This is usually my favourite time of year. I’ve been attending the Australian Open and watching it on TV during the second half of January for over thirty years. As well as watching tennis I spend time meeting up with tennis friends, tweeting about tennis, sharing photos on Instagram and being immersed in the wins and losses, the drama, the comments about outfits and the chit chat.

I love it.

It’s my happy place!

But this year coronavirus has changed that.

In early December I wrote this article about how I feel about Australian Open 2021.

It’s been confirmed that AO will go ahead from 8 February and over 1200 people have now arrived in Australia (Melbourne and some in Adelaide) ahead of the event, including players and their teams.

Due to positive cases being found on charter flights into Australia, 72 players and many others are now in 14 day quarantine. Everyone on the same flight is considered a close contact.

The initial understanding was that players would need to quarantine for 14 days but would be allowed outside for 5 hours per day for practice, gym and nutrition. Those on flights with a positive case are not allowed to do this. This is consistent with the 14 day quarantine that people arriving into Australia from overseas go through. In recent news some of the cases detected might be re-classified as viral shedding and therefore the close contacts will be allowed out of quarantine to practice.

From information and tweets that I’ve seen this possibility was made clear to all players but some ‘didn’t get the memo’.

I want to share a few thoughts.

If you haven’t read my previous article, or aren’t familiar with the Melbourne lockdown situation from 2020, our second lockdown lasted 111 days.

It was long.

And it was tough.

Tough because we couldn’t travel more than 5 kilometres from where we live. And we could only leave home for an hour per day to exercise, or for essential shopping, medical care, work, study or compassionate reasons. This meant that a lot of people couldn’t see their family and friends. Many people living by themselves rarely saw others. Weddings, birthdays and funerals were missed or shared online rather than in person. Despite government support a lot of businesses that were forced to close struggled and are still struggling.

Mental health suffered and I think we’re all at least a little bit damaged.

Melbourne has currently recorded no new locally acquired cases for 13 days. We had a scare over the Christmas/New Year period where cases were detected that spread via a restaurant. Masks were made mandatory when inside from 31 December until 17 January. This reminded us all of how fast the virus can spread and the need to be careful at all times with hand sanitising, social distancing and masks when needed.

After many many weeks COVID free, the recurrence made us (me!) worried about going out to places (shops, restaurants, cafes etc) because the place you went to might turn up on a list where if you were there on a certain date and time you need to get tested then isolate because a positive case went there. No one wants to have been somewhere where you need to get tested and isolate. And worry until the test result comes back.

In 2020 Melbourne went into the long, tough second lockdown due to breaches of hotel quarantine procedures. This is an important fact.

Hotel quarantine breaches bought the whole state of Victoria undone and sent us back to lockdown. This is why we are particularly sensitive and angry if we read that a player or team member breaches hotel quarantine.

We don’t want to go through lockdown again and we won’t tolerate anyone breaching the rules. The learnings from the previous breach and lockdown experience lead to the strict police presence and hotel quarantine system that is now in place for the tennis players and their teams.

If a case spreads from someone arriving due to AO, we know how fast it can spread to the community, and how fast we might be back in lockdown, particularly with the new UK strain.

Also noteworthy is that some Australian citizens can’t currently get back to Australia, and there have been a lot of difficulties for people from Victoria to get home from NSW and QLD over the past few weeks. This has caused some resentment about the tennis contingent being allowed in.

I love tennis and the Australian Open. The tournament is good for Melbourne. I don’t want us to lose it. And as a friend pointed out, it provides work for a lot of people who may not have been able to work much during the past year due to COVID.

But I’m scared.

Scared of coronavirus getting back into the Melbourne community and potentially spreading to other states before it’s detected.

I’m also proud.

Proud that my local friends, my tennis friends on Twitter and other social media, wherever they live, are united in their response to players complaining. The response is that if they don’t like it, feel free to leave.

If you’re reading this and currently in quarantine due to AO, please consider everyone in Melbourne and Australia before complaining.

A mouse in your hotel (fair enough, that’s pretty bad!), feeling like you’re in jail for 14 days and the other complaints. It really isn’t important compared to the possibility of single handedly spreading the virus and bringing Melbourne and other places in Australia back to lockdown.

A few cases might seem like nothing if you’re from a country with thousands or tens of thousands of cases, but a few cases in the community could send us back to lockdown fast.

If you’re not happy with the hotel food you can order your own. I read that you can even charge it to Tennis Australia. Stop complaining and take control of what you have control of. Also, in previous years you would arrive ahead of a tournament to acclimatise and you would pay all your own costs and then play for prize money. Tennis Australia has looked after you with charter flights, hotels and other needs.

Please be grateful and look after us.

As for Djokovic’s email of requests, I agree with the resounding ‘no’ from our premier, Daniel Andrews.

If you’re not aware, in June 2020 Djokovic’s Adria Tour lead to him, his wife and others including Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Viktor Troicki and Troicki’s wife testing positive. The photos I saw of close crowd contact made me cringe. Read more

And frankly, even if it was a yes to his requests, how many houses with private tennis courts are currently available to rent at short notice in Melbourne? And who would pay the expense?

Big exceptions were made for the Australian Open to go ahead.

Please respect that and our quarantine rules.

And also respect what we went through as a city and state last year for players and teams to even be here now.

