Player Blog

[buurs]

Robby Ginepri:

If it’s Sunday, it must be Cincinnati. Hello to all you blog readers.

I got in Thursday from Toronto. At first I was thinking flying would be impossible with the enhanced security, so I was going to rent a car. But then Sebastien Grosjean told me flights were going fine, so I went ahead and flew.

We were expecting to wait a couple hours in line in Toronto. But we went right in. The only problem was I couldn’t take my Evian water past security, so I chugged it down there. We had to unpack our bags because you couldn’t carry on liquids, and my trainer had to take out a lot of creams and lotions.

Once we got to Cincinnati, I was working out in the gym, and who should walk by but a fellow American who you probably know of – James Blake. He asked me if I wanted to get some grub. So we went to Carrabba’s for a good little shmeal. I had veal piccata.

I want to be a cook in the future, so I often try to get some pointers and tips on how the food is prepared and served. It’s cool to see that around the world. There are completely different tastes and styles. I had to go for desert because they had tiara misu, and I’m a sucker for it. Then I had a little café latte to clear the palette.

On Friday, the USTA had a court dedication in Cincinnati. I got to go back to my roots – high school arts classes, as I had to paint a little of the doubles sideline and sign my name to it. It’s cool that everyone playing on public courts will see that I was there. I talked with a local high school team and got to interact with the kids who play on public courts.

It reminded of my days growing up and how I would go to the public courts to hit against the backboard. And now people will be stepping on my name for years and years!

On Friday I hit with James Blake. It’s not too tough finding a hitting partner before the event starts. Sometimes you see guys at the airport and line something up for the next few days. If not, you can just sign up for a partner.

Friday night we went to a Mexican restaurant. It had unbelievable guacamole, though in all modesty, I must say that I make a better one. The Dos Equis beer was pretty good too!

Saturday night I hung out with the boys. We played poker. Mardy Fish, James Blake and Paul Goldstein were part of the game. I came in fourth. James won it. He was lucky as usual. He called Mardy in an all-in hand. Mardy had a better hand, but James popped a trump card at the end to win it. Mardy was furious and wouldn’t stop giving James a hard time.

Yesterday I played two hours with James. We played a few sets, and I lost. We do this thing we call hozelrocket. Whoever loses has to stand at the fence facing it. That was me. James stood at the other baseline and fired a ball as hard as he could at me. Fortunately, his aim’s not too good, so he missed. That game isn’t so much fun to play with Andy Roddick.
We involve the coaches too. And mine – Diego Ayala – wasn’t so lucky. He got hit in the back. He’s going to coach me at Cincinnati and the US Open. We go a long way back and played doubles together. It’s good to have someone here who’s a good friend and keeps it chilled and relaxed, the way I like it.

My dad is here. Pops has come every year I’ve played. My mom’s a little sick, so he needs a break. Last year he had an unbelievable time. Of course, that’s pretty easy when his son is winning – I made it to the semis.

Today I hit with Bjorn Phau. I asked him if he wanted to play hozelrocket. And he said “hozel what?”

I’m undefeated at the Golden Tee video game. I don’t play golf too well, so this works out a little better for me.

I’ve been going to the Waffle House every day, but tomorrow I won’t be able to, because it’s not so healthy before a match – I play Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round. They have one about every mile in Atlanta (my home town), and I love it. I usually go late at night. It’s a good shmeal.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about my near car wreck. The tournament gave us a nice rig for the week: a Mercedes S550. There’s not a better car to drive. I was working out at Gold’s Gym with my trainer. I was driving and pulled out, and we gassed it a bit. Some guy swerved into our lane, and we had to pull off the road. It probably wouldn’t have been so good to destroy the tournament car.

Fortunately, we all made it out unscathed! So I’ll be back to blog to you tomorrow. Have a good night!