an easy one as there was one more drama during the game where Nadal thought a ball Djokovic hit was out (but the linesman said it was in) but the umpire didn’t want to check the mark because Nadal didn’t “stop right away”, thus rewarding Djokovic the point. Nadal lost the next point after that but still managed to hold serve. In the next game, Nadal got a championship point at 30-40 and Djokovic double faulted to give the victory to Rafael Nadal.
Thus, now, Rafael Nadal is officially the holder of most French Open singles titles, with seven, surpassing Björn Borg’s record!
Congratulations Rafa!! It was a great final anyway as he got such a fight from Novak Djokovic, the world no.1. Djokovic was also the only man in the tournament to steal a set from Rafa at French Open this year.
2012 French Open women’s singles champion, Maria Sharapova, and the runner up, Sara Errani. Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Europe
Rafael Nadal won his seventh Roland Garros singles title after defeating the world no.1, Novak Djokovic. Photo credit: FFT (French Tennis Federation); photo taken from the official website
BAHASA INDONESIA
Siang tadi, turnamen grandslam kedua tahun ini, French Open 2012, berakhir. Aku membuat sebuah prediksi sekitar dua minggu yang lalu untuk event tunggal dan ternyata prediksiku (kebanyakan) benar lho Mari aku mulai dengan tunggal putri dahulu.
Tunggal Putri
Satu-satunya hal yang aku tidak sangka akan terjadi adalah kekalahannya Serena Williams yang mengejutkan di babak pertama dari Virginie Razzano. Ah, tapi siapa juga yang bakal menyangka hal ini akan terjadi? Serena tidak pernah kalah di babak pertama grandslam sebelumnya, ia sedang berada dalam rentetan kemenangan yang menakjubkan di tanah liat tahun ini, dan ia akan melawan seorang pemain berperingkat 111 dunia. Aku rasa bahkan (kebanyakan) orang yang nggak suka Serena pun tidak menyangka hasil ini akan terjadi deh. Di malam pertamaku di Paris (hari dimana Serena kalah), ada bapak-bapak di hostel yang bertanya kepadaku Serena menang dengan skor berapa setelah melihatku membuka website resminya French Open di komputer untuk umum di hostelku. Aku bilang kepadanya bahwa Serena kalah, ia lalu nampak terkejut tetapi kemudian bereaksi “Yes!“. Jadi, jelas lah ya ia adalah seorang yang tidak suka Serena tetapi tetap masih cukup kaget dengan kekalahannya di babak pertama.
Anyway, lanjut, di prediksiku itu aku sebutkan bahwa dua favorit untuk menjuarai titelnya adalah Serena dan Maria Sharapova; dan karena Serena dan Maria berada di perempat bagian yang sama dari undiannya, aku prediksikan bahwa finalis di sisi undian ini akan diwakili oleh salah seorang dari mereka (dan waktu itu aku memilih Serena). Karena Serena kalah di babak pertama, bisa dibilang pilihanku otomatis terjatuh pada Maria Sharapova dong untuk sisi undian ini. Dan ternyata ia beneran masuk ke final pertamanya sepanjang karier di French Open dengan kemenangan yang cukup mudah di sepanjang perjalanannya, kecuali mungkin babak keempat dimana ia cukup kesulitan dan harus bermain selama tiga jam lebih.
Nah, yang cukup ‘mengerikan’ adalah prediksiku untuk sisi undian yang lain ternyata benar lagi loh. Finalis dari sisi ini adalah seseorang yang memang diunggulkan di posisi rendah atau berperingkat cukup rendah, walau waktu itu aku tidak menyebutkan nama. Sara Errani, pemain peringkat 23 dunia dan merupakan unggulan ke-21 di turnamen ini, memainkan dua minggu terbaik di kariernya sejauh ini dengan mengalahkan juara tahun 2008 dan 2009, Ana Ivanovic dan Svetlana Kuznetsova, dan menambahnya dengan dua kemenangan pertamanya atas pemain berperingkat 10 besar: Angelique Kerber dan Samantha Stosur. Sebenarnya, secara keseluruhan Errani sendiri sedang memainkan tahun terbaiknya sih tahun ini. Setelah mencapai perempat-final Australian Open, ia bermain dengan amat baik di tanah liat dengan menjuarai tiga turnamen di permukaan ini. Hanya, ketiga turnamen itu adalah turnamen kecil sehingga ia berada di bayang-bayang nama yang lebih besar seperti Serena dan Sharapova.
Finalnya berlangsung seperti dugaan, dengan Sharapova memenanginya 6-3, 6-2. Skornya nampak ‘mudah’, tetapi pertandingannya tidaklah “mudah” untuk Sharapova loh karena Errani memberikan beberapa perlawanan yang amat baik, kreatif, dan cerdik. Kemenangan ini melengkapi koleksi gelar grandslamnya Sharapova, dimana kini ia telah memenangi satu gelar di keempat turnamen grandslam. Selain itu, lolosnya ia ke final memberikan garansi bahwa ia akan kembali ke peringkat 1 dunia terhitung mulai hari ini.
Jadi, selamat buat Maria Sharapova!