Surely no one wants to be the player or team member that sends Melbourne and maybe other cities in Australia back to lockdown.

I love tennis.

I love AO.

I love feeling safe even more.

Thank you to Victoria Azarenka for sharing this post:

pic.twitter.com/BWTqubGMR3

— victoria azarenka (@vika7) January 19, 2021

Thanks for reading this far. Please enjoy some photos from happier times.

The post Australian Open Quarantine 2021: Thoughts from a Tennis Loving Local first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

Delayed from commencing on 18 January, the 2021 Australian Open is likely to go ahead from 8 February but as yet I can’t see that confirmed on the AO website. From what I’ve understand the delay is to allow time to figure out the details of how it will work. And there are a lot of aspects to consider.

News is that Tennis Australia, the organisation that runs AO, will pay costs for players to quarantine for 14 days before the tournament. They can arrive in Australia from 15 January and will be allowed out in a bubble for up to five hours per day to train. They will be tested for COVID-19 regularly.

In terms of the lead up tournaments, my best guess is that they can’t go ahead under these circumstances, but I can’t find confirmation.

As well as working out a COVID safe plan for players, this is also needed for all the people who work at AO, taking into consideration the short time frame they will have to learn it and get it right. Plus the implications if they get it wrong. This includes the ball kids, umpires, drivers, staff at the grounds, media and others.

About Me

I’m Mel, @grandslamgal on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

If you’re not familiar with me or my blog, I am a HUGE tennis fan.

Other than when I was travelling I’ve lived in Melbourne for 30 years since moving here for Uni.

The Australian Open is my home grand slam and I love it; the players, the colours, the grounds, the outfits, the practice courts, the snack packs, watching live, watching on TV, tweeting about it, Insta’ing it and sharing the experience with family and friends.

I first attended in 1989 when the tournament moved from Kooyong to Melbourne Park.

While I missed some years in the 1990’s I’ve been to the AO every year, multiple times, for at least the last 20 years.

I’ve seen the courts change from green to blue, the multiple re-naming’s of what is now John Cain Arena, the expansion of the grounds, the ever expanding ways to sell more tickets, the ever increasing price of tickets, the growth of the AO social media accounts and sponsor engagement. Aside from all the tournament specific experiences, I’ve been there for many amazing and memorable matches. Seeing players who aren’t well known in Australia become superstars and seeing superstars play at their highest level.

I started this blog in 2010, prior to doing the ‘fan slam’ in 2012 by attending all four grand slam tournaments in the same year; Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. Since then I’ve shared my experiences about attending the tournaments, how to buy tickets, getting to the grounds, comparing the tournaments and hundreds (maybe thousands!) of player photos.

Grand Slams in 2020

Australian Open 2020 went ahead in January as usual.

From there the slippery slope of COVID-19 and lockdowns began.

The French Open was moved from the original dates in May and went ahead starting late September, with spectators. At a time when France was recording around 16,000 new cases per day.

Wimbledon, which generally starts late June, was cancelled.

New York went through an incredibly tough lockdown earlier this year and then the US Open went ahead successfully in September, but without spectators.

Pre-sale tickets were on sale for the 2021 Australian Open for the original dates, which I guess will be usable once the actual dates are confirmed.

Discussions with Tennis Australia, the Victorian government and other parties are ongoing.

Melbourne’s Lockdown

I wanted to explain how I feel, as someone who loves the Australian Open and lives in Melbourne.

Also to confirm that when I say ‘we’ in this article obviously I can’t speak for everyone in Melbourne or Victoria, but this describes feelings that I experienced, along with many people that I know.

While everyone is aware of what it’s like to live in a world where COVID-19 and lockdowns exist, it’s been well documented that Melbourne went through one of the longest and toughest lockdowns in the world.

We’ve had some level of restrictions since late March and for 111 days we could only leave our homes for essential shopping or one hour of exercise.

We couldn’t travel more than 5km from where we live. Which meant a lot of people couldn’t see their family or friends.

A ‘ring of steel’ was created around the edges of Melbourne so people couldn’t travel to regional Victoria or into Melbourne without a valid permit. There was a strong police presence enforcing this.

We couldn’t visit other people’s homes and wore masks whenever outside where we lived.

There was a night-time curfew. Not that there was anywhere to go at night with cafes, bars and restaurants closed other than for take-away.

If you could work from home you had to work from home. There was a lot of home schooling. Imagine you’re someone who usually works from home then suddenly your partner is working there too and your kids need to take over the dining table for schooling.

On 5 August we recorded the highest ever day of case numbers in Victoria at 725. Freaking out about this number probably seems crazy if you’re living in a location recording thousands or tens of thousands of cases per day. But this was scary for us, as the case number increased despite restrictions, and didn’t come back down as quickly as expected. And that’s why the thought of players, teams and entourages visiting Melbourne from countries that will probably still have high numbers is all the more scary.

I run a business and feel lucky that it’s a digital business so we could continue to work and provide work to our contractors. A key goal was to help all our local clients get through this tough time in whatever way we could help.

I’m connected to a lot of Melbourne business owners who are also my friends. While the government provided financial support to some businesses, I’m fully aware of the immense impact of lockdown on Melbourne business owners due to lack of or low revenue and still needing to pay rent, even if it was deferred. Many now face big debts. I live near the city and during my daily walk I saw all the businesses that were closed, or up for sale or lease. It’s heartbreaking.

