Hamburger Monkey Pants: I Travel Occasionally : Better Than I Imagined (Day 2)

I started day 2 with a lovely breakfast with Jim, my Airbnb host. I can't remember where we went and I don't have a picture of what I ate (avocado toast with bacon and a chai tea), but I took a photo of his because it was so lovely looking.

I also found this meme, which made me howl in delight because the day before when I watched the first match on the side court I had to laugh because when I sat down I couldn't help but notice how pronounced the turn of my head to follow the ball was. I laughed a little at myself when I realized how much I felt like a parody of a tennis fan.

Alison Riske (18) v. Yafan Wang

Something I didn't anticipate when it comes to watching on a side court is obstructed views. It makes sense that the views wouldn't be perfect. Much of the seating and covering has evolved over time. It's fun to be right up next to the court, but you definitely pay the price for it in the sunshine. In many situations the best seat for view and shade is higher up in the stands.

Ali Riske was fun to follow during the tournament. I don't mean any disrespect toward her, but I was surprised at her ranking. She's not a flashy player and there weren't really any times when I found myself totally in awe of her. It didn't take long for me to recognize that she's earned her ranking through her tenacious play and focus. I saw her play from down several times and she finds a way to dig deep and claw her way back. I like that her matches were competitive and that I had no idea if she was going to pull a win out or fall short.

Pablo Andujar v. Michael Mmoh

Michael Mmoh is impressive. He's quite powerful and I think we're going to see a lot of him to come. As I was heading to his match I overheard someone say, "We should go to Mmoh. He's going to win the US Open one day soon." I believe that prediction. He was also fun to try to get a photograph of because he's off the court in transition a lot - not that I got any particularly good shots of him. He uses his powerful legs and transfers that power to the ball.

Leonardo Mayer v. Tommy Paul

I don't actually have any photos of this match because the men were playing on the court that was behind me as I faced Mmoh's court. These two side courts only have a few rows of seats near them and the fence makes it so that the best "seat" is actually standing near them. I turned back and forth between the two matches, much like you can see Olli is doing between the Mmoh court and the one on the far side. Olli is the guy standing up on the top row of the bleachers. Tommy Paul is also the future of American tennis for sure. He had a good run in the tourney, although it's fair to say he didn't go as far as he would have liked. His play was impressive in my opinion.

Garbine Muguruza v. Shelby Rogers

Prior to getting into the stadium for this match I grabbed some chicken tenders and fries, which totally hit the spot, and this lovely beverage. I think Skyy might have something similar if not exactly this in the US. The lime really hit the spot. In my world you can never have enough lime. I was disappointed to find out that Australia has not discovered White Claws yet and don't really have other spiked seltzer options. This is the closest thing to it and it got the job done for me. It was pretty refreshing.

Before going into the stadium I ate my food on a little hill that I'm not sure if it's technically part of the Grand Slam Oval. Either way, it's a common area on the grounds where people hang out, watch some tennis on a big screen, and take a break.

I was not impressed at all with Muguruza in her first set. She was getting her butt handed to her and lost it pretty solidly. It was after the first set that I learned that she was sick. Knowing that made her comeback to win this match that much more impressive. Throughout the two weeks I watched Garbine dig down deep and rally the way only elite, professional tennis players can do. It's like you can see a switch flip inside of them. Seeing tennis at this level in person made me appreciate so much more the sentiment that the court is a lonely place for these players. It really is up to them and them only to find the way to fight. To see it happen in person is really the most impressive part of the whole shebang.

Side note: My repeated use of the word impressive is not lost on me. I could use a thesaurus to vary my word selection, but impressive is what it was. Over and over. My appreciation for the talent level and mental focus of these players increased exponentially.

For this match I sat in the corner, right above the wall. It was a phenomenal seat. Shelby Rogers more so than Garbine Muguruza would come to the corner and speak to herself to keep her focus between serves. I didn't take any pictures of that because it felt intrusive and creepy, but it was pretty cool to be about 10 feet away from a professional athlete actively working to keep their focus and hype themselves up.

In the last game of this match, Olli texted me and basically said, "Get to me as quick as possible and I have a ticket for you for Medvedev." Olli had already gifted me with amazing experiences and to be frank, I wanted to make sure I made it easy for him to keep doing so. 😁 As soon as the match ended, I bounded up and moved around two men who were taking a normal amount of time to leave an event. In doing so I snagged my brand new jeans on a bolt in the railing and this is what happened.

Don't worry, the red mark on my leg is from the seam pressing into my skin because they were tight skinny jeans, not a scratch or cut. But that tear is about a foot long. Oh, and did I mention that this was the first day I wore these jeans? LOL I had to buy some cooler weather clothes because I didn't pack many and the weather was much cooler than I expected for the Australian Open.

Typically it's insanely hot, which we did get a couple days like that, but most of the days were cool or moderate in temperature. The swing in the temperature was pretty dramatic based on the presence of the sun. During the Muguruza match I sat on one side in the shade where the people around me were putting on sweatshirts and light sweaters and Olli sat in the player's box that was directly in the sun. Everyone on that side was boiling and only keeping clothes on to keep from sunburning. They were dripping in sweat while we were getting chills from the shade and breeze.

I was a little embarrassed initially because my next seat was in Medvedev's box. After a few minutes of laughing it off with my new acquaintances I forgot about it and focused on the tennis. No one else commented or even seemed to notice.

Daniil Medvedev (4) v. Frances Tiafoe

Like I said, Olli upgraded me and it was pretty spectacular. I even got a special little bonus because it got quite chilly after the sun went down.

The view from my seat:

Here's also a not great video of the roof opening. It's crazy how fast the roof on RLA can open and close. My not so accurate measurement confirms I can fully be done in about the same time as one Billy Joel song.