ATP Tournament

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The weekend after the National Holiday I went BACK to Shanghai. I couldn’t resist. Shanghai was hosting the Rolex Masters, an ATP tennis tournament. I went with a co-worker for 2 nights. We got really cheap flights and both really wanted to watch live tennis! We tried to make it into a ‘girls weekend’ but no other girls seemed interested in watching some of the best tennis in the world!

The weekend was amazing! We spent all day Saturday at the Shanghai Qi Zhong Tennis Center. The Center is located quite far away from downtown Shanghai in an area called Maqiao Town in the Min Hang District. It took us a while to get out to the stadium but it was very well marked and the city did a great job organizing shuttle busses to and from some metro stops. The Qi Zhong Tennis Center is a sight in itself. There are 25 courts in the center and the main stadium resembles a blooming magnolia flower, supposedly Shanghai's city flower.

Watching live tennis is amazing! We saw one match of doubles semi-finals, including a Canadian – Nestor! His team beat out 2 guys from India. The first semi-final we watched was really good. Ferrer versus Lopez (2 guys from Spain) and the match lasted over 2 hours. The second semi-final was Andy Murray (ranked #4 in the world) versus Kei Nishikori (Asia’s highest ranked tennis player but a total underdog... I think he was ranked in the top 50 maybe?). The game lasted less than an hour and Andy Murray basically gave the guy a tennis lesson. I already can’t wait to go to another ATP tournament!

On Sunday we spent the day lazing around, drinking coffee and taking in some Shanghai sights (it was her first time in the city). I took her to the French Concession, the Bund, the Old Town, and East Nanjing Street. It was a great weekend and I had great company. The ONLY downside was coming home late Sunday night and having to work the next day. It makes for a very long week!

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