Melbourne, the regularly awarded ‘most liveable city in the world’ changed into being a place where you didn’t want other people to walk close to you or stand near you at traffic lights, where you didn’t want ‘mask free’ runners or cyclists coming near you and where you no longer felt comfortable being friendly to strangers.

Our Premier, Daniel (Dan) Andrews, held a press conference every day for 120 consecutive days. Politics isn’t my bag so I can admit that I didn’t know his name at the start of the year. But since March we waited for the pressers and announcements about case numbers and restrictions and started caring about what he was wearing. If Dan wore his North Face jacket (generally on weekends when the big announcements were made), the announcements wouldn’t be too bad. Wearing a suit on weekends meant we could expect bad news.

Having said that, I think we did lockdown in style in a Melbourne kind of way.

We are lucky.

Sure we were isolated, couldn’t get a haircut or go to the dentist, but we have internet. We have Zoom, Netflix and all the other things and can pretty much get anything delivered to our door. We did regular Zoom meetups with friends, online birthday parties, online cooking classes, online shopping, helping and supporting each other whenever we could, messaging and calling friends and family regularly. Everyone who could supported the local businesses that quickly adapted to an online focus with whatever they offered.

But regardless, it was long.

The second lockdown was almost four months. It started around three months after the first lockdown. Restrictions were only eased for a few weeks in between.

It was tough.

I think we’re all at least a little bit damaged by the experience.

We weren’t welcome in other states of our own country as borders were shut to Victorians. We stopped being One Australia. The governments of each state seemed to be fighting about which borders were open and who to, and quarantine requirements. The Queensland border only re-opened to Victorians on 1 December.

As of today (8 December) Victoria has achieved 39 days of no new COVID-19 cases or deaths. There are no active cases. Getting to 28 days straight gave us COVID elimination status.

So here we are.

I want the Australian Open to go ahead.

It’s good for Melbourne, it’s good for tennis fans and it’s good for tennis.

But whatever happens I’m not going to attend. I’m just not ready to be near big crowds and have a lot of people that I don’t know in my near vicinity. Especially when there will be people present who have arrived from outside Australia, even though they would have passed quarantine.

Many friends feel the same.

To quote Dan Andrews:

“So we are unique in that we’ve built something that no one else has built across the nation … and on that basis, we have to safeguard that, [and] I think we can.”

There is now a saying that ‘if you weren’t here you can never understand what it was like’.

While we made the best of lockdown, I hope I didn’t make it sound better than it was.

Truth is people were isolated.

We struggled.

We lived through the uncertainty of when lockdown would end and the ever-changing plans from our government about easing restrictions.

We worried about our family and friends.

For many people their mental health suffered.

Many businesses took a huge hit.

We worried that we might be the person that accidentally caught and spread the virus. So we diligently wore our masks and socially distanced and washed and sanitised our hands and wiped surfaces and were careful about everything we touched outside our home.

Please don’t judge Melbourne for being protective of our COVID-19 free status when you read articles about Aus Open 21.

It took a lot of sacrifices to achieve it and we deserve it.

And despite how much I truly love tennis and the Australian Open, I’m a least a little bit scared of it all coming undone.

The post Australian Open 2021: A local Melbourne tennis fan’s perspective first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

The Australian Open is my favourite grand slam tournament

I was first went in 1989, just after the tournament moved from Kooyong to Melbourne Park. I’ve been going regularly ever since. It’s my home slam and there are a lot of things that I love about it. I love how the city of Melbourne gets involved with the tournament. I love the true tennis fans that visit Melbourne to attend. I love the tough matches, the tournament experience, the colour, the sponsor activities and the engagement with fans.

Having said all that, I’ve seen a lot of changes to the tournament over the years and generally they improve the fan experience. But this year, while there was still a lot to love and so many great tennis matches to enjoy, the bigger crowds, failure of the App in the early days, ever increasing ticket prices and other small changes that detracted from my previous experience made me hope that AO will level out with crowd numbers and ticket prices in 2019 and stop pushing for increases.

Australian Open 2018 was hot

Super hot. Not that the Aus Open hasn’t been played in super hot conditions in previous years. But Melbourne generally has dry heat whereas this year humidity was higher so it felt hotter (to me anyway!). It was so hot to even sit in the stands in un-shaded seats that I can’t even imagine the hot-ness on court that the players experience.

Read the Australian Open information on the Extreme Heat Policy.

Important to note is:

A roof will only be closed because of extreme heat if a decision has been made by the referee to suspend the completion or commencement of matches on the outside courts.

This means that once it’s decided that a roof will be closed then play needs to be suspended on outside courts. Which means that all the ground pass holders will have no matches to watch until play resumes on outside courts.

While it does seem that the wet bulb conditions for Sunday night’s Men’s Final met the conditions for closing the roof, the temperature was lower than required (please correct me if I’m wrong). Regardless, if it was the umpire’s decision to close the roof, I wish the ladies had been given the option to play with the roof closed for their final on Saturday. Especially given that Simona Halep spent four hours in hospital due to dehydration after the match.

Australian Open 2018 was crowded

Really crowded. The Aus Open is known to break attendance records each year and this year was no exception.

Day 6 attendance: 62,674!

