I actually took better photos today, I think I've finally worked it out that my camera takes better photos during daytime. Even through the fence is ok because it steadies the camera so my hand shaking won't be an issue.

But GAH. again. JCF lost it again! This is like the fifth time I've seen him lose the first match of the year. (2004 - Guccione @ Sydney, 2005 - Hernych @ Auckland, 2006 - Guccione @ Sydney, 2007 - Massu @ Auckland) Note that last year I wasn't there and he reached the final? Do I carry such bad luck????? Should I be banned from his matches???

Anyway, to start today's report properly I got to the tennis at around 10.30am. Not long later PHM headed out to practice with Benneteau. PHM must've read my comments about the orange shirt yesterday since he wore it today! lol. So... does it go better with white or black shorts?



I think I've mentioned earlier I'm warming up to Benneteau. He has that nice fluffy hair thing going too :) But today he had stripes of sunscreen on his face. In this country, we do encourage slip, slop, slap but how hard is it to blend it in? It is not a good look!



Then, I saw Mario heading off to a nearby court to practice so I watched that. He practiced with Luka Gregorc! In my mind, he's "Starbucks guy". Well, in my mind he also looked different so I didn't recognise him lol. This certainly helped!



Mario spoke to him in English, and they seemed friendly. After the practice Mario signed autographs and took photos etc. I wished him good luck for the match and how he was feeling - not injured???? I hope. He said he was ok, and then he asked why I asked the question.... X_X er.... just wondering? I DON'T KNOW WHY I ASKED! It just came out???? GRRRRRR. Actually, it's a bit of a blur now. I really should avoid him now. Maybe it's weird because I haven't asked him for a photo or autograph yet. He might think I have money on him looool.



After Mario's practice JCF's match was just about to start so I headed to the show court. It was PACKED! Brissy people likes JCF! (More than Mario it seems - based on the crowd numbers later on!) I attempted to sit on the stands, under the sun, but it was distracting because of the crowd. The Show Courts only has seating on one side (where the sun is). So a lot of people watch it from the shady side and they just either get chairs and sit right behind the fence or stand. The shady side was packed so people started to stand/sit on the sunny side as well, in front of the seating. This blocked the view of some of the ppl sitting on the stands so they were pretty annoyed. I'm sure this problem wasn't sorted out until the middle of the first set. So that whole time, I couldn't concentrate on the match because of the complaints and the ppl blocking part of my view! ARGH.

After the first set, I couldn't stand the heat anymore so I moved to the shady side and stood to watch the rest of the match. It wasn't the best view since I couldn't see the other side of the court very well. (Better than nothing I suppose) For this reason, I don't have many pics of this match because I could hardly see it properly myself! Honestly, I can't pretty much copy and paste my comments from his previous "1st match of the year losses" because he didn't seem to 'be there'. He had some good shots early but once Serra got ahead, he couldn't fight back. There was some brief hope in the 2nd set when he broke back but that's only because Serra double faulted. Serra also made a couple of unforced errors but JCF couldn't capitalise. After watching these types of matches I'm always pessimistic about his chances next week. But he has proved me wrong in the past so I hope this year it's the same. I like the outfit though, if it helps anything.



Next up on the same court is Mario Ancic v Amer Delic. Amer has always been in my good books because I did think he was ok but now he has shocking hair....! It's long! Needs a haircut that one. Mario on the other hand, although the yellow outfit is rather yummy, he has major co-ordination issues. Yellow shorts call for white undies Mario! See through is not a good look!



The match was close. Both of them served well (Amer's arguably more consistent than Mario's it seems) so there weren't that many long rallies. Mario did come into the net often and it worked reasonably well. I'm skeptical of Mario having his brother as his new coach. All aspects of his game needs to improve to get back to the level he once was and he really needs someone experienced to help him. (I know, it's just another way of saying I miss Fiddie but still!) He just didn't seem to have a weapon besides his serve.



While we were standing to watch the match (since we didn't want to get sunburnt!) I suddenly felt someone standing really close behind me. First I thought it was a joke from someone I know but then I turned around and it was some random guy! He was wearing a blue Lacoste shirt and seriously, I could feel his breathing on my neck. WTF? I never found out who he was, but later on, I saw Michael Llodra with his coach (I presume) wearing that same shirt. So I suspect it was Llodra's coach from before. Was he Lionel? I don't remember. But Lionel is not listed as his coach on ATP???

Anyway, as the match went on, we managed to get a couple of seats right behind the players behind the fence. We were like 3 metres behind Delic. He must sweat a lot because he changed EVERY SINGLE ITEM of clothing on his body throughout the match. I'm sure he went through 4 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, and changed even his headband, socks AND SHOES during the match. How much stuff does he carry with him???? Plus we have to put up with a pile of dirty clothing right in front of us! =.= Not impressed!

