On a normal day I would have told them to go ahead and pawn my kidney while they were at it, but for the first time in my life, I more than willingly handed $6 to the parking attendant. Being moments away from catching the best tennis player that has ever lived in action kinda put me in a better than usual mood.

Today’s semi-final featured Xavier Malisse and some local guy who had won Wimbledon 7 times. What was as exciting as the match itself was that this was to be Hui Chin’s first ATP tennis match. (It would have been a first for me had I not been all impatient and caught the earlier rounds.)

Malisse could have made more of a match of it but it was still truly amazing watching “dee” man in action. We weren’t close enough to see Pete’s tongue but we were able to catch his infamous eye brow wipe where he lifts sweat off his brow with the back of his hand.

Hui Chin and I stayed for doubles afterwards, O’Brien/Gimelstob vs. Roddick/Gambill. Oh, I forgot to mention that we bought dinner from the stands at the tennis grounds. Oddly enough, my Thai BBQ chicken pizza came up to $6, the same price for parking. The pizza was tasteless and covered with burnt carrot strips. I guess those bastards get you one way or the other.