Two things happened before 8.00 this morning. One very good and one less so. So the bad news first... "Ouch!" Bertie's foot has swollen up like it did a couple of months ago and he is in pain. His walking at the start of the day was ok. But by mid-afternoon he was in a lot of pain. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.
The other thing was that I went for an early morning run which mysteriously took me to Melbourne Park where the tennis is. It's so near the city centre (as is the MCG) that we can see the Rod Laver Arena from our bedroom window. I stopped at the entry to Melbourne Park and spoke to Terry (my new best friend by the way) who was one of the volunteers. I explained that we had come from the UK hoping to see Murray in the Men's Semi Finals but as that was not to be, we wanted to see the last remaining Brit, Jo Konta, play Serena. We only had ground passes for today so could not get on to the show courts which are, of course, ticket only. No problem, he says, just go to the ticket office and change them. So an hour later, with ground passes and Bertie's credit card, I returned to Melbourne Park. Again, no problem, ground passes refunded against tickets in Rod Laver for the day session which is not only Konta Williams, but also Dimitrov Goffin. Seriously, can you imagine that at Wimbledon?!? Apparently the only session that was sold out was the Men's Final.
So after breakfast I returned to Melbourne Park for the third time that day, gave Terry a cheery hello and we headed into the Aussie Open proper. Could any tennis event be less like Wimbledon? Plenty of room to move around, no massive crowds, no queues at food stands, deckchairs in front of big screens and everything is very chilled. Our first port of call after a long cold one is a girls match where a plucky Brit loses to someone ranked lower than her (ah, normal service is resumed...) and then into Rod Laver where Serena is warming up against Jo Konta. I would have expected the crowd to be pulling for Jo as she was born in Sydney but Serena clearly has a global fanbase even if I'm not a member. She did all the usual stuff, making her opponent wait after changing ends, faffing about on her service. Anyway she won though it was closer than the score suggests. No more plucky Brits in the draw. Then after a brief pause for a cold one, it's Dimitrov and Goffin. Dimitrov is not nicknamed Baby Fed for nothing - his backhand is a thing of beauty and I am now officially a fan. Can he beat Nadal on Friday - well, doubtful, the way Nadal is playing but it will certainly be worth watching.
By the time we leave the tennis, Bertie is seriously hobbling and his foot is massively swollen. I think it's gout which he strenuously denies (I've googled it now and it looks like it to me) so we look for a water taxi to take us back to the hotel. It's a twenty minute walk but less than 10 minutes by boat. But the water taxi isn't there but there is a trishaw. A sturdy fellow offers to take us back to the Langham for twenty dollars and despite in imbalance in the back we're off. Well, hats off to this guy, he has to give it his all in a very low gear to get us up the hills but on the flat and downhill we absolutely fly along with some theatrical weaving about for comedy value. Home safe and supper comprises a few snacks in the club lounge before retiring to bed to watch Rafai make fairly short work of Raonic. With the resurgence of Rafa and Roger, I feel I am in a pre-Novak Andy time warp. Bit weird really but I will be surprised if these two don't match up in the final.
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