For two heady weeks while the Australian Open is on tennis is king of your world.
Blissful days are spent watching tennis live or on TV, scouring the Australian Open website, news sites and tennis blogs, and connecting with other tennis fans on Twitter, Facebook and at Melbourne Park.
It’s all about who’s playing who, who’s wearing what (or not), who did what with their hair, who can dance, who said what to the media, what Todd Woodbridge SMSd to who, who got injured, who was sweating a lot, who carried a blow up kangaroo around Melbourne Park, who is still playing 4 hours and 44 minutes after they started, who had Ana in their player box and who will win and did win the final.
Rog, Raf, Dave, the Andys, Rob, Nole, Dolly, Tom, Nando, Kim, Ana, Caro, the other players and @AustralianOpen are your new best friends and if your friends don’t like talking about tennis, you just don’t see them.
You commit yourself 100% to doing what it takes to keep on watching.
If you’re in another time zone you’re pushing through the tiredness to stay up all night because you can’t bear the thought of missing a minute. After two weeks your body clock is adjusting to Melbourne Eastern Daylight Saving Time and you’ll have difficultly adjusting back.
It’s tennis galore and it feeds your addiction. You need more, more, more.
And for two whole weeks, you get more. A whole new level that’s for sure. Probably the best AO ever.
Then BAM. It’s all over.
All Over Red Rover.
The Australian Open is finished and there are 50 weeks before it starts again.
You feel lost.
It starts with the tennis blues and then you slip into the GSHO; the Grand Slam Hang Over.*
It feels like you’ve been going hard at an incredible, two week long party, having an amazing time, then, when it’s over you’re left feeling drained, staring listlessly at the TV and catching up on sleep. But it’s worth it. Oh, so worth it.
The GSHO can last for weeks.
With no government funded GSHO support group to turn to, it’s up to you to deal with the GSHO as best you can. Thank goodness for Twitter so you know you’re not alone in feeling this way.
When the roar is over, you’ve got to carry on.
Tidy up your house, go to the supermarket and read your emails.
Regroup. Re-engage with the non tennis world. Remember the classic moments.
After all, it’s only 50 more weeks until Australian Open 2012.
And the French Open starts on 17 May. Bring it on!
Grand Slam Gal
* Big thanks to @SianDavies09 for finding the right words to accurately describe the feeling that is the Grand Slam Hang Over
Articles inspired by the 2011 Australian Open
Australian Open: Thanks for the memories. We’ve had a ball!
Dolgopolov chucks snag on the barbie, not a hair out of place
Rafa’s Wet T-shirt, Kanga-Rog, Longest Match Ever
Dance Pretty Petko, Dance. How it all began.
Mahut, styled by Venus. Can you picture it?
Epic 5 Set Matches Galore. 16 in fact. Phwoar!
Fernando Hits, Venus Misses, Caro ???
Rally for Relief. Top 10 Moments that Hit the Spot
7 Smashing Reasons to Love the Australian Open
I’ll be blogging about tennis throughout the year
Sign up and get articles delivered straight to your inbox, or please connect via the links below.
Hahahaha, and those years have been incredibly long ones too! I too once quit a job to be able to watch RG uninterrupted, never regretted it for a second.
The wait till the next Slam is especially long if you are leaving your job FOREVER on the Friday before Roland Garros starts… let me tell you! It’s already been 639742937 years since the AO ended, I swear!
Ha! So true, on all accounts! I’m clearly still 17hours ahead because it’s 11:30pm where I am, but I feel like it’s time to put on the coffee and sit down in front of the TV to catch the afternoon matches in Melbourne Park. Now it’s back to reality to see if I still have any non-tennis fan friends left!