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by Prip Kid's Day at the Rod Laver Arena turned out to be a big hit despite the soaring temperatures outside. In a match that pitted the past against the present and future, Rod Laver possibly relived the pride and honour he felt winning his second Grand Slam when he took on Lleyton Hewitt in the inaugural match in the Vodafone Arena. "Rocket" Rod displayed amazing energy, considering his recent health problems, and never took the smile on his face from the unveiling of his larger-than-life statue to the signing of autographs after beating Lleyton. Among those on hand to witness the historic unveiling were Neale Fraser, Frank Sedgman and Evonne Goolagong Cawley. World Number One Gustavo Kuerten and Harel Levy took to the court soon after, in a fully entertaining match. The first of the antics started when Guga was given a "code violation" for posing, and went on to Guga kissing one of the lineswomen on the cheek as a little persuasion. The absolutely fantastic French Open champion did all he could to entertain the kids, juggling a ball with his feet, and at one point during a changeover, collecting more than a dozen cameras from the fans, and getting Harel to take photos of him posing with the yellow-and-green fans. The umpire himself got into the fun, penalising Guga 2 games for the time delay, and making quips throughout the match. Even the linespeople got into it, one lineswomen switching places with a ball-kid. The camaraderie culminated when the umpire called for a tie-breaker at 4-all, citing it being Sunday as the reason, at which Guga handed a ball-kid his racquet, and went to replace the service line judge who had continued to run after tennis balls. Harel Levy followed suit, and the ballgirls had center court to themselves. Getting a bit of revenge, Guga called a couple of good services out (even on the other side), and got back on court after a couple of points. The world number one made a couple of silly errors, entertaining the kids with silly expressions, and lost the tie-breaker. No one really lost, though, as the Brazillian did a great job of signing autographs and posing for photographs. One of the most generous players on the tennis circuit, Guga continues to make a difference for kids everywhere. Anna Kournikova and Amanda Coetzer were a lot more serious, though. Anna, continuing her crabby attitude from being harassed constantly by the media on several issues, had expected the roof to be open. When she found otherwise, she asked why the roof wasn't open like it would be in her match the following day, and was given a curt reply, that the day's temperatures was expected to reach 46 degrees Celsius. There was certainly no joking around in this match, in which Anna quickly went ahead. Perhaps wanting to show that she is serious about doing well on the court, this is yet another example of how the young Russian has been affected by the negative pressures put on her. All the fun and games for the day could only have been dampened by the not quite so surprising announcement from the Dokic camp that Jelena would be playing under the Yugoslavian flag. Tennis officials were shocked, but complied to the player's wishes, making all the necessary adjustments immediately. Nicole Pratt, the most experienced of the Australian femmes next to Rennae Stubbs, tried to contact the youngster to talk some sense into her, but was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, she wished Jelena to know that they were supportive of her no matter what her decision. As diplomatic as ever, Lindsay Davenport said that she considers Jelena a serious threat in her first round match, and repeated her opinion that she thinks Jelena herself is a great girl, it's just the "unfortunate circumstances" around her that fan the fires. She was less happy about the incendiary comments Pat Cash recently made about her, but she refused to add any more fuel to that fire. Perhaps the only person who could possibly be glad for this sudden controversy is Cash, who has once again gotten attention by making derogatory remarks about the women's tour. Complaining about the conditioning of the women, he said that the only WTA players who have decent conditioning are the Williams sisters and possibly Amelie Mauresmo. Martina Hingis immediately shot back, as did Lleyton Hewitt. The first day's schedule holds plenty of excitement, with Jennifer Capriati taking on Henrieta Nagyova in Rod Laver Arena and Elena Likhovtseva trying to reverse her 0-4 career record against Barbara Schett. Young Russians Alina Jidkova and Lina Krasnoroutskaya also ssquare off, and second seed Lindsay Davenport plays Jelena Dokic in the evening match. On the men's side, Scott Draper faces good friend Pat Rafter, who has strongly hinted that this may be his final Australian Open. Byron Black and Todd Martin will try to recreate the excitement of the five set thriller they staged here last year and # 8 seed Tim Henman will try to overcome the gifted shot-making of Hicham Arazi. Last but not least, Pete Sampras takes on graceful nemesis Karol Kucera in the night match. The threats posed by Dokic and Kucera make for an evening session worth staying out for. |