Celebrity Day at Roland Garros

When a friend calls to invite you to a VIP booth at Roland Garros in Paris you drop everything and run...

How fast can a day's planning change? Answer: VERY.

By lunchtime I was sipping a large glass of Chardonnay along with my Melon-Prosecco soup, filet de veau et fleurs de courgettes and a scrumptious chocolate dessert with Yusu ice cream.

These are the perks of being invited to a VIP lounge. 

Feeling quite chuffed with ourselves, my friend and I ventured into the private tribune to watch Novak Djokovic who had just started his match against Philip Kohlschreiber and a gripping and entertaining game it was.

However, we were frozen through and through by the end of it - the VIP seats are in the shade since June is suppose to be a warm month!! - but it was worth it.

Next, we would get to enjoy the cherry on the cake: Rafael Nadal. However, Flamenco Lady decided to notch it up one step and went on a mission to find us seats in the sun.

She came back with braclets to the Players's Lounge, no less, where we immediately bumped into Michael Chang and his family. If you remember him you are giving away you're age. ;) Chang was the youngest-ever male player to win a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17. This could be good! ;)

I love my bracelets

Players' Lounge

I am no tennis freak therefore I cannot tell you the names of the top lady players we hung out with at the bar. I had my picture taken with an Argentinan player who had just won the mixed match thinking Expat boy - who was born in Argentina - will love this one! Turns out he's Uruguayan. Oooops.

I just googled him. Guess what? I have a photo with Pablo Cuevas smiling next to me. He won the French Open men's doubles title in 2008.

Then came the big moment. Rafa was about to play. Trying to wiggle our way onto the players' tribune - only for guest personally invited by the players - I was introduced to Rafa Nadal's father and his manager. "Hola, encantado." (I'm thinking: Encantada? You bet!)

We were seated right behind Nadal's family with a superb view onto the court and enjoyed an exquisite game of tennis IN THE SUNSHINE!

We sang Happy Birthday when Rafa entered the stadium and cheered him on in Spanish all through the match. After a pretty swift and easy win over a Japanese player he was presented with a huge birthday cake and we all got to sing Happy Birthday again... In FRENCH!

VAMOS RAFA!!!

Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and coach

Rafa keeping eye contact with his coach