Australia Open 2001

January, 2001

By Robyn Lakeman & Peta Gehrmann

 Day 1

Last night a few Rafterbabblers/Fanatics had a get together at Robyn's place - it was a terrific night, in attendance were Henry, Martina, Nifty Nev, Melonie and Malcolm, Robyn and Ken and I... after dropping Melonie and Malcolm back to their hotel in the city I got home at about 2.30am, I managed about 3 hours sleep before getting up to get ready for the big day at that Aussie Open...

I met up with Robyn and Martina at about 10am and we went directly in to show Martina around the grounds and check out the practice courts... the Williams sisters were hitting up together, as was Y2K - we didn't bother checking any of them out!!! We sat down beside Bryanne Stewart's practice court and sorted out our plan of attack for the day. As Pat will usually practice about 2 hours before he plays we decided that midday would be about the time to head back and see him and in the meantime we would check out some action on the Show Courts.

We met up with Lyndall (finally, after missing her last week at the Colonial Classic!!!) and were delighted to spend the day with her.

On our way to Show Court 3 to support Todd Woodbridge (who would eventually lose in 5 sets) we noticed Lleyton practicing and so caught that - took lots of photos there. Robyn had a quick chat with his parents to find out his upcoming schedule (Robyn will post this to LleytonLand later on).

After watching two sets of Todd playing quite badly and getting very cranky with himself it was already almost midday. As we made our way back to Court 16 to see if Pat was practicing there yet, Robyn got a call from Pete Rafter telling us that Pat would indeed be practicing at about midday. Messages and calls to everyone to let them know they should be there! and we arrived just as Pat had arrived on court, secured a courtside position and started clicking away :-) When Pat saw Robyn he gave her a big smile and waved - what a sweetie! Pat practiced with Pete Sampras and both guys were looking in fine form, although Pat was much easier on our eyes! There were some girls beside us who kept saying "isn't he just the most gorgeous???", they were referring to Pete. We told them beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder!!! I took pity on them, asked if they had email and said I'd take some digital pics of him for them - my good turn for the day :-) Pat signed lots of autographs but not on our side of the court, so we didn't get a chance to say "Hi" to him at all.

Melonie and Malcolm, Martina, as well as Deb and her sister-in-law had all got wind of Pat's practice, Shirley Rose and her friend just missed it - bad luck ladies...

We all decided to go get a coffee and something to eat before seeing another match or so before Pat hit centre court.

A lot of us ended up at Kim Clijster's first round match... she was playing terrific tennis in difficult conditions (gusting winds)... Lleyton and a couple of friends plus his Mum, Dad and sister Jaslyn were all in attendance to give her their support - just lovely to see. I hope she does really well in Melbourne, she is looking in excellent form. We left when Kim had a 4-1 lead in the second set and by the time we had walked in to the Centre Court surrounds she had won the match - we should have stayed!

We took our gifts from the "Ticket Fairy" (how lucky are we???!!!) and headed in to find ourselves a good position for Pat's match. Our tickets were in the upper section but we decided to try our luck with sitting in the lower section and would move about if needed. I guess we were about 5-6 rows up from Pat's family amongst various players and their families.

We said "Hi" to Jocelyn, Louise, Peter, Woz, Lara and others as they made their way to their seats... Robyn told Jocelyn not to worry, Pat would be fine - she was not feeling confident as Pat hasn't beaten Scotty for about 12 years!

We waved the "Go Warrior Pat" and "Funky Skunky" banners all throughout the match and Pat noticed them on several change of ends, but I've just had a quick look at the telecast and didn't notice them on there at all... we were not in a good location for the camera to pick us up - we were in the shadows of the roof and half way up the stand.

The light was not good for photography but we still managed to take plenty of photos including some of Lara, Jocelyn, Woz and Paul Kilderry watching the match.

Pat played a great match as I'm sure you are all aware and he and Scotty had quite a long chat at the net when they finished the match. I noticed in the coverage that Pat had a removable tattoo on his leg supporting the Cystic Fybrosis Foundation - Scotty's charity of choice (obviously because his dear wife died of this dreadful disease).

I forgot to mention earlier that Pat was wearing new shoes during practice, however he had his usual ones on for his match. I took a digital pic of the new ones that I'm sure Robyn will put up for you to see.

