I went to the open 2 days after arriving in Melbourne, but I have not been able to upload or post any blogs since then because I have not had any internet access.
Anyway, I bought an all-day groundpass for the Aussie Open for only $20. When I arrived, they said that I could go anywhere except Rod Laver Arena, the main arena. I was a little disappointed because all the "big players" play on Rod Laver Arena, and I couldn't go there. Instead, I decided to just go exploring the outside courts...
Most of them were empty, since it is the 2nd week of the Open, and only semifinal and final matches were going on. But as I turned the corner onto one court, I saw a couple of people watching some guy playing. And as I looked closer, I realized it was Rafael Nadal practicing on one of the outside courts!
I then started to somewhat freak out... I couldn't believe the luck I had stumbled upon. And it was so weird because no one else thought it was that big of a deal... I was like, "Is no one seeing this? That's Nadal!" But everyone was just so nonchalant about the entire thing; no one was jumping over the fence and asking him for autographs. I was surprised.
So I did get to watch him practice for a while, and as he was leaving, I did get to shake his hand for a brief second. And by shake his hand, I mean I got to touch him with one of my fingers (haha). So I did "somewhat" get to meet Rafael Nadal.
Then after that, I headed over to Hisense Arena to see what matches were playing there. And as I took a look at the program, I saw that Venus and Serena Williams were going to play a doubles match there later in the day.
Story cut short - I got to watch Venus/Serena Williams match from the 2nd row... AWESOME! Look how close I was to them! The reason I got such good seats is because EVERYONE went to Rod Laver Arena to watch Roger Federer play his semifinal match against Andy Roddick. So there were only like 100+ people watching the Williams sisters.
Anyway, the 2009 Australian Open turned out to be the best $20 of my life!!!
Venus and Serena preparing for their doubles match
People watching Nadal during his practice session
The most perfect photo ever! It only took like 50 tries though (haha).
Margaret Court
I kind of wanted to jump over and attack them... But I had to control the crazy fan in me...
Dechy, Hantachova, and Sugiyama
People watching the Federer match from outside Rod Laver
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