Sunday, January 23, 2011

Australian Open


The Australian Open is taking place in Melbourne right now. To encourage the locals to attend, they offer a weeknight "After 5" ground pass for $20. You can't enter the main stadiums, but during the first week, you can catch a lot of good players on the smaller, outdoor courts. I went twice last week- on Tuesday, I lucked out and got great seats and saw two men's matches; Robin Soderling won his easily, but the second game between the popular French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (pictured) and the German Philipp Petzschner was a lot more exciting. Tsonga lost the first two sets, then went on to tie it up and win the 5th. I had never seen tennis before in person, and it makes a huge difference seeing the players up close- the top men routinely hit the ball over 200 kilometers an hour, and you get a much better sense of how they can curve the ball and the strategy involved. Oh, and to be honest, I never really understood the scoring until my friend who I went with explained it to me, so that helped. I always pictured tennis crowds as somewhat subdued, but that certainly wasn't the case, at least at the Australian Open. People are quiet while the ball is in play, but overall it's a really fun and lively atmosphere with tons of international fans. I went back again on Thursday and watched a women's game between a couple of eastern Europeans. We tried to watch Andy Murray but couldn't get a seat, so ended up sitting on the lawn in front of the big screen instead- on a nice summer night, you can't really complain about sitting outside and drinking wine.

5 comments:

J.R. said...

Hah! I went to the second day of the French Open last year and it was a blast! Who knew tennis tournaments were fun??!

saraH said...

I've always wanted to go to a tennis match! There is a tournament here every summer so perhaps this year will be the year.

Eri said...

Sounds aweseome! I have been watching on tv. Weather looks beautiful! Have you successfuly stalked Federer yet and had a drink and met his twins and agreed to run away w/him? Thought so.

Ryan said...

What about the Whale?

Kevin said...

And the Brit yet again falls at the final hurdle. The Brits are desperate for one of their men to finally win a Grand Slam title again. It's only been 75 years. Of course, I'm not sure how the English will like it when it's a Scot who actually wins it for Britain.