This is a Middle Saturday Day session record, breaking last year’s attendance of 58,355.#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/tb6yxaHV8O

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 20, 2018

And that’s only the day session, nearly 25,000 more people came in for the evening sessions in Rod Laver Arena and Margaret Court Arena bringing the day’s attendance to over 87,000.

Crowd at the practice courts

While improvements are always made to the grounds and entry areas, the available space doesn’t get significantly bigger which means more people are present in the same space. So queues are longer for food, drinks, merchandise and toilets, and getting seats for matches on outside courts and practice sessions gets harder. I love the practice courts but couldn’t see Rafa or Roger practice on Day 1 because the crowds were too big.

Surely soon the number of tickets sold will be limited and the maximum crowd size capped to give those that do attend the best possible chance of having a good experience.

As a minor point, adding queuing ropes near the court entry when popular players are practicing would make this area a lot more orderly, particularly for Court 16. From what I’ve heard from friends queuing ropes would also be useful for the outside courts when popular players are playing. And security people who control the queues. I won’t even go into my opinions about the inadequate pass-out system in Hisense Arena.

Enjoying the lack of crowds during the day on Day 13

Technology fails

In past years the Australian Open App has been the ‘go-to’ place for fans around the world to keep up with the schedule, live scores and other news.

With this year’s Aus Open app failing during the first few days of the tournament, combined with crashes of the website, a lot of fans were frustrated by lack of information. Even when the App was working it was so much harder to find information at a glance than with the old App. A lot of scrolling was needed to see information that used to be easily found on one screen (this is my personal opinion which I know many other fans share.)

We turned to Google to get live scores, which were also hard to find around the grounds and weren’t shown on the big screens in Hisense Arena during the change of ends like in previous years.

On the plus I did quite like the new AO Fan Bot on Facebook Messenger that popped up to offer information and promote competitions.

Around the grounds

New fancy bars and restaurants were added around the grounds and Grand Slam Oval looked great. I think having areas for each of the Grand Slam cities really works and there are lots of different food, drink and fancy seating area options to choose from. Kids activities were moved to a new area which used to be the Rod Laver Arena entrance. I didn’t go there but looked like a lot of fun activities were available to promote tennis to kids.

View of the Practice Courts from the viewing deck

Things heard way too often during AO2018

• Question to Rafa: “Where is Uncle Toni?” Rafa’s answer: (Say it with me!) Uncle Toni is still my uncle, he is in Mallorca looking after the Rafael Nadal Academy
• Yes, Federer is 36 and his is the oldest man ever to {insert details of tennis milestone}
• And yes, we know that both Wozniaki and Halep faced match points on the way to the women’s final.

Rafa Practicing

The great Women’s matches

There were a lot of great matches during this AO, with the women shining brightly.

I’m hoping to go to the WTA Finals in Singapore in October and based on the matches from AO, I’m already looking forward to it.

• Wozniaki d Halep in the women’s final
• Halep d Kerber in the women’s semifinal
• Kerber d Hsieh (honestly I could watch tennis like that from Hsieh all day)
• Halep d Davis
• Mertens d Svitolina
• Wozniaki d Fett
• Hsieh d Muguruza
• Kerber d Sharapova (and the big match that wasn’t)
• Petkovic d Kvitova
• Kumkhum d Bencic
• Bencic d Venus Williams

I’m sure I missed some, particularly from the first week when there was so much going on. Feel free to let me know in the comments.

Angie Kerber

The great Men’s matches

• Chung d Djokovic
• Nadal d Schwartzman
• Dimitrov d Kyrgios
• Edmund d Seppi
• Kyrgios d Tsonga
• Chung d Zverev
• Tsonga d Shapovolov
• Marterer d Verdasco
• Edmund d Anderson
• Berdych d Del Potro (and generally how well Berdych was playing)
• Lacko d Raonic

Federer practicing

Djokovic practicing

Del Potro practicing

Meaningful moments (the good, the bad and the ugly)

There’s been a lot of memories made during AO2018. Here’s my list, in no particular order.

• Wozniaki’s first grand slam win
• Runner-up Halep’s massive effort and success during the whole tournament
• Darren Cahill and generally what a great, supportive coach he is to Halep
• Federer defending his title, winning his 20th grand slam title and 6th Australian Open
• Cilic making it through to the final
• The roof being closed for the Men’s Final
• Rafa retiring in the fifth set in the quarterfinal v Cilic. Fortunately he expects to be playing again in three weeks.
• Sleeveless Rafa returns
• Wawrinka’s return after six months
• Djokovic returns but his play compromised by his elbow. He’s reassessing his options to improve the injury.
• Del Potro’s return
• A tennis player named Tennys
• Tennys and his views
• This is how you pronounce Shapovolov. Not Sharapov-Alov or Sharapova-Lov
• The heat during Djokovic v Monfils
• Will Smith attending Kygios v Tsonga
• Will Ferrell interviewing Federer and McEnroe
• So many Americans going out in the first round
• The fight Estrella Burgos put up to be defeated by Nadal 6-1, 6-1, 6-1. And that respectful hug after the match
• Harrison v Sela, during which the crowd sounded like is was a Davis Cup match
• Alex De Minaur’s great run in Brisbane and Sydney (and I’m so glad Australia has a new, down-to-earth, talented super star in the making)
• Moving Ash Barty’s middle Saturday match from RLA to MCA with no announcement made to ticket holders in RLA
• Dylan Alcott winning the quad wheelchair singles title
• Jim Courier’s interviews with Federer
• Hyeon Chung showing his potential to become a future super star
• Jelena Dokic’s commentary for Channel 7
• Wozniaki’s tweener
• The Nike pink & black liquorice all-sorts outfits, seen in varying combos
• Naomi Osaka’s post match interview after defeating Barty
• 15 year old Marta Kostyuk reaching the third round
• Mackenzie McDonald and his awesome performance against Dimitrov, eventually losing in five
• Vandeweghe waiting for a banana
• Maria playing Sharapova

