Though most of the sports-watching world has its eyes on Beijing right now, there's an opportunity to watch world-class athletes closer to home. The Legg Mason Tennis Classic, part of the U.S. Open Series, starts tomorrow (Saturday) in Washington, D.C. Most of the top men's players are at the Olympics, but we've got Andy Roddick and Marat Safin (above), Tommy Haas, John Isner, Sebastien Grosjean, and Taylor Dent (who got in as a wild card), among others. You can find the singles draw here.
This is ridiculously late notice, but tomorrow you can watch qualifying round matches for a mere $10. The box office opens at 8 a.m., and matches start at 9. According to an article by Tom Shroder in The Washington Post last year, this is one of Washington's "Hidden Pleasures":
And though the tournament draws an average of more than 70,000 fans, very few of them show on this day. Which means that we could drive 16th Street with barely a pause, park right beside the entrance to the complex, then act as if we owned the place. We could go to the main stadium court and plop down anywhere we wanted -- either in the shady seats behind the baseline or the courtside seats directly over the net. We could walk over to the grandstand courts and watch from five feet away as 16-year-old phenoms took on veterans with names we recognized trying to make a comeback from injury or misfortune.
And all this -- plus the festival atmosphere surrounding major tennis tournaments, with the food court and merchandise booths, the test-your-skill games, the occasional live music -- would have made a fine day in itself, except . . .
Shroder went on to describe how he and his family happened upon practice sessions on the side courts that year: Lleyton Hewitt and Tim Henman, James Blake and Mardy Fish, Andre Agassi and Andy Murray. Okay, so you might not get that lucky this year, but it's supposed to be gorgeous out tomorrow, so just sitting and watching tennis at any level would be an awfully pleasant way to spend the day.
Check out the tournament's website for directions and parking information.
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