2007 Australian Open Grand Slam

By Sara Templeton

Mario Ancic leans into his serve

Tennis is an age old sport, originally an ancient Greek game and then reinterpreted by the French aristocracy in the 12th century, when it was often called Royal Tennis. Fast forward 800 years and welcome to the Australian Open - arguably the best grand slam tennis tournament in world.

Where else can you go to experience the beautiful gum tree-surrounded courts in the heart of the Aussie summer, with an atmosphere that is reminiscent of a carnival, and without the carnies? Wimbledon is always rained out, Flushing Meadows (US Open) is impossible to get tickets to, and at Roland Garros (French Open) they don't speak English.

And unlike the 12th century, when beheadings were a ritual for societies elite and toilet paper was another 561 years away, today's game is a multi billion dollar professional sport, where names like Roger Federer, Marat Safin and Serena Williams dominate the headlines. The world's movers and shakers come out to watch the stars of this skillful game, which benefits from an incredible amount of grass roots support, with clubs all over the world hosting amateur and just-for-fun matches on the weekends.

Even a relatively lazy person like myself likes to get out for a hit every now and then, but I must admit, my serve is poor...

Anyway, the Wombat treasury gave me $29 and I headed down to the tennis mecca on the banks of the Yarra river in the heart of Melbourne's sporting district on the first day of play for a general admission day pass, on Monday the 15th of January, 2007. The first games began at 11:00am my mother informed me, so I sidled up at 10:40am expecting to beat the rush. Unfortunately for this Wombat, the queue was longer than a Martin Scorcese film.

In the end, I got onto show court three at 12:40am after a massive wait, so here's a tip - book beforehand, either by phone on via the Internet. That way you'll avoid the insipid GE Genies and other advertising freaks who pepper the queues and eventually make ones blood boil.

Interestingly, while waiting in line, I had a good chance to see the various cheer squads and international fans. The Swedes were cool, the Germans were calm, and the Americans were clearly impressed with the venue and environs. The Serbs and Croats were louder than everyone else, but then you could say that about many young men these days. 

I also witnessed the aftermath of the Serbian/Croatian fan club 'clash' on the Monday, and it wasn't as scary as some would have you believe. Sure, there were photos of terribly ugly young men hitting each other with flag poles and kicking one another, but the police presence ensured the scuffle remained exactly that.

And then the first game of the day on show court 3 was Mario Ancic of Croatia, who is the 9th seed, versus Go Soeda of Japan. Ancic played a measured game, with some great big serves and good court coverage for such a tall man, and though the heat seemed to get to him somewhat, he dispatched his Japanese rival with relative ease, winning in straight sets.

I have this Australian Open 'plan', where I choose a court, and basically stay there all day, and show court 3 was my chosen base in 2007, and proved to offer up four games on the opening day, all of which featured a seeded players, which I thought was very cool. That's the joy of going on one of the first days - you always get your money's worth!

The next match on show court 3 saw Russian up and comer Elena Dementieva, seeded 7th, and Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz, battle it out - and proved to be quite entertaining. Though Foretz was much shorter, she put up a good fight against the tall Russian, and I enjoyed the women's matches slightly more because the game is played slightly slower, and I've only ever been to the tennis once before so my eyes aren't quite quick enough to follow the faster speed of the mens game. It's fine watching on TV because they show the whole court, but being at the game is far more taxing.

Following the Russian's win, another women's game started about 10 minutes later, this time between the 11th women's seed, Serbian Jelena Jankovic, and Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak. The Serbian seed won the match in straight sets, and to my mind she was one of the best players I saw that day and could be a player to watch throughout the tournament. Very good skills, both at the baseline and when coming into the net.

The final game of the day that I caught - again at show court 3 - was between two Spaniards, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo wearing the blue getup, and the mens 7th seed Tommy Robredo, who was wearing white. Though the game appeared very close between the country men right up until the third set, the experience and power of Robredo payed off in a straight sets win, and with very few unforced errors, perhaps Federer and Nadal will indeed have real competition this year.

So, by the end of the day, I had watched four matches, each of them with seeded players; those who are highly ranked and usually more exciting to watch. It was an excellent day, and I urge everyone to pop in a have a look if they get the chance. The Australian Open is all about tennis, but the atmosphere that 40,000 or so spectators adds makes the whole thing a very memorable experience.

I must also mention Lleyton Hewitts mammoth match against the USA's Mike Russell. Anyone who watched the Tuesday night match on the television would have thought Hewitt was done for after dropping two sets, but he fought back in his trademark gritty style.

A great spectator sport, and arguably the world's best Grand Slam tennis event, the Australian Open tennis tournament is simply an excellent place to spend a day, even if you do have to wait for two hours in the queue while being accosted by blood-sucking advertisers. Let's hope all the Aussies do well this year, and maybe I'll see you at Alicia Molik's next game. Go Aussie go!!

Links:
2007 Australian Open (official website)
Tennis Australia (official website)

The Australian Open is one the world's most user friendly and enjoyable Grand Slams
The view of Melbourne city from behind the tennis complex that hosts the Australian Open	The crowds at the Australian open, barring one incident, were uniformly well behaved
The Eureka tower looms large in the background	Elena Dementieva, the 7th women's seed, eyes off her powerful first serve
The main square is a hive of activity	This is where you wait to get a seat on the courts
This was the 600 metre queue that stretched onto Swan St	Look, there's a giraffe!
	Serbian Jelena Jankovic pondering her next move