Frenchies in Bercy
by dani
The French Vamos Brigade were in Bercy. This is an extract from Dani's blog.
All pictures are copyright Nathalie Mallet and must not be posted on other websites without her permission.
THE BRIGADE IS GATHERED IN THE STADIUM
So, now we are not badly seated in row five and more than ready to encourage Rafa.
Well, yes..... but there still is another match to go through: poor Santoro, he was not encouraged a lot by us, the match was magnificent but we had a hard time to try and muster up some interest for it, too occupied with chatting, getting acquainted and exchanging our impressions. In short, being very restless for what’s coming.
This is it!!!!! The lights go down, this is the moment! We are as high-strung as a…er…string and as wound up as a cuckoo clock (I’m using a lot of imagery here but I think that you all get what sort of state we were in). The players are announced: Wawrinka is the first to enter, he is applauded . Fair-play as we are, we do not even whistle. And then Rafa comes in, he is greeted warmly by the public and gets many cheers. In short, he gets a welcome fit of a champion. Afterwards we shall be left with the impression that there was little support for him whereas points won by the Swiss are very much applauded . The warm-up begins and we take photos, impossible to say who is the most excited....
The Swiss supporters are here, we can hear the cowbells resound in the stadium (Mirka, you are here? Sorry, that’s nasty, but that was our live reaction ).
The match is about to begin, I concentrate. It is decided, Rafa has to hear me. Oddly enough, we are intimidated; nobody dares to make the first sound. We keep our eyes wide open, we fill our heads with memories and we make photos. The toss is about to take place, Rafa is still sitting down and as usual, everybody waits for him: his opponent, the umpire and WE. Finally, he finishes his ritual and appears at the net.
It’s rather puzzling to see in real life what we know by heart from tv: he waits for the toss, he bounces, he gives a strong impression, he wins the toss and we know what the umpire is going to announce: mister Nadal chose to receive.
The match begins and right away, it’s pretty clear to us that Rafa is going to need support; he has difficulty going into the match and the Swiss has success with magnificent shots, we have to admit that. The public applauds the points of Wawrinka and little those of Rafa . We have the impression to be the only ones to encourage him. During every changeover, we do not save our efforts, we wave our flag, we shout our encouragements all together. We spot two other Spanish flags in the stands.
But none of us dares to shout out individually. The first one to have the courage to do so is..... Daniboy He throws out a loud “VAMOS RAFA” and we all turn around towards him, astounded.
Who said that he’s not a Rafafan? He’s earned his VB stripes.
Daniboy was shouting his little heart out, so I figure that I can not stay behind, I can do this. After all, we’ve been training at home. I wait for a quiet moment and then, I jump into the occasion like a bungee jumper. I imagine that it is quite similar: you know that you’re going to do something crazy, you know that you will draw a lot of attention and yet, you just go ahead and do it.
I throw out my “VAMOS RRRRRAFA!!!!!!!!!!“
Val, who is on my right side, jumps up and tells me that she is now deaf in one ear. It appears that I have some voice. The only one who is not surprised by that, is Daniboy. He knows what I am capable of.
Oh!!!! I am proud that I succeeded.
And then Nath’s daughter, Val, starts as well and even Nath puts herself into it, shouting: "Go on, my Rafito" It was as if it came from god's fire, we roared during every changeover. We stress during the entire first set but once that first set is in the pocket, we are relieved. However, we want a victory in 2 sets to prevent a heart attack. We jump, roar, encourage and when Rafa was interviewed, he said that he had appreciated to have the public behind him to encourage him. I am sure that we all thought that he spoke about us
*YES WE LOVE YOU*
Going back to the end of the first set to an episode that none of us WILL FORGET, except Daniboy... You have probably guessed what it is…
At the end of the first set, we are agitated but we relax when Val (I believe that it is her) draws our attention to Rafa, who is changing his shirt. We have the impression of being transported into paradise (I want to be reincarnated in a towel). Meticulously, he dries his torso, his arms one after the other, very slowly… We cannot bear it any more, we salivate and nobody has the reflex to take a photo.
Val and I ask Nath, who kept her camera around her neck, to immortalize the moment. You can see the result.
Don't know why, this one leaves Daniboy totally indifferent
He dries his back as if he just came out of the shower. This is unreal. Surely, he’s doing this on purpose to unleash the devils of our imagination. And then, this divine session comes to an end too fast, the shirt is put on with a lot of difficulty...as usual. God bless Nike for their T-shirt so becoming and yet so impractical for a boy who has hardly stepped away from under his mom’s wings
A the end of the match, we see Alex Corretja, for the interview for TVE, followed by the interview on court and the nice salute of Rafa
We do not want to see him leaving. Please, hold him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fortunately the autograph session lasts a long time, prolonging the pleasure of our eyes, gradually coming down again, back to earth. Toni has long gone before Rafa leaves.
