A massive dubuqui (the Chinese word for sorry), I apologize for the delay in posts. Bear with me as I try to post everything that's happened in the last month over the next couple days.
A couple weeks ago, I went to the first round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, one of the smaller ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments. Quite a few stars were competing, but most of them weren't playing on that day since it was still early in the tournament. Andy Murray ended up winning his sixth Masters 1000 title, beating Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 in the final.
The grounds outside Court 1. The steel roof is meant to look like a magnolia, Shanghai's city flower. Its eight pieces are designed to fit snugly into a circle and can create a ceiling in eight minutes. I was tempted to read the plaque explaining the roof's design, but I decided that was too nerdy and I should be watching tennis instead (so I went to Wikipedia afterwards).
The finals and other important matches are played in this stadium while several outdoor courts and warm-up courts are located nearby within the sports complex.
The interior of Court 1, Qi Zhong Stadium. I'm no judge when it comes to stadiums, but I really liked this one. Along with much of the complex, this stadium was built in 2005 for the Tennis Masters Cup. It seats 15,000 people and seemed to have tighter security than Arthur Ashe. In appearance, it seemed comparable to Arthur Ashe, a bit inferior to Centre Court at Wimbledon
Some Chinese students holding a French flag for one of the players in Court 1. I was especially interested in how the Chinese interacted with tennis, a highly structured and elite sport for an otherwise chaotic and developing country. As you can guess, the atmosphere in the sports complex was quite a departure from the rest of Shanghai (that's not saying much, Wimbledon is quite a departure from the rest of London).
However, the crowds were fairly sloppy. In one of the smaller outdoors courts, spectators kept bursting into applause during a rally and freely walked into the stands during games. The European chair umpire had a hard time getting the crowd to settle down and the Chinese guards to keep spectators out during match play. One of the more obnoxious players stared at spectators who were walking in during games and refused to play until they sat down. Of course, the etiquette of tennis isn't natural and consistent with other sports so I'm not criticizing the lack of knowledge among some of the Chinese spectators, but it was interesting to observe.
It's also interesting to think about the Chinese government's decision in 2005 to create this stadium and to host global tournaments. Obviously there are upper-class Chinese who watch, play, and enjoy tennis, but that segment is most likely much smaller than in Europe or the US. Of the players present, I don't remember a single one being Chinese. I can understand China's desire to join in on the trappings of developed countries as it grows economically and politically; however, at least in the present, without the crowd's sophistication or the players, it's safe to say that China doesn't fit in when it comes to some cultural aspects like tennis
Roger Federer in traditional Chinese, or at least what looks like traditional Chinese, garb. For some reason, few Chinese were taking pictures with the statues. Granted foreigners were over-represented in the sports complex, but they seemed to be the ones taking pictures
Fernando Verdasco. Unfortunately, I'm not a pretty girl so I couldn't ask him or any other tennis player to take a picture with me. I'll have to go to the womens' tournament next time, my rugged good looks may be more well-received there. 
Andy Murray in one of the warm-up courts. He wasn't playing that day, which was fortunate for him since he was playing poorly and cursing up a storm. Hopefully he felt better after winning the tournament, but I'm not so sure, after all, he's Andy Murray
A performing center in the middle of the sports complex where a band was playing towards the end of the day. The singer sang in both Chinese and English. One of my Chinese friends said the singer's tones were off, but the Chinese in the crowd seemed to love her.
Overall, the experience was highly positive. I didn't see any star matches, but it was refreshing to spend a day watching tennis and lounging around. Like I said, the incongruence between Chinese actions and tennis norms was interesting and could definitely be a jumping-off point for a deeper cultural study. However, that job is for someone else, I'm just focused on getting a picture with Verdasco or Murray next time around
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