This past Thursday I stopped by Mason, Ohio to pick up my press credentials for the Cincinnati Masters event.  My 4 year old daughter was with me so I decided to walk around the largely empty grounds with her.  Her reactions were as follows:

1. When I picked up my credentials she told the tournament staff that her favorite players was “Venus Williams because her name is just like a planet.”
2. We first saw some WTA pros practicing with one another and she said, “They are doing so well.”
3. She did not seem interested when I told her, “Look, there is Marcos Baghdatis (who was getting ready to start practicing roughly 100 feet away from us).”
4. We watched Roger Federer practice on the stadium court for 20-30 minutes.  She yelled, “Happy Birthday” 2 or 3 times but we were far enough away that she did not disrupt his practice.  She said, “Wow!” in that enthusiastic voice of youth when I told her he was probably the most decorated tennis player ever.  She said, “He did not do very well” when his practice partner hit an ace against him.  As we left, she said, “He did so well.”
5. We watched two more female pros playing a practice set on the grand stand court, but she was upset by their grunting and wanted to leave.  “They are too loud” was repeated several times.  I asked her about women’s tennis players later that evening and she said, “I like male pros.  The women are too loud.”
6. She was upset that the wooden deck being constructed next to Nicolas Mahut’s practice session was not safe for us to stand on and watch Mahut.
7. She climbed all of the steps to the top of the stadium court and told me “you need more exercise.”
8. As we were leaving she saw Ivo Karlovic and 2 other pros walking into a trailer to get their credentials and seemed intimidated by Ivo’s height.