23 January 2018, Tuesday
We slept till rather late this morning because we were all exhausted from yesterday’s long but fulfilling Great Ocean Road drive. At about 11am, we headed out to Hardware Street for brunch. The weather was very fine and the temperature was a pleasant 21 degrees Celsius. Perfect for walking.
Hardware Street is home to some of the hippest cafes and restaurants in Melbourne. This tiny street is bookended by Lonsdale Street and Little Lonsdale Street. It is home to no less than five hipster eateries, including Hardware Societe, Hash Specialty Coffee and La La Land. The one we went to was called White Mojo (click here). There was a queue to enter but we didn’t have to wait too long as it was not lunchtime yet for the weekday crowd.
White Mojo has been described as having one of the most Instagrammable breakfasts in town. Indeed, a lot of attention was paid to the way the food was presented. My smoked salmon tartare arrived with a glass lid and it literally smoked when the waiter lifted the lid. The food we ordered were all very pretty and delicious, though I must say the portions were rather small. The coffee was good, as expected, because Melbourne is famous for its coffee.
After a yummy breakfast, we went to Melbourne Central (click here), a large shopping mall above the Melbourne Central Railway Station. YE and KL were looking for something so we left them to it, while YS and I had our own free and easy time too. Of course, I made a beeline for the JB Hi-Fi store to check out the latest music releases. We didn’t have much planned today so it was very relaxed.
At about 3pm, I went to Market Lane Coffee (click here) near Queen Victoria Market to meet my friend, ET, who happened to be here too. He practically calls Melbourne his second home, having studied here during his University days. He bought me a coffee and showed me around his ‘hood, and pointed out his favourite restaurants and haunts. It was a short catch up session but it was always nice to meet a familiar face overseas.
I then rejoined YE, KL and YS and we went out for an early dinner at 4:40pm. YE had booked a table at Tipo 00 restaurant (click here), located at 361 Little Bourke Street, a short walk away from our apartment. The restaurant specialises in Italian food and the name Tipo 00 refers to the flour used to make their pasta.
The restaurant isn’t very big but it is certainly fancy. It is quite famous and celebrities are known to pop in every now and then. Advance reservations are required, so once again, thanks YE for making all these meal reservations! I ordered a pasta of the day. It was served with wagyu beef and it was very, very good. Even the bread was tasty.
We left Tipo 00 at 5:25pm because there was another reservation for our table at 5:30pm. That’s how popular the restaurant is. In any case, we couldn’t sit much longer because we had to make our way to Melbourne Park to catch our Australian Open matches.
We walked along Elizabeth Street, passing by the H&M store at the former General Post Office building once more. We then walked past Flinders Street Station and Federation Square before reaching Yarra River. Our excitement mounted with each step we took as we approached the AO grounds.
After having our electronic tickets scanned and bags checked at the entrance gates, we took a long walk towards the tennis courts. I found the whole event very well organised. Directions were clearly marked out and the infrastructure and logistics were top notch. The atmosphere was fantastic as everyone around us was in high spirits. The beautiful weather helped as well.
Finally, at 6:20pm, we caught sight of Margaret Court Arena. There was a huge Fan Shop on the ground floor and we went in to take a look. It was several times larger than the Fan Shop at the public area that we visited during our first day. There was an even wider range of merchandise here and it was packed with people. The queue to make payment was very long so we decided to come back later to buy our stuff, as it was getting closer to the start of the first match at 7pm.
Rod Laver Arena is located right next to Margaret Court Arena. While YE and KL were buying drinks, YS and I sneaked into Margaret Court Arena to take a quick look. We were able to enter because there was no match taking place at the moment.
Margaret Court Arena is smaller than Rod Laver Arena and more intimate. As a result, you will be much closer to the action here even if you buy the cheapest seats, so it may not be a bad idea to watch some matches here too. Of course, the biggest names will still play at Rod Laver Arena, but during the earlier rounds, at least some of the big names will still play here.
When we entered Rod Laver Arena and took our seats at 6:50pm, the roof was closed and it felt like we were in a rock concert atmosphere arena, with the fancy lights and loud music playing in the background. It was super exciting.
Barely three minutes later, the roof of the stadium opened in dramatic fashion as the match proceedings began. When the roof fully opened, the sun was so strong and glaring that I was forced to go buy an AO cap even though I was wearing sunglasses. We ended up being baked by the sun for a good half an hour at least, until the sun finally went down.
Our first Men’s Quarterfinal match was between Rafael Nadal (Spain) and Marin Cilic (Croatia), two Grand Slam champions. Due to our loyalty to Federer, we supported Cilic by default. However, we quickly found out that the people around us were mostly Nadal fans. After both players emerged onto the court and finished their warm up, it was Game On.
I have watched professional tennis matches live before (the WTA Finals and the IPTL tournament in Singapore), but it was nothing compared to watching a Grand Slam tournament. Rod Laver Arena is much more massive, with a capacity of 14,820. There was a buzz surrounding the stadium and everyone present were huge tennis fans. Like us, many of them had flown from all over the world to Melbourne to support their countrymen or favourite players in action.
The experience of watching a match live versus watching it on television was also very different. As a player got ready to serve, you could feel the entire stadium going into a hush. Despite where we were seated, we could clearly hear the bouncing of the ball against the court, and the striking of the ball against the racquet’s strings. And when a player won a point beautifully after a long rally, the whole stadium roared with approval. It was an experience unlike any other, and therein lies the appeal of watching sports live.
We certainly got our money’s worth as the Nadal and Cilic match went to five sets. Nadal won the first and third sets but Cilic managed to peg him back, forcing a decider set. However, the match ended in a most unexpected way as Nadal retired in the fifth set at 0-2 down due to injury. We totally didn’t see that coming. Even though we were rooting for Cilic, it was sad to see Nadal retire and end the match this way after battling for 3 hours 47 minutes.
The second match was a Women’s Quarterfinal between Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) and Carla Suárez Navarro (Spain). The ladies only got on court after 11pm due to the titanic battle between Nadal and Cilic. The Danish world number 2 was the favourite to progress but the Spaniard gave her a run for her money.
Wozniacki came out of the gates strong and clinched the first set with a bagel for Navarro in just 34 minutes. I felt bad for Navarro and began to root for her. Incredibly, she mounted a comeback and won the tight second set 7-6, forcing a third deciding set. However, Wozniacki was too strong and not to be denied victory, as she won the last set 6-2. The stadium was almost empty by the time the match ended at 1:40am.
We were all super shagged as we had been there before 7pm – watching a total of about seven hours of AO tennis action! We definitely got our money’s worth. It was super cool because Wozniacki would eventually win the title in Melbourne four days later, meaning that we watched the AO 2018 Women’s Champion in action. Woohoo!
Having said that, I’m still not a fan of Wozniacki because she’s mainly a baseliner and her game is one-dimensional with not much guile and variation. I had a newfound respect for Navarro because she played a beautiful one-handed backhand, a rarity in the modern women’s game. Alas, the better player won today.
As we walked the long walk back to our apartment, we were super tired but super happy with how our first AO experience turned out. The day had barely just ended but we were already looking forward to tomorrow’s highly anticipated match between Federer and Berdych!
