Yesterday at the Australian Tennis Open we were witness to a Mexican Wave out on one of the smaller courts. An audience wave can come around pretty quickly in a small tennis stadium. They also had a double wave going, the wave going in alternate directions and seemingly passing through each other – I had not seen that before. I have also heard of crowds coming up with combinations, changing speed, and bouncing back in the direction it came. A few stadiums are discussing the option of stopping audiences from making the wave, as it is considered dangerous. Although this wave at the tennis was just a ripple as far as waves go, I would have to agree that they can be dangerous when people start throwing objects and drinks as the wave passes, and it can be distracting if you are trying to watch a game being played. If they can control it so that waves are only done during breaks in the games, and stop people from dangerous trowing of objects. It may be easier said than done, as a log day at the cricket or tennis, after a few beers, people will think they can get away with whatever they want.
Related Pages: Australian Open, Grand Slam Tennis, About Tennis
I planned a nice day today at the Australian Open, avoiding the forecasted very hot weather mid week. However, today the weather has gone too far the other way, and drizzling rain set in for the day. After some days where the heat policy was put into play, it was now the turn of the wet weather policy to have an effect. Luckily our day ground pass tickets allowed entry to the Vodafone Arena, with its roof closed to the rain. We could see on the scoreboard that no play was taking place on the outside courts, so we settled in to watch a few games under shelter. There was a strong French theme providing the netertainment: Amelie Maurezmo, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet. At the end of the day, the clouds cleared for a short time for us to explore the outer courts and set down to watch Australian crowd favourite Wayne Arthurs. The crowd was very excited about the prospect of watching one of the few Aussies left in the draw, however, a misdirected pain killing injection prior to the match turned his leg numb, and he had to hobble off the court and withdraw only after a couple of games. It was not the day we expected, but nevertheless very entertaining.
