The Australian Open are on.

You can’t ignore it, the advertising, the public viewing screens, the fans… it’s a fun atmosphere. I sat on Federation Square at the public viewing a couple of times already, eating something and watching a couple of balls being played over the net.

Tickets sold out fast, especially for the high-end finales etc. And I wasn’t prepared to splash 200-300 $ on a seat. But they have day passes, that let you go into the park and stroll around the practicing areas and show matches.

So for something between 30-40$ you can watch Federer practice with his racket… Not a bad deal.

This morning I went over to Melbourne Park, the area that hosts the two tennis arenas and smaller courts, the Olympic Stadium of 1956 and Melbourne Cricket Ground (host to Madonna’s 1993 Girlie Show spectacle…), and where, besides the Australian Open, rugby, football, basketball championships and concerts are held.

It’s a massive outdoor sporting complex in a city seemingly obsessed with sports. Everyone is biking, running, skating, rowing on the river, swimming….

I am not much into tennis. I get the basics of it, and I enjoy watching a good game on TV, like last night’s Quarter Finals where Stanislas Wawrinka kicked out Novak Djokovic.

 

I saw Nadal giving autographs to screaming fans after his practice, which I had just missed, and an apparently famous Chinese player beating the shit out of her training partner, a Bulgarian that had a fan club screaming for him…

There were a number of show matches, the players in wheel chairs were most impressive! All in a nice, cheerful atmosphere. You couldn’t get into the main arenas of course, those were shown on big TV screens for the ‘cheap’ guests.

Great day. I regret a bit that I did not dig deep into my pocks to see a semi-final… but at least I got to soak it up a bit.