Day 7: Be Cool.

Today we jumped right into the action after a quick press meeting. We arranged press schedules for every WTA match today and handled media requests as they came through and changed during matches.

View of Lotus Stadium from the player's practice courts. 

Time seemed to fly—we were literally handling all media from flash interviews right out of Lotus stadium, to press conferences and one on one sessions.  After each  match I confirm the press times with the player and their tour reps, then when it’s time I escort the player and officers to the correct venues.

We do six different types of media interviews, and it is amazing to be in the studio for meetings with the top tennis players in the world.

Sitting at the press conference desk a few days ago! Couldn't resist. 

Today in the player’s area we saw many of the ATP players preparing for their first matches. John Isner, the wild card for the men’s draw, was there along with Djokovic and Soderling.  Isner walked up to the officer I was talking to and gave him a high five on his way to the practice courts. I think I came up to his waist. But he looked at me.

Isner getting serious. 

We really got a feel for the personal side of these tours— especially from a media relations standpoint. It was tense walking players who lost, especially for past champions like Svetlana Kuznetsova, who was beat out by a qualifier today in the first rounds. 

Svetlana won the China Open in 2009 and 2006, but is out today. 

At the end of the day Daniela Hantuchova, who in person looks like an impossibly beautiful model,  lost to Hercog, and even though she must have been very upset she was a good sport about fulfilling all of the media requests.  I felt her pain as I dragged her to her CCTV interview and they asked her to "Say Bye Bye to Beijing." 

Na Li is a huge celebrity in China--and is adorable in person!

The Chinese media were most excited for their press conference with Chinese “superstar” Li Na.  Other than Sharapova, her press conference was much looked forward to by the local media, who were so excited to see her after her win. We had to keep cutting the questions short or they would have kept her all night!

In all we left about 10:30 pm with some great memories of the first day. I can't even begin to describe how cool it was to hang out with the players. They are normal people and it was awesome to be able to help them get through press after matches--I made Kirilenko take my kleenax to her press conference.  I loved seeing how press and media work with sporting events, especially since I get to be right in there communicating with both sides. 

Things are going to be even more hectic tomorrow--can't wait!