Seen and Heard Around - Melbourne Edition

by Savannah

Don't ask me what day it is. All I know is that for the first time in awhile I went out and there was this strange light in the sky. Someone told me it was the sun. I responded that it was about three a.m. in Melbourne.

Never Assume

This is what I woke up to earlier today. Keep in mind the time of day is relevant since I went to sleep about 4a where I am located on the East Coast of the United States and got up about 11a. That sounds like a good rest but I should mention that the day before I stayed up until 7:30a watching a men's match and got up at 10:30a because people were coming over. Something about an Inauguration.

Anyway the woman in the picture had just won her first set and while behind in the second I chalked it up to her taking one of her walkabouts and that she would come to her senses and move on. Imagine my confusion when I checked tennis fan boards and there were all these posts saying "sorry Venus fans". Had she hurt herself again? No. She got her ass handed to her by one Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.

You remember her right? She's the one who burst onto the scene last year and looked like she was going to be on everyone's watch list? You remember her right? Well it seems Ms Williams didn't. I understand that when you're in VenusWorld it's hard to keep track of all these new young things who come on the scene ready to take your head. I get it, I really do. I also understand your going on these mental walkabouts that you do. But you have been taking short walks lately so a fan can be forgiven for thinking it was safe to go to bed at that point in the match where it was obvious your mind was elsewhere.
The rerun of the match was on in my house a few minutes ago. I switched to Food Network. The chef was making fajitas. I'm going to print out the recipe later this evening.

By the way make sure you have your DVR, VCR or whatever method you use to record live television. You see four years ago Marat Safin kicked Roger Federer to the curb in Melbourne so maybe, just maybe, Marat will do it again. You wouldn't want to miss that right? Snark aside I'll be up. My DVR will also be running. One never knows do one? Besides, those six guys are still in Russia. You know, the ones who held Marat while their boy wailed on him. And just ignore the fact that Marat was on American television going on and on about why Roger is great. Hey, just sayin'.

Gisela Dulko played very well against Serena Williams. If she played like that all the time she'd be known for being more than being first Tommy's and now Fernando's girl friend.
As for Serena she got rid of that home-ec project she wore onto the court for her first match. Now she's wearing some blue number. It's better than the home-ec project.

Jelena Dokic looks like she's ready to reclaim her spot among the top women. She held her nerve and won her match over Anna Chakvetadze in three sets. I'd seen her play a warm up event and she went on one of those Melbourne walking tours that are so popular when the going got tough. After all this young woman went through coming back on a tennis court can't be easy for her. It's going to be uphill for her now. She plays Caroline Wozniacki next.

I get such a kick out of this picture.

Medical Report

What is it with cramps at Melbourne? You're playing in summer near the Equator. Hot and humid conditions are standard. I only mention them because Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in addition to his back issues suffered a little with cramps during his win over Ivan Ljubicic. Jo grabbed his back and took a fall that he had a lot of problems getting up from. Brad Gilbert thinks cramping is lack of conditioning. Tsonga was on the maybe list up until the draw came out so I can understand him not having played a lot coming into Melbourne. Was that hot mess between the teen girls the other night worth so much of our time when other more interesting matches were taking place? It's true both girls, Christina McHale of the United States, and Jessica Moore of Australia, are being tagged as future stars by their Federations but enough was enough. Moore won and promptly lost to Flavia Pennetta.

Did I say anything about James Blake's switch to Fila from Nike? No? Good.

Did I also mention that on Day 1 Lleyton Hewitt's belief that making Laver hotter than the seventh ring of hell would work in his favor is why the players who took the court ahead of him had to play in the 100+F heat of Melbourne? I should've. He lost in five sets to Fernando Gonzalez. Guess no one told Lleyton it can get pretty hot in Chile during the summer too.

End Notes

Australian Fans during the doubles match between Safin/Canas v.Feeney/Smeets on Margaret Court Arena.