Mom and Dad Doan visit - tennis

We've had a busy week with Ken's parents in town.  Ken has been able to take several days off work and we have thoroughly enjoyed all the extra family time!!!  The main attraction for the week was the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.  It's an annual professional tennis tournament here in Doha and since it is sponsored by ExxonMobil, Ken was able to get several sets of tickets. 

But before the tennis tournament started, Ken took his dad to an ExxonMobil dinner with the tennis players.  Ken was disappointed that there weren't more opportunities to get autographs and pictures with the players, but they got a few...


Dad with Nikolay Davydenko (from Russia, ranked #53 in the world)

Dad with Tomas Berdych (from the Czech Republic, ranked #7 in the world)

Dad with Andy Murray (from Great Britain, ranked #4 in the world)

 

That's Rafael Nadal sitting at the table (Nadal is from Spain and is ranked #1 in the world)

Unfortunately, this was as close as he could get to Rafael Nadal

 For New Year's Eve, Ken had VIP tickets to the matches.  Ken and his dad really enjoyed being so close to the court!! 

Dad in VIP box, watching Rafael Nadal in the first round of the tournament

Ken and his Dad in the VIP box

Nadal serves

The next night, we had tickets for everyone (but not VIP).  Even Ken's mom enjoyed being at a professional tennis match!  I was SHOCKED at how long it kept the boys attention!!!  We watched for nearly 7 hours and they never left their seats (except for one bathroom break)!!  They loved it and they especially loved Nadal ... quirks and all!  Jaden counted 43 wedgie picks in the first game and then estimated 129 wedgie picks in the set!  Nadal must have a serious case of OCD with all of his very particular game habits, but who can argue with a man ranked #1 in the world?!

Ready for some tennis!

Nadal serves

Do we make a handsome family or what?!  :-)