A day at the Australian Open, 2014-01-14

Being a big sport fan I was very glad that I could time my stay in Melbourne with the Australian Open in tennis. In the eighties Swedish players and fans played a big role in the tournament. Even heard people saying they just went to the game to watch the Swedish fans, but that was in the old days. This year the only participant from Sweden was Johanna Larsson (she lost in the first round). 

But it was another Swede that made the headlines; former champion Stefan Edberg has agreed to join team Federer for ten weeks. Was fun to see him on Rod Laver arena warming up Federer. 

Federer then played an Australian wildcard player and won quite comfortable in three sets. 

Was really a hot day, temperature reached 42 degrees in the late afternoon and must been tough out on the courts. Was also really hard just sitting watching the game. Had a seat in the sun and I frequently had to go out to the shade and aircon area around the stadium. 

Last game I saw was Australian player Lleyton Hewitt (making his eighteen Australian Open tournament) playing Italian Seppi. Hewitt showed a big fighting spirit which is his trademark and managed to come back from two sets down to actually have a match ball. But despite having almost all the fans supporting Hewitt, Seppi proved to be the strongest player and won the match.

Was a great day, seeing Federer, Edberg and then Hewitt, who sat a new record with his 53rd 5-set match in grand slams. But was also very nice leaving the Rod Laver arena after almost 10 hours of boiling in the sweat and heat.