Alex De Minaur

• Tennis Hot Shot Ruby looking at herself on the big screen during the women’s trophy ceremony

#Wozniacki may be the champ, but tennis hot shot Ruby was the real star of the women’s final ceremony. @anz_au #TennisHotShots #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/8SZgPlQwGU

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2018

My personal experience

It was a really nice Australian Open from my perspective. I only went to five sessions and didn’t blog much this year. Instead I spent more time focusing on the matches I was watching, rather than processing photos and writing articles at the same time like I usually do.

I also spent time with local and overseas based friends and family at the grounds. And to be honest, I got way more sleep than usual (yep, I know that #SleepIsForTheWeak).

The information in this articles is based on my opinions and knowledge and I’m happy to hear your opinions in the comments below on anything that I missed.

As for what’s next for me, stay tuned, I’m hoping to visit a lot more overseas tournaments this year than in 2017 (when overseas tournaments equalled zero!).

Until next time

Grand Slam Gal

The post Australian Open 2018: The Matches, Memories and Meaningful Moments first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

Angie Kerber with her Australian Open 2016 trophy

Wondering about the prize money the Aussies will get?

Ash Barty was runner up to Angie Kerber in the final so she’ll get US 73,201.

If Alex De Minaur defeats Medvedev in the final he’ll win US 83,650 and as runner up he’ll get US 44,055.

Sydney International WTA Prize Money

Total women’s prize money $799,000

This is a WTA Premier Event.

Winner: $137,125

Finalist: $73,201

Semi-Finalist: $39,132

Quarter-Finalist: $20,970

Second Round: $11,245

First Round: $6,140

Source

Sydney International ATP Prize Money

Total men’s prize money $528,910

This is an ATP 250 Tournament.

Winner: $83,650

Finalist: $44,055

Semi-Finalist: $23,865

Quarter-Finalist: $13,595

Second Round: $8,010

First Round: $4,745

Source

The post Sydney International 2018: Men’s and Women’s Prize Money first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

The tickets were General Admission (no reserved seats) so I had to take the best available. I was in the second tier and therefore a way back from the court, and I only had my little camera, so these photos aren’t my best work, but hey, it’s Rafa, in Melbourne, without injury. Enjoy!

The photos aren’t watermarked so if you share them please credit @grandslamgal on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, or link to this page. Thanks!

Until next time
Grand Slam Gal

The post Photos of Rafael Nadal at the 2018 Kooyong Classic first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

Southbank in Brisbane

Have a look at the prize money earned by WTA and ATP players at the Brisbane International in 2018. The prize money is quoted in US Dollars.

Note – Alex De Minaur will receive for $23,865 (USD) for making the semi final as will Nick Kyrgios.

Nick Kyrgios will receive $44,055 as a finalist and if he wins the final the prize money is $83,650.

Brisbane International WTA Prize Money

Total women’s prize money $1,000,000

Winner: $190,732

Finalist: $101,475

Semi Finalist: $54,200

Quarter Finalist: $23,265

Second Round: $12,477

First Round: $6,813

Total men’s prize money $528,910

Winner: $83,650

Finalist: $44,055

Semi Finalist: $23,865

Quarter Finalist: $13,595

Second Round: $8,010

First Round: $4,745

The prize money for women is substantially more than for men as it is a top tier WTA Premier tournament but only an ATP 250 event.

Information was sourced from the WTA and ATP.

The post Brisbane International Tennis Prize Money 2018 first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

Huge thanks to Joe, @ProdigyRep for sharing this fabulous article on visiting Paris for Roland Garros.

Being a big Tennis fan living in the UK, I’ve always been lucky to be able to attend Wimbledon on multiple occasions. However, attending a slam overseas (all of them eventually) had always been a huge goal for me and after initial plans to attend the US Open this year seemed rather far fetched due to money constraints, I thought it would be much easier and cheaper to plan a trip to Roland Garros, given France is basically an hours flight from Manchester where I reside. So with the idea in my head about heading to Roland Garros, I went about planning my trip. I also invited my good friend @przemusiowa along for the trip, as I always love to share  Tennis trips with likeminded Tennis fans!

I’m usually quite casual with how I book my trips and I don’t book flights, hotels etc in any particular order. However I would recommend booking your hotel WAY in advance for Roland Garros as Paris has expensive accommodation at the best of times, during a slam they do ramp up the prices from what I gathered. Obviously the most important thing of the trip was booking the tickets to Roland Garros itself. Everyone was going on about how difficult it was and the fact that the site often crashed etc. However after pulling an all nighter to ensure I was awake on time to buy the tickets (yes I always oversleep), I was ready at 9am GMT (10am CET) for the ticket sale and I found it VERY easy. The queue list had me in at about 500, but was not refreshing at first, so I opened a new window just in case and it retained my position of 500 and then started moving down. Once I reached the end of the queue I was easily able to navigate the site and buy tickets for one day on Chatrier and two days of grounds passes. The tickets were available to assign a few weeks later and my friend got hers via email really easily. Tickets went on sale late March.

