An evening at the Australian Open

Grand Slam.

These two words are the most important a professional tennis player will hear in his or her respective career. It is the height of achievement in the tennis world where being a Grand Slam champion means your name is written into the folklore of the sport (and big endorsement deals perhaps). Four are played a year and to win one is excellent but to do even better is phenomenal. The fact that men’s tennis has been dominated by Federer and Nadal for so long goes far in outlining their quality.

So, with the importance of this event in mind, and not being sure whether I would get the chance to go again, I got a ticket for the night session at Rod Laver Arena for day 9 of the Australian Open. I was heading to Melbourne Park and hopefully, to good times. I bought the ticket in December, which turned out to be a masterstroke as they became rarer than a 20-word sentence from the national commissioner of SAPS, Bheki Cele. It cost $129 .95 (plus a $5 “handling fee”… sigh), and by the end of the end of the evening, it was worth every penny.

I got off at Richmond Station (the same one as the MCG, which is on the opposite side of the tracks. There is a bridge linking the two) at about 6pm. After seeing a sign that put me in the right direction — along with the hordes of people milling back from the day session — I found an information booth to make sure I had my ducks in a row (a phrase that isn’t reportedly well-known in Australia). I was told that to finish my journey, I should head to Rod Laver Arena where the main entrance was, with my ticket also covering the fan area between Rod Laver and Hisense Arena. On the way you walk past the Melbourne Rebel’s homeground, AAMI Park, which you will hear more about in the future. For what it’s worth, I call it Giant Golf Stadium. Search for it on Google. You will see why.

Upon entering the grounds and looking to the right you’ll see something rather close to this …

With Tomas Berdych’s quarter-final against Novak Djokovic starting in about an hour, I took a wander through the fan area which features shops, activity stands and the crown jewel, the beer garden/live stage/food stands/big screen. The picture where Andy Murray looks like a grinning schoolboy was the entrance and Serena Williams with trophy in hand being on the other side. Murray’s face was to be eerily seen again that Sunday (poor chap). Once inside, I helped myself to a 425ml beer (no more … no less. Australia doesn’t mince words) after waiting in the line below for about 10 minutes. That was followed by the purchase of some chicken and chips, with the chips definitely being the clincher in that choice of dish.

I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to venture beyond Laver itself and to the outer courts, but alas, there wasn’t enough time and I certainly wasn’t missing any of the action. As I walked around Laver after leaving the fan area, I encountered the scene in the last photo from left to right. Australians do enjoy having a good time, which is fair enough, even if it means there are too many hipsters for one’s own liking in this fine city.

Rod Laver Arena itself is an extremely impressive venue. Access doors are located all around the facility, almost giving it a circular feel as you walk around searching for your gate and door, which are all clearly marked. When I got there the roof was open and they were preparing the court for that evening’s clash …

By the time the match reached the end of the first set, which didn’t last more than 50 minutes (Djokovic taking it 6-1), and all the latecomers — of which there were many — took their seats, this is what Rod Laver Arena looks like when it’s packed on match day …

As you can see, the roof is closed, which makes a very, very low whirring sound as it closes. I only heard it because my seat was close to the air-conditioning at the very top. The camera doesn’t give justice to the view, since the ball and players were clearly visible. It makes for a spectacular venue, where the whole crowd see everything that takes place. If you wanted to use cricket jargon to describe the view, it is an excellent seeing ground. With a capacity of just short of 15 000, it’s a fantastic venue to watch a game of tennis.

The Australian crowd (also packed with tourists from all over the world) was respectful, and only on a couple of occasions was the umpire forced to intervene to quieten the crowd. The silence that envelopes the room as the players prepare to serve is quite disturbing, creepy, enchanting and enthralling all at once. It seems the whole venue’s anticipation is contained in the space between the swing of the racquet and the connection of the ball. Once the rally begins, the crowd are thrown onto a rollercoaster with all the oooooos and ahhhhhhhs of an action film. Every now and then an amusing moment will come from the crowd between points, with the gaffe of the day being a man shouting “Come on Tomas! I’ve got money on you!” as Tomas was heading towards defeat in the third set, having given his all to win the second and coming up just short (tie-breaks are harsh).

The tennis itself was excellent, as one would expect. Though Djokovic eventually walked away with the match, Berdych played some ridiculous forehands which singed the line. Djokovic won due to making less errors and constantly putting pressure on his opponent. The crowd also appeared to like him, which shouldn’t be too surprising considering he won here in 2008. Their enjoyment of Djokovic has nothing on Kim Clijsters, who the Australian press and public seem to lose their marbles for. She deservedly won her fourth Grand Slam this time round, to add to her three US Open titles.

After the Djokovic-Berdych clash, there was also women’s doubles action featuring former South African Liezel Huber but sadly the Djokovic match finished just after 10.30pm, and considering the last train south from Richmond was at 12.11am (I’m very particular about times), I decided to not to have to suffer the torture of tearing myself away from another affair by calling it a night. Besides, I had got my full monies worth.

If you ever have the opportunity to watch some Grand Slam tennis, not just the Australian Open, do so. Regular readers of this blog will know that I hardly every venture into the world of tennis, but now I have been converted to a fan of this great game, a game where no player can hide from the weaknesses exposed by one’s opponent.

It’s real ballsy (pardon the pun) and an experience that I want to repeat again and again. Hopefully next time will be in Europe or the US. I leave with a photo (not a very good one mind you) of a Berdych fan who went the extra mile. The Australian Open, like this guy, gets a deserved 9/10.