We chatted again with Pat's mob on their way out - Lara said something like "no worries at all, Pat will go all the way now!" she was thrilled with his win and she looked gorgeous in a pink/mauve and white sun dress with cute little mauve sandals. Jocelyn said she was now worried about Pat's next match - just like a mother! Jocelyn was in a black pants suit with a pink jacket and a lovely cream sunhat with a rosette on it - I took a nice digital pic of her too. Louise introduced us to a family friend, and she was wearing a black halter top with white spots and a big floppy sun hat - she looked lovely as per usual.

On our way out we chatted with Woz and Paul Kilderry especially about the website that Heidi has done - H, can you email Paul the link again as he forgot to bookmark it - Woz wants it as well. If there is any dramas with contacting them just let Robyn know.

BTW, despite a media report that I've just read intimating that Pat changed his shirt on several occasions I can only remember one. Both Robyn and I were totally unprepared for it and didn't have our camera's ready - Robyn managed to click one with the standard camera and I missed completely with the digital - fooey!

When we came out of Centre Court we noticed that Wayne Arthurs was up two sets out on Court 18 and so we headed straight over there to help to cheer him on. Nev, Henry, Martina and several other fanatics were out there - as was Muddy Waters. The fanatics weren't singing or chanting at all which I thought was a shame - I really wanted to burst into song but restrained myself and instead yelled out "Go King Arthurs" and "Go Wayne you good thing"... the last one I did right before he won the match - it was obviously the boost he needed to take the final step!!! There was an enthusiastic group of school boys who were yelling and chanting support for Wayne and he seemed to really enjoy it. He lingered for at least fifteen minutes after his match chatting to people and signing autographs... he is such a lovely guy.

Robyn forgot to ask Peter when Pat would be practicing tomorrow, but we checked with Muddy and he said although he didn't know what time that Pat would certainly be practicing.

On our way back to the car park we decided to walk through Vodafone Arena and although we didn't go inside the foyer area looks very nice so I'm sure the Court is terrific too.

We left the tennis at about 7.30pm, so it was a big day for us all... especially when we didn't have much sleep the night before.

I hope I haven't missed too much out of these reports, Robyn will add any additional details and might upload some digital pics as well. It was a really big day for her, so I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't go straight home to bed and not worry about uploading photos... but knowing Robyn I doubt that very much.

I am back to work tomorrow and will only go to the tennis again on Wednesay if Pat is playing during the day - otherwise my next time is Thursday night. I would love to be at Lleyton and Jonas' match tomorrow night but don't know if the "Ticket Fairy" will be forthcoming for that match!

Peta

 

Day 3

Met up with Robyn, Martina and Henry at the ticket collection booth... Henry and Martina headed to the Wayne Arthurs match and Robyn and I headed to the practice courts - On court 17, Y2K was ust finishing up, Marat and Cedric were just starting... Anna was on Court 16 for an hour, always about ten deep with people trying to catch a glimspe of her in bright orange version of the yellow outfit.

We headed to meet up with Deb and he sister(in-law?) Sandra. Had a phone call from Kristen and told her Pat would probably be practicing at about midday so we would see her then. I had picked up four rolls of film from the Colonial Classic and Day 1 of the Open that I got processed so we looked over them - lots of lovely shots (it pays to be in the front row at the CC!).

Robyn had a feeling that Pat might practice at about 11.30am so I decided to go and see a bit of Wayne's match until about then... despite much waving of arms I couldn't get Melonie and Malcolm or Henry and Nev's attention - they were just a few sections around from me on Show Court 3. I noticed that I had missed a call and figured that must be Robyn and Pat must be on his way. I still couldn't get Melonie's attention but saw she was on the phone and thought it might be Robyn letting her know practice was on. Shirley had quizzed the security guys and found out that Pat was next up for practice on Court 17 after Marat/Cedric, so we staked our claim on front row seats, hung up an Aussie flag and the Go Warrior Pat banner and watched the crowds start to build! Robyn, Martina, Lyndall, Deb, Sandra, Kristen, Shirley, Me and evenutally Melonie and Malcolm were all in a bunch and having lots of fun. Pat arrived at midday and was in good spirits - he was practicing with some guy who was referred to as "Bully", a good hitter and not unpleasant on the eye either - despite this guess where our attention was firmly fixed???!!! We shared a bit of a laugh with Pat at one stage when some enthusiastic young girls lay on their stomachs at the end of the court to glimpse Pat in a small gap under the advertising hording - they exclaimed with glee "there he is"!!! There he was alright :-) Like on Monday Pat only signed autographs on the other side of the court and was quickly gone - the practice only lasted about twenty minutes. Deb avoided a minor altercation with the security staff over her video camera - video footage is banned but we convinced him she was using it for still shots ONLY! This was the first of many security run in for the day...