We have the impression to have dreamed.
Here is the full blog.
All pictures are copyright Nathalie Mallet and must not be posted on other websites without her permission.
THE BRIGADE IS GATHERED IN THE STADIUM
So, now we are not badly seated in row five and more than ready to encourage Rafa.
Well, yes..... but there still is another match to go through: poor Santoro, he was not encouraged a lot by us, the match was magnificent but we had a hard time to try and muster up some interest for it, too occupied with chatting, getting acquainted and exchanging our impressions. In short, being very restless for what’s coming.
This is it!!!!! The lights go down, this is the moment! We are as high-strung as a…er…string and as wound up as a cuckoo clock (I’m using a lot of imagery here but I think that you all get what sort of state we were in). The players are announced: Wawrinka is the first to enter, he is applauded . Fair-play as we are, we do not even whistle. And then Rafa comes in, he is greeted warmly by the public and gets many cheers. In short, he gets a welcome fit of a champion. Afterwards we shall be left with the impression that there was little support for him whereas points won by the Swiss are very much applauded . The warm-up begins and we take photos, impossible to say who is the most excited....
The Swiss supporters are here, we can hear the cowbells resound in the stadium (Mirka, you are here? Sorry, that’s nasty, but that was our live reaction ).
The match is about to begin, I concentrate. It is decided, Rafa has to hear me. Oddly enough, we are intimidated; nobody dares to make the first sound. We keep our eyes wide open, we fill our heads with memories and we make photos. The toss is about to take place, Rafa is still sitting down and as usual, everybody waits for him: his opponent, the umpire and WE. Finally, he finishes his ritual and appears at the net.
It’s rather puzzling to see in real life what we know by heart from tv: he waits for the toss, he bounces, he gives a strong impression, he wins the toss and we know what the umpire is going to announce: mister Nadal chose to receive.
The match begins and right away, it’s pretty clear to us that Rafa is going to need support; he has difficulty going into the match and the Swiss has success with magnificent shots, we have to admit that. The public applauds the points of Wawrinka and little those of Rafa . We have the impression to be the only ones to encourage him. During every changeover, we do not save our efforts, we wave our flag, we shout our encouragements all together. We spot two other Spanish flags in the stands.
But none of us dares to shout out individually. The first one to have the courage to do so is..... Daniboy He throws out a loud “VAMOS RAFA” and we all turn around towards him, astounded.
Who said that he’s not a Rafafan? He’s earned his VB stripes.
Daniboy was shouting his little heart out, so I figure that I can not stay behind, I can do this. After all, we’ve been training at home. I wait for a quiet moment and then, I jump into the occasion like a bungee jumper. I imagine that it is quite similar: you know that you’re going to do something crazy, you know that you will draw a lot of attention and yet, you just go ahead and do it.
I throw out my “VAMOS RRRRRAFA!!!!!!!!!!“
Val, who is on my right side, jumps up and tells me that she is now deaf in one ear. It appears that I have some voice. The only one who is not surprised by that, is Daniboy. He knows what I am capable of.
Oh!!!! I am proud that I succeeded.
And then Nath’s daughter, Val, starts as well and even Nath puts herself into it, shouting: "Go on, my Rafito" It was as if it came from god's fire, we roared during every changeover. We stress during the entire first set but once that first set is in the pocket, we are relieved. However, we want a victory in 2 sets to prevent a heart attack. We jump, roar, encourage and when Rafa was interviewed, he said that he had appreciated to have the public behind him to encourage him. I am sure that we all thought that he spoke about us
*YES WE LOVE YOU*
Going back to the end of the first set to an episode that none of us WILL FORGET, except Daniboy... You have probably guessed what it is…
At the end of the first set, we are agitated but we relax when Val (I believe that it is her) draws our attention to Rafa, who is changing his shirt. We have the impression of being transported into paradise (I want to be reincarnated in a towel). Meticulously, he dries his torso, his arms one after the other, very slowly… We cannot bear it any more, we salivate and nobody has the reflex to take a photo.
Val and I ask Nath, who kept her camera around her neck, to immortalize the moment. You can see the result.
Don't know why, this one leaves Daniboy totally indifferent
He dries his back as if he just came out of the shower. This is unreal. Surely, he’s doing this on purpose to unleash the devils of our imagination. And then, this divine session comes to an end too fast, the shirt is put on with a lot of difficulty...as usual. God bless Nike for their T-shirt so becoming and yet so impractical for a boy who has hardly stepped away from under his mom’s wings
A the end of the match, we see Alex Corretja, for the interview for TVE, followed by the interview on court and the nice salute of Rafa
We do not want to see him leaving. Please, hold him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fortunately the autograph session lasts a long time, prolonging the pleasure of our eyes, gradually coming down again, back to earth. Toni has long gone before Rafa leaves.
We have the impression to have dreamed.
Here is the full blog.