[I just realised I didn't take any Amer photos!]

Eventually, Mario won, just. That match was like 3 hours! Amer and Mario even gave each other a little hug afterwards. :) After they sat down they even chatted a little, maybe about those doggy line calls during the match lol.



I had thoughts of seeing Robin Soderling v Julien Benneteau but it might not start until almost 7pm and I was bummed about JCF... :( So we called it a day.

It's Day 1-ish because I've been to the new tennis centre a couple of times (before today) now, but I didn't stay for too long on the other days. So let's just class this as Day 1 of my reports.

Before today, I had already seen Jarkko and PHM in practice, so I guess the main goal of today was to see JCF & Mario. Slight complication - today I'm rostered on. This year is the first time I'm volunteering for a tournament! Luckily (or unluckily - depending on how you view it) we didn't actually have much work and finished quite early. Plus, the work that we did we had to go around to each of the tournament offices recording some things. So we got a pretty detailed tour of the "inside". It was interesting, so that was a positive experience. However, it rained for much of today. Centre court had a (partial) roof so players were practicising there. Well, even if it was sunny it would be hard watching players on the outside practice courts. There is no gap (for ppl to stand) in between each practice court so essentially, you have to watch them behind a fence. Sucks if you want practice photos!

(I've already written some comments on the new tennis centre itself and posted them on MTF, so I'll just re-post them here)

After the trip to the centre yesterday I have to say it's actually a bit smaller than I had thought. They probably concentrated on building a greater number of courts, rather than create more room for people to move around. I'm not sure what the official "measurements" are, but size-wise, it's nothing compared to Sydney, and even Adelaide. If anyone plans to get practice photos you'll be disappointed because there's no space for spectators in between most of the practice courts, so you can only see them behind a fence!

Also, everything seems to be cramped, and on one side it's directly looking at a power station! They really should've made more space for what they're trying to build. The centre court itself is good, you can probably get a good view even from the back rows.

That aside I didn't stay long but saw Gasquet practicising with Stepanek on centre court, also Nieminen with Melzer outside. (Heaps more women were practicising, except for Hantchuhova and Safarova I didn't know who the rest of them were!)


Back to today....
After we finished work we settled down to watch Gasquet / PHM / Berdych / Benneteau (I think) practicising. ahhh so much beauty! lol. Tomas though, had this weird looking haircut I can hardly recognise him. (Yes people, in this blog, the HAIR is very important!) He also looked pale, and I'm sure I asked multiple times whether that was really Tomas. PHM on the other hand, is a man of consistency (YAY!). The curls are still there and he still makes me swoon. I'm warming up to Benneteau, although (if that was really him) that shirt he was wearing is not very flattering.


Sorry all my photos of Tomas turned out blurry!

My day one report was supposed to finish here. Because the weather still looked quite grim and didn't look like play was going to start any soon. So we headed off for an early day! BUT (!) in one of those (good) weird twists as I was driving along I saw this mini-van and guess who was inside ---> Mr Mario Ancic! *0* Now my short day had turned into another long-ish day...

I was hoping he would practice straight away, but no, when I eventually park my car, walk up to the centre again he was nowhere to be found. Argh. I had thoughts of giving up but after watching some of Ivanovic / Kirilenko in practice I decided to take a walk again and found Via! We chatted for a little while but she had to catch a train so I went back to centre court. After the girls finished up - Mario / Jarkko / Jurgen / Robin rocked up! That was a good hour.

Mario is keeping his scruffy head / facial hair look (continuing on from last year) which I am not the biggest fan of, but it's acceptable. Jarkko is Jarkko (another man of consistency - maybe Anu likes it this way!), Jurgen hides it under a cap (but it's still good) and Robin (no comments since I don't have strong feelings one way or another). Phew. I had plans to give Mario something so I waited after they finished up. After Jarkko & Mario shaked hands I tried to get his attention but since I didn't want to say anything too loud (it was getting late and the stadium was mostly empty!) I don't think he heard me. Thank god Jarkko did and told Mario looool. I'm sure Jarkko has heaps of brownie points already but more won't hurt ;) So mission accomplished!


Jarkko / Mario / Jurgen / Magnus!

Afterwards I met Christina (MTF-er) - yes I did recognise her from her avatar! lol (plus she also said hello to Magnus Norman as he was leaving, so that was a giveaway!) After that practice I think Mario was heading outside for another practice! Although theoretically I could stay, but it was dark and it will be weird. :) So we left!

Mission tomorrow - to find out whether JCF is actually here, I have not seen him at all!