Episode V: The Tennis Strikes Back

Written Monday, 14 January 2008, 9:45pm local time

Day 5: Home from the tennis, and my face is sunburnt with nice pale spots around my eyes from my sunnies. Anyway, let's start from the beginning, shall we? So, I woke up a little later than I wanted to (as per usual) - gates were open on 9:30am and I was hoping to get there earlyto maximise my day, but I left here around 10ish, walked a block to the tram stop, where a free tram was already sitting there waiting for me. Rode it to Melbourne Park, jumped off at the Vodafone Arena stop, managed to stroll up to the entry with the shortest queue, grabbed a quick bite to eat inside and had the seat which was closest to the entry gate, and sat down just as the match was starting. At this stage, I think I was starting to feel like everything was going to go my way. It was an epic 3 hour 10 minute women's singles match, with Jankovic beating Paszek 12-10 in the third and final set. Andy Roddick was the next match, but it looked like it was going to be a bit of a pushover, so I went to explore the rest of the Melbourne Park precinct to see what was happening, and to get some lunch.

Vodafone Arena.

Bought myself one of those jumbo sized tennis balls to get autographed, and then proceeded to attempt to find some cool people to sign it. There were several stars around on the practice courts - the only problem was getting their autographs. Some of the not-as-popular players weren't too much of a hassle, I got Lucie Safarova and Sania Mirza without a problem. However, I made an attempt at getting Rafael Nadal to sign the ball too, but it was impossible to penetrate the crowd - they even chased him all the way back to the players only area. Some people are just crazy, and its times like those you feel a bit sorry for all these big stars. In a two and a half hour period, I stood patiently in one spot on the fence, literally only a metre away from where Juan Carlos Ferrero, Roger Federer and then Andy Roddick were sitting. I could have reached out and touched their hair if I wanted to. But that would've just been way too weird. The problem was that, despite being so close to them, I couldn't manage to get an autograph out of any of them - once they were done with their practice and about to head off, they signed autographs, and at this point people just appeared behind me and would start yelling out and shoving their own things to get signed in the direction of the player. The worst bit was that they usually put their stuff over the top of my ball, and hence mine wouldn't get signed. Now, I don't blame the players here, as much as they love the fans they can't spend every waking hour slowly signing everything that everyone owns. The problem is that unless its a proper signing session, where people wait in a line and its a case of first case first served, its every man (or woman) for themselves and I always come off second best because I don't seem to be aggressive enough - shoving in front of people doesn't quite do it for me. And its not the first time it's happened to me either - I have vivid memories of trying to get autographs from some QLD state of origin players and not getting a single autograph, while another guy I knew from school pushed in and got heaps, even though he got there later than I did. Oh well, at least I caught a tennis ball that Roger Federer touched. That's good enough for me. Oh and Jim Courier walked past and I said hi.

That's how close I got to the Fed Express, he's giving me a dirty look...

Wouldn't be complete without an action shot of Federer.

Anyway, ended up catching the second half of Sharapova's match at Vodafone Arena, and then did some more walking around after that. Ended up watching a match in Margaret Court Arena, and then another match in an adjacent course - which featured Nicole Vaidisova, who I'm a fan of. Saw her lose at the Women's Hardcourts, so it was good to finally see her win. By then it was about 9ish and I was totally exhausted so I came home. My eyes are red, I'm so tired. Was planning on going to the Crown Casino tonight but decided against it, I'm sure its not that exciting.

My seat at Margaret Court Arena.

Nicole Vaidisova is so fast that she goes blurry.

Hmm its actually 1:53am now. Damn. Stupid movie channel. Oh and I heard on the news before, the first day attendance for the Australian Open was 55855, an all time high. I like to think that if it weren't for me, we wouldn't have reached that figure. Anyway, gotta check out by 11am tomorrow, plus would like to squeeze as much tennis in as I can. Better start packing too...