The Deuce Club, 2.4

!GVGirlandAussieMargeRodLaverArena

by Jackie Roe, TW Social Director

Evening, TWibe! It’s been a while, I know . . .

How is everyone doing? Though we’ve moved on from the Australian Open (or have we? maybe some of you are still feeling the after-effects), I have a few AO-related loose ends to tie up. First up, our Suicide Pool results. Here’s TalkAboutTennis.com's Mariya with a recap:

None of the 3 Women´s SP winners were from TW. I´m sad to say no one contesting for TennisWorld even made it to the second week of this Australian Open.

No TW winners in the Men's pool either. Djatns got the farthest, sharing the agony of defeat in the semifinal with her pick, Roger Federer.

She went with a bevy of former and present top players (save Dolgopolov and Nishikori) in her picks:
Haas - Hewitt - Dolgopolov - Nishikori - Berdych - Ferrer - Del Potro - Murray - Nadal - Djokovic – Federer

Better luck next time, TWibe!

And now, I’m thrilled to share with you a special AO write-up from GVGirl, a.k.a. Karen. I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I did (and it features a cameo from another one of our beloved TWibers!).

Postcards from the “Happy Slam”

G’day from New Jersey! I’ve just returned from the “Happy Slam,” and as a result of my jet-lag I still don’t know what day it is. As a crazy tennis fan I had always wanted to attend the Australian Open, but never did I imagine that on my first trip there I would be covering the tournament as media.

It still did not truly hit me that I was going “down under” until I was flying over Sydney, seeing a panoramic view of the harbor and the famous Opera House. After three planes with a combined total travel time of more than 30 hours from New York City, I finally arrived in Melbourne, exhausted and very jet-lagged, on—of all days—Friday the 13th!

Leaving Melbourne’s airport I was stunned that I actually needed a sweater. People had warned me about the ever changeable Melbourne weather and told me that I’d need everything from a coat to a bathing suit, so I really should not have been that shocked. The weather remained “changeable” throughout my fortnight in Melbourne—from 60 degrees to almost 100 degree days.

After arriving at my Melbourne dwelling in the early evening, I tried to make myself stay up until 11 so I could wake up at a normal time to get rid of my jet-lag.  Did. Not. Happen. I woke up at 3 am and could not go back to sleep. As the dawn came, I felt as though I were in London, or Paris in October; a cloudy day, with a misty cool drizzle emerged and it felt as though I were back home in the New York City area with temperatures in the 50’s. “Is this really Melbourne?” I thought, jokingly.

I made the trek from my dwelling to Melbourne Park, about a mile-and-a-half on foot. Melbourne, like New York City, is a walking city, and I’m a walker. Also like New York, it’s a city with good public transportation. Melbourne has many trains, trams, and buses. If you have a ticket or credential for the Australian Open, you can ride the city trams to the tournament for free.

I won’t get into the details about being media at the Australian Open, but while many journalists live in the media center during tournaments, I was not one of them. My hard news background as a journalist has had me work in many different places, from international war zones to local crime scenes, from local mayor’s offices to national political conventions, so I am prone to not staying still and wandering around the courts.

The Australia Open is a fantastic venue for fans to watch matches. After being inside all of the show courts and the outer courts, I don’t know how I’ll be able to watch a match in Arthur Ashe Stadium again at the US Open. If you have attended the US Open, imagine having the same sight-lines on most of the courts in Melbourne Park as you do on the US Open’s Grandstand court. That’s how I felt. You feel “up close and personal” watching the players on almost all of the courts, with the Melbourne skyline painting the background.

There was what I call an “orderly chaos” when the gates were opened before play began on day 1. Everyone seemed to be rushing to one of the Australian Open stores on the grounds to purchase souvenirs before taking their seats. Some Melbourne residents told me to buy souvenirs on the first day. Funny, that’s what I tell people to do at Davis Cup ties and the US Open.

There are places to sit all over the grounds. And I mean seats as in chairs and not benches, many of them in the shade.

One thing I noticed was the large number of people wearing black at the matches. Even myself, a consistent wearer of black, left my black outfits and shirts back in the New York City area, after hearing about the 100 degree temperatures in Melbourne (except for one item . . . I can’t go totally without black, that’s my New York City uniform!). In fact, when I interviewed two of the merchandizing managers overseeing the Australian Open shops all over the grounds, I was told that due to the overwhelming demand they were selling black t-shirts for the first time this year. International visitors are demanding them (I’ll bet many of them were New Yorkers and Parisians).

As a so-called jaded New Yorker and media person, I rarely get excited about celebrities, as I see them all the time at home. However, I had one of the biggest thrills of my tennis media life getting the chance to meet Rod Laver at a news conference. I never saw Rod Laver play—he was before my time—but I really admire him. Most of his career he played for no money but for the love of the game. He won the Grand Slam twice! He is a living piece of tennis history and for me tops the GOAT list.

Doesn’t matter what part of the world I’m in, I can always count on meeting a “TWiber.” This time it was Aussiemarg. (That's us in the headline photo!) Meeting TennisWorld posters all over the world is like meeting a member of your tennis family that you haven’t seen in ages. You instantaneously click and are fast friends. It’s happened with all of the TWibers I’ve met overseas. Anna Wintour has nothing on Marg!

I have to be honest and say that traveling to the Australian Open is an expensive proposition if you are coming from the US. It may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but it’s an adventure well worth taking. Aside from the tennis there is so much to do in Melbourne and its environs—fine dining, boat rides up the Yarra River, beaches, museums, and a personal favorite of not just myself but nearly every junior player I interviewed—going to pet koala bears.

I want to personally thank my husband, another media person who had re-arrange his already crazy schedule for three weeks so I could go to Australia. As parents, finding someone to watch your child for even an hour a day each day for three weeks is almost mission impossible; it took a lot of planning, but we made it happen. Make the Australian Open happen for you sometime in the future, despite the jet-lag. You’ll be glad you did.

(Click here for more photos.)

Terrific report, GVGirl! Thank you so much for sharing these musings and giving us a taste of the tennis experience Down Under.

That’s all for now. Have a great weekend, and feel free to camp out here during the Super Bowl on Sunday! (Predictions?)