Friday 25 January 2020

Each year since the Australian Open moved to Melbourne Park (formerly Flinders Park) in 1988 I’ve attended the local Australian Tennis Grand Slam missing only 2000, 2010, and 2013 when overseas, so 30 times out of 33 Australian Opens.

I managed back in 2018 to attend the Men’s Final watching the great Roger Federer beat Marin Cilic. But most years it’s a ground pass to watch some matches. This year it was a Margaret Court Arena ticket given to me as a gift by my brother Reagan which made this our second Grand Slam in a row after we both went to the US Open late last year.

The weather was great at 22c with some overcast weather meaning not too hot and sunburn wasn’t a big issue. Reagan cleverly selected seats on the umpires chair side meaning less direct sunlight, very important during an Australian summer.

There were three matches to enjoy today:

Men’s Singles 3rd Round (Margaret Court Arena)
D. Schwartzman (14) v D. Lajovic (24); 6-2, 6-3, 7-6

Women’s Singles 3rd Round (Margaret Court Arena)
E. Alexandrova (25) v P. Kvitova (7); 1-6, 2-6

Women’s Singles 3rd Round (Margaret Court Arena)
M. Keys (10) v M. Sakkari (22); 4-6, 4-6

Once the matches were finished me and Reagan walked around the outside courts and settled on a Women’s Doubles match for the last two sets.

Women’s Doubles 1st Round (Court 22)
A. Cornet & F. Ferro v Z. Diyas & E. Rybakina; 4-6, 7-6, 6-7

From here we meet up with my nephew for his Bucks night sitting down on a grass embankment watching some night matches on the big screen. I did go with my mate Jon who had joined us for the night to watch a little bit of a match in person.

Men’s Singles 3rd Round (Melbourne Arena)
G. Pella v F. Fognini; 6-7, 2-6, 3-6

I left the tennis and the Buck’s night around 10 pm. A very long and enjoy day. It’s crazy our lucky we are in Melbourne having one of the four Grand Slams just metre from Melbourne CBD.