Tunggal Putra
Sisi tunggal putra lebih mudah diprediksi dimana dua pemain dengan peringkat tertinggi di dunia, Novak Djokovic dan Rafael Nadal, lolos ke final. Yang menarik, ini adalah final grandslam keempat berturut-turut yang mempertandingkan dua pemain yang sama (semenjak Wimbledon tahun lalu)! Yang lebih menarik, masing-masing dari mereka sedang dalam upaya mengukir sejarah. Novak Djokovic akan menjadi pemain putra pertama dalam 43 tahun yang memegang keempat titel tunggal grandslam bersamaan apabila ia menang; dan Rafael Nadal akan menjadi pemain pertama yang pernah memenangi titel tunggal French Open selama tujuh kali, melewati rekornya Björn Borg dengan enam kemenangan, apabila ia menang. Jadi, apapun hasilnya, pertandingan final ini adalah sebuah final yang bersejarah dari kedua sisi lapangan.
Seperti yang aku bilang, masuk ke final, Rafael Nadal lebih difavoritkan untuk menang. Selain itu, ia juga berada di posisi yang lebih baik daripada tahun lalu dimana ia kalah di dua final turnamen tanah liat dari Djokovic. Ia membalik itu semua tahun ini dan ini terefleksikan dari perjalanannya ke final. Tidak hanya ia tidak kehilangan satu set pun selama enam pertandingan, servisnya patah hanya satu kali aja dong dari enam pertandingan itu, yang terjadinya di set kedua pertandingan babak pertamanya! Sementara itu, Djokovic mendapatkan perjalanan yang jauh lebih berliku untuk mencapai final dimana ia harus membalikkan kondisi tertinggal dua set untuk memenangi pertandingan babak keempatnya melawan Andreas Seppi dan diikuti dengan pertandingan lima set lainnya di babak selanjutnya melawan Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Biarpun begitu, ia adalah pemain nomor 1 dunia saat ini dan tentu saja ia tidak bisa diremehkan begitu saja, walaupun lawan yang akan ia hadapi di final adalah Rafael Nadal.
Pertandingannya ternyata menjadi pertandingan yang amat dramatis loh, selain karena faktor sejarah yang akan terukir karenanya. Pertandingannya harus dilangsungkan selama dua hari karena cuaca buruk di Paris. Nadal memenangi dua set pertama 6-4, 6-3 tetapi Djokovic membuat comeback yang mengagumkan dengan merebut set ketiga 6-2. Djokovic sedang unggul 2-1 di servisnya ketika pertandingan harus dihentikan karena hujan. Pertandingan baru bisa dilanjutkan keesokan harinya (hari ini). Nadal dengan cepat menghapus keuntungan tipis yang dimiliki Djokovic tersebut dengan langsung mematahkan servisnya sehingga skor menjadi 2 sama. Kedua pemain mempertahankan servisnya sampai 5-5. Di game berikutnya, yang merupakan servisnya Nadal, terjadi drama kecil lagi dimana Nadal mengira bolanya Djokovic keluar (tetapi hakim garis memutuskan bolanya masuk) tetapi wasit menolak untuk mengecek bekas pantulan bola di lapangan karena Nadal tidak “langsung berhenti”, sehingga poin menjadi milik Djokovic. Nadal kehilangan poin selanjutnya tetapi ia masih mampu mempertahankan servisnya. Di game selanjutnya, Nadal mendapatkan championship point di posisi 30-40 dan Djokovic membuat double fault sehingga kemenangan menjadi milik Rafael Nadal.
Jadi, sekarang, resmilah Rafael Nadal menjadi pemegang gelar tunggal putra French Open terbanyak, dengan tujuh gelar, melampaui rekornya Björn Borg!
Selamat Rafa!! Pertandingan finalnya adalah pertandingan yang seru karena ia mendapatkan perlawanan sengit dari Novak Djokovic, si peringkat 1 dunia yang jugalah satu-satunya pemain yang berhasil mencuri satu set dari Rafa di French Open tahun ini.
ENGLISH
. But still, this long weekend has gone much faster than I thought it would be though…
BAHASA INDONESIA
So, with Serena’s loss, the title was automatically “given” to her. But again, this is tennis. Sharapova had to win two more matches if she wanted that title. And she didn’t. The sixth-seed, Li Na from China, put together a very impressive performance, destroying Sharapova 6–2, 6–2 in the semifinals.
) 24 hour Salzburg Card at our hotel’s reception, we started the day with making our way to our first destination: Schloss Hellbrunn. As I mentioned during 
). But they sold it for freaking €7! 
) of the castle was explained in details. There was also the “Torture Chamber” where a lot of medieval torture devices were stored, even though apparently they did not torture people in that chamber. We also got to one of the tops of the castle, which offered very nice view of Salzburg and its surrounding!
. At my previous trip to Salzburg, I was sure the tour ran until around 20:30 or something like that. But it was during the summer so maybe they had different timetables. But the point was: we missed the last tour of the day just by literally two minutes! Damn!
Yay! My parents were very excited because it was their first encounter with a snowing weather! (Well, they already had seen snow before, during their previous stop to the Switzerland. But it was piled snow on top of a mountain, so not while it was really snowing where the snow fell from the sky). Then, we went back to our hotel.
(Ah, why did anyone have to get sick during a trip? 
This Wimbledon experience was just getting better and better and better!! After an unexpected No.2 Court ticket on my first visit, now I got a No.1 Court ticket!! Wow!! 
. And as I said in Paris, she was much more gorgeous in real life than in pictures!!
