Australia Open 2001
by PRFAN
What a weekend of tennis!
The standard was very high.
I arrived in Melbourne at 12:30pm, ran over and found out Pat was playing in
the Vodafone Arena to my relief because I didn't have tickets to the Rod Laver
Arena.
I lined up for approximately 1 1/2 hours and I finally had a chance to see Pat
play mid-way through the second set.
I looked around for fellow Rafter babblers and saw some "warrior
Pat" and "funky" signs, near where Pat was seated, although
unfortunately couldn't get down there as it was too full.
I was seated just above where the gentleman who was watching Pat in a bed was.
When the ballboy came and gave him Pat's shirt quite a few people touched it
as they were walking past. What a nice and thoughtful thing for Pat to give
his shirt to the gentleman - it probabley made his day. I hope he took it to
the press conference to get it signed.
It was great to see Pat was back in form and confident and happy.
On Saturday I was making my way to the Vodafone Arena when I saw this huge
crowd, ran over and saw Pat practise with Tony Roche, his brother Peter (?). I
scrambled my way to the front and took some photographs.
During the session while Pat was serving a lady shouted out "Common
Pat" Pat lost his concentration and missed his serve, the lady then
shouted back "Sorry".
At the end Pat was kind enough sign quite a lot of autographs.
I had a great time cheering on Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 2 doubles and his singles
match against Woodruff - which was quite a match.
I was unable to see the Henman match due to tickets being sold out, however I
did get to see the safin/Hrbaty match which was a ripper.
All the best to Pat tonight, I'll be watching, hopefully Channel 7 put it on
live telecast at 8:30 especially if the women's match between Davenport and
Kornikova finishes fast.
Common Pat!
I had a great time but am disappointed in not being able to meet some of you
guys.
