Missing a fun tradition…

For more than a decade, I have tried every year to get out to Indian Wells (south of Palm Springs) to take in a few days of matches at the big tennis tournament held there during the first two weeks of March.

I have so many good memories including watching a 48-year-old Martina Navratilova practice for an hour and a 26-year-old Martina Hingis trying to make a comeback. I watched the now-retired Justine Henin practice her gorgeous backhand and Jennifer Capriati work on her strokes well into the afternoon with her brother. I drooled as a shirtless Carlos Moya rallied ferociously with Vince Spadea and stared as the tall and gorgeous Rafael Nadal (pictured above) walked over to a practice court and within an hour, the crowd grow to five people deep. I’ve seen women (and men too) swooning over the Russian star Marat Safin and even retrieved a ball for cutie pie Todd Woodbridge who was practicing with doubles partner Jonas Bjorkman. Then there was the site of Andy Roddick practicing that rocket serve of his under the hot afternoon sun.

Yeah, I’ve seen plenty of matches over the years but my favorite memories are always of the players practicing. You get to see them up-close, the guys often have their shirts off, and they are relaxed and enjoying themselves. One of my favorites to watch during practice or a match is Germany’s Tommy Haas (pictured left). He has strokes as gorgeous as his face. I would have been out there today watching Tommy play Novak Djokovic had my employment circumstances not changed. So, I’ll have to make do with posting a few pics of gorgeous Tommy and plan for next year!