Again we all went separate ways, Killer and Tramacchi were playing doubles just a few courts away so a few of us went to take pics - Robyn was bailed up by security there who insisted that her lens was too big and demanded that she remove it - bummer no close up's of Paul for Heidi... I took a few shots on my camera and hope they turn out OK.

It was then lunchtime so we headed back to the Beer Garden and checked on match progress and scores... Henman seemed to be in an epic on Centre Court (groan) and it looked like Pat would be on late again today. Wayne was still battling on Show Court 3 and Andrew Ilie was in a thriller on Show Court 1. There was no way you could get into that court, but when the Henman match finished they televised Andrew's match on the big screen so we watched and cheered from there.

Thankfully Seles disposed of her second round opponent in fairly quick fashion and it was time to head in and try to secure some closer seats for Pat's match.

At this point let me remind everyone of the wisdom of our Mother's telling us to "go to the toilet" before leaving on a long trip... I was a naughty girl on Wednesday and instead of following this advice just headed into the match unprepared - it was to be our downfall and I apologise to everyone publically for my stupidity!

We successfully planted ourselves in a similar position to Monday's match at the top of the Players Section just up from Pat's family - actually Jocelyn was sitting with friends just up behind us out of the sun. This was fine for one and a half sets and we were waving banners madly and giving encouragement as required... then I had to go to the loo - big mistake. When I returned to our seats the security guy asked to see my ticket - I tried everything from feigning ignorance to blowing my nose and coughing my guts up to avoid having to produce what we did not have... more security was called and then a supervisor and after delaying the inevitable for about 4 more games, we had to leave our great little position - they had demanded to see all of our tickets and we had Martina ticketless with us and we certainly didn't want to be kicked out altogether if that was discovered! Jocelyn was very disappointed for us and suggested that we sit in the Media section adjacent to where we were, but the security guys had been checking accreditation there as well so that wasn't an option either... it was back to our actual seats - well almost - they were in the very back row of the stadium so we just headed to that section and seat hopped for the rest of the match. We are convinced that Pat lost the second set because we weren't there with the banners when he had his next change of ends after we moved... and my bladder and the stupid security guards are responsible!!! You all know the result of the match and that Pat wasn't happy with his handling of this second round opponent, but a win is a win and we have our Warrior through to the third round - another unknown opponent meets him there. I'm sure he will be working hard in practice before that match.

We met with Deb, Sandra, Lyndall, Nev and Henry after the match and headed back to the garden enclosure to rest up before the night session - actually Jackie and Michael who were part of the Barcelona Babbler group were also there and another Barce Fanatic joined us too (they are everywhere!!!). Beers/Drinks all round and a bite to eat, check on scores and results - Show Court 3 was extremely behind on it's schedule and eventually they moved the last match, Todd and Jonas' doubles match to Show Court 1. This was after Anna'a night match had started. Deb and Sandra had decided not to stay for the night session and given me their tickets so I called Marcus and he came and joined me at the tennis - a first time for everything!!! I took him in the see the end of Anna's match then we went to watch Todd and Jonas' doubles match, on the way there Robyn and Nev were on their way up from the garden so Robyn decided to join us on Show Court 1. What a tough match this was for Todd and Jonas, the young Aussie opponents Steve Huss and Todd Perry (he's been to some Davis Cup's as an orange boy) nearly won this match in straight sets before Jonas and Todd made a late comeback in the second set and eventually won the final set 6-2. As soon as the sun wnet down it was bloody cold out on Show Court 1... and can you believe this day match went later than all of the evening matches - largely thanks to quick straight sets victories to Anna and Agassi, but I wonder if this has ever happened before?

Robyn and Melonie have Deb and Sandra's front row seats for Lleyton's match today and they have been able to get tickets for Malcolm and Nev from Val so all are thrilled with that... it's amazing how we are able to get tickets if we need them. I doubt whether this luck will continue after today - we have none for Friday and don't have any leads for getting any either. Pat may just have to do it on his own from now on! I'm back at the tennis tonight and that is my last ticket. Just grounds passes from now on... we suspect that Pat may be playing a night match sometime soon.

Peta

 

Day 4

Robyn has just called me and he has just finished watching Pat practice for an hour - an extremely solid work out, he was soaked in sweat after it... He signed autographs on both side like Tuesday and Robyn managed to get some tennis balls signed for Shriley Rose and her friend Roberta and had a few words with Pat. She said "that looked like a solid workout", Pat said "yeah, I really needed it"...

