Tennis. Tennis. Tennis all day! I got up early, and made my way to the arena. I took my camera, and was feeling pleased with myself, I had tickets for the front row during the time slots that Andy Murray was to play.
I made it to the front of the line for the security check, and discovered that I was not allowed my 300mm lens in to the arena - only official press are allowed lenses that size! I had to leave the queue and go to the cloaking area to put the lens in storage! Fortunately, they appreciated that I had already queued for some time, and advised me that if I showed my cloak ticket, I could go through the VIP line.
I found my way to the Rod Laver arena without too much difficulty, and with my bottles of water, sat down to enjoy the show.
Shelby Rogers bt. Simona Halep (4)
The first match poved to be an upset, as the world number 4 was beaten by her opponent. It felt oddly satisfying to be sitting there witnessing the events live, not having to catch up on them on the TV or find out from a website, but being the first to know the result!Venus Williams bt. Kateryna Kozlova
The second match, I felt even more pleased that I had got the tickets. It started to feel like I was definitely going to get my money's worth! Getting to see Venus Williams play made my day, and even though it was a fairly one sided match, her opponent put up a good fight and had us guessing a few times whether or not she might cause a second upset of the day!Andy Murray (1) bt. Ilya Marcenko
This match was the one I was here for. I had my scotland flags out, and keenly shouted 'Come on Murray' at opportune times - I know that for some of them I was the only one shouting, so I am now recorded in history on television archives, shouting my support for my fellow countryman, world number 1 tennis star - at the Australian open!The match started off with Andy losing the first set and having to break back straigh away, and indeed, as the day went on and got hotter, the match took longer and longer. He did eventually win, though it was not the best performance - having said that, winning is what matters!
I had no opportunity to get his autograph unfortunately, but just being there was an experience in and of itself!
After the Andy Murray match, I had some time before the evening session, so I left the arena and made my way towards somewhere to eat. I found a place selling pizza squares which while expensive wasn't too bad, so I bought two and ate them hungrily!
My ticket for the evening session was for a different location, so I made my way back in to the arena after making sure I had some souvenirs of the event.
Angelique Kerber bt. Lesia Tsurenko
The new view point afforded much better view of the court for seeing all the points, though it was further away so the photo opportunities were not so good. The game itself was fairly straight forwards, with Kerber, the favourite, winning her games fairly easily. It still took some time though, and the crowd was waiting for the match of the evening - the return of Roger Federer!Roger Federer bt. Jurgen Melzer
The last match of the nightproved to be thrilling, going to 4 sets. It looked like Melzer had a chance when he got such a good score against Federer in the second set, but the experience of Federer paid off and he took control after that to seal the matches up.I made my way back to the exit, and once I got there, realised I had gone to the wrong exit! Fortunately a helpful police officer helped me get back inside so that I could make my way to the exit with the coaked items office, so that I was able to retreive my lens.
The tram service, which was free to here for the open, meant that I was able to get back to the hostel fairly easily, and I went to bed tired but happy.