Australian Open

It’s Sunday and opening day for the Australian Open! I was still not feeling 100% from the stupid frustrating cold and cough. Booo. We headed out about 10am for the walk to Melbourne Park. It was cloudy and forecast to rain and so the crowds stayed away. 

We walked right in and to our first match in the Kia Arena. We were one set into Lila Fernandez when the rain hit and everyone went running into Rod Laver Arena. At RLA We watched Zheng and then we were pretty much stuck there because all other matches were cancelled. It was POURING rain.  Thank heaven for the retractable roof! We watched Capser Rudd win a 5 seter and then got some ice cream.

We went to get some merch, because we had to have our FAN SLAM shirt. So cool to have completed the Fan Slam with Josh. Play finally picked back up at 6. At this point, Halle and Blake were ready to be done with tennis. Halle picked her Melbourne souvenir to be a ticket to Beauty and the Beast Musical and Blake just walked home on his own. Things got more fun as the night progressed. We watched a funny women’s match where Maria just sliced every single ball. We ate dinner of really good rice and chicken and watched Sabalenka and then went and saw Olpeka until 10pm and it was time to head back. That was a FUN match. Such a great night with Tara and Josh. 

Up the next morning for the last day of the Open. Just Tara and Josh and I, Blake and Halle were off doing their own thing. They graciously gave us one day of tennis. They were off to a Natural History museum and ice skating. This day was a lot different. It was hotter and packed. But way better tennis. We started with Tiafoe, one of our favorites. Such a good player and entertainer.

Then we went and saw Coco win, which was great. When we booked tickets we specifically looked for ones that said they got shade.  Well…ticketmaster lied.  We were in the full force of the sun. (Note to anyone ever going—pick the ends, not the sides.  The Aussie sun is no joke) We had to sneak into some open seats in the shade.  I have no idea how players battled these conditions.

Then we watched Sinner. He’s #1 in the World, but it’s hard to see why. It felt like pretty standard tennis.

By then Tiafoe was in a 5th set so we saw him win which was electric. One of our favorite matches, for sure. Then things stalled for a bit because we couldn’t get tickets to Margaret court to see Alcaraz, so I got tickets for Josh and I to Kyrgios in John Cain and Tara went home because she is not a Kyrigios fan. The match turned out to be lame. We were hoping to have a lot of fun with the crazy Aussie crowd.  Kyrgios was barely there and just didn’t play well. We left after 2 sets, he lost in 3. But we went to the Tommy Paul vs O’Connell match. O’Connell is an Aussie and so we were the only ones rooting for Paul and by now the weather was perfect and we were sitting in the perfect place like right in the 6th row and right behind his bench. And it was an amazing match. So much athleticism it was just awesome to watch. The best tennis of the tournament was right then. It was one of those magical moments you sort of stumble into and I’m glad you do. Paul won the first but lost the second. We watched him win the 3rd and was on the way in the 4th so we headed home.  We were too tired to finish. He ended up losing the 4th in a tiebreaker and luckily won the 5th. I was worried about him without us there cheering for him. ha ha. 

We soaked in our last magic moments at the Open. We all have been thinking a lot about Alan and Sharon while we were here—we know they would have just loved that Josh and I completed the FAN SLAM. 

Up the next morning to take our uber from melbourne to the airport. Got there in plenty of time. Took a work meeting. And that was it. Australia–it was magical. Fireworks in Sydney, diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and watching all the tennis greats. I’m so grateful we got to have this adventure with our family.