Robyn said he was pretty annoyed with himself at times during the practice when he did something not to his liking... I think this is a good sign, he is working hard and trying to have all aspects of his game just right.

Peta

 

Day 5

Well first of all I just want to point out that the pic where it says Pat is pointing out a fan to a ballboy was a man up in the stands who was in like a bed, lying down but his head propped up. I guess this man has to be in this position and not in a wheelchair. Anyway ol eagle eyes Pat had spotted him apparently and at the end of the match pointed up into the stands and asked the ballboy to take one of Pat's shirts up to him. What an amazing guy our Pat is! Louise spoke to me about this incident later and I said how impressed we were with this thoughtfulness and the fact that he even had looked around the stands and seen this person. I said what an absolute darling Pat was and she agreed.

Well the day started with Peta, Deb, Sandra, Shirley, Malcolm, Melonie, Karin (who just arrived from Switzerland) etc. arriving at 8am at Vodafone arena to stand in line to grab front row seats when the gates opened at 9am. Most of us had fanatic shirts on and we took up our positions in the front row. We watched and cheered on Kim Clijsters to victory and then watched Safin dispose of his opponent in straight sets like Kim did. Nev and Henry had arrived and sat between Peta and I in the first row. We tied flags to the railing and the GO WARRIOR PAT and FUNKY SKUNKY banners. We were set.

Pat played better today and and from his interview seemed quite pleased. He looked to us and pumped his fist when he won points and at the end he threw his wristband to us. As usual I was trying to capture Pat on film so wasn't able to try and catch it but Henry was quick and caught the wristband and gave it to me, what a sweetheart!

After Pat's match we all eventually met up in the Heineken beer garden again to have a rest and a chat in the shade. Bee and Mandy joined us too. Well when we eventually left to go our separate ways that evening it was a sad occasion. We bade farewell to Malcolm and Melonie (they fly out to the UK on Saturday), Shirley catches a train back to Wagga and Henry and Martina fly back to Sydney as well on Saturday. Nev has only one more day, likewise our new friend Lyndall. We had a fabulous five days together with lots of memories and some great tennis. I really enjoyed having Nev, Martina and Henry stay with us up in the hills. 

I managed to get centre court tickets with Bee for Lleyton's match on Saturday night and I'm hoping the ticket fairy comes up with a ticket for Pat's next match.

Robyn

 

Day 6,7

Saturday I decided to give the day matches a miss and have a bit of a rest and catch up on web updating and housework. I drove in at 4pm and picked up my processed photos on the way. I met up with Deb, Nev and Tamara and we went to the Heineken beer garden (this is becoming a regular habit *lol*). Bee and Mandyr joined us plus a few more fanatics that had just arrived for the Aus Open. The weather was threatening, the cool change had rolled in and the temperature had dropped by 10 deg C. It started to rain a bit and they had to close the roof on the centre court. Went to have dinner with Deb and Bee in the Cafe and afterwards returned to the Heineken beer garden. When the women's match had finished Nev and I headed into centre court to watch Lleyton's match against Carlos Moya. We sat in our seats for the first set and then headed around to sit with Woz and Pat & Pete the twin brothers (friends of Pat from Canada). Jackie then joined us and then Laura and her friend. We cheered and clapped Lleyton and apparently made it on TV quite a few times but in the end Lleyton went down to Moya. We believe it was the bad line call he received in the fifth set, it really upset him and he was warned after abusing the umpire who Woz stopped short of calling a fat bastard although he did yell out a few times "who ate all the pies!" The match went for nearly four hours and I didn't get home till after 2.30pm.

Today went straight to Pat's practice when I arrived and met up with Deb, Sandra and Karin. Pat practised for about half and hour and looked pretty good. When he left he didn't sign many autographs and Pete stayed behind and had a hit up with Tony Roche. I talked to Pete when he had finished and asked him to wish Pat good luck. We then went to the Heineken beer garden for lunch.

After lunch Nev rang to say he was in his seat in centre court so I went to join him. Jackie, Michael and Angela also joined us and we sat next to the twins and an ex girlfriend of Pats. Andrew Ilie had taken out the first set and there was hope but Andre went on to take the next three sets. Next it was Pat, what a fantastic match and we couldn't believe the end result, a win in straight sets! As you know Pat tried to tear his shirt off as a tribute to Andrew Ilie but Pat reckons the Reebok gear is pretty tough *lol*. We had been holding up the banners throughout the match and Pat had seen them as usual. Nev has always refused to hold the banners as he reckons it's a girlies thing but when I went to put the banners away I found him holding the GO WARRIOR PAT banner aloft. Way to go Nev! He said the excitement of the moment got to him. Anyway we were absolutely delighted with Pat's win. The first time he has made it to the quarters at the Aus Open!!! We all headed to the beer garden for a while before going home. I'm having a day off tomorrow but hope to see Pat's match against Hrbaty on Tuesday.