So after months of anticipation it was finally time to head to Roland Garros. A trip I didn’t think I would even do at the start of the year was becoming a reality. It had always been my dream to visit Paris and tying it in with visiting my first grand slam overseas was just the perfect trip!

The Paris Experience

On the first day, we decided that it would be easy if we used this day to explore Paris, since our flights were early morning, we’d have all day to do this which was better than having to rush from CDG Airport to our hotel and then onto Roland Garros.

Taxis to and from Charles de Gaulle Airport

Both our flights arrived on time and we quickly left the terminal to get a taxi, which was waiting outside, there’s lots so don’t worry about that. The taxi to our hotel, Hôtel Median Paris Porte de Versailles, cost 55 euros flat rate and I believe that’s the same to any destination in central Paris from CDG via one of these taxis. I think it’s more via private hire as our taxi back to the airport cost 65 euros.

Uber seems to be roughly the same price looking at their prices.

We arrived at our Hotel after about an hour of driving. Although Google Maps said it was about a 30 minute journey, do allow over an hour because the traffic heading into Paris is crazy!

Exploring the city

We arrived before the check in time at the Hotel, but thankfully they let us check in early for free and we dropped our bags and headed towards the Eiffel Tower. Our hotel was about a 45 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower and although I guess it would have been quicker to get public transport, I do recommend walking as much as possible in Paris. The City is beautiful and during our walk we saw lots of lovely old Parisian architecture and walked past such a nice outdoor market selling everything from food to arts and crafts, and it was so busy too which was nice to see!

The walk was very easy which was the case for all of our walks throughout the time we spent there, we didn’t use public transport once and only used taxis twice to the airport and once from Roland Garros back to the Hotel when it was raining.

On arrival at the Eiffel Tower I was just in awe at the structure of the building. It was much larger than I expected and looked so nice! I posed for so many pictures by it! One thing I would be careful of when you do go there is of the people trying to sell you souvenirs and even water! My advice is to not carry cash wherever possible in these areas, get a prepaid euros card as they are just as good! I had a guy wrapping a wristband around me and asking me for money for it, thankfully since I didn’t have cash I didn’t have to pay for it! Be warned. Our ticket up the Eiffel tower was not until later in the afternoon, so we were able to take a quick walk to the Arch De Triomphe, which was really nice to see, the roundabout there is crazy!

After a quick trip to McDonald’s on the Champs Elysees (it’s more posh in France than the UK), we headed back to the Eiffel tower. Although I don’t think the queue was that long for those without tickets, we did buy tickets to the 2nd floor and then queued from there for tickets to the top. The view is amazing no doubt and climbing the tower is a must for anyone visiting Paris! Unfortunately after this we were both tired and didn’t have the energy to do any more in Paris this day. It was our only day of real exploring and it wasn’t enough. I’d recommended at least 2 full days are needed for exploring Paris! On one of the nights after RG we did go to a really lovely Pizza place called Pizza Des As (https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d10256482-Reviews-Pizza_des_as-Paris_Ile_de_France.html) it was about a 10-15 minute walk from RG and it was really nice! If you want a certain cuisine just search this in Google maps, this is what we did for Pizza Des As and it was nice!

Attending Roland Garros

Talking of Google Maps, it was so helpful in helping us get to and from RG. Although the walk was really straight forward, in an area you don’t know it is such a helpful app. Our Hotel was about a 40 minute walk from Roland Garros, which was nice. We had a lovely stroll over the River Seine where we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance and further towards RG we could see the Parc De Princes the stadium of PSG, which was nice for me as a Football fan.

Heading up to the venue, everything was well sign posted towards it and there were guides ensuring everyone was going the right way. There were MULTIPLE security checks even before the main gates, on a guided walkway, which I found really re assuring. We were subject to bag checks and ticket checks as well as a pat down before arriving at Gate I, which then had even more bag checks and pat downs etc. A word of warning that deodorant spray is NOT allowed within RG, I had it confiscated on the second day there. Cameras also have a limit of 20mm lens when fully zoomed in.

After the security checks, you head to automated turnstiles where you scan your e-ticket / mobile ticket, I used the myRG app and found it really easy, it then prints a paper counterpart ticket for access into the grounds / stadiums. There are hosts/hostesses that check the tickets against your photo ID, which can be any form of drivers license or passport and then you are finally entered into the venue!

I have so many great memories from my 3 days at the tournament so I’ll try and share the best bits and the not so good bits. Obviously one of the highlights for me was watching matches on the Court Philippe Chatrier. We made sure to get tickets as near to the front as possible. Do be aware that there are tribune hospitality seats at the front of the stadium, so no matter what even with Cat1 tickets, you will not be right at the front of the stadium so the closer you get, the better. I was able to see Venus Williams (twice), Jo Wilfred Tsonga and Lucas Pouille. Rafael Nadal was also on Chatrier on this day but I regretfully did not see him (more about this later). The reason I was able to see Venus twice is because on the last day I was there (Friday 2nd June) they opened up Chatrier to anyone, because the court was empty and they wanted to fill it with more people which was great. This happened at other times in the tournament so even if you have just a ground pass keep an eye out for announcements on the big screens as they may open up Chatrier for grounds pass holders, which is a great unexpected bonus!

