Toro! Toro! Toro!

No, you're not in a sushi restaurant listening to me order a round of fatty tuna. Rather, those were the words I was bellowing from the upper deck of Arthur Ashe Stadium tonight as we watched little-known Fabrice Santoro give #1 seed Roger Federer a run for his money. Federer ended up winning tonight's match 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (2).

The match started off in rather pedestrian fashion, with Federer looking to be the superior player in every respect. But as the night wore on, Santoro showed a little magic which caused the crowd, including myself, to turn in his favor. He hit a winner between his legs with his back to the net. He hit a behind-his-back volley. And he hit still another with a simple flick of the wrist. While Federer played an uninspired match, Santoro kept hanging around. And it was this resilience which swayed the crowd to his side.

I think early in the second set, I had seen enough of Santoro's magic act that I started to openly cheer for him. I might have been the first. Soon, I was encouraging "Toro" on every point and some others in my section joined me. Next thing you knew, a good 30% of the crowd was using my "Toro! Toro! Toro!" cheer. But alas, Federer showed just enough of his skill to overmatch Fabrice and our hero went down to defeat. But he did get a standing ovation at the end.

I had never seen a live professional tennis match until last year. My friend Seth came into town and invited me for a US Open day-pass, which was awesome. We probably saw 6 of the quarterfinalists play a full week before the quarters. The next week, my friend Paulo invited me out for mixed doubles featuring Navratilova and Sharapova. Tonight was my third time out to Flushing for US Open tennis, and before the Federer match Paulo and I got to watch Venus Williams slap some Czech chick silly.

And I gotta tell you, it's a blast. I say that as a non-tennis fan. I mean, I like the sport but I don't know that much about it and I don't play or even follow it that closely. Nonetheless, there is something about the vibe out there that is really nice. It's relaxing, but it can get quite intense. It's quiet in comparison to most professional sports these days in the sense that each player doesn't have their own theme song and at no time does anyone say "Let's get reeeeeeaaaaaddddddyyyyy to rrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmm-ble!!" And although there is no shortage of fan intensity, it's still nice to see some decorum. I think part of it is also the "scene." First of all, the main challenge out there is to look as much like a tennis pro as possible without actually wearing Federer's outfit. People are really, REALLY proud of their sneakers. And the other thing is that it is a fairly upscale event. Plenty of Appletinis and spritzers in the crowd. And while that has some negative baggage, there's plenty of top-notch eye-candy. And tonight, Nicole Kidman and supermodel Yamila were there to up the stakes.

All in all, I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much but it really is a great time. And it may be the best spectator event I've been to, outside of a San Diego Charger game. Now, waiting for the 7 train and then all the craziness on the G train which dropped me off a good 30 minute walk from home...was not a blast. But you can't have it all, can you?