Current mood:

tired

Day 3: Hello goggle tan!
ohhh yeah, it's finally here. I better type up something before it'll end up like last year, where there are no reports because I don't remember anything - due to my ageing brain and bones.

Anyway, I got up late this morning and due to the events of Monday (took about an hour to line up, buy tickets, then line up again to actually get in) we thought it would be quicker to go to a net cafe, buy ground passes via ticketek.com.au, and print them out using the ezyticket option! So after all that we finally got inside at around 11:15am and watched GGL v Falla. There were quite a few fans cheering for both players, more for Falla I thought. To be honest, on entertainment value the match wasn't too interesting, so we left after a few games.

I think that's when I saw Serena Williams at the practice courts, didn't stay of course. Then on the other side there was David Nalbandian. Nothing much else so we went in to see some games of Jarkko Nieminen v J Levine. (The lucky loser - I only know this Levine guy from Auckland, when Mario Ancic pulled out and he played against JCF instead lol).

Just as we left the Jarkko match (since he was winning quite comfortably) JC was out practicising with David Ferrer. I guess nothing noteworthy about the session itself, but JC and David seemed to be having a good time, chatting and laughing quite a lot. But we also saw Wayne Arthurs walking by, a couple of people recognised him and asked him to sign autographs. :) I don't mind Wayne, he seems to be a nice bloke. What was funny was that there were a couple of guys with shirts which said "Bring back Wayne Arthurs"!! And Wayne actually posed with them for a photo, it was funny! (So I took a pic of this too!)

During this time I also saw Kristen and finally met JuanquiLover from MTF ;) and Peta was there too.

There were plans to see Oliver Rochus' doubles match. Don't know why he is not partnering up with Kristof Vliegen, but we saw a couple of games and things weren't going so well, so we didn't stay.

We went back to watch GGL - the match was still going. It got close at the end as Falla had set points. But GGL came back in the tiebreak to take the match, which was good to see. He took off his shirt and gave it to one of the Spanish guys who had been cheering for him. He's a sweetie :) and appreciates the support. Then he signed for lots of people and posed for quite a few photos as well, I'm impressed that he finally won 2 matches here! I seem to remember him as always beating good players in round 1 (Moya, Dent, Chela) but then lose in the next round.

Then I went to JCF's autograph session. It was supposed to start at 3:15pm but when I got there around 3pm there were already a big line. Probably 100 people? Thought I'd save him some energy so I didn't line up. JCF was late - so they asked the crowd questions and give prizes for correct answers. The first couple were easy so everyone knew, but when they asked about refurbishing an old cottage.... no one knew! So I had to answer it - it's Hotel Ferrero people! ;) Another two mini Sharpie pens for me! LOL.

When JCF finally arrived all he did was signing stuff. It did get a little stupid because at 4pm, Marcos B was supposed to be there. I'm not sure whether the organisers were just waiting for Marcos but no one bothered to even ask him a question. More like a factory line - everyone get in and out and not much else.

Afterwards, there was a bit of bumming around. Saw a couple of games of Jim Thomas' doubles, and waited for Kristof Vliegen v Igor Andreev. Thought that would be an interesting match but I don't know, I always think that Kristof is not really concentrating, or his mind is somewhere else. Igor hit the ball so hard, and Kristof really only had his serve in his favour. We saw the first two sets, Igor won both 7-5 7-5. Olivier Rochus and blonde came to watch too - there was a bit of candoodling, but still PG rated ;) Behind us GGL and Fernando Verdasco were playing doubles, thought they were doing well (but eventually lost!). oh well.

The weather was getting cold so we left. We got Vodafone tickets for tomorrow and will probably watch some of Nalbandian v Luzack.

At night we saw James Blake at the Baccarat table. hmmmmm. He was by himself too @@.

I think that's about it for today, did see some other ppl practice like Ana Ivanovic, Maria Kirilenko, Filippo Volandri (great hair!) but didn't stay. Did take a few photos though, so they might jog my memory when I eventually upload them. :)