Life in the land down under: Melbourne Park

Melbourne Park - Rod Laver Arena

Rally for Relief! - We were so lucky to get tickets to a sold out Rally for Relief as part of the Australian Open to raise money for the floods in Queensland. We had been looking so forward to the Australian Open this year after becoming total tennis fanatics last year during the Australian Open here in Melbourne. I heard that the players had decided to repeat the event that had orginally started last year with a Rally for Relief for Haiti earthquake victims and that tickets were going on sale in the afternoon. I kept my eye on the clock and pounced onto the internet right at 3pm and got seats. Good thing, tickets were sold out by 8am the following morning.

Waiting to be let in to claim our seats!!

We were super excited, looking forward to seeing all the stars on the court together! We got there 2 hours early and had to line up before the doors opened but it was so worth it as we got really great seats!!

We were disappointed that Serena Williams wouldn't be at this Grand Slam! She injured her foot and didn't come to Melbourne.

Melbourne Park is really a world class facility. I had never visited a indoor/outdoor tennis complex like this, having only seen live tennis on outdoor courts in the summer back home in Canada and Wimbeldon, the US Open and Grand Slams on television. Rod Laver Arena is a purpose built tennis and entertainment facility that has hosted more than just Grand Slams and larger concerts, such as ACDC, Pink, Justin Timberlake and Santana but it has also hosted large international sporting events such as the basketball champinonships in 2006 and the gymnastics events for the commonwealth gamesl, boxing events, among others.

The first phase of the complex was built in 1987 and like all of the other Melbourne sports facilities was well planned and sited. In 1985 the Victorian Government put aside areas of both Flinders and Yarra parks in anticipation of the facility. The complex is integrated into the city less than 1km from the central business district, easily accessible. We walked home from the event and made it to our neighbourhood in less than 1/2 hour with quite a few stops as we walked through 2 parks on the way.

Roger Federer, this was warm up time..a rare sight to see him out practicing before the match!

The bleachers were packed to the rafters with many flags and signs for the favorites such as Federer and Nadal as you can see in this picture.

Novac Djokovich was such a character, I didn't realize he was so funny...at one point he went and sat in the camera pit and borrowed a photographers camera and took footage of the game. It was hilarious!!

Garden Square, at Rod Laver Arena. This square was part of the second phase of the complex which has a large screen to host the thousands of people who can watch the event without going into the stadium. Also a place for concerts!!!

The grounds at Melbourne Park, this statue is of Rod Laver. The Arena was named in recognition of Rod Laver in 2000 as he is an Australia tennis champion winning 2 Grand Slam titles. Prior to naming the arena after Rod Laver it had been referred to as Flinders Park, the National Tennis Centre or Centre Court