There’s so much to love about the Australian Open; the tennis, the players, the venue, the main arenas, the ticketing, the practice courts, the outfits, the hair, the atmosphere, the entertainment… the list is long but I’ve given it a go!
The scoreboard on the edge of Garden Square
Some of the many things I love:
1. The quality of the tennis
2. The Men’s five set matches
3. The colours of the branding, the player outfits and the grounds (here are some pics)
4. The free trams from the city
5. The merchandise, especially the Lacoste Melbourne T-Shirts
6. The entertainment; there are bands playing in Grand Slam Oval every night
7. The accessibility of tickets; you can rock on up, buy a ground pass at the gate and during the first week you’ll see seeded players on outside courts
8. There are loads of screens and TVs around the grounds so you can keep up with what’s going on
9. There are power points where you can recharge your phone
10. The water fountains where you can refill your water bottle.
11. The Twitter atmosphere and the interaction of the @AustralianOpen account (which is why they have 65,000+ followers!). In my opinion Twitter is the best way to keep up with what’s going on and the fastest way to find out breaking news.
Things tennis fans on Twitter love about the Aus Open:
12. ballboy2012 Loving the ice cream while watching great tennis at #AusOpen
13. TennisFanMark23 The roofs!!!!!!!!
14. mimiplush roofs and lights and the fans in the stands. They have the most fun, by far
15. GoonerAnsar Things I love about #ausopen. Novak won his first grand slam there and that it’s the grand slam with the least rain delays.
16. J_Hantzopoulos Im loving, Roger #federer, The merchandise isnt bad. Love the women’s/men’s trophy pins and tennis ball keyrings
17. katshearts $99 five day groundies, 15 min walk from CBD
18. SinfinDave my fave thing is the atmosphere its so electric and the way that the players interact with the public shows they’re still grounded
19. chelez17 it’s very organized, their site is interactive with fans – they maximize the availability of social media to reach fans
20. lizcurran I love the three big outside arena courts: MCA, SC2 and 3. Gorgeous especially in the evening. Great views of play too.
21. Mariska_1980 I love seeing ppl dress up so much at #ausopen. I love that myself very much too, so hope I can do so next year.
22. edwin_smith1 I love the amazing tennis that’s played. The always sunny weather. The way the crowd is always Into any match.
23. Hampden69 the diversity of countries who get brilliant support eg: Cypriots, Serbs , Scots etc!! Don’t see much of that at other GS’s
24. Newmmc I love #ausopen because they have been smart enough to make Roger #Federer their Champion four times.
25. topgooner100 Things I love about the #ausopen all the amazing support from fans the players get love the colour and chants! esp aussies!
26. fiorebianca Love Tweeting w/crazy people (read: tennis fans) that adhere to the #SleepIsForTheWeak motto! We’re from all over the world!
27. lizcurran friendly, helpful stewards (patron services) eg one offered to take my photo outside RLA yesterday cos I was on my own
28. senecawithaz i love the blue courts at the #AO
29. RafaelNadalFC Amazing tennis fans, summer and it’s the beginning of new season when everyone is excited to compete in the 1st grand slam.
30. 1FanOfSports I love the grace / class of #Federer, the determination of #Nadal, the heart of #Roddick, & the flair of #Monfils. #AusOpen
Big thanks to everyone who sent their tweets!
I’ve just thought of a few more things:
31. The program – it’s a great read
32. The coffee – not too strong
33. The practice courts
34. Hisense Arena, it’s my favourite place to be in the first week
35. There are no bad seats in Rod Laver Arena
36. The walk along the river between Fed Square and Melbourne Park
37. The variety of food that’s available
38. The night matches on Margaret Court Arena
39. The Heineken Bar (provided in Bern’s comment below)
40. The lovely helpful ushers in Hisense Arena (provided by my mum)
And some more from Twitter
41. kirrilyfred I love that Melbourne Park, rests in the shadow of the spiritual centre of sport in Australia, the MCG. #AusOpen
42. nolesfan2011 the awesome fans! the chants of “aussie aussie aussie” are amaazing :).. best fans of any slam. #ausopen
43. nolesfan2011 also the late night tennis.. and from a tv perspective who doesn’t enjoy watching tennis at 2 and 3 AM? the “midnight slam” 🙂
There’s gotta be more though. What else do you love about the Australian Open?
Until next time
Grand Slam Gal
P.S. While you’re here you’re welcome to:
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Lot of good stuff, understandably no one likes the dive bombing seagulls at night. If there is a hawk at Melbourne Park during the day couldn’t there be an owl at night?
The Heineken bar 🙂