The Australian Open

I am getting so into watching tennis! I honestly don't think I had ever watched a full tennis match before, but the Australian Open has taken over Melbourne and it's awesome! Tj and I have been watching it on tv and following along. Prior to this I'd say 90% of what I know about tennis comes from playing Nintendo Wii. I really wish I had it here now so I could practice my own 'skills' haha. 

On Monday January 22nd, Tj and I were lucky enough to attend a match between Novak Djokovic from Serbia and Hyeon Chung from South Korea. We got tickets to a night session. We only bought them the day before, which was great for us that some were still available. We knew Federer would be playing that day, and Tj was really hoping to see him. Unfortunately, Federer played an afternoon game but we still saw a great match. Chung won the match with three straight sets, which I understand was quite the upset. 

We didn't have much time to explore the grounds before going in, but there was a lot going on. I'd love to go back with a grounds pass and just hang out and watch games on the big screens they have everywhere.

We entered Rod Laver arena and found our seats all the way at the top. I don't know how people have been sitting there all week long in the 40+ degree weather. It has been so hot and sunny! I am so happy we attended a night session. It took a while to cool off, but it was much more comfortable once the sun went down. Beers were 10$ (Tj tells me this is reasonable) and we ate fish and chips.

It was fantastic to watch live! At first I was surprised by how quiet the crowd was when they were playing. I was worried it was going to be long and boring. But once it got going I really enjoyed it. I was so impressed by their speed and agility. They made it look so easy!

There was another girl's match after, but we didn't stay to watch it all because it was getting late. I felt bad for not supporting the female athletes. From what I did see, they were also very impressive.

On Australia Day last Friday, we were really excited to watch Chung play Federer in the semi-finals. Chung forfeited due to an injury (did you see the picture of his blister? ouch!). The Women's Finals were on Saturday night, and I'm watching the Men's Finals right now as I write this! We have watched a lot of tennis this weekend and I feel bad for the players and the spectators because it has been exceptionally HOT and HUMID. It hasn't even been cooling down at night like it usually does. We went out on Saturday night to try and find somewhere to watch the game, but it was so hot we just came home instead and picked up a couple boxes of popsicles on the way. 

I am so happy so have had our Australian Open experience and I definitely want to go back to even more events next year!

Maybe next I'll get into cricket? 

Happy Monday :)