*and carlos moya, too.

chennai used to host an atp tennis tournament every january, and in 2008 my cousin invited me to attend with him. he had friends who worked for the tournament and so would get good match tickets as well as passes for some of the training sessions, so i very enthusiastically said yes. and when i found out rafael nadal — my favorite player — would be participating, i was even more excited.

my friend gugi joined me, and on the first day we arrived we got to attend rafa’s training session and meet him briefly after — it was the first time in my life i had ever been speechless and my cousin had to ask for the photo because i was incapable of forming words. rafa was very nice and extremely generous with his time, sticking around for a while to make sure everyone who wanted to say hi and get a photo had their chance. carlos moya was also there, so we said hi to him and got a photo with him as well.

we attended three days of the tournament, spent a day exploring mahaballipuram, and generally had a blast. nadal wound up losing in the final which was disappointing but he was such a good sport about the whole thing that you never would have known. and in his interview after he spoke very highly of the entire tournament experience and the people of chennai which made me happy.

at this point rafa was 21 years old, the number 2 player in the world, had won 3 french opens, and would go on in 2008 to win his fourth french open, his first wimbledon title, the gold medal at the beijing olympics, and finish the year ranked number 1. and yet my favorite story from that year is how he would spend his extra time in chennai sharing snacks and playing with the young kids who took lessons at the club where the tournament was held. when he lost the final, one young fan of his was so distraught that he brought her onto the court with him and so he could console her. it’s just always really nice when your favorite celebrities are also great humans, and i am so lucky i got to witness it for myself that weekend.

it may have been 17 years ago [wow!], but i still remember it like it was yesterday.

xx