Australian Open

The Aussie Open marked Paul and my first attendance at a Grand Slam tennis tournament, and the first step toward our goal of a spectator's career slam (attending all 4 Grand Slams). What a beginning it was! We had tickets for four sessions - the 4th round, two quarters and a semi-final. Rod Laver Arena is smaller than we expected and than it appears on TV. Although I doubt there is a bad seat in the venue, we were blown away by the location of ours. Making our way to them for the first time we kept walking down the stairs, getting closer and closer to the court, before arriving at the 8th row. I felt like someone important! While at the tournament, we saw a rejuvenated Roger Federer beat Andy Murray, as well as every man's dream match-up: Canadian up-and-comer Eugenie Bouchard vs. Ana Ivanovic. Watching Genie win that quarter final match will probably go down as the most exciting live tennis viewing experience of my life. Some other top players we saw were David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Li Na, Aga Radwanska, and Grigor Dimitrov, as well as doubles champions Daniel Nestor and Bob & Mike Bryan. Jenn