The Chambers

Yesterday Mum and I went to the Brisbane International Tennis tournament at the newly opened Queensland Tennis Centre. It was the first time I had been to a live tennis match since mum and dad took us to Melbourne for the Australian Open ages ago and we saw Steffi Graf play. Bob Hawke was in the crowd that day, apparently listening to the horse races on his handheld transistor (could you see Kevin07 doing that?)

We had a great day yesterday, getting there early and being in line so that we could see the first match.

The stadium and grounds themselves are easy enough to get too. Dad dropped us off, but we had free train travel included with our tickets and caught the train after the tennis from the Yerongpilly station. That was one piece of confusion for us – how to get to and from the stadium. Everything we read said to go to Corinda and get a shuttle bus, but the Yerongpilly station is only a 10 minute walk over pretty flat ground. I’d recommend going to Yerongpilly and walking.

The main arena – the Pat Rafter arena – is very impressive. It seats 5,500 and is an intimate arena with everyone pretty close to the action. Our seats were row BB – very close – but right behind the umpires chair. We got to see the players up close as they came for a rest at the change of ends, etc. I’d suggest trying to get any seats which you access from doors 6 or 7 for a really good view, these are opposite the umpire / players, but will be unobstructed by the umpires chair / tv camera which were stationed by the umpire.

There were three matches to play during the day session and we got to see two of the matches. The stand out highlight was the women’s singles match which was first up, with Amelia Mauresmo playing Julie Coin (Prononced Kwon). That match ended up being an epic 3 hour plus match, which went the full distance of three sets and a tiebreaking third set. Coin could have won the match a couple of times, but in the end Mauresmo won out. It was a very entertaining match – both ladies would have been completely worn out by the end of it, but they put on a great match.

Today Amelie Mauresmo plays Ana Ivanovic which should be a great match.

The food situation was a little grim, with limited choice. This could be something that is worked on I think. I’d suggest some strawberries and cream, a la Wimbeldon or another signature Queensland fruit / cream dish

All in all a great day out and I can highly recommend a visit to the Queensland Tennis Centre to watch a match. I’ll be gong back next year.

More info from:

Queensland’s definitive holiday web site: http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/events/brisbane-international-austalian-open-series

or

The official Brisbane International web site http://www.brisbaneinternational.com.au

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