“I was there… at Kooyong!”

Andy’s fans had a great 2007, traveling all over the world to see Andy play. Andy’s 2008 season kicked off at the Kooyong Classic, and that will also mark the first of our fan reports for 2008.Madi and Amy went to see Andy at Kooyong and shared their experience with andyroddick.com.“Kooyong began on Wednesday and we went, all kitted up in our American outfits (Ed’s note – every year, Madi and Amy go to Kooyong wearing dresses made out of the American flag). We’d decided this was the final year we were going to dress up in the outfits. after 6 years (6 at the aus open, 4 at kooyong) we think they’ve had enough. So we made up our minds that this was the final time..the ‘farewell tour’ if you will.So Wednesday, We arrived near the end of the first match as Andy was scheduled on for second. We had seats up in the nosebleed section… so we completely barred that and went for a stroll around to get the feel of the arena once again.

We headed over to the players entrance/exit to wait for Andy to come out to play his match. We always say ‘good luck’ before his matches and then ‘congratulations’ after his matches which is when we get the annual ‘stair photo’ as it’s come to be known.
So we went over there, and saw a heap of people who remembered us from previous years. It’s always nice going to Kooyong because people remember us and always strike up conversation. We talked with policemen, event organisers, photographers, other Andy fans, security guards, workers, ball kids..the lot!

So then Andy appeared after a little bit…and we said ‘good luck” and he said ‘thank you’.

Then we went on to watch him…he played great after the first few points in which he made me worried haha. But sure enough he won the match and we were ecstatic.

We rushed from the stadium to the players entrance/exit once again to get a glimpse of Andy and give him our congratulations. Now, we owe our outfits a LOT of love considering they’ve gotten us a large amount of things and hook-ups over the years.
This time, the security guard let us stand closer than any other fans, so we could hold out our flag (which says “COME ON ANDY” painted across a huge American flag) and give our congrats.

So when Andy came up, he was being a good gentlemen and signing for all the kiddies waiting for him and then came over to us and had a little chit chat. It was really nice and he treated us well, so we were happy.

After that it was home and to rest up for the next day!

Unfortunately Amy (my cousin and fellow american outfit wearer) couldn’t make it, on the second day, as she had to go to university, so i was flying solo, which is never fun…not to mention it was 41 degrees here… So I was on my own, and when we are solo, we don’t wear the outfits. So I still “repped” Andy, with my Lacoste dress and American flag.

I arrived during the last set of Murray and Ljubicic match, so I went to wait at the players entrance/exit. Sure enough, Andy comes down just after the other guys have finished their match, and I said the good luck and clapped for him and he said ‘thank you’. So that was good.

Then i pratically ran to my seats to watch the match. Now I like Safin, and he is a big guy, so i will admit i was a bit nervous for this match…but I never lost my faith for Andy (I mean, we’ve seen him play against Federer… and WIN! so this was nothing).

So sure enough, he won. YEAH!! And the stadium was pretty empty, so majority of the cheers and yells were coming from me. I think I sent some old ladies into early deafness.

So after Andy gave his little wave and stuff, he played some exhibition thing where he served at a competition winner for like 5 minutes. During that time I went to the players entrance/exit and waited for Andy to come.

After being swarmed with people, and of course he signed for practically all of them, he was up near me. There was a girl and her mom (i think?) next to me, and she had an I HEART ANDY shirt on (one of those ones reebok made i think) so that was cute, and I really wanted Andy to sign for her…so I got Andy’s attention and then he saw the girl and signed for her so that made me happy (I bet she was even happier!! haha)
And then I said my ‘congratulations’ once again, and this time it was really lovely because Andy said “Thanks Madi”. I wasn’t sure if he remembered my name or not, so that was a nice surprise. And then I asked for a photo, and ofcourse he obliged.
I could almost feel the rays of envy from the people behind us haha. I felt bad…but not too bad! I then told him I’d see him on Saturday for the final and he smiled and said see you then.”

Thanks to Madi for writing up the report. If anyone else has seen Andy in Australian, the address to write to us is iwasthere@andyroddick.com.