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EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
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Scenes from a day off
Sunday was a day off -- the only one of the fortnight for us at TNT, and the only day without play at Wimbledon if the weather's been good, which it has. Everyone I know heads to Hyde Park or movies or a nice lunch or civilized dinner somewhere in London; something to make them feel that for one day they can reconnect with the rest of the world. Last night at an impromptu first week wrap party we spoke for a while about Week 1, thought about Week 2, but after a time everyone was ready to go back to London. Tomorrow some kind of delirious TNT football game was trying to get scared up. "Hey Mare. You don't have a football, do you?" Oh, sure, guys. It's right here in my bag somewhere. Must be in with my compact and mascara. No, I don't carry around a football. I don't even carry around a compact and mascara. But I bet they found one. I bet they played. I don't stay in London during the fortnight. For years I've rented a house right up the street from Gate 16 of Wimbledon with Martina Navratilova. For many years Martina had stayed in the same house with Billie Jean King and eventually I got to stay there too. So many players stay right around us. But this year Billie was somewhere else and Martina found us a different place, four minutes from work. I arrived last week and starting hoisting my bags out of the car when a tall blonde guy with a nice smile wandered over to me. Must have been the homeowner we were renting from, though he looked confused. "Hi. I'm renting this house. How are you?" I said pleasantly. The man looked at me. German accent. "You are sharing a place with Nicolas Kiefer ?" Well, no, though he's a lovely man and a very good tennis player. "I'll get back to you." I said, and we both smiled. It was the next house up. I didn't want to go into London today. It was going to be my only chance, but I wanted to sleep late and then just wander around this lovely, gentle town when it was at rest too. It's so different on this day. No queues, to traffic, no tension in the air, no sounds of applause. Walked around on this warm Sunday morning, my first exercise in days. Eventually I wandered back towards the All England Club. On the way I saw my blonde guy and Kiefer walking towards practice. Nicolas has Andre Agassi next. We said hi the way neighbors do. I walked into the grounds. Not a lot of people around. The groundsman were mowing the grass, laying down new lines. Guys were pressure cleaning the stairs. I walked into Centre Court. It's every bit as beautiful when it's empty and quiet. Stayed a while, looked around, rested in the sun for a bit. I moved towards the Broadcast Centre to say hi to the NBC squad. I'd had a nice lunch with John McEnroe during the week but hadn't yet seen Chris Evert. On the way Tim Henman passed with some guy I didn't know. I didn't want to bother Tim. I like him and knew that this was the one day that he could walk around this place without being mobbed by fans, hounded by press, without being the Hope Of All England. But he came up to me. "Are you well?" he asked, shaking my hand. "I am. And boy, you're looking good." He is, too. Thanks. "Enjoying the weather?" "Sure," I said, and waved goodbye to him. Then I walked inside. John and Chrissie and Hannah Storm had to tape segments for the show NBC was running today -- a first week highlight thing. Saw John first, in the corner reading a newspaper. Waved to Chris and Hannah, and only then noticed that they were about to interview Jennifer Capriati. It began, and Jennifer was being thoughtful and patient. At some point she was asked how difficult her past was to get through, and she told them a story I'd never heard. She said that one time in the dark days a kid walked up to her and said, "My father said you could have been the greatest tennis player of all time." Jennifer said that was very tough to hear. It must have been; it was hard for me to hear. How did she survive all that and come back like she did? Talked to Chrissie and her sister afterwards for a while, but then they were ready to head back to London too. I walked outside, took one more look around for Hamish the Hawk, whose job it is to scare off the pigeons that descend on the grounds. He sure wasn't on the case during the Lleyton Hewitt-Taylor Dent match; birds were dive-bombing all over the fifth set. It seems Hamish was off duty that night. "The problem with Hamish" explained a Wimbledon spokesman, "is that he is not allowed to fly when the public are around. He's a predator and has a tendency to swoop, not good when there are picnics around." Ah. Well, then. There were no picnics today, but there was no Hamish either. I guess he's had Sunday off as well. It sounds like he's got a pretty good job. But my job's pretty good, too.
Mary Carillo is an analyst and play-by-play announcer for TNT's coverage of Wimbledon. She has been in broadcasting since retiring from the WTA tour in 1980.
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