Good on ya Anthony!
I just got back from the tennis. Spent Thursday and Friday there; we had the Rod Laver tickets including outside courts.
(Excuse my spelling below for the tennis names)
The first match I saw was Novak Djokavic versus Marco Chiudinelli. I was going for Novak, but the opposition was amazing. Marco really had it going against Novak, some great hitting and it was a fantastic start to the day. It ended up being a 4 set match, Novak winning 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
The second match we saw was the wonderful Samantha Stosur against Kristina Barrois. It was a great match also, some wonderfuly hitting from Sammi, particularly volleys, and she ended up winning 7-5, 6-3.
The biggest match that was most anticipated for the day sessions was of course the one where Lleyton Hewitt versed Donald Young. Injury prone Hewitt lead to win the match in the end, but did struggle in the first set, needing to win a tie-breaker to secure the set. Donald played really well as well though, great hitting from him, particularly from the back of the court, and some of the rallies they had were sooooo long, but awesome!! The crowd was so cool as well, we had the mexican waves going, chants etc.... Hewitt won 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-1.
We aslo managed to see the end of Serena Williams match. It was fantastic seeing her play.
For Friday, it was quite uncomfortable in the heat, it reached to 37 degrees I think outside, and was quite warmer inside Rod Laver. The roof was half closed at the beginning of the day when it was coolest, then fully open in the late arvo when it was the hottest, but sure what was going on there, but anyway, a great day of tennis nevertheless.
We started off seeing Safina win her match. It was quite quick, finished in I think about an hour.
My fav for probably the whole 2-days was Andy Roddick verses Feliciano Lopez. It was an epic match, and the chair umpire had the coolest voice, but was quite strict. This match was also 4-sets, and both players were struggling at times. Roddick was more-so hitting more un-forced errors in the first 2 sets, then Feliciano Lopez started struggling at the end, but stayed fighting for the entire match. There were many challenges, and Roddick threw his racquet at the ground twice and had a couple of arguments with the chair umpire. Feliciano Lopez received a time violation for taking to long to serve. It was a good match, Roddick winning in the end, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
The final match we saw was Juan Martin Del Potro versus Florian Mayer. It was not as exciting to begin with coming straight after Roddick's, but it turned out to be awesome! A great match, another 4-setter, and Juan Martin Del looked as if he was going to lose for a while; but he won 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5.
It was great for the time I was there, and really want to do it again next year! We are considering becoming official members next year of the Open as well! I highly recommend the tournament.