A recap of the rest of Syd and one day in Melb

Apologies for the tardiness in posting for the rest of the tournament. A direct result of the later start times meant that by the time I got home, it was already quite late.

Nothing particularly amazing happened. It wasn’t extremely hot, there wasn’t any further rain delays. Towards the end of the week as fewer players remained the practice courts weren’t very exciting as the losing players made their way to Melbourne.

Most of the days started much the same. I arrive at the venue in the afternoon just in time to see Delpo. People at the gates hand off freebies (bracelet, seat cushion, water, fan, paper visor, wristbands). It was great to see Delpo back on tour and how much the wins meant to him. Today will be the same. Delpo first match of the day. A nice routine.

Apart from all of Delpo's matches I watched some doubles on Tuesday. Some women's quarters on Wednesday and the men's semis on Friday.

You may have heard by now that the women’s final was an all Czech affair. Kvitova over Pliskova 7-6 7-6. It was good to see that all four semi finalists seemed to want to win the tournament whereas early on it seemed a lot of the other top players were tanking it.

Now I’m in Melbourne, temperature wise it is cooler but when there is sun it can get quite warm. I was in a rush to leave my luggage at the hostel and go to the qualies and forgot to bring my sunscreen. Lucky enough I saw someone I knew there and I used some of theirs. 

It was really great to see the emotions of players following their qualification into the AO main draw. My favourite was from Iokou a Frenchman who had a lot of french fans in the stands. I didn't watch any match in its entirety though and it was annoying that they blocked off access to the practice courts. I had more sleep last night than since tennis began in Sydney so I'm feeling refreshed and ready for the Open.