Tennis Fever Time
Rain - heat - storms, and that was the weather. On the courts events are sometimes the same from the players, but tears instead of the wet stuff from the sky. It is once again Australian Open time, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, as it is every year - despite the rain, heat and storms. Since many of the matches are played on outside courts, Melbourne’s unpredictable weather can cause havoc. But as I sat at Margaret Court Arena on Thursday last week and the wet stuff was falling from the sky, I was rapt! No umbrella for me, no sir. It felt — in the words of a well known cricket commentator — marvelous. (Any time we’ve had wet stuff falling from the sky recently and I’ve had to go outside, I’ve relished the feel of it on my face and not covered up.) It wasn’t very kind to my notebook (purchased last minute at Big W before catching the train to the city after buying my ground pass ticket at Ticketek at the Fountain Gate News Agent); it’s a bit crinkled from the effects of the rain drops as I sat there writing notes for this posting.
Back to the little green balls. I had tried to get a seat at Vodafone Arena, an indoor baby-brother to the Rod Laver Arena (RLA), which is the most seen on the TV broadcasts. But the wait was 4 hours to see the big draws that morning: Swiss Miss Martina Hingis, and Aussie Alicia Molik (they both won their matches). I came back later, though. Plan B: head to the show courts on the other side of RLA.
After the rain, one and a half hours late, the courts were squeegied, dried with leaf blowers and wiped with a few towels. Then the sun came out, sun screen went on, and it all turned to muggy heat. It wasn’t as bad as Tuesday when the temps soared into the low 100s (41c in Melbourne that day) and the outside play was stopped, roofs closed on the two arenas. Didn’t stop the fans - or the fanatics, a group of yellow and green clad young people who sang supportive songs and chants during breaks of play as well as initiating the Mexican Wave from time to time. The first match was a young Australian named Robert Smeets, which led to ’smeety-pie’, ’smeet-heart’ — you get the picture — playing Czech Tomas Berdych. Australians are very fond of funny nicknames. I managed to stay for two sets, but after 3 hours sitting in the heat, I had to go inside. (Smeety-pie lost in straight sets, by the way, and eventually Berdych lost in round 4 to Russian Nikolay Davydenko.)
Lunch in Rod Laver (pizza and 1.25 lt of water) then a wander back to Vodafone after cooling off a little out of the sun. There were queues at all four entrances for ground pass holders (most of the seats in VA are available for us cheapskates, but there are a LOT of us, so it’s hard to get in without a wait unless you get there very early and stay (Note to self for next year: pay the extra $13 and get a reserve seat)). After walking back and forth between three of them, we were advised by one of the staff that one line was moving faster, so head there. I did and made it nearly in when all stopped. I was probably about 30 people away from the door, but in sight of the ushers. I asked if there were seats for singles, since most of the people waiting were in families. Guess what — it worked! Lesson: it never hurts to ask nice gentlemen for alternative solutions.
It was worth it. The first match I was able to see was Andy Murray of Scotland v Fernando Verdasco of Spain. It was a long three set match, nearly three hours! The final scoreline was 7-6 (tie break), 7-5, 6-4 Murray. I watched him a little on TV last night in round 4 against Rafael Nadal where he was finally defeated. Go Andy! He’s only 19! Watch for him in the future. Then the star: Maria Sharapova - all 6 feet of her - playing fellow Russian Anastasia Rodionova. Pity the match was so one-sided, and therefore pretty boring. But I did get to hear Maria’s famous grunt in real life. It was over pretty quickly.
Lindy and Bronwyn arrived just before the end (they had to come from work), so we wandered back to Margaret Court court where Tommy Haas (Germany) played Ilia Bozoljac of Serbia. There had been some concerns about nationalism, including some punch ups, earlier in the week. It was still evident during this match, but at least Ilya wasn’t playing a Croat. It was a pretty even match, but we even lost interest in this one. That could have been because of the two German guys who sat behind us and talked and burped beer the entire time. It was getting late and the girls hadn’t eaten since lunch, so we headed to the food stalls and had some dinner. The final challenge was walking back to Richmond train station, probably a half-mile away at least, after all that walking around the tennis centre. I was exhausted!
Watching the tennis on the TV after was a different experience. I could recognise things and put them into context. I saw some of the people I’d seen on that day, like Andy Murray last night and Tommy Haas (yes, he beat the Serb and has made it into the quarter finals!)
It’s been 10 years since I’ve been to the Open. I hope it’s not another 10 before I go again. It’s a real buzz!!
Game - set - match for now,
Jan