i can say MSG in chinese!: Chinese Tennis = WWE Wrestling

Since I arrived here and began commuting to work, I would see flapping posters on the street lights depicting Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal advertising some tennis event. I looked it up online and saw that Shanghai actually brings in huge names for a tournament: the Shanghai Rolex Masters. This is one of the stops on the ATP World Tour. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to get tickets and it may be worth it to see the big players while I have a chance. As you can see, my family has converted me to their tennis-loving ways. I still don't play but I am clearly a good fan.

Unfortunately, both Federer and Djokovic pulled out because they are dumb and "tired" or whatever. I still thought it would be an interesting activity, so my friend Dan and I went to get tickets. This happened after I apparently missed the online buying date and then the over-the-phone buying date, which was told to me in Chinese after I pressed 2 for English. It was a confusing time.

We live near the stadium where I thought the tournament was playing to buy the tickets on Tuesday and two scalpers approached us telling me, "the tennis tickets are sold out." I didn't trust them, so I asked the lady in the window who confirmed the news. Damn, I am not a huge fan of scalping, especially in China where everything can be faked, and faked well. I talked with the guy a bit, letting him know I was skeptical and that we'd just peace out if he tried to do anything weird. We ended up getting the tickets we wanted for just a 20元 markup. I was surprised at the tickets being sold out but, hey, it's world-class tennis so maybe it's quite popular?

The day of the quarterfinals, I had to go straight from work on the bus. But after looking around at work for some information, I realized that the event was definitely NOT at the Shanghai Indoor Stadium because there is an actual special tennis stadium built specifically to attract big events. I quickly texted Dan and explained how to get to the Qizhong Stadium which is, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. It is at the end of line 5, which you can only get to by going to the end of line 1! Then you have to catch a cab from the metro terminal station to get to the stadium. It was kind of a joke, though we both made it there easily. Sadly, I missed Andy Roddick but he lost (of course) so I guess it's fine.

Side note: as I'm writing this I am catching glimpses my laundry wave madly in the breeze. I'm worried it's going to fly away. Hmmph.

Back to my story...so I get to the stadium and it is incredible! As the cabbie--who, by the way, was just a guy from Anhui province trying to make a buck in his little orange Honda--pulled up to the gate, I just admired the enormity and shininess of the place. It rose from the flat industrial zone like a temple of tennis, majestically towering in the evening light. It is very much a world-class facility but the location is certainly a joke. Any time you need to take two subways and a cab, you've got a problem. This bizarre situation was the subject of mine and Dan's conversation for much of the evening.

Retractable roof stadium!

Inside, there were many a foreigner but also Chinese. It was not crowded at all. This annoyed me. We could sit pretty much anywhere, and we'd paid for "better" seats that we could have just moseyed over to from the higher section. Bah humbug! But we had a great view of the matches and I got to talk about Oregon with people because I was wearing my Oregon shirt (thanks Lena!). A man from Bend talked to me as we waited to get in and some kids from Arizona talked football with me. It was great!

I came in during one of the matches and saw that through to completion. After a short break, it was time for the next match. The lights dimmed and loud music began to play. I was confused, wasn't this a tennis tournament? A strobe light flashed and a spotlight circled the stadium. A man in the middle of the court jabbered in Chinese about something. A fog machine began to spill out mist by a doorway decorated in blue shimmery streamers. Dan laughed as they announced the player (F. Mayer) in ominous tones and he wandered out of the fog onto the court. Do you think they're used to this treatment? I'm thinking not. It was definitely tennis with Chinese characteristics, and it was hilarious.

All in all, it reminded me of TV wrestling, especially when the announcer was getting the crowd worked up. If the prim and proper Wimbledon fans could see this...

And now...Andy Murray walks through the fog!

Loud music and flashing lights. Get pumped up!

Tennis!

Here's that day's schedule, I just missed the Roddick game. As you can see, our view was amazing and there were two big screens for replays and stats. The crowd got very excited about Hawk-Eye, the tracking system they use when players challenge a call. A heartbeat noise would play loudly and the crowd would "oooooh" in unison. I quite liked the energy in the stadium. It was pleasant. The matches were also interspersed with plane noises, which continually surprised me because I kept forgetting the roof was open. Then I would get a chill and remember that we were effectively outside. I apparently have no memory to speak of, but the stadium was really very comfortable and enclosed, so it was easy to think we were indoors.

We watched Andy Murray start to soundly defeat his opponent and bopped out before the crowds started and before the metro closed. It would be a very, very high price to cab all the way home from this place. There were many unofficial cabbies trying to charge obscene rates to the metro so we found a metered taxi across the road. He took us to the metro station quickly and it cost half of what the men were charging at the stadium. We also ended up more than halfway down line 5, so our trip was shortened significantly and for the same price. Now, if I go back, I feel like I can get there quicker and cheaper. The thing is, I think the Rolex Masters is the only thing going on. The stadium has no point beyond that one tournament. Again, bizarre.