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Fanatical about tennis
Tennis-mad Solange Pineiro is a woman on a mission - to buy tickets for the finals at whatever cost.
- By Kelly Crane, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:05 February 27, 2008
- Solange Pineiro outside the box office of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
- Image Credit: Karl Jeffs/Gulf News
Tennis-mad Solange Pineiro is a woman on a mission - to buy tickets for the finals at whatever cost.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word fanatic as "a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal." You only have to look as far as the box office at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships to discover a true tennis fanatic.
Solange Pineiro, 53, plans to stand outside the stadium from 9am until midnight everyday wearing a sandwich board-style sign in the desperate hope of finding tickets for March 6, 7 and 8.
Her husband and son have practically disowned her but she says she won't give up until the last ball has been played on the centre court of the men's final on March 8.
Huge fan
A huge Federer fan, she said: "I drove to the box office the day the tickets went on sale and I couldn't believe it when they said they were already sold out for the last three days. I'm not sure how I could have been any quicker.
"And yes, I know I look like a crazy person stood here but it was the only thing I could think of in order to get tickets."
Originally from Brazil, Pineiro is married to Manoel, a pilot for Emirates, and has two sons, Pedro, 12, who lives here in Dubai and Edward, 31, who is in Brazil.
The housewife and mother says she has watched many of the stars around the world and has played tennis herself since she was just five.
Disappointed
She added: "We are a tennis-mad family and I am so disappointed not to have tickets for the final three days. Pete Sampras was my all-time favourite player but Roger Federer is the man I've been trying to see in action for many years now. He is so talented."
The online allocation of the tickets for both the WTA and ATP tours sold out within 25 minutes while the box office allocation was snapped up within two hours.
Tickets are now being sold on Souq.com — a UAE-based online marketplace — for more than Dh1,250 for two.
Pineiro added: "One lady offered me one ticket for the final for Dh1,000. It makes me angry that people are just out to make money from genuine tennis lovers. They don't deserve to have tickets."
New friends
On a more positive note, the Brazilian is certainly making lots of new friends. The box office staff provide her with lunch each day and the friendly security staff at the gate fetch her coffee to keep her awake.
She said: "I know it's quite an extreme move but I cannot explain just how much I want to watch the matches. My feet are sore and my back is aching after just three days on my feet but I will not give up until I know there is no hope."
The game of tennis is about pure determination — for fans as well as players it would seem.
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