Friday, 16th January 2009
World Tennis Challenge
Another early shift and another lovely evening off 
I drove into the city after work and met Fi at the Women & Children’s. I even braved entering the department to have a little nosy (I didn’t go into the cubicle area though). We then walked to where the World Tennis Challenge (WTC) was being held on Memorial Drive, just next to the Adelaide Oval. The WTC is a team competition between four countries featuring one current and one past player from each country. We saw Pat Cash play Mats Wilander (a “replay” of the Australian Open final in 1988). Past Cash won this time 6-3 6-3. They played on court 1 which was right in front of us and it was a good game.
Whilst Cash and Wilander were playing, Jim Courier played Henri Leconte on court 2. That match was hilarious. Henri Leconte was clearly enjoying himself and taking every opportunity to wind up Courier and play to the cameras. I found it very entertaining. Courier narrowly beat him 6-7 6-1 7-6 (10-7).
After those two matches had finished we watched Taylor Dent beat Fabrice Santora 6-3 6-4 whilst Mark Philippoussis lost to Joachim Johansson (I didn’t really pay much attention to that match).
We enjoyed a little picnic we had made and some chips we brought. It was a great way to spend an evening. We left before the doubles match started as it was after 22:30, getting cold (I was only in shorts) and we both had to work the next day. It’s just a shame that we won’t be able to get to the Australian Open this year. Roll on Wimbledon!