The Australian Open

Rod Laver Arena (with the roof opening)

Maria Sharapova

Open the roof on a rainy day and the court gets wet, and ball kids have to dry it.

Roger Federer

Swiss and Aussie fans

The American Bryan brothers

Friday, January 22^nd.

Got up early, did my laundry and hung it out to dry and then went for a run. It started to rain, so I had a shower outside and my clothes got washed again.

I headed into the city to go to the Open but not sure what I would find on this wet day. It turns out the Rod Laver Arena has a retractable roof, so although there were no matches on any of the 14 outside courts there were inside. I watched the last half of match between Belinda Becic and Kateryna Bondarenko, and then I watched Maria Sharapova defeat American Lauren Davis.

Right after the match they opened the roof and Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov began. After one game it started raining! This caused a half hour delay as they had to slowly close the roof and the ball kids had to mop the floor. Federer eventually won in four sets.

When all the day matches ended I headed outside where I watched a bit of a doubles match with the Bryan brothers before exploring the Open Festival which is an area of restaurants and activities for families and kids. Then I walked back to Flinders Station to catch the train back home where I watched the last of the Nick Kyrgios - Tomas Berdych match and was happy to see Kyrgios dispatched.