Monday, January 26, 2009

Australia Day

We spent Australia Day (Independence Day) at the Australian Open watching tennis. We watched Serena Williams win her match when her opponent pulled out halfway through because of illness, we think that she lucked out because she was not playing well and her serve was off. Although it was fun to watch the game, it was equally entertaining watching Venus and Mama Williams in the stands. One of the highlights of the match was when Serena threw down her racket and said some not very nice words earning a warning. I always thought that nothing was funnier than hearing the players grunt when they played, I have since changed my mind...Serena's opponent actually made a bird like sound every time she hit the ball. That made the rallies that much more fun...grunting and cooing over and over again.

We were then able to see Rafael Nadal (ranked #1 in the world) beat Fernando Gonzalez (ranked #13) in a rematch of the 2008 Olympic gold medal match. The men were amazing to watch. So much more powerful and precise. It was a lot of fun to watch them play. In the picture of the two of us, you can see Nadal in the big screen behind us. There were a lot more challenges in this match which were fun and Gonzalez displayed frustration by hitting a tennis ball high in the air, hitting his chair during a break and finally earned a warning when he threw his racket to the ground.

And finally, here is John as chair umpire. He made a lot of tough calls, but drew no ire from the fans or the players, much to his dismay. We actually took this picture when we went to the Billy Joel concert last year. We were able to go down on the courts at that time and walk around. It was awesome.

Colin went to the opening round last Monday with some of our friends. He watched Andy Roddick beat his opponent, last year's winner Djonovik beat his opponent and the #1 woman's seed Jankovic beat her opponent (she has since lost). It was a day that he will always remember.

5 comments:

tamara said...

Hey Jenny! What fun to get to see tennis history occurring! I do find it ironic that you are enjoying the nice summer over there, where we currently have school canceled today due to our annual ice storm :-)

beckyc said...

John's calls cleared the stands...Next time ESPN shows replays of the Australian Open I will look for you. You are the only ones holding the Aussie flag-right?

Thomanders said...

That is so cool that you got to go to some matches. Ben & I really wanted to be there for that.

And I can't believe it's that hot - it was just barely warming up when we left!

Deena said...

I was watching the open last week hoping that you would have a chance to go... you got lucky with the matches that you saw. How Fun!!

Challburg said...

What a great experience. You guys are really taking advantage of all the amazing sights and activities!!!!!