US Open and Lindsay Davenport

I got to watch the US Open Tennis Women's quarter finals between Beatriz Haddad Maia and Karolina Muchova on Sep 4 2024. That was pretty awesome. I was in the IBM booth. IBM is a major sponsor of several sporting events including this one, the Masters Golf event and several others. It is amazing to see any sports persons duke it out against the competition. It is breathtaking to watch people at their best go against each other in a fairly laid level playing ground. Watching a broadcast is fun and watching it live is even better. Some sports are an easy pastime and others more intense - like imagine baseball vs UFC! Tennis, Soccer and perhaps Hockey are similar in some senses for me as the spectator. There are bouts of intensity interspersed with some easy watching. One gets time to appreciate the sports people, get some conversation in with fellow spectators, chow down on snacks and have a drink. I did all of that at the IBM booth on September 4 2024 as I watched these two players.

During the game at one point, the star of the gathering in our booth, Lindsay Davenport, came up to describe the two players, their style and the game play that day. She used IBM's statistics to show us some pictures, talk about what was going on, who was tiring out the other, who was relying on fast, hard serves and who was being defensive. For true Tennis Fans, it must have been exciting to see a Tennis star up close and personal. I was in awe. She was tall, looked confident and easily talked to the crowd at the event. She offered an AMA session at the end of her talk. The audience asked her all types of questions about personal life. She had a great childhood. She credited her parents for supporting her and her sister through their school, practice and all the traveling that comes with being a star player.

That is me with Lindsay Davenport on Sept 4 2024 at the IBM booth.

I, of course, being at the place I was mentally, spent several moments thinking why I was where I was and not at a different place - such as giving a talk about tennis players and praising my parents for supporting me through my professional tennis career. Luckily, those moments were few and far between. I enjoyed the game, I enjoyed the company (Pratap Kesarkar, Pooja Kumar) and IBM's hospitality. It was a great day too. I took an early flight from Chicago O'Hare and landed at La Guardia well before the match time. Took a short uber ride to the Billie Jean King USTA stadium and met up with my host. The stadium experience was like how I've had at Soldier Field in Chicago or at the Bridgeview stadium of the Chicago Fire - just more upscale and international due to being the US Open. It was a hot day! IBM booth was great! We had some indoor entertaining space where they had some food and beverages and an outside sitting area that was uncovered and under the hot sun. Every now and then, the big screens would show celebrities who were also visiting that day. The only one I remember was Kaitlyn Collins who was somewhere in the stands.

After the match, the taxi traffic was ridiculous. I could see my Uber about 3 miles away even as it took a full hour to arrive through the traffic.

I will remember Lindsay Davenport, my hosts, my colleagues and the two gladiators on the court forever.