OPENING DAY OF THE FORTNIGHT

A VICTORIOUS WAYNE ARTHURS

Well, we're baking our beans in the hot Aus summer. School’s out, the summer vacations have started, and the Australian Open Tennis Championships have begun. And, oh, did I forget to say it's hot!

Andy Roddick – Jo Tsonga began with very high quality tennis. The first set went to a tie-break, and after 75 minutes the set was won by Roddick [ 20 – 18 !!! ]. This tie-break was the longest in Grand Slam history. Roddick was a very unhappy camper.
Tsonga, having won the first, began the second well with Grumpy Andy becoming increasingly perturbed.
However, when Tsonga served for the second set at 5 – 3, the wheels fell off. He lost that game at love. Roddick took the set in another easy breaker. He never looked back. Tsonga’s fitness was his downfall. He could run with Andy for two sets then the punishing Roddick ground strokes left him a step behind the rest of the match.
6-7 [20-18], 7-6 [7-4], 6-3, 6-2.

Roger Federer played well enough to win, but not to impress. He hasn’t played much tennis before this tournament so may not be as well prepared. However, he dismissed Phau in straights, but did have his serve broken a few times which is very unusual.
7-6, 6-0, 6-4. One unsettling sight was Roger having his feet taped by the trainer between sets. If he’s treating, rather than preventing blisters, it could be a problem later in the tournament.

One of my favourite players is the Aussie Wayne Arthurs. He’s a lefty, serve volleyer and at 36 winding down his career.
A defiant Arthurs, who hadn't eaten since a light Sunday breakfast, simply decided this wasn't going to be the occasion to drop the curtain on his career. So the local left-hander dug in to fight off the after-effects of a gastro attack and rampant Austrian Stefan Koubek to eventually conjure a brilliant Australian Open first-round escape.Arthurs raised both arms skywards after the last of 19 aces sealed a 1-6, 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-3 victory for his first singles win at Melbourne Park for three years.
The popular Arthurs, who needed a wildcard into the main draw, smashed a ball out of the 6000-seat stadium, flung his racquet away and then collapsed on his back in mock exhaustion as fans continued a thunderous ovation to acknowledge the gutsy fightback after three hours.