Australia Day festivities took over at Melbourne Park on Monday, with fans getting dressed up, commentators donning funny hats and fireworks and an air show decorating the skies.
– #Quiz360: WIN Dhs250 Legends Sports Bar voucher
– Sharapova takes on her heir apparent in Australian Open last eight
But the country’s national day, which marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, came at an inopportune time for No10 seed David Ferrer, who ran out of shoes and ordered some new ones, only they couldn’t get delivered in time for his fourth round against Kei Nishikori because everyone was off for Australia Day.
Ferrer ended his previous match against Gilles Simon with blood seeping through his right foot sock due to a broken nail that kept digging into his toe. He had his on-court interview with his shoes off but assured the crowd that he was “perfect, don’t worry about me”.
Partido muy duro ayer! Quien mas sufrió fueron mis dedos!!jeje pic.twitter.com/rMmCUWaozL
— David Ferrer (@DavidFerrer87) January 25, 2015
Except things weren’t really perfect. Besides his nail problem, the new model of shoes Ferrer was wearing caused him blisters and he couldn’t get a replacement delivered before his comprehensive defeat to Nishikori on Monday.
“Of course I didn’t lose because of the blisters,” said Ferrer, making sure he wasn’t giving any excuses.
Ferrer may be the most understated guy at the top of the men’s game and is probably less recognisable to the general public than some chair umpires out there, but he’s a French Open runner-up and has been the top-10 for the last five consecutive years.
To the people taking care of him, get the guy some shoes when he needs them!
Genie Army or Genie’s Jukebox?
It’s not enough she has her own army chanting at all her matches, Eugenie Bouchard has gone a step further and is now making song requests.
The Genie Army, who emerged last year here in Melbourne Park when Bouchard had her breakthrough slam and made it to the semi-finals, have been a constant source of cheer at the Canadian’s matches, changing the lyrics to many famous songs to show their support to their main lady.
Bouchard’s favourite chants so far have been ‘Genie’s hot! Hot! Hot!’ based on the 1980s Buster Poindexter hit ‘Hot! Hot! Hot!’ and another one that sounds like Ricky Martin’s ‘Living La Vida Loca’. Yesterday in press, she said she wants her army to start singing Taylor Swift songs. We’ll see if her army obliges in her match against Maria Sharapova on Tuesday.
