Follow the Bouncing Ball

[kevin_standlee]

I fell asleep last night during the first set of the Australian Open men's final. I'm glad that when I woke up I didn't immediately turn the set back on, because there's a chance I might have tuned in during the trophy presentation; that's how long the match lasted. I wondered why the match wasn't showing as available for replay on WatchESPN.com until I realized that they needed a little bit of time after the match ended before posting it. I spent the morning watching one of the most amazing tennis matches. It wasn't the longest tennis match in tennis history (I saw a lot of that one, too), but it was the longest Grand Slam final in the open era, and it was surely a better-played match than that grinding Isner-Mahut 70-68 final set, which was more a case of two big servers who couldn't break the other. It was one of those matches where you say it's a shame anyone had to lose.

I did feel a little sorry for both Nadal and Djokovic while watching the seemingly-endless speeches from the sponsors and organizers, as they were both clearly worn out from having played almost six hours, and I noted that the crowd applauded loudly when they brought chairs over for the two of them to sit down to wait out the talking from the people who were paying the bills.

As I do every year, I put in an entry for Tennis Channel's contest to win a trip to the Australian Open. I've loved both of my visits to Australia and would love to go back.

With the tournament over, I can now get back to a normal sleep schedule, I hope.