Robyn

 

Day 9

How exciting, I'm sure that everyone read my jubilant posts about Robyn and I getting tickets to see the match...

I left work later that I wanted, but was in the tennis centre by 6pm. I met up with Robyn, Nev, Laura, Karin and Kerri (Jackie was just leaving after being disheartened by the long Box Office cues, no amount of persuading could convince her that she would probably be able to get tickets off people leaving after the Kournikova/Davenport match - she had had a fruitless and frustrating day and just wanted to go home and watch the match on TV... I hope she wasn't too disappointed by her decision). The guys were all on Show Court 1 watching Wayne-o Arthurs and Annabel Ellwood playing Barbara Schett and Josh Eagle... this was quite amusing as the crowd were yelling out all sort of fun things like "What about Annabel???" and everyone responding "Oh, she's alright!!"... "Yeah, but what about Barbara?"... to which a couple of guys responded "She's even better"!!! When this match finished we made our way to the Garden Enclosure and relaxed over a few beers, exchanged photos - Karin's from practice and Pat's match on Friday are glorious! and Robyn has some artistic nipple shots that you are all going to die for :-) Deb and Sandra joined us and before we knew it Davenport was serving for the match...

Time to prepare for Patrick... first stop... you guessed it, the toilet - never again will I go into a match unprepared like Wednesday!!! Grabbed Robyn a bite to eat and then into our seats. Just Robyn and I together... Nev and Laura were joining Woz and a couple of other fanatics in a similar position to us but down the other end of the court. We were approximately 12 rows up from Pat's entourage (not that he likes to call them that!). Mostly around us were Aussie supporters, but to the right and below us were some Hrbaty fans/family... one woman who always seemed to want to get the last word in, if someone yelled out "Go Pat" just before the ball went into play, she would pipe up with "C'mon Domini"!!!

All hopes from Robyn and Nev were for a 6-0 first set win to Pat... they had a bet on, they would also collect if the scoreline was 6-3 or 6-4... should have got word to Patrick guys he really stuffed up there! When it was 5-1 and Dominic broke serve I thought they had a chance, but then Pat broke back to take the set - bummer about the bet, but great first set scoreline :-)

The next two sets were such a battle as Dominic really started to hit his stride and Patrick's first serve eluded him... at one stage after missing a first serve Pat said to himself something like "Get a first serve in wanker"! We were all hoping for that... at one stage I looked up and saw that the points won at net were Pat 17 and Dominic 14 - too close for my comfort. The problems on the first serve as well as Dominic's hard serving which were making Pat's returns far to easy to knock off were starting to take their toll...

Then when all hope of a four set victory were fading and a fifth set struggle looked immanent, what should happen but some amazing exchanges that were all reflex and instinct with Pat coming out the winner - Dominic's serve flew out the window and Pat started to gain that confidence back again... what followed was almost as amazing as Lleyton's first set against Haas - these boys are such fighters, it amazes me that they can be 0-5 or 1-4 down in a set and still think they have a chance and fight for the opportunities break back and plough on. At one stage when Patrick made a running backhand down the line (I think it was - my memory is not the greatest - it could well have been a cross court forehand!!!) he yelled out "C'mon" - Lleyton would have been proud... there was much fist pumping to both his family camp and to Woz and the boys who had been doing a marvellous job of revving Pat up, in the third set. So exciting to watch, like Lleyton he was even doing it on minor points within a game, something you rarely see Pat do. The crowd support was enormous and everyone was on their feet - it was kind of reminiscent of Davis Cup for me to see that unified support for an Aussie. Robyn was poised with her camera a one opportune moment when Pat came right over and did a big fist pump to his family/friends so hopefully that photo will be a beauty.

With his game back on track and the first serves firing the final set was over in no time flat, poor Dominic was a spent force.

