As I am sure everyone is aware the Australian open is almost finished its 2020 competition, with some incredible games already played and only a short wait until the final.
In all honesty, Tennis has never been my go-to sport, I have enjoyed watching it over the years (thanks to my dad who is obsessed and rewatched the match where Andy Murray won and broke down on tv 1000 times). I can visualise him in his office (my dad, not Andy Murray) pretending to do work but actually sitting at his desk watching the tennis on his computer, It’s a hard life for some!
When I told him Iain and I received tickets for Christmas from Iain’s family friends he was absolutely buzzing for us but very jealous as he has never been able to go to a Grand Slam, apparently, Wimbledon is impossible to get tickets for. I feel as though this week he definitely lived through me!!
We went to the Tennis on Wednesday, the third day of the Australian Open. I literally could not contain my excitement that morning, we packed lunch and set off just up Punt road to the Olympic boulevard where all the stadiums live.
The Australian Open is huge, I guess I never really anticipated how large an event it is and how many people attend. It feels more like a festival than a sporting competition, with all the bars and live music I think a lot of people buy tickets just so they can watch the DJ’s as it’s fairly cheap ).
We had ground pass tickets, which meant we could go everywhere and see everything except for the two main stadiums – the Rod Laver Arena and the Margaret Court arena, tickets for these arenas were $100++. Players who would typically play in these stadiums would be Rodger Federer or Rafael Nadal.
Without these tickets, we still got to see incredible games of Tennis as there are a lot of outdoor tennis courts (I can’t remember how many and Iain lost the programme!!). As you walk around the streets of the open you can hear cheering in all directions and the familiar sound of a ball thudding against a racket.
We did, however, manage to sneak into the Margaret court arena. We were super lucky as Iain’s aunt came up with a genius plan to sneak us in as she had bought tickets for the Margaret court arena, and figured out that her tickets could act as our tickets and we could sit in the spare seats next to them – genius, I know. The game we watched was amazing, Tommy Paul (a 21-year-old American guy) Vs Grigor Dimitrov (No.18), the game lasted around 4 hours, by the end I felt I pretty much knew the rules of Tennis and how the game worked (thank god for Iain’s knowledge of all sport).
We were super fortunate for receiving the tickets for Christmas, Iain’s aunts genius plan and for the weather throughout the day, as it was roasting hot but cloudy enough for my scottish skin not to be scorched.
We had an amazing day watching some incredible players battle it out to get through to the next round. So much so, that we have now stolen my parents SKYGO so we can stream the rest of the tennis.
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