Australian Open Tennis Championships 2000 - What an Experience!

Throughout history people have passed on information to each other in the form of stories and experiences. These special bits of life are what make life worth living, a taste of adventure of the ultimate. I hope this month's column gives you just that bit of taste of the wonderful tournament called the Australian Open.

I traveled to Australia to give a few presentations at the internationally respected coaches conference called the "Tennis Australia Coaches Conference." I also intended to visit friends on the tour and watch them play, and to experience one of the world's greatest tennis tournaments. I had heard much about the great land down under and it's people but had no idea what lay ahead.

Firstly, considering all my travels into Europe, Africa, and North America, I must say that Aussies are without a doubt in my mind one of the friendliest people in the world! Good reason I guess for their regular sayings such as "no worries" and "no problems."

Traveling by street tram (a type of train cable car) into Flinders Park (which is free to all ticket holders) warms you up for the tennis excitement waiting ahead. People flock off the tram in loads and you are greeted by smiling attendees at the gates. Immediately upon walking through the turnstyles you see the immense center court stadium a few hundred yards in the distance ahead. As you walk onto the grounds there is a large circular grassy area with some tables surrounding it. Opposite to the stadium, sitting at one end of the grassy area is a gigantic television jumbo screen, which usually is used to televise the matches on center court. It was perfect for people without center court passes or tickets for matches such as the soldout Sampras/ Agassi slugfest. This place was literally a sea of humanity sitting and looking up as if to the gods, well, tennis gods. More about that match later in the column!

There is grass all over Flinders Park, which made the grounds real warm and friendly, not cold and stale like other tennis venues around the world. The stadium court lies in the center of the grounds with half the show courts and outside courts divided on either side of the main stadium. There is also a new "mpv" stadium in construction -- I believe that "mpv" stands for "multi-purpose venue" stadium. This will without a doubt add to the quality show courts already available. The center court stadium is simply magnificient! It is very large but even sitting at the highest furthermost seat still made me feel like I was not too far away from the action unlike other grand slam center court stadiums I've been in. The whole stadium is carpeted and this small detail made it seem once again warm rather than concrete cold. The roof is incredible (like the Toronto Skydome) because it has the capability of closing and opening depending on weather conditions. I was praying that I would get to see this roof close (hee hee, sorry sun worshippers) and it just so happens that I was able to see it close due to rain on two occasions, what a sight! I think it took about 20 minutes for the entire roof to close. As it closed you could feel the air circulation systems kick in and this made it feel like there was an ever so slight breeze throughout the stadium. The lighting is also excellent for fans and players!

There is a whole tunnel system under the tennis grounds which links up buildings and show courts to the main stadium center court. It's actually like a mini-city down there. There are so many tunnels that you need a map to understand the routes, or at least a week of traveling time to familarize yourself with the many routes. The fact that players and other accreditated pass holders can move easily underground avoiding the crowds makes me appreciate even more the fact that most of the players make an effort to walk above ground. A player could easily take the tunnel route to and from the show courts to avoid fans and autograph seekers, but usually they opt to walk above ground amongst the crowds.

Slams are exciting because the fans are always so exposed to players and coaches. You can walk from court to court and in one place see Sampras playing a match, over there Agassi is practicising, and over there Kournikova is playing doubles, and then Hewitt walks right by you. It is a smorgasborg of male and female players, coaches and tennis celebrities, and this I feel truly can ignite a junior players dreams of making it as a professional player one day. If you watch carefully and attend enough matches you can literally see a player become stronger, match tough and peak for the final week of competition. You can also subsequently see a player slowly breakdown both physically and mentally from the challenge of playing a two-week event. There is so much activity on the grounds ranging from world class tennis matches, activities for kids, all kinds of great food, tennis challenges, tennis contests, music fests and more! Regarding the tennis matches, it is with excitement, awe, and appreciation that one can witness these modern day brave soles.

Interestingly enough, non-playing professionals do not only admire the skills of tennis players. In reality, during most of the matches played on center court, I noticed other top players watching their colleagues, enjoying and admiring. Players from Kournikova to Coetzer and Moya to Kiefer, coaches and legends from my friend Stan Smith to Roche and Newcombe. I whole-heartedly recommend coaches and parents take their students and children to a professional tennis event. I cannot remember how many years I have taken my juniors to pro events including the U.S. Open in New York. These experiences are priceless and can truly ignite a junior's love for the game.

There is an electricity flowing at Grand Slams and at the Australian Open, you could feel it and see it everywhere! I mean the people, the tennis enthusiasts were so energized about the matches from stadium to outside courts the people went crazy cheering, and being patriotic to their country's players. It felt like there were hundreds of little mini "Davis Cup and Fed Cup" ties all over the grounds. People would dress up in their country's colors, paint their faces and bodies, chant songs, sing national anthems, bang drums, blow horns, call out support in their native languages and so much more! It was great to see this overflowing river of enthusiasm and love for tennis in the spectators. What a diversity of crowds and tennis lovers!