Ok, so before I mentioned the fact I missed Nadal’s match on Chatrier and the fact it was one of my biggest regrets of the fortnight. I wanted to go and see Nick Kyrgios play doubles as he is one of my favourite players and alongside Jordan Thompson he was facing home favourites Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut on Court 3.  My intention was to see the doubles match and head back for the Nadal match after the doubles was over, as doubles usually goes quicker. However I soon learned that both Court 3 and Court 2 are REALLY POPULAR courts and I was queueing forever for Court 3! Nadal rather unsurprisingly was blitzing through his match and the doubles was only just going into a second set by the time I got in to the court. So unfortunately I was unable to see any of Nadal, however the doubles was good fun so it wasn’t all bad! Court 2 and 3 were by far my favourite courts of the tournament. They were both really picturesque and intimate which is always good for tennis courts. I spent most of my time on these courts, watching players like Kyrgios, Ferrer, Lopez, Ostapenko, the Bryan Brothers etc.

The legroom on these courts is also brilliant too because most of the seats are benches, rather than full blown seating, and as someone with long legs I much preferred these type of seats. I also found Court 6 to be a nice intimate court, however the seating on the outside courts, not just this one, but also the other ones, was very cramped and terrible for a big guy like myself, so of course I was standing up on every changeover! I did find the grounds in general quite confusing at first but slowly got used to them. Everything is quite cramped which I’m not a huge fan of, they could really do with spreading things out a bit more. I also found that Courts 13-18 were a bit out of the way compared to the other courts, they were beyond court Suzanne Lenglen and just seemed hidden compared to the rest of the courts although this area was a bit less cramped.

Talking of Suzanne Lenglen, I definitely found the area round the back or this court the best for shade areas, there were plenty of empty benches to sit and cool down and relax. The food places were generally the same prices throughout the venue with something like a Baguette and a drink costing roughly 10 euros. The food is not cheap and the queues are quite long. Although I wouldn’t say it was with the money, the Ham and Cheese Baguettes were rather nice! The grounds in general are very packed so if you’re not a big fan of crowds, make sure to arrive early and scout some hidden away areas you can go if the crowds are getting too much for you.

Highlights of my time at the French Open

I have so many special memories from my 3 days at the tournament, so obviously I can’t put them all here, but I will share a couple. I think one of the main things I enjoyed was meeting with friends that I met through Tennis. I have gotten to know many people through following the sport and meeting up with them and chatting with them was a really special thing to be able to do. My favourite match of my time there was definitely Ferrer vs Lopez on Court 3. A real clay court battle which went 5 sets in the gruelling heat, you can’t beat that! I also liked seeing Jelena Ostapenko play because of the fact the went on to win the title, a real talent and she will win many more slams!

Overall  I had such a great time during my time at RG. I’d like to thank all the people I spent time with during the tournament especially Sylwia who agreed to join me on the trip and was a great travel partner! I’ll definitely be returning next year.

View Joe’s Roland Garros photos on Flickr here.

The post Spending a few fabulous days as a tennis fan in Paris for Roland Garros 2017 first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

The Australian Open never fails to deliver amazing tennis and memorable moments. This year was particularly good in terms of the all Williams Women’s Final and the Federer v Nadal match up for the Men’s Final. Notably both the World No.1 Andy Murray and World No.2 Novak Djokovic went out by Round 4, as did Women’s No.1 Angelique Kerber, so it wasn’t great for their fans.

As always there were new features around the grounds, including a lot more food and drink outlets on Grand Slam Oval and a lot more seating. In terms of the weather, which can be crazy hot, although there were a few hot days, it was more consistent that usual and made for great conditions to enjoy being around the grounds.

So many of the players mentioned what a great tournament it is from their point of view, particularly due to the great organisation, transport, proximity to the CBD and all the other support they receive. I’m so glad Aus Open is still the Happiest Slam, not just for fans but for the players too, and credit goes to Craig Tiley and his team for all their hard work to put on such a great tournament.

The Upsets

Novak

Denis Istomin, who was a Wild Card entry to the tournament, defeated six time AO Champion Novak Djokovic in a huge five set match in Round 2. I haven’t yet identified anyone who saw that one coming.

Andy

Andy Murray was defeated by Mischa Zverev in the fourth round, who got the biggest win of his career, and went on to lose to Federer in straight sets in the quarter-finals.

Angie

Defending champion Angelique Kerber was defeated by the powerful CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets in Round four.

The Memorable Moments

Lucic-Baroni

One of the loveliest moments of the tournament was the emotional 34 year old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who reached her first grand slam semi-final in 18 years, crying after defeating No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova in the quarter-finals.

During the post match interview she said “This has made my life, everything that happened that was bad, it’s made it all ok.”

She was defeated by Serena in the semis.

Nadal v Dimitrov

I don’t like to overuse the word epic but this semi-final truly was. Great sportmanship, shot making and skill for five sets that took nearly five hours. Rafa came through and Grigor showed that he is ready for the top ten.

Dasha

Aussie super star in the making Daria Gavrilova played three matches before losing to Karolina Pliskova in the fourth round. She played some incredible matches to defeat Naomi Broady, Ana Konjuh and Timea Bacsinszky along the way.

