First off, Happy Chinese New Year everyone and although I may not see most of my readers as often. I would you the best of luck in the year ahead. Fingers crossed for prosperous fortunes to come in whatever form they may come in.
Also Sweet is back tomorrow, she's probably going to be heaps jetlagged seeing as she has a horrid sleeping pattern (same with Mr Consistent) so don't count on her blogging soon.
Started morning off by going to Crown, had lunch there before heading off to Melbourne Park. My family friend really recommended The Kitchen Workshop there which is a buffet but is heaps expensive on weekends especially for 'adults' (I use this term loosely when I refer to myself because sadly I'm stuck in that void which is neither child nor adult) but he's young so he loves Western food which isn't for your average Asian although their desserts do look very professional and appetising. Alright so walked along Yarra river for a bit, went to the DFO there but I only browsed because I'm an avid online shoppers so in store prices are always a shocker for me unless it's the Ralph Lauren Factory Store which is non-existant there so yeah.
Saw some doubles and junior matches including this one boy called Naoki Nakagawa who I think I shall support from now on. Don't ask why I became a sudden fan but somehow I seemed to grow fond of him and well yeah hopefully he makes it big because I shall photos of him when he's 16 (?). Queued up for the Dove studio, chose to wait in the express line (for no hand massages) and that means more freebies. When we left it was almost time for Nole and Ana's practice match, they booked adjacent courts so the crowds were definitely evident. We stood waiting for Ana because my family friend supports her the most on the women's side but they pulled a Tomic by using the indoor courts instead. Btw you only realise this when their name disappears from the schedule board. We then went to the Mount Franklin dome for their stone cold therapy. I must say that it was quite nice after the initial shock from the sudden coldness (I don't take the cold very well). I also wanted to go get a free caricature done but as usual, the line was really long so I passed.
Afterwards we went inside RLA to get seated for the night match and I whipped out my Serbian flags-Team Serbia!!!!! Ana (Mv Rules' favourite) was up first, quick match and I was kinda sad that it was a straight sets victory because you rarely see her on tv these days. She's always schedule on either MCA or Hisense which is second place to RLA, kinda a bad call by tournament organisers because she has a very large fan base here. Nole was up next against Stanislas Wawrinka and if you follow tennis or watched the news/ read the paper then you would know all about the score line and the what would have beens.....
So I'm not really going to recount it because that was a 5 hour match and to be honest I only had one real thought throughout the whole match- 'Please Lord, let Nole win'. I don't know why but it's become a habit of mine to always pray during a match, haha call me superstitious (: but basically read match articles if you want the nitty gritty details. So let's look at it from my perspective, whilst you might be in awe of Stan's incredible shot making or early dominance, I on the other hand had to endure and yes endure (not kidding, I use the very essence of this word's meaning) just over 5 hours of torture- I don't like seeing my man in trouble. First set was just heart aching and plain intolerable, I was so glad that it was over that quickly but that came as a major surprise to me especially the score at that stage. Let's just say that I didn't want to acknowledge it. I was just so glad that Nole kept on being persistent and persevered through the second set because that gave us (Team Serbia) a little relief as well as something to cheer for. Sitting amongst like minded Nole fans was really nice, that meant that we could be vocal without erupting into a war as you would when you support two different players. The people behind me even had I <3 Nole shirts and yeah I fangirled when I saw them, and now thanks to them I know where to get them now (:
For the rest of the match I had my hands clasped, praying for his victory and for his own belief to pull through this battle, btw it is in these moment that I get incredibly warm palms, portable space heater guys. Then whenever he won a point or if Wawrinka made an error I would clap like crazy especially if he had hit a winner or won a long rally, so now I have like swollen hands and a sore throat- sorry no photographic evidence but it was all worth it. Fifth set, I was getting worried, I think it was the next morning at this stage and I was praying for Nole to win mostly so that I could go home. I was getting worried because despite winning it would be a bittersweet victory with minimal recovery time and a quarterfinal berth against Berdych. Boy I was not expecting a 1 hour long fifth set and finally come 2nd match point I erupted and so did Nole. I went crazy taking photos of a shirtless Nole (yup I swooned too bad he wasn't facing me) and unfortunately someone blocked me when Nole was ripping his shirt )))))))):
Some quick points
- most value for money ticket except if you asked me I would say straight sets victory any day over a slug-a-thon unless it's the finals with Nole victorious
- 2 KIA signs on the net got knocked off
- Officially hating on this one man who was sitting near me, he kept on shouting "Stan by your man", "Go for the kill, Bro", "Go Serena" <-- not kidding plus he was the one shouting at inappropriate times. Gosh what are the tennis officials doing, they should have escorted him out especially after he had several drinks. Btw people drink like crazy at the AusOpen do the sales staff even hold a RSA, seriously.
- Post match celebrations, lots of fun especially when we were asked to take photos with some Serbians who made the trip down under
- Got asked if I was Serbian from a Korean, seriously do you ask Roger Federer fans if they're Swiss?
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