Jodi's Epic Tennis Adventure 1.2 - Eating Humble Paella

One of the problems with Australian tennis - I think, anyway - is our overweening sense of domination, even though we pretty much suck at it currently. It's been clear for a number of years that Lleyton Hewitt is not going to win another Grand Slam, and yet the question asked every time a Slam rolls around is 'what are Hewitt's chances?' No one ever seems to answer 'tiny' despite huge amounts of evidence (and precedent) in that area.

I don't mean to pay out Hewitt here - this is more a comment on the Australian perception of sport. We as a nation are used to being good at sport. Australia is one of the jocks of the world, used to beating up other countries and stuffing them in lockers on the sporting field. But I think the heart of this lies in the fact that Australia is very good at team sports. When it comes to individual sports... not so much. Not at the moment in tennis, anyway. But no one seems to realise this...

...which is why people get so damn cocky about the Hopman Cup every year, and get all disappointed when we don't win. It's 'Australia's Hopman Cup Shame', as I saw one headline read. To be fair, this year we did have a good team who had a good shot, but most years we don't have a prayer and no one seems to realise.

As a fan of tennis the sport, watching as a fan of tennis the sport and not necessarily of Australia, it is supremely uncomfortable to hear the stuff coming out of people's mouths when Australia is not doing well. I noticed this particularly during Samantha Stosur's match against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. I really enjoyed the match - Stosur didn't play particularly well once MJMS started to read her kicker, but MJMS had a beautiful game and I loved watching her play.

The people around me? Not so much. There was one woman behind me who was convinced that MJMS was somehow cheating and that Stosur should get three goes on serve instead of two because of it. I'm not quite sure exactly how she thought MJMS was cheating, but there you go. Amusingly, she also thought faults were called fouls, so I'm not sure her grip on the rules was too good. Another one labelled MJMS 'grunty' and would oink like a pig every time she got up to serve. (FYI, MJMS does grunt a bit, but I didn't even notice until this woman pointed it out - I think it was only noticeable because Stosur is completely silent. She's certainly no Michelle Larcher de Brito). Sport is pretty much a universal religion in Australia and it made me sad to see that appreciation of good play gave way to sledging and hyper-nationalism. Apparently it can only be good play if it is Australian play.

Look at me, sounding all miserable. I cannot tell you what a good time I had, this first day at the Burswood Dome. The majority of the crowds were not dickheads like those mentioned above and there is, quite simply, nothing quite like watching tennis live. I was viewing the court from above on a diagonal, which was not the best angle, but it was interesting watching tennis from a different perspective.

I also have a newfound respect for Tommy Robredo. This has been compounded by his victory over Andy Murray in the final of the Hopman Cup - I confess I wanted Murray to win so Robson could have her diamond ball, but this was an awesome match for Tommy. I saw him play Hewitt on this Thursday, and one thing you realise in real life that you never quite see on television is how fast he is. Robredo and Hewitt actually have quite similar games. Robredo probably hits the ball a little harder, but they both have great wheels and are dogged, chasing down anything they can find. The scoreline was relatively one-sided, but it was actually a great match, with lots of long points. Even if I wanted to turn around and smack the bogan Lleyton supporters behind me. (Not that all Lleyton supporters are bogan. But these ones, well...)

As a venue, the Burswood Dome is probably not ideal for tennis, but it's certainly unique. I love the ceiling, high and arching, and the fact that it is temperature controlled is excellent, because Perth is very, very hot! And Burswood is not out in the sticks (which, I confess, I thought it was) - it was one short train ride from the city of Perth where I was staying. I fell in love with Perth while I was there and am dying to go back one day. It has to be one of the world's most isolated cities, but it is beautiful. It seems very relaxed and laidback and chilled out... probably something to do with the fact that it is three hours behind the rest of the country and so any news that reaches it is inevitably old. But it is sunny and gorgeous and would be a lovely place to live and has an excellent public transport system and stuff.

But back to the Dome itself. It exists in this strange place between stadium and showcourt. During points, it feels like a stadium. However, when it's a sitdown and play is not in progress, you can actually walk right up to the edge of the plexicushion. There are security guards, but effectively you can be one, two metres away from the players as they have their sitdown. It has this wonderful intimacy but also this feeling that it has been haphazardly thrown together - Court 1 is separated from the central court by a big curtain. It is also really, really hard to get from one side of the stadium to the other. If you come in the wrong door (which I did on this Thursday, not knowing the venue at all) the only way you can get to your seat on the other side of the court is to go through a tunnel. However, this is also the same tunnel that the players use when walking about, so whenever they're coming, they close the tunnel off. Which means you can be stuck for up to about twenty minutes, which is kind of a pain.

The Hopman Cup is going to be at Burswood again next year, but the year after, I understand that they're moving to the new stadium they're building in Perth proper. Which, I noticed, happens to be across the road from my hotel. Perhaps I should book my accommodation now...?

Jodi's Epic Tennis Adventure 1.1 - Golubev Flying High

Well, I am back from the first leg of my epic tennis adventure! Hence the no blogging for a few days - I've been busy watching tennis instead of writing about it. But I am back now to tell you all about it - for oh! what adventures I have had!

Wednesday night, I left work early to catch a plane to Perth. This is no mean feat, because I live in Canberra, which is pretty much as far away from Perth as you can get. Australia is a very big place and crossing the country is no small thing. But there is very little I will not do in pursuit of tennis, and so eight hours in transit it was, starting with a Canberra to Melbourne leg, waiting around for a bit, and then settling in for the Melbourne to Perth journey.

This is a four and a half hour plane trip, so it had the potential to be very dull. I had a trashy book with me all ready to wile away the lonely hours, but a fortuitous flick through the satellite channels on board led to a wonderful discovery - coverage of the Hopman Cup tie between Russia and Kazakhstan. More particularly, this meant coverage of the match between Andrey Golubev and Igor Andreev.

Andrey, Andrey, where have you been all my life?

I don't know if Golubev is one of those players who just comes alight when representing his country or whether something has clicked for him and he has suddenly become awesome. But that's what he was - on fire and completely, utterly awesome. And it wasn't just this match against Andreev, though he had him tied up in all sorts of knots: can you believe that Andreev struck only three forehand winners for the match, and that he didn't have a single winner - NOT ONE - until about halfway through the second set? Incredible. I had the opportunity to see Golubev play in the flesh on Friday - I caught the second set of his match against Philipp Kohlschreiber on Court 1 under the Burswood Dome - and this doesn't look like a one match fluke. If he can consistently play at this level, look for him to make an excellent run in Australia. His performance completely belied his ranking (#133, fyi.)

Let me expound. This dude dominated Igor 'forehand' Andreev from the baseline. He went backhand to backhand with Philipp 'backhand' Kohlschreiber and came out ahead. And he came into net and demonstrated some incredible volleying skills, both in the singles and particularly the doubles. And I'm not just talking one or two sweet shots. I mean shots so good they were freaking terrifying (and can make a cross-country flight seem as short as anything).

His problem in the past has to have been mental and it has to have had to do with consistency. I have never seen him play before so I don't know for sure, but if he had been playing like this in the past, I would have heard about it. So consistency it was. He was very nervous in his first match against Andy Murray and rolled over pretty easily, but to smack down both Kohlschreiber and Andreev like that was pretty special. So if he has suddenly toughened up mentally... watch out for him. Because he will be a wrecking ball of destruction hammering right through the top fifty, mark my words.

He's twenty-two, so he might be a little old for me to adopt in my Stars of the Future fold. But I'm making him my Late Bloomer for the year. Look out for Andrey Golubev. Because you'll hear his name again. Guaranteed.