Laver, Kuerten, and Kournikova Headline Kids Day
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.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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