EVENT | Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

I was very lucky to get VIP tickets to this year's edition of Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London. This event is called 'unofficial championships' so only the best eight single players and double teams can qualify. I had a chance to see two matches - one double (Stepanek/Paes playing Lopez/Granollers) and one single (Ferrer playing Wawrinka).

The very first thing that came to my mind after finding my seat was 'Did we actually get a separate room with sofas, tv, bar and our own waiter?!' That was something unexpected even though I knew we got those 'special' tickets. So I want to give a massive THANK YOU to the VIP clubs manager of The O2, thank you Natalia so much!

When I finally settled in, I started looking around the venue. WOW, The O2 is so big! What I loved about it, was obviously the capacity and view from the box, you could easily see everything from that place.

Especially interesting for me was to see how media operate on events like this one. On the TV, you can only see the final effect but when you actually have a chance to see it live and how do they work, you realize how many people is involved and how important for the success in teamwork.

After leaving the main arena, I headed to the fan zone to see the live studio, training courts and sponsors stools. It was really close to be able to say that what I noticed is a great crowd management, thousands of people, heading to different sites of the venue and you can still easily explore it, with no interruptions. I even started putting thoughts into sentences and how am I going to describe that and then BOOM - a huge jam, no move for 15 minutes, 'How am I going to get out of here?', 'It's getting hot'... I got out of there after 20 minutes when someone finally took care of managing the situation. There are kids there, people disabled, elderly or like me, suffering from vasovagal response. This is not only about moving quickly, it's also about health and safety, people get irritated, start pushing each other. Improving crowd management is something that The O2 should definitely put more emphasis on. Maybe engage more staff or put barriers dividing the path?

I absolutely love the initiative of Barclays Ball Kids School, it's a very smart idea for promotion, not only tennis but generally sport among school age kids especially in the age of technology and tennis (according to the statistics) being chosen by less and less young people. The kids get special training, theoretical and practical, preparing them for the tournament. Thanks to this, they get a chance to participate in something very exciting and also challenging for them.

For more info go to http://www.barclaysballkids.com/

A couple of more pictures that I took during and between matches:

In summary - good venue management, organisation and service, poor crowd management. And finally, fantastic VIP lounges! :)

JOURNALS | I love you... England? (Kocham Cię jak... Anglię?)

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Before I first came here, I felt like Big Ben, red telephone boxes and disgusting English breakfast were all the UK was about. I had no clue how the city looked like, I guess I was expecting to see New York more than London. On top of that, Stansted Airport that I've been landing at was 25 km outside the city and 50 km from the actual City. As you can assume, my 'great expectations' and visions have been blown away with no mercy. The area I lived in, which was Whitechapel, was not helping either. The Bangladeshi borough known for 'Jack the Ripper' murders in the 19th century wasn't too friendly. On the other hand, the best thing to happen to me at that time was working at the Olympics. I met fantastic people from all over the world, had a small talk with Polish volleyball team, said hello to Aga Radwanska. Also, meeting such people as Serena Williams and Usain Bolt was nothing unusual. This experience which taught me how to be self-reliant and independent, in the foreign country, with no family and no friends was undoubtedly worth being up at 5am and going back home at 5pm. Had someone asked me to do it again, I wouldn't be wondering - absolutely yes.

From the perspective of time that I've spent here and what I've learnt I see a couple of things differently now when thinking of the UK and London. I see a city that gives you plenty of opportunities, confidence and self-awareness. You suddenly become overwhelmed by dozens of ideas and plans for your future, not necessarily just bound with this place. Living far from home not only lets you find where you want to be but also where you don't. I see a city so big and diverse that it is nearly impossible to explore everything and get everywhere and it may sometimes take a couple of hours to get to work or school. I see a city where people are smiling and being friendly at all times, an old man passing you by will politely ask how was your day and the lady at the shop will be dying to know where did you get that beautiful purse - people are just nice to each other, without a reason. But London is also a city of individualists, people are not likely to make friends, keep focusing on their careers instead, taking care of their own business. If you just get used to it and start doing the same, you'll be fine (unless you won't :)).

If I had to express how does 'my London' look and feel like, I'd say that it's crowded, fast and sometimes too gloomy but it leaves you with unlimited possibilities on creating yourself and the world around you exactly the way you want it to be. And if I had to choose my favourite place to spent time in London I'd pick Notting Hill, borough of coloured houses, beautiful closed gardens and Portobello Road, the famous street market in London. It's the most powerful place to make dreams and plans, even in heavy rain.