Tennis anyone?

On Nov 1, for the first time in many years, we watched live tennis.  Five of us attended the WTA Sony Ericsson Women's Championship Final between Venus and Serena Williams.  (Of course, we had to be in our seats about an hour before the start because otherwise we would have parked miles from Al Khalifa stadium and would have lost out on the first come first seat availability).

We made good use of the time by relaxing and chatting.  We were in the nosebleed section but still close enough to the action that we could see all the detail.  What was really fascinating was watching the moon rise behind the skyscrapers and then seeing the city light up in a hue of colour as dusk settled. We were on the runway flight path as well so we got a great view of B747 and Airbus landings.  

The match itself was a little lacklustre at times - the ladies looked tired and both sported a bandaged leg.   We saw no tantrums and coped well with the occasional grunts. Some good rallies, but it was over quite quickly with Serena beating Venus, the defending champion 6-2, 7-6.  Then we were treated to the award ceremony - would be nice to earn $1.5 million in one go...if only I had any talents. 

Best part of the evening just had to be the spectacular entertainment display of aerial acrobatics and gymnastic performances.  Doha may not get its parking right, but it certainly knows how to put on an extravaganza - fireworks, huge balloons, fire wheels, and millions of silver and gold sparkles that almost lit up the court as they drizzled down from the huge crane.   The audience sat spellbound holding their breathe.  The only people sighing in despair had to be the court sweepers who had a gargantuan task ahead of the doubles match.

A memorable evening was had by all.