Jodi's Epic Tennis Adventure 2.6 - Return of the Queen

I really do love the Australian Open. And Melbourne. And tennis.

That is all.

It was a traditional Australian Open summer day, warm and sunny. I am unsure whether I will ever scrape the layers of sunscreen off, but the tennis was worth it. And, in addition, one of my favourite Australian singers was performing - the incomparable Kate Miller-Heidke - and I got to sit and watch her with Dootsiez of All I Need Is A Picket Fence fame. Fun times.

I opened the day with a leisurely Nadal practice session and then spent most of the rest of it wandering the grounds, catching bits and pieces of various matches. I saw a bit of Yaroslava Shvedova's victory over Kimiko Date Krumm - boy, I do like both these players! And I spent a significant amount of time on Court 18, watching Nadia Petrova and Kaia Kanepi and then Andrey Golubev and Ivan Ljubicic.

The most notable thing about the Petrova match was the penultimate game, Petrova serving - this was the longest game I can ever remember, in any match, ever. Seriously, it had at least fifteen deuces, and Kanepi had at least ten break points. I am not exaggerating. The game itself went for about twenty five minutes. Petrova finally held and then broke Kanepi for the match. I was on Team Nadia, but I felt a bit sorry for Kanepi after that.

My latest love affair, Andrey Golubev, lost to Ivan Ljubicic, but it was a noble defeat. It was four sets and he showed a lot of the flair that has earned him a special place in my tennis esteem. I am sad I'm denied a third round showdown with Nadal, because I reckon that could have been awesome, but there is no shame in going down to Ljubicic. That Ivan/Rafa match should be a good one, actually - if Ivan can take down wheeler-dealer Golubev, he'll be a good test for the Raging Bull.

But as usual, it is all about the night session... which is still going on. Yes, I left early. It is one thirty in the morning. So sue me. Cilic and Tomic are locked at two sets all in a really fascinating match - even if Tomic doesn't win, he will take a lot of positives away from this match. He plays frankly weird tennis - I rememebr Courier saying of Tomic's first round win over Guillaume Rufin that he 'softshoed him off the court'. He doesn't hit the ball hard from the back of the court at all, though he can certainly accelerate through it when he wants. He gives the opponent a lot of different looks... he's got vague similarities to Andy Murray, though he's obviously not as good yet. When he gets some legs... Tomic is going to be something.

If only he could solve his Bad Dad problems.

But why am I rabbiting on about Tomic?

Today was all about Justine.

I saw that Henin/Clijsters match in Brisbane. This one wasn't as good, but it wasn't far off. Justine... wow. Look out.

She had some service yips, especially at the beginning - a lot of doubles thrown in there. That, combined with the excellence of Demetieva's returning, gave me some pause. But given as Elena's serving wasn't so great either, meant it all worked out okay. And that backhand... OH THE BACKHAND.

Let us spare a thought for Lena D. This was a tough, tough draw for her. And she didn't play badly - not at all. You don't play two sets that go for almost three hours together if you're not fighting, if it's not tight tight tight. But let us face facts. Lena is good. She's very good. Even if she's never won a Slam, she is a good, good player.

But Justine, even after spending two years sitting on a couch eating chocolate, is great.

And so it is onwards and upwards for the pocket rocket Belgian delight, and it is another entry into the Grand Slam annals of woulda shoulda coulda for Elena Dementieva. The tennis gods have not smiled on her, just as they never seem to smile on her at Slams. To see Justine lurking in your draw... wow.

Justine is back. She came OH SO CLOSE with Kim, and now she's pulled it off with Lena. Watch out, ladies. Queen Justine is back.

Holidaze

It's official. It's all booked and paid for and the tickets are sitting next to me as I write this. Tennis From The Backseat will be coming to you from four different cities and four different tournaments this January!

(This also means I may now have to live in a cardboard box, given the amount of money it's costing me, but it'll be worth it).

I'll be kicking off my nationwide tour in Perth on January 7, where I will be spending two days at the Hopman Cup (which is also my favourite tournament of the year!) And yes, I will be seeing an Andy Murray tie... though that doesn't excite me as much as simply going to Perth. I've never been to Western Australia, so it will be an adventure. Not that I'll get much of a chance to do much sightseeing, but hey! Perth! I will have been!

I'll be catching the red eye on Friday night and will cross back to the east of the nation to arrive bright and early on Saturday morning in Brisbane, where I will be spending a day at the Brisbane International, hopefully trying not to fall asleep because of the time difference between there and Perth. I've got tickets for the men's semis and the women's final, so that should be pretty excellent.

Then I come back to Canberra the next day and spend a week at work, of which I am sure I will enjoy every second, before jetting off the next Friday night to Sydney for the women's final of the Medibank International. I'll also take in the men's final the next night before setting off to Melbourne the next day for six! count 'em, six! glorious days at the Australian Open.

Now there is a holiday.

I'm aware I've outlined my travel plans before, but I'm so excited I had to do it again. I don't know if I'll do an Aussie summer this big again - it is, as noted, costing me a bundle - so I'm determined to love every second of it. Even where it involves flying clear across the country twice in three days.

How far have you travelled for a tournament?

Time Off, Time Out, Time to Change

So Dinara Safina is out of Brisbane and in doubt for Melbourne. She's got an injured back which she obviously needs to rehabilitate. This is sad.

This is also bad, as she has finalist points to defend at the Aussie and will thus go tumbling down the rankings. The season will start and go on without her, and who knows when she'll get back in?

But you know what? Even though it will obviously be an epic fail for her to miss the beginning of the season and lose all those points, effectively meaning she'll have to start from scratch-ish (not quite Square One, but a few squares lower), I think it might be good for her to take some time out. This whole being on tour thing is obviously doing her head in, and it can't help any when you've got a bunch of people dancing around a bonfire going 'Dinara Safina is the worst #1 eveeeeeeeer!'

