Manly Locals Hit Melbourne 

Well World No. 1 Roger Federer might have been rolled by a new champion at this year’s Australian Open, but a group of new friends from Manly still came home happy after witnessing an amazing victory by the great man… his 3^rd round five set epic against another young Serbian, Janko Tipsarevic.

These locals all met through new online sports community, DoubleDrummer.com – a social networking site that’s been described as “MySpace in a tracksuit”… except unlike Myspace, Facebook and other such sites that try to capture members and keep them in front of a computer screen for as long as possible, Double Drummer is all about using technology to connect, then having fun ‘out of site’.

Eight locals with a shared passion for tennis met through the new site, which launched in December, and now play regularly on a Wednesday night at a club in North Manly. They figured they’d cement their newfound friendship even further by traveling together to Melbourne for the middle weekend of the two-week Grand Slam event. And it seems they had a ball.

The group consisted of two couples – one a French-Canadian and his English lady, now residents of Queenscliff – and the other a guy of Chinese heritage and his Kiwi girlfriend; plus a Filipino lady with a trim figure belying her huge appetite and three Aussies, two born and bred in Manly and the other originally from Perth… the perfect combination for a fun weekend.

The group took Friday off from work and flew down early in the morning to catch as much as they could of that day’s play. By car, plane, cab and tram, they arrived at Melbourne Park after first dropping off luggage at their humble digs near Flinders Street Station. And the rush was more than worthwhile.

With tickets pre-purchased for Rod Laver arena and simultaneous access to all outside courts, some of the great matches they witnessed on their first day in town included:

The Brian brothers against Nicolas Almagro and Nicolas Massu

… and that was just Day One.

Saturday they’d bought tickets for Vodafone arena… which was just as well as all outside courts were washed out all day. First up they lucked into a belter… the 5-set marathon between James Blake and Sebastien Grosjean. Apparently they’re still trying to figure out how the talented French veteran lost this one. Up by two sets to zip, then up 4 games to 1 in the 4^th and 4 points to 1 in the 4^th set tie-break, somehow Grosjean snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and Blake hung in long enough to triumph 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6, 6-2… an absolute classic.

Whether by scheming, scamming or finding someone he knew, one of the Manly mates ended up in the Media Box for this amazing match and then managed to secure centre court tickets for the whole squad for the Federer Vs Tipsarevic encounter, (which on paper looked a relatively comfortable draw for the defending champ.). Of course, it turned out anything but… and the mob from Manly watched every point of it, two rows from the front in the Optus Box, immediately beside the Serbian players’ box!

This was the match that threw out the schedule on Rod Laver arena and resulted in Lleyton Hewitt’s unbelievable 4:34am finish the next day! Our ‘cub reporters’ tell us that the young Serb was not given enough credit in Sunday’s press for his amazing display against Federer, who I’m told played some of the most amazing shots ever seen on a tennis court, yet only managed to subdue his gutsy opponent 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 10-8. The man with the mad scientist glasses won over many Aussie fans who chanted heartily for “Tipsy” throughout the thriller.

By the way, how is it that a tiny, war-ravaged country like Serbia can produce so many great players at one time, while poor Lleyton remains Australia’s lone representative in the top 20? Think about it… in the ladies Serbia boasts the tournament runner-up and new World No. 2 Ana Ivanovic, along with World No. 4 Jelena Jankovic.

In the men’s field, Serbia boasts the newly crowned Grand Slam Champ., Novak Djokovic and his compatriots in the top tier of men’s tennis include Ivan Ljubicic, Ivo Karlovic and 18 year old Marin Cilic (who caused an upset by knocking out Fernando Gonzalez in Melbourne and making the 4^th round). That’s more “iches” than you’d get in a mosquito-infested swamp!

Anyway, our Manly marvels partied hard all night (in front of the TV broadcast of Hewitt Vs Baghdatis of course) and made a final foray to Melbourne Park on Sunday to watch Tsonga Vs Gasquet among others, before making a mad afternoon dash back to the airport. A slight hitch resulted in the group being momentarily mistaken for terrorists - (a random body scan, the confiscation of hair mousse and a run-in with a flight attendant who’d had a bad day were among several non-related incidents) – but eventually the group arrived safely home on Sunday night, exhausted, their appetite for tennis sated… (at least ‘til they pulled the racquets out again on Wednesday night).