australian open, day 2
i was warned. it would be a 39° day today, but somehow i was not deterred... it had not been that hot all summer in sydney, and somehow my memory did not extend any further back than the current summer... so in a positive state of mind i boarded the tram to melbourne park. after all, i only needed to sit there and watch those guys sweat. at 11am, i think it was already in the mid 30s and quite hot already getting there.
10 minutes on court side at the match between sebastien grosjean and christophe rochus, and i knew it was impossible to stay on. i was choking on the heat and started to feel faint. i could not function any more just sitting there, i had to get in the shade fast. problem was, i wasn't that fit this year, to start with. i didn't expect it to be that bad, but it was.
funnily though there weren't that many people competing for seats in the shady open area behind court 3. most spectators were still soldiering on at that time, and most matches were still playing. i gobbled down all the water i was carrying and felt a little bit better. but when i returned to seb's court soon after, the match was already finished. later on i found that poor christophe had had enough, i don't know the exact circumstance. at that point the match to follow was postponed as the heat policy took effect, and matches elsewhere were continuing until they would finish (or more likely one of the players gave up).
with this intolerable heat going up and up, there wasn't much else to do. i returned to the shady area to find juan carlos ferrero and guillermo garcia-lopez hitting on the practice court nearby. i got under a small tree and took a few pics - that became the only productive moment i was going to have that day. the two sleeveless spaniards didn't seem to feel it as much as the rest of us did. grrrr.
i did run into the world number 1 defending champion (roger) while i was dragging my feet around the courts a while later. he was coming out for a hit in the midday sun. now how could some guys be so damn fit, and confident, i had absolutely no clue. this particular guy was too fast for my camera anyway, and i did not have any intention of following him, not even if someone would pay a million for my photos :(
my tiring feet got me as far as the garden court where there was a giant screen showing one of the very few matches still playing - maria sharapova v camille pin. to my comfort (psychologically speaking) i saw maria struggling badly playing in the heat, so even some top players were not invincible after all. i guess the way camille played, it wasn't so exhausting for her. i hid under the smallest tree/shade that was left, and devoted my attention to that match. i went in my head, "camille just put that ball in play and you'll win" and she did try her best doing just that. i felt my feet burning in the sun but cheering for camille made things a bit easier.
in the end maria managed to cross the finishing line by a whisker, 9-7 i think in the 3rd. poor camille came so close. and poor me, by that time i was completely wilted and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and its air-con. i don't know if that's the way it was in previous years, but somehow the tournament was very unhelpful at informing spectators about when play would resume. i guess they knew by experience (and by up-to-date weather forecast, one would think) that it wasn't likely to be anytime before early evening, but they just wasn't going to say it, and made people wait. meanwhile, i don't know, there must be quite a few people needing treatment from that heat.
for me, i waited in my hotel room with the tv on. that wasn't helpful either. true, matches continued in the two 'indoors' arenas so they didn't have to tell us, but one would think as a courtesy to ground pass holders, perhaps they could make an announcement about when the outside matches would finally resume. not that it would have made much difference to me, as i was so exhausted and close to suffering from a heat stroke that i was still tired hours later, and by the time the matches did start, which was after 8 i later heard, i was getting ready to call it a day and go to bed. it turned out to be a very expensive ticket indeed, for what i got/didn't get.
the match that i really had wanted to see that day, the one between arnaud clement and xavier malisse, started at 11.30pm, so i've heard later. by that time, i can imagine, it must have been an eerily empty court 3, left with perhaps the most devoted handful of spectators, staying on till 4 sets later...
vtp photo gallery: australian open 2007
10 minutes on court side at the match between sebastien grosjean and christophe rochus, and i knew it was impossible to stay on. i was choking on the heat and started to feel faint. i could not function any more just sitting there, i had to get in the shade fast. problem was, i wasn't that fit this year, to start with. i didn't expect it to be that bad, but it was.
funnily though there weren't that many people competing for seats in the shady open area behind court 3. most spectators were still soldiering on at that time, and most matches were still playing. i gobbled down all the water i was carrying and felt a little bit better. but when i returned to seb's court soon after, the match was already finished. later on i found that poor christophe had had enough, i don't know the exact circumstance. at that point the match to follow was postponed as the heat policy took effect, and matches elsewhere were continuing until they would finish (or more likely one of the players gave up).
with this intolerable heat going up and up, there wasn't much else to do. i returned to the shady area to find juan carlos ferrero and guillermo garcia-lopez hitting on the practice court nearby. i got under a small tree and took a few pics - that became the only productive moment i was going to have that day. the two sleeveless spaniards didn't seem to feel it as much as the rest of us did. grrrr.
i did run into the world number 1 defending champion (roger) while i was dragging my feet around the courts a while later. he was coming out for a hit in the midday sun. now how could some guys be so damn fit, and confident, i had absolutely no clue. this particular guy was too fast for my camera anyway, and i did not have any intention of following him, not even if someone would pay a million for my photos :(
my tiring feet got me as far as the garden court where there was a giant screen showing one of the very few matches still playing - maria sharapova v camille pin. to my comfort (psychologically speaking) i saw maria struggling badly playing in the heat, so even some top players were not invincible after all. i guess the way camille played, it wasn't so exhausting for her. i hid under the smallest tree/shade that was left, and devoted my attention to that match. i went in my head, "camille just put that ball in play and you'll win" and she did try her best doing just that. i felt my feet burning in the sun but cheering for camille made things a bit easier.
in the end maria managed to cross the finishing line by a whisker, 9-7 i think in the 3rd. poor camille came so close. and poor me, by that time i was completely wilted and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and its air-con. i don't know if that's the way it was in previous years, but somehow the tournament was very unhelpful at informing spectators about when play would resume. i guess they knew by experience (and by up-to-date weather forecast, one would think) that it wasn't likely to be anytime before early evening, but they just wasn't going to say it, and made people wait. meanwhile, i don't know, there must be quite a few people needing treatment from that heat.
for me, i waited in my hotel room with the tv on. that wasn't helpful either. true, matches continued in the two 'indoors' arenas so they didn't have to tell us, but one would think as a courtesy to ground pass holders, perhaps they could make an announcement about when the outside matches would finally resume. not that it would have made much difference to me, as i was so exhausted and close to suffering from a heat stroke that i was still tired hours later, and by the time the matches did start, which was after 8 i later heard, i was getting ready to call it a day and go to bed. it turned out to be a very expensive ticket indeed, for what i got/didn't get.
the match that i really had wanted to see that day, the one between arnaud clement and xavier malisse, started at 11.30pm, so i've heard later. by that time, i can imagine, it must have been an eerily empty court 3, left with perhaps the most devoted handful of spectators, staying on till 4 sets later...
vtp photo gallery: australian open 2007
posted by Via at
10:41 PM
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