More Australian Open Tennis

Yes I've been to the tennis this week, but I swear, work is getting done as well!

As I sit and type this in the relative cool of air con, the mercury has edged above 40 degrees. The week ahead is predicted to be the hottest in 100 years prompting stories warning of the dangers of dehydration on the news and speculation regarding the likelihood of some tennis players wilting in the extreme conditions.
The state of Victoria is suffering from a severe drought at the moment and everywhere you look there are signs admonishing people to save water. Showering for 4 minutes rather than 7 saves 44 liters of water apparently. What I've noticed is the smell in the public toilets at Rod Laver Stadium.
They stink.
As a nod to conservation, the urinals have "reduced water flow"
Translation: the trough like pissers are full of stagnant pee.
Add 100+ temperatures and.......well you get the picture. An odd thing I forgot to relate about Nadal is his habit of picking his butt between every point. He just can't help it.
Someone in the crowd yelled out " Rafa, If you can hear me, pick your bum"
He duly complied. The pictures below were taken during Federer's epic 5 set win a couple of days ago. Down 2-0 sets and losing 4-1 in the third, it appeared the Swiss number 2 was on his way home.
He came back to win the match taking three straight sets. Quite good going in 40+ degrees.

Lest you think its only the men's game I've bothered photographing , what follows is a collection of women players. In many ways I prefer watching the women: the rallies are longer and they employ a subtlety to their shots and display a deft soft touch. It can feel at times that the guys simply fire missiles at each other and either double fault or ace there way through the points.

The usual bag check at the entrance was accompanied by a quiz regarding the maximum lens size in my camera bag. The biggest zoom I have is 70-200mm which got me under the 300mm limit. I had a bit of lens envy when I saw the press corp in action.I have one more night of the tennis then back to HK on Friday. I'll be there until next weekend then after a brief stop in the UK to see Jess, I'm off to RIO for 5 days.Evening sessions are much cooler though tonight will probably be roasting.

Love to all

T