AUS OPEN 2005
reports
My Mum and I arrived mid afternoon into Melbourne after a morning flight from Perth. We were a bit tired, but in the evening, we decided to go out for dinner and afterwards went briefly into the Crown Casino (which was very close to our hotel) to see what was going on. As many players were still participating in tournaments in Sydney and Auckland, there were not many sightings, however we did see Tommy Haas, James Blake, Jan-Michael Gambill and Sargis Sargsian. After that, we headed back to the hotel for an early night.
Thursday 13 January:
We got to the qualies at 12.00 and I met up with some of my friends. It was very hot, so for a while, we just sat around in whatever shade we could find and tried to cool off. We then went to see Frenchman, Olivier Patience's, match. It was only the second time I'd seen Olivier play, but my friends and I were quite impressed to say the least! We cheered him on in French and, after he won, he was very sweet and thanked us for the support. You could say we were a bit smitten from then on! After that, we walked around a bit more but there were not many matches that interested us and the heat wasn't helping either. I wanted to stay and watch Guillermo Garcia-Lopez's match, but it was getting late, so we left. That night, my Mum and I went out for dinner with Nicolas Almagro and his coach, Antonio Gonzalez, whom we had met in Germany the year before. We had been helping them organise their first trip down to Australia and they were very kindly going to be giving us passes for the first 8 days of the tournament. It was a nice night, however, after a few hours, they had to go, as they were very tired, having only just arrived in from Auckland. Mum and I stayed out a bit longer and had a stroll through the casino, but there was not much happening, so we too headed home.
Friday 14 January:
I was hoping to have a bit of a lie-in this morning, but soon after I woke up, I got a frantic sms from one of my friends telling me Juan Carlos Ferrero was already out practising on court 22, so I madly got ready and took the first tram down to the tennis centre. Of course, court 22 HAD to be the furthest away, but I raced like mad and met up with my friends there, only for them to tell me that Juanqui had just left! Oh well. My friend, Liz, and I then went over to the other side to see our new favourite, Olivier Patience, again. On our way there, we bumped into him as he was making his way to the court, so I wished him "bonne chance". I couldn't stay at the match for very long, as I then had to meet up with Mum, Antonio and Nico to organise the accreditation. After that was done, I went back to see the end of Olivier's match, which he won, and then went with another friend of mine to see Guillermo Garcia-Lopez's match. Guillermo is a good friend of Juan Carlos Ferrero, as he trains a Juan Carlos' Equelite school in Villena (Spain), so it was no surprise to see Juan Carlos sitting in the stands cheering his friend on. He looked very fit and healthy, which was good to see, given his disastrous 2004. After that, there was not a lot to see, so we just wandered around. We talked to Dominik Hrbaty and his coach, Muro, and also Mario Ancic's coach, Rowan, all of whom I had met previously at other tournaments and who are always very nice and friendly. We also happened to see Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya going out for a practice, however they were going to be doing it in Vodafone Arena, which is not open to the public during the qualifying, so, unfortunately, we couldn't watch it. We instead watched a bit of Paul-Henri Mathieu's practice and then the start of Marc Lopez's match before heading home. That night, while we were out, you could tell the atmosphere around the city was warming up for the tennis. The lively Southbank area, which lines the Yarra river with its many restaurants, hotels and the Crown Casino complex, was buzzing and we saw quite a few players, namely Carlos Moya and his girlfriend (the Italian player, Flavia Pennetta), Guillermo Coria and his wife, Albert Costa and Jarkko Nieminen.
Saturday 15 January:
We got to the tennis centre around 11.30. The weather was quite cool and windy and some of the early matches were slightly delayed due to rain. However, once play recommenced, we went to watch Olivier's match against Snobel, which he was able to win despite a wrist injury. After the match, I took a photo with him and he was very nice! I then went to see a bit of Tommy Robredo's practice before going to watch Guillermo Garcia-Lopez's match. Juan Carlos was there again and he said hi! I had lunch in the players' lounge and then went to watch Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco, who were practising on neighbouring courts. There was hardly anyone watching either of the practices, but Fernando's Spanish soapstar girlfriend, Dafne Fernandez, was there. We then decided to head back to the hotel. That night, when we went out for dinner, we didn't see all that many people. though Fernando and his entourage were sitting a few tables away from us in the food court, and we also saw Rainer Schuettler, Lars Burgsmuller, the Williams sisters and Andy Roddick walk past on their way to an IMG party.
Sunday 16 January:
No tennis today, so it was a day to recharge the batteries and get ready for the coming week. I watched "Talking Tennis" on TV, during which they had some funny interviews with Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin, and then we went into the city. We stopped off at the player hotel briefly and saw a few people coming and going. We said hi to David Ferrer and his coach, who are always really nice, and talked to Peter Lundgren (coach of Marat Safin, whom we had met a week before in Perth at the Hopman Cup). In the afternoon, we just went out for lunch and did a bit of shopping. That night, we happened to see Juan Carlos Ferrero, Antonio (his coach), Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Albert Costa going out for dinner, which was pretty cool, and we also met and spoke briefly to Toni Nadal (uncle and coach of Rafael). After that, however, we went home, as we had an early start the following day.
Monday 17 January:
Day 1 of the Open - I was really excited. I first went to watch a bit of Olivier's practice and then went into Vodafone Arena to see Tommy Robredo's match against Scott Draper. When I got there, Tommy was losing 5-7 0-2, which surprised me, but he turned the match around and was able to win in 4. We had a quick lunch in the players' lounge, where we spoke briefly to Tommy's coach, Mariano, wishing him for his birthday, and he was very nice. We then headed back out to see Olivier's first round match against Rainer Schuettler. Olivier had beaten him 2 weeks earlier in Chennai but, alas, today it was not to be. He appeared to be hampered by his wrist injury and Rainer won the match in straight sets. While I had been watching that match, Carlos Moya had been playing Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Vodafone Arena. I had wanted to see that match too, but had decided to watch Olivier instead, however one of my friends came over to tell me that Guillermo had won in 4! I was sad that Carlos had lost in the first round and I hadn't been able to see him, however, I also like Guillermo and was very happy for him to have had such a great win after coming through qualies. I had seem him play against Robredo at Roland Garros in 2004 and even there had been very impressed with him, so the result did not totally surprise me. After that, we decided just to stay at the tennis centre, as Marat was due to be playing on Rod Laver Arena that evening. We had dinner in the lounge and then went in to see the match. He was playing against Serbian qualifier, Novak Djokovic. He was only 17 and promises big things, however tonight, Marat was just too strong and won in straight sets. It was the kind of match Marat needed, as he is notorious for having long, hard matches in the early rounds of a Slam, which then make him very tired by the second week, so it was a positive start to the tournament for him and a good way to end the day for us.
