We went to the tennis centre around 1pm and had lunch there. The lounge was noticeably quieter, as so many people had now left. Today was one of those days you just didn't want to step out. It was 43 degrees - totally disgusting - so we basically sat in the lounge and watched a few matches on the tvs - Robredo v Nalbandian, Baghdatis v Roddick and Ferrer v Santoro. They were the only matches in play because all the outside courts' matches had been suspended due to the extreme heat. Juan Carlos Ferrero was sitting there for quite a while too. He looked pretty sad, probably due to his loss and his injury. He was later joined by Feliciano Lopez as well. They were in free clothes and I guessed they were going to be heading to the airport soon after. During that time, we also chatted to Patty Schnyder's sparring partner who was a nice Spanish guy called Marc. Towards the end of the day, we went outside to see a bit of the Sharapova-Hantuchova match on the big screen, but it was so blustery that we went back inside pretty quickly. We had dinner there and Fabrice Santoro's wife was there with their gorgeous 4 year old daughter, Djenae. I cannot stress enough how cute she is!! I played with her for about an hour there! She was telling me about her teddy bear and then started singing birthday songs to me in Spanish! Just adorable! We then headed out to watch a bit of Jose Acasuso playing doubles with Sebastian Prieto. We had a few laughs with some drunk guys who were sitting next to us, but it was so incredibly cold, we didn't stay too long. You would have thought, after a 43 degree day, it would be a nice balmy night, but this is Melbourne, where there are 4 seasons in a day. I was wearing a singlet and shorts and had no jumper and it was FREEZING! Despite the cold, however, I wanted to see Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic playing mixed doubles against Igor Andreev and Maria Kirilenko. Their match should have been played during the day, but they had been unable to play due to the heat and their match didn't end up starting until about 9.30pm! We sat there shivering and must have looked pretty cold because Novak's coach, Jovan, who was sitting behind us, very kindly gave us towels to put around us! He is sooo nice and very appreciative of the support. It is amazing what a difference a towel can make, and we ended up staying for the whole match quite comfortably! Ana and Novak ended up winning in a 3rd set match tie-break. They make such a great team!
Monday 23 January:
My 21st birthday and also our last day at the tennis. When we got to the tennis centre, we first went into the players' lounge but it was pretty dead. I hate it when the atmosphere at a tournament dies and it most certainly had done here. However, we did see Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic there and talked to them for a while. They are both SO sweet and even wished me for my birthday! I already wrote a bit about them in my Hopman Cup report, but I cannot emphasise enough how nice and down-to-earth they both were. Ivanovic is a top 20 player but she is a really sweet girl and Novak is just a total character. It's so nice to see such genuine, happy young people on the circuit. I have seen and observed enough things behind the scenes to know that not all the players are so nice. As a fan, you cannot always judge how a player is as a person. Just because they sign an autograph or take a photo with you, does not mean they are nice, but with these 2, I can safely say they are 2 of the sweetest players out there! After lunch, we went to watch a bit of Paul-Henri Mathieu against Sebastien Grosjean. It was a good effort for Paulo to make the 4th round, but he sadly self-destructed against Grosjean. We sat with Garry for that match and then stayed on to see a bit of Paul Baccanello play doubles with Robert Smeets against Jan Hernych and Ivo Karlovic. I had met Paul Baccanello at a few tournaments in the past and he is another very friendly guy, so I thought I would support him a bit in the doubles! We then had dinner in the lounge for the last time. Tommy Haas was there getting ready for his match against Roger Federer - a daunting task. I must say he looked very handsome with his short hair! The Federer match turned out to be very good, with Haas pushing him to 5 sets, but the world number 1 still prevailed.
So that was my 2006 Australian Open. Definitely one of the better ones I have attended, despite the absence of 2 of my favourite players (Marat Safin and Rafael Nadal). I have to say, I think the Australian Open is one of the best tournaments out there. It is a pleasure to go there every year and I look forward to doing so again in 2007!