After seeing Kyrgios and Tomic fall in the early rounds, I’m so glad Australia has Dasha to support!

Venus

As detailed below, Venus Williams had an incredible run and made the final.

Mischa

Watch his post-match interview with Jim Courier after defeating Andy Murray.

“Everything just feels a little bit unreal…”

An incredible moment for Mischa #Zverev #AusOpen #7TENNIS https://t.co/FfvudfBIT3

— #7TENNIS (@7tennis) January 22, 2017

The Finals

Women’s Final

On the Women’s side Serena and Venus Williams played each other in a final for the first time in eight years. Many fans, like me, were hoping Venus would win because she has had such a remarkable career and it would be awesome for her to get another title. But Serena had other ideas, winning in straight sets to achieve her 23rd grand slam victory, passing Steffi Graf’s open era record of 22, and now only one less than Margaret Court’s record. With the win she regained her World No.1 ranking.

It was a fabulous night, including incredible speeches by both ladies showing total respect for each other and Serena talking about what an inspiration Venus is.

Serena and Venus hugging at the end of the match

Serena with her trophy

View more photos of Serena and Venus from the 2017 Australian Open

Men’s Final

It was a beautiful thing that Federer and Nadal were able to play each other in a grand slam final. Federer hadn’t played since Wimbledon until his return at the Hopman Cup at the start of January, and Nadal had also had an injury break for three months.

There was a lot of hype around the final and it lived up to it! A five setter, which was fast by tennis standards, had a lot of twists and turns with both players dominating for some games, and making errors in others.

Although I’m sad that Rafa didn’t win and become the first player in the open era to win all slams twice, I’m still so happy to see him playing without pain after so many injury torments during the last few years. And who couldn’t be happy for Roger, adding one more slam to his tally making a total of 18.

View more photos of Roger practicing and Rafa practicing during the 2017 Australian Open

The Fashion

I think this was the best year for quality fashion that I can recall, with no stand out garish outfits. On that point it’s worth noting that Berdych is no longer with H&M and in his first match I didn’t recognise him.

The black and white Nike outfits were seen a lot in a variety of different combinations.

I liked Rogers coloured top, plain shorts, white jacket combo.

More Roger

Not so sure about Serena’s outfit, which seems like a practice outfit/match combo.

Serena in Nike

I’m a big fan of Heather Watson but I did feel like she popped on the yellow skirt because she couldn’t find the real one.

The Asics kit, as worn by Sam Stosur, looked fabulous, particularly against the blue court.

Sam Stosur

It was a little bit disco, but I did like Angie’s aqua/orange combo

Muguruza looked great in green

Stan Wawrinka was conservative in green and hot pink

Jo’s outfit was conservative too and he’s back to the big hair

As always, Dustin Brown wore his hair with fabulous style. And it makes for great photos.

New Initiatives for 2017

A big change this year was the layout of the grounds.

The entertainment stage was moved near Birrarung Marr, away from the courts. This was good in terms of tennis matches not being disrupted by the sound of music in the background, and people only visiting the grounds for entertainment not being disrupted by tennis

Grand Slam Oval was separated into areas representing the four grand slams; Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. Here are some photos so you can soak up the ambience.

The New Birrarung Marr entrance

Other random thoughts

Women’s Final Day

On Women’s final day fans can access the grounds where the Junior Boys’ Final and Wheelchair Finals are played, as well as the Junior Girls’ Final and Quad Wheelchair final in Rod Laver Arena for the cost of $30. If they chose to they could also see both Venus and Serena warming up for the final on the Practice Courts. This is really awesome value and the grounds have a way more relaxing vibe during the final weekend than during the first week.

Record Attendances

As every year there were record attendances at the 2017 Australian Open topped all records with a total attendance of728,723. I think the $5 tickets for kids helped with this, as did moving the entertainment to a separate section where there was more space for more people.

Whatever the case, having more and more people wanting to go to AO every year is a great reflection on the quality of their marketing and the tournament.

Tennis Friends

Every year I’m grateful for my tennis friends; for the chit chat, Retweets and Likes on Twitter, for those I get to see in real life who add so much enjoyment to the tournament, particularly when we have the chance to enjoying wining and dining around Melbourne, and for helping each other with information, advice and tickets.

Also thanks to Grand Slam Tennis Tours for their ongoing support.

Thank you Australian Open, for still being the Happy Slam that so many fans, staff, players and their teams around the world enjoy every year. I can’t even imagine how much work the AO team does to create such an enjoyable experience every year but I appreciate every effort!

Until next time

Grand Slam Gal

The post Australian Open 2017 Wrap-Up: Still The Happy Slam first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

As well as being at the Women’s final with a fabulous seat with thanks to www.grandslamtennistours.com we’ve been lucky enough to see Serena in Round 2, Venus in her quarter-final and both players practicing. Take a look at our best photos.

Serena during her Round two match against Lucie Safarova

Venus during her quarter-final match against Pavyluchenkova

Happy winner, through to the semi-finals

Serena warming up before the final

Venus warming up for the final

Serena on one court, Venus on the next

Until next time

Grand Slam Gal

The post Australian Open 2017: Photos of Serena & Venus Williams first appeared on grandslamgal.com.

Until next time

Grand Slam Gal

The post Australian Open 2017: Roger Federer Day 8 & 9 Practice Photos first appeared on grandslamgal.com.