This will give her more time to recuperate physically and prepare herself mentally for another assault on the upper echelons of women's tennis. She knows what to expect now. She knows how tough it is, and how people talk and judge and whatnot. A little time away from that eye could be very good for Dinara. I just hope Zeljko isn't shouting at her too much in the meantime...

And you know what? Maybe this back injury will force her to do what people have been telling to do all year and fix her serve. Or even if the back injury doesn't come into play in this arena, this will give her more time to work on it with Zeljko. Because if she is going to make another assault along the lines of the one she made in mid-2008, the serve is where it has to start.

So rest up, Dinara. Rest, recuperate and get better. I may be the last person in the world clinging to your bandwagon, but I'm still clinging to it. And I'm sure that, when you come back, you will be in a position to give us great things.

What I Will Do On My Holiday

In the absence, once more, of Real Tennis (how on earth am I going to manage in December?) I thought I'd use a schoolyard staple - what I did on my holiday - and turn it around a bit. Here it is - what I plan to do on my tennis junket in January.

Well, I plan to go to pretty much every tennis tournament in Australia. Except Hobart. Because Hobart is lame.

If I have my way, I'll spend two days in Perth for the Hopman Cup, where I'll hopefully get to see the interesting pairing of Andy Murray and Laura Robson play, and then fly on to Brisbane, to catch the men's semis and both finals. And then, after returning back to my dull dull life for a few days, I'll go on up to Sydney, catch the finals of both the men and women, and then down to Melbourne, for five glorious days at the Aussie Open.

I've booked the Sydney/Melbourne leg of my trip - and consequently have no money, but am very excited nonetheless. Whether the Perth/Brisbane leg ever eventuates will remain to be seen, but it's going to be awesome, even if I don't get to go. It's going to be sweltering and I suspect I'll end up with one of those tans that looks like leather, but such is the price we pay in the pursuit of our love.

The US Open series is often called the greatest roadtrip in sport, but I think my tennis junket here just might rival it... especially if I do make it clear across the country to Perth (a six hour flight, on a good day). It also means I'm completely mad (as many people have told me), to use a great chunk of my holiday leave on tennis, but there it is: I love tennis. And I've never been to either Brisbane or Perth, so that will be big fun also.

Apologies for the incoherent rambling - excitement (and heat) is what I'll chalk it up to. Have you got a tennis junket story - a tennis roadtrip (or plane, or whatever) that you've done/plan to do? Tell me about it!

Off The Beaten Track

So today I will write about... um...

Yeah, it's hard when no one's actually playing this sport we call tennis.

But at least we have London, and I intend to flog that horse until the whole thing is over. I know I talked London yesterday, but hey! guess what!? more London today. And tomorrow, probably, and the next day, and the next, and... oh, use your imagination.

One thing that I have been wondering about is this - why London? The year ending championships has been in a few different places in the past - Shanghai and Houston being among them - and I have to say that I thought London was a pretty strange choice. I mean, sure, they have a pretty sweet arena with the O2 that they might not otherwise get to use, but come on - they have a Slam already. Hell, they have the Slam - ain't no prize bigger than Wimbledon. So why do they get the year-ending championships as well?

Imagine if it was decreed that the year-ending championships were going to be in Melbourne. I don't think anyone would like that too much, because Melbourne already has the Aussie Open. I mean, sure, Melbourne is also very far away from the rest of the world, but that's beside the point. Why don't the ATP share the love?

That's why I thought it was really good that the year ending championships were in Shanghai. Major city in a major country - but Slamless. Sure, Shanghai now has its own Masters series to make up for it, but it's not quite the same. Lots of tournaments claim to be the Fifth Slam, but I don't think you can go past the year-ending championships for prestige outside the Slams. So why stick it in a city that already has a friggin' Slam?

That was a lot of words used to say something quite simple. How very me of me.

So where should the year ending championships be? If we rule out Melbourne, London, Paris and New York - and let's rule out the continents of Australasia, Europe and North America, just to be fair - where do we put it?

How about Johannesburg? Or Sao Paolo? Or Hanoi? There has to be somewhere that deserves a bit of tennis lovin'. I guess it's all about money and facilities and such things... but, yeah. I don't think London really is the Bestest Place Ever to be having your end of year tournament. It's... unfair.

In the Tradition of Middle Earth...

I thought renaming places - even temporarily - was reserved for things like the premiere of the Lord of the Rings movies. (Remember when Wellington got renamed 'Middle Earth' for a week? I thought it was hilarious.) But no - apparently for the duration of the Australian Open next year, Federation Square is going to be called 'Tennis Square.'

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Unimaginative name (right along the lines of Garden Square Cafe getting renamed 'Player Cafe' after A FRIGGING COMPETITION for the best name) but I like the intent. Melbourne in January is going to be the tennis capital of the universe, and I like that there's a huge effort to make tennis cool for the general public and not just the nerds like me. Here's what the Tennis Australia article says:

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"For the duration of the Open, Channel Seven will broadcast tennis on the giant screen and an Australian Open merchandise store and NIKE outlet will be open.

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"Top players will make special appearances, and between Thursday 22 January and Sunday 25 January 2009 Tennis Australia will conduct a variety of free interactive tennis activities, including Aviva Tennis Hot Shots and Talent Search."

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Fun for all the family, basically. Get 'em into tennis while they're young, I say, and then they can grow up fabulous, like me.

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Hmmm. I'm going to be in Melbourne for the first five days of the Open. (Got my tickets yesterday! Am now poor!) Maybe I should swing past this so-called Tennis Square... especially if those star appearances include a certain player whose initials are RF...

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...or MS, for that matter...