Aussie Open – the story

By Shaz Thompson on January 21, 2014 • ( Leave a comment )

What a week-end, we could not have scripted it better. After a week of scorching temperatures in Melbourne the cool change came in with our flights. It was a very mild and chilly (in Jen’s words) 24c – first request fulfilled. We had tickets to Rod Laver Arena, which is the equivalent of Centre Court at Wimbledon on the Saturday night and Sunday day – who you see is always a lottery but I hedge my bets with Saturday night being prime time telly, you are going to get an Aussie or number 1/2 seeds if they are still around. Sunday day, is a lottery – Jen and Neil have a great relationship with the “man upstairs” – so we were in good hands!

Jen and Neil flew in on the red eye from Perth, which arrived at 5:30am. They had exit row seats which meant that their seats did not recline – neither of them got much sleep – which is saying something because Jen can fall asleep on the loo! John and I had an early start up at 4:30am for our 6:30 flight. We arrived and connected without much fuss and ventured our way to David and Hue’s new Melbourne digs. For a second/third home, I have to say this is one very special place – it is amazing and I would give anything to have a home like that as long as I didn’t have to clean it. They were the perfect hosts with an superb breakfast spread awaiting our arrival – we chatted, ate, had long blinks, ate, chatted and then off for a stroll around the neighbourhood. David and Hue live not far from Lygon Street which has a big café culture, it was great strolling around Melbourne and seeing it from a “residents” view. Noticing Cycle paths, close by markets, local shops, airport shuttles, library, swimming baths, gym etc.

We checked into our apartment which was spacious but very smelly, Jen, Neil and John had a siesta whilst I waited for room service to come and find the source of the smell. Sadly I waited in vain, we had to improvise to reduce the odour. Then at around 5pm we were off to the tennis.

First match was Azarenka vs Muesberger. Azarenka is the number 2 seed and this was just a tennis game. Next on court was Nadal vs Monfils and what a contest, if you looked at the score line you would think that it was a walk over – you would be wrong! The Azarenka/Muesberger match took a little over an hour, after 17 minutes Nadal and Monfils hadn’t finished the second point, Nadal played perfect tennis and Monfils was very entertaining with his rubbery legs. The seats we had were fab, right on the centre line and Jen and Neil were suitably impressed with the Aussie Open experience, which was a relief as we had talked it up for a few years.

On the Sunday, we started with a leaisurely breakfast and back to Rod Laver Arena, where we saw Pennetta play the game of her life to knock out the 9th seeded Kerber. Then next on court was Serena Williams against the beautiful Anna Ivanovic. We watched the upset of the tournament unfold in front of our very eyes, a totally deflated Williams outgunned by a poisitive happy Ivanovic. Brilliant. As if the day wasn’t good enough, then on court was Djokovic against Foginini – Djokovic was always in control but the two players are best friends so there was a lot of fun and histrionics from the Italian which kept us all entertained.

Then it was back to the airport for our journeys home. What a great experience, if you haven’t done it before – I recommend you put it on your bucket list.