Wednesday 18 January:
We were back on the bus from the player hotel around midday and were joined on it by Fernando Verdasco, Mariano Zabaleta and Paradorn Srichaphan. Zabaleta was cursing his phone which kept cutting him off and Verdasco was having a little chortle about it. When we got to the tennis centre, I first went to see David Ferrer who was playing against Daniele Bracciali. Ferrer had won the first 2 sets but I seemed to have jinxed him because, while I was there, he lost the 3rd set! I didn't want to jinx him further, so I went over to the neighbouring court where Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was playing Julien Benneteau. Juan Carlos Ferrero was there, as well as Alex Corretja. Once again, it was a case of liking both players, but I went for Guillermo. It was Julien who ended up winning though. While I was there, I could see the scoreboard of Ferrer's match and it appeared I really had been a jinx because since I had left, he won the 4th set easily! After that, it was time for lunch in the lounge and I also helped Antonio organise his plane tickets again. After a nice lunch, it was time to brave the heat again and head out to Show Court 3 where Gilles Muller was playing Feliciano Lopez - yet another match between two of my favourites! I was getting sick of this happening! Feli had quite a bit of support (including Fernando Verdasco and Nicolas Almagro, who were also there), so I decided to cheer for Gilles. His coach, Norbert, said hi and was very nice, despite the fact that Gilles was losing. I ended up staying for the whole match this time, though it was quite unpleasant due to the searing heat. As evening approached, it became more bearable and I caught the end of the doubles match between Carlos Moya and Mariano Zabaleta and Fisher/Gimelstob. When I first saw the doubles draw and saw that Carlos was playing with Mariano, I thought it was a really cool combination and apparently, so did everyone else because the court was packed! Unfortunately, they lost but they were still great to watch. After that it was time for dinner in the lounge. While I was eating, I saw a bit of the match between Tommy Robredo and Dmitry Tursunov on the tv. James Blake was sitting at the next table and said he was going to be playing the winner of that match. What a nice guy James is...so polite and friendly! After dinner, there was nothing else we wanted to see, so we headed back to our hotel and watched the Nalbandian-Wawrinka match on tv.
Thursday 19 January:
We took a courtesy car to the tennis centre at 11.30 and headed to Fernando Verdasco's match. I met Juan Carlos, his coach, Nico Almagro and Antonio on the way. Juan Carlos was off to a practice but Nico and Antonio were also going to watch Fernando. It was VERY HOT and we really shouldn't have been sitting outside in the heat of the day. That is one thing I think needs to be addressed at the Australian Open - the outside courts have absolutely no shade at all and the harsh heat from the sun as well as the reflected heat from the ground make a really deadly combination. It would be really great if they could put some sort of shade-cloth or sails over the seating areas to make it vaguely more comfortable (and safer) for fans because it really is very unpleasant. I was lucky I could escape to the lounge whenever it got too hot, but in previous years, I have also been there as part of the general public and there really is nowhere to escape the heat. I think some sort of shade at those courts would be a worthwhile investment. I only stayed for 2 sets and then had to move on. I saw a bit of Gaston Gaudio's practice, as well as Gilles Muller's practice and then went inside to have lunch. Ferrero was there, as was Richard Gasquet. I went out briefly to see a bit of Sebastien Grosjean's match against Juan Monaco on Margaret Court Arena but it was really too hot, so I went back inside. I spent a few hours in there talking to a friend and also to Antonio, who was leaving for Chile the next day with Nico. In the evening, we went over to Court 13 to watch Gilles Muller play doubles with Michael Kohlmann. They had the tough ask of playing number 2 seeds Bjorkman and Mirnyi first up. I thought it would be a white wash but they played really well and had lots of chances to win. In the end, they lost 5-7 7-6 6-7. It had been quite a long match and didn't finish until 9.30pm. I didn't even know if the restaurant in the lounge would still be open, but it was, so we had dinner there. Karsten Braasch was there and he was later joined by a disappointed Kohlmann. They had a few beers and left. We stayed a bit to watch the Hewitt/Chela match on the tv but then we too left.
Friday 20 January:
First match for me today was Gaston Gaudio v Fabrice Santoro on Vodafone Arena. On paper, it was a good match and it turned out to be so. The tennis was great, with Santoro displaying his magician-like touch and Gaston letting rip with his trademark backhand. The point of the match was undoubtedly at set point to Santoro in the second set, serving at 40-15. The long rally had the crowd in raptures as Gaston was able to save the set point with some amazing play. Even Fabrice applauded! We then went to see the end of Andy Roddick playing Julien Benneteau on Rod Laver Arena. It had been a good for Julien to get to the third round after coming through qualies. Unfortunately, his run ended quite abruptly against Roddick, as expected. The Roddick fans were out in force with "half naked women" (as Andy called them) in bikinis and topless guys all cheering for him and waving American flags. After a quick lunch in the players lounge, we decided to go back to the hotel and freshen up before returning to the tennis centre at 7pm. We had dinner in the lounge. Tommy Robredo was there with his coach and Gisela Dulko, as was his opponent James Blake. Feliciano Lopez came in briefly too and so did Fernando Verdasco. We were there to watch Feli's match on Margaret Court Arena against Ivan Ljubicic. There had been a huge storm a few hours before, but the weather had cleared and the night was perfect. The Croatian fans were there in full force to cheer on Ivan. Feli took it to Ivan in the first 2 sets, but was unfortunately bagelled in the 3rd. We went back to the lounge briefly after and saw the end of the Robredo/Blake match on the tv before heading back to the hotel.
Saturday 21 January:
We got to the tennis centre at 12.30 and saw Feli Lopez and Fernando Verdasco practising. Feli was topless and there were hordes of girls drooling over him (most of whom didn't have the faintest idea who he was). Feli and Nando were joking around and seemed to be having a nice time. But it was so hot (40 degrees) that I went inside after a short time. We sat down to have our lunch and our table was soon invaded by Czechs. There seems to be countless players, both male and female, from that country. There was Tomas Berdych, his girlfriend Lucie Safarova, Jiri Vanek, Jan Hernych, Iveta Benesova, Barbara Strycova and Klara Koukalova to name a few. Fernando Verdasco's coach, Pepo Clavet, was engrossed in a game of chess at the other end of the table with one of the Czech coaches, while Fernando himself was engrossed in some sort of handheld game. When the Czechs eventually left and we had peace again, we talked to Wally Masur's wife and daughter, both of whom were extremely nice! The table was then invaded by Argentines and Spaniards, so we went over to Vodafone Arena to see Juan Carlos Ferrero play Nicolas Kiefer. Ferrero lost, unfortunately. He seemed to be troubled by an abdominal injury towards the end of the match and even stopped mid-game to call the trainer. After that match, we headed out to Court 10 to watch Feli and Fernando play doubles against Santoro and Zimonjic. It was a close match and our Spanish boys had some chances to win but, alas, they did not. We sat with Garry for most of the match and chatted with him. We then went back into the lounge for dinner. Miroslava Vavrinec, girlfriend of Roger Federer, was there in preparation for Roger's night match against Max Mirnyi. We didn't stay for that match though, but instead headed back to our hotel to call it a day.
