Reem's Diary: Australia Day celebrated around Melbourne Park

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  • It was Australia Day today which of course means celebrations all over Melbourne, fireworks, fly-overs and barbeque food – lots and lots of Aussie barbeque.

    The players’ restaurant had a grill set up in their terrace outside while the media were offered burgers, hotdogs, grilled chicken and drinks during the 5pm Media Feed – which is actually a daily one-hour slot where the tournament offers free drinks and sandwiches to members of the press, but yesterday was the Australia Day version of it.

    The atmosphere was different all over the grounds with flags everywhere, in people’s hands as well as painted on their faces, and the players seem to enjoy the fact that each year, they get to witness Australia Day during the tournament.

    “It was a different vibe out there today. It was just really fun and really cool,” said Serena Williams on Tuesday after her win. “I don’t always get to play on Australia Day, but I’m really excited I got to play today. It’s fun. I love it here in Australia. I’ve done well here.

    “Not only that, I just have so many friends here; I have so many things that I can do. It’s the only tournament that when I lose early, I hang out until it’s over. It’s like I never want to leave here.”

    Later in the day, Jim Courier quizzed Roger Federer on court on why he hasn’t hit any SABR (sneak attack by Roger) shots so far this tournament.

    The SABR, which is basically a return of serve that Federer hits from well inside the court before charging the net to surprise his opponents, was prevalent in the Swiss’ game in the second half of last season.

    “Where is that thing? Is it a toy that you’ve forgotten about?” asked Courier.

    “You want to see it?” responded Federer. “Alright I’ll definitely play at least one in my next match. I enjoy playing it, you’ve got to be in the right frame of mind, you’ve got to be confident up there. Not that I’m not confident… I don’t know. Not feeling it yet. I think I’ll hit the practice courts and just do that tomorrow.”

    Both Federer and Novak Djokovic are amongst the many dads on tour and they’ve been sharing some tidbits from their lives as tennis-playing parents.

    Djokovic said his 15-month old son Stefan can recognise him on TV but there’s a catch.

    “He does and he screams ‘mama’ when he sees me on TV. I accept that, I still think it’s pretty cute,” laughed the Serb.

    Federer revealed that his six-and-a-half year old twin daughters have been giving him some valuable coaching tips.

    “Once they told me I should play on the lines. They think that’s a good thing. I was like ‘okay, I’ll try that’. The other one said that maybe you should look that way and play the other way. I said ‘okay, I’ll try that, too’. It’s not as easy as you think it is, but I’ll try,” said Federer.

    “That was actually quite funny. When they came to practice the other day, they asked me to do the trick. I was like ‘which one?’ The one where you look the one way and play the other way. So they have given me advice, if you like, yeah. They’re good coaches.”

    Maybe they should coach Gael Monfils, he loves faking out his opponents.

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