When I look back to the Australin Open 2000 there is only one thing that may have tainted it slightly. There I was sitting and enjoying some fantastic tennis by Australia's new wonderboy Lleyton Hewitt. Two rows in front of me just on the right side of the aisle, sat two little Aussie girls, continually cheering, and gasping for air each time Hewitt (their tennis sweetheart) walked towards them. In front of me on the left side of the aisel parallel to the cheering girls sat a team of fellow professionals (name of country withheld) supporting and cheering on against Hewitt. Well, this one pro, a internationally respected doubles specialist, became annoyed with the girls cheering and said to the little girl closest to him, "could you please warn me next time you yell, cause you're yelling right in my ear." I could see that he said it with a smile. Well, from that point on the girl stopped cheering and each time Hewitt would win a point she would first look over to her left at that "pro" player and then either clap or say only in a whisper, "go Llyeton." God, I felt so sorry for her, and it was at that point that I stopped enjoying the match. This guy was a "%$^&*(@!#$%^*" for saying that stuff to her, even in a joking manner. About 10 minutes later, I told him a few things, my point of view. As he was leaving, he expressed his anger with my comments; he freaked, as he was leaving. I told him to look at the girl and see how she was affected. After he left, I noticed that the girl started cheering again. I was glad and started to enjoy the rest of the match again. Too bad some pros forget why they became pros and what it was like to be in the stands cheering for their heroes.

The highlight of the tournament was without a doubt the Sampras vs. Agassi match! The match was completely sold out; in fact there was a terrible mis-booking by a tennis company that left 2000 people without seats for the match! Sampras was serving like a god holding his serve easily. Agassi held his service games behind awesome groundstrokes. Back and forth the match went, game after game, the crowd was going crazy, chanting and yelling support. A Sampras fan would yell a comment and then almost immediately an Agassi fan would counter it. The stadium's corridors were virtually empty; snack and gift shops literally had no people purchasing goods. It was without a doubt one of the greatest matches I have ever seen live in my entire tennis career. There were so many unbelievable shots made in the match that many times I felt like I was watching a "live" highlight film reel of great shots. At one point, there was a funny incident, where a flock of seagulls flew over the open aired stadium on Agassi's side of the court. Andre first appeared to pretend to duck for cover from incoming bird droppings, but as more passed over it was clear he was not joking, yikes! Then he comedically took a towel and helped to clean up his side of the court as the crowds cheered support and laughter. For many this was considered to be the men's final, for me it definitely was the final, possibly even the match of a lifetime!

The Australian Open is something that you have to personally experience, if there is one slam that you have to visit, it has to be without a doubt in my mind the Aussie Open! So if you have the chance, the opportunity, the means, book the ticket and have a shrimp on the barbie for me and a Fosters when you get there, ripper mate!

Thank you Tennis Australia and Tennis Coaches Australia from the bottom of my heart for sponsoring my lectures at the conference! A gigantic hug and thank you to Ann and Judy! Greetings to Peter, thank you for your help with the conference. A special hello to a long time friend, James E., and my new friend Andrew. A big hello to Miguel from the I.T.F., thank you so much for your support friend! Hello to Dave, Philip and all of my new Aussie friends down under! Thank you and a "Salamat" to the people who helped me so much in the Philippines; Ben, Chit, Mark, Marcie, Joepet, Michael, Minda. With much appreciation to all the others who kindly assisted me with the tennis while in the Philippines.

I will be presenting at the Tennis Canada International Coaches Conference in Toronto, early March, hope to see you there! Lastly, thank you friends for all your kind e-mail letters this past month, keep them coming at reggie@tennisserver.com!

My best,

Reggie

This column is copyright 2000 by Reggie Vasquez Jr., all rights reserved.

Reggie Vasquez Jr. is one of Canada's leading tennis coaches for juniors. He is actively involved with Tennis Canada's grassroots player development. A frequent and enthusiastic speaker at tennis conferences, he is certified by the U.S.P.T.A., Tennis Canada and the U.S.P.T.R.. For almost 7 years he was a head coach for the Canadian Davis cup Captain's Academy at the Canada's National Tennis Center. He has been a Tennis Canada - National Youth Tennis Center Leader for over 8 years and is presently a head coach of an Elite Tennis Academy. He has experience working with juniors from the absolute beginner to the international caliber tennis player. Reggie is also a published author on junior tennis. His personal web site has additional information on his book, the Tennis for Kids. The Tennis for Kids can be ordered directly at a discount using this link to the Amazon.com online bookstore.

Questions and comments about these columns can be directed to Reggie by electronic mail at reggie@tennisserver.com.