Up and Downs Down Under~~~
©Colette Lewis 2006
There were definitely highs and lows during my first trip to Australia. Here, in no particular order, are some of them.
The lows:
Dropping my camera in the toilet on the second day of the tournament No U.S. boys or girls to watch in singles in the quarterfinals and beyond A 90 minute queue to get through customs to enter Australia after 30 hours of travel Missing the last tram (midnight) from Melbourne Park by a couple of minutes & having to find a way back to the hotel The prevalence of instant coffee The sausages—which smelled a lot better than they tasted Temperatures that went from 109 to 69 in the space of 24 hours Indoor tennis—whether from heat or rain, it just didn’t seem like tennis to me
The highs:
Australians—they couldn’t be more welcoming, hospitable or friendly Spending a beautiful summer day on an Australian beach Lift—a carbonated lemonade Clean, frequent, air-conditioned trams Watching Baghdatis vs. Nalbandian live My husband watching Roddick vs. Baghdatis from Andy’s player box thanks to John Roddick’s generosity Learning from Pat McEnroe who would be on the Davis Cup team four days before it was announced publicly Hearing Craig Tiley’s plans for Australian tennis development The free fresh-squeezed juice if you had an American Express card The free beer and wine every afternoon if you had media credentials Dinner with James Blake and Xavier Malisse (well, they were in the same restaurant as we were) Breakfast with Rod Laver, Fred Stolle, Stan Smith and Jim Courier (well, they were on the same plane to LA as we were) Getting to know more junior tennis players and their games Spending a total of five minutes getting through customs in LA