We received SMS during the match from Bee to tell us that she had seen us and the banner, and my hubby rang me right after the match to tell us that as soon as Pat had finished victorious that they had focussed in on us again - he mentioned that you could see Robyn clearly but I was obscured behind the banner with only my hair giving away who was there!!! Now Marcus hates sport of all persuasions but even he was amazed, thrilled and excited at Patrick's display from midway through the third set onwards, he was babbling like a true Rafterbabbler about his instinct, flexibility and reflexes - I'll convert him yet :-)

We met up and with the other guys and Deb and Sandra and discussed options and tactics for securing tickets for Thursday night's match... this will be the hottest ticket in town for sure!!! Laura, who before the match had been somewhat non-committal about going to see it, was pumped up and ready to camp out at the Box Office to get us all seats! We'll see how we go and if we can't be there our spirit will linger in the Rod Laver Arena for Patrick to fight on with I'm sure.

Sorry for no fashion reports in this bulletin, I was far too focussed on Patrick tonight to worry about how Lara had her hair done, in fact I didn't even see Lara but have read that she was there. I will mention before closing that there were two very quick shirt changes, blink and you would have missed them... funny I did catch them both, but never saw Hrbaty change his shirt once, although he did... nah, not strange at all... the guy sitting beside me exclaimed, when I did a huge wolf whistle on Pat's first shirt change, "What? lusting after him, you should be ashamed of yourself"... I replied "show me a woman in this place that doesn't lust after him!"

Go Warrior Pat, you Funky Skunky you!!

Peta

 

Day 10

Just had an update call from Robyn and thought you'd all like to hear about it...

Pat practised for ½ hour - Robyn spoke with him afterwards and wished him well for his match today... Pat said "my match tonight you mean, thanks"! He's right on the ball :-)

Robyn talked with Peter and he said Pat is going really well, he is relaxed and feeling confident and has a good chance of beating Agassi.

She also chatted with Paul Kilderry who was hitting up with Pat, she said "smile for your website Paul" and Peter said "do you have a website???!"... Robyn joked about him not paying attention and then he remembered Paul telling him about it.

Pat signed some autographs after his practice session and headed back toward the bowels of Melbourne Park.

Back to the ticket queue where Robyn almost got a wheelchair seat for Belinda but just as they were discussing whether it had a carers seat beside it (which it didn't) the seat was taken by someone at another Box Office outlet - damn... so close!

Nev and Robyn (except when she dashed down to the practice court) have been at the front of the line for 3 hours with no luck yet but we remain positive. I'm thinking of heading in early and helping to relieve them for a bit - I feel totally helpless here at work and realy bad that people that already have tickets are queuing for tickets for me... Big hugs to them for looking out for me.

Go Warrior Pat

Peta

 

Semi Final

Well Nev was top of the queue at 9am and I joined him at 9.45am and only left for half an hour to see Pat practice at 11am. I phoned Peta about this and she posted further down. We stayed there all day and everyone was rewarded with tickets at about 5.30pm. Nev and I had tickets already but wanted to make sure that our friends had a chance to see Pat too. During the day we were joined by Karin, Laura, Kerri and Peta. It was an interesting day to say the least and some great company. Have to say that Nev is definitely a legend with a heart as big as Pharlap, how many guys would queue all day for tickets for the girls. Well once we had the tickets it was off to the beer garden where we were joined by Jackie and Mick. At 7pm we were ready for the Pat vs Agassi match. Nev and I were seated just behind Ian Thorpe the Olympic swimmer and no, he wasn't with Martina Hingis and yes I did take pics. After the first set Nev went up to swap seats with Peta so she could sit closer to the front with me.

Pat was playing superbly and it really looked like he was going to take it in four when we saw him asking for something. Bee messaged me to say he asked for electrolytes as he could sense he was going to start cramping. It was so sad. Peta was in tears from the third set and was crying at the end. It just seemed so unfair. Why is fate so cruel to our warrior. The weather was absolutely dreadful, so untypical of Melbourne - hot and so humid it was oppressive, sweat just dripped off you. We knew it was going to be tough. I am sure if it was played today there would have been a different outcome. But to end on a positive note here, we were blessed to see Pat get to the semi finals, the furthest he has ever come and it was wonderful to see Pat play on 6 occasions plus all the practice sessions. When you only have one tennis season in Australia it's great to see Pat play - last January we never saw him at all.

After Pat's match we stuck around to watch Wayne Arthurs/Zimmo vs Todd/Jonas match which finished after midnight. On the way out Peta and I had a quick word with Jonas' wife Petra, she is such a lovely person! She was surrounded by Swedes wanting her autograph. There had been over 30 Swedes during the match chanting Todd/Jonas onto victory.

Robyn

 

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