Day 10: Monday 12 January 2026

We realised that the Australian Tennis Open was due to start and we were delighted to find out that today was practice and qualifiers.  What was even better was that it was A$20 or about £10 to go in. It was too good an opportunity to miss. 

After a leisurely breakfast we set off for the tram. As was the case last night, Google maps took us on a wild goose chase but we did eventually find the tram stop.  The tram was very crowded with people going to the same place as us.

When we arrived there were loads of people waiting to go in, including a lot of children.  We were told that today is 'Kids Go Free' day. Eventually we were in and what an impressive venue it is. 

Our first stop was the Rod Laver arena. This is where the big matches including the final are held.  There were some players practising and we could not believe our luck that one of them was Carlos Alcaraz. When his session was over, Alexander Zverev and Australian, Alex de Minaur took over.  After the practice, de Minaur was in huge demand for autographs and we thought he was never going to escape.

We then went for a wander around the venue. It is so lovely - really spacious with lots of shady seating and food and drink outlets. Food and drink was very fairly priced and definitely cheaper than at Wimbledon.

There were a number of qualifying matches so we thought we should watch a couple.  First was a match between an Australian and a Liechtenstein girl.  The Aussie crowd were really fired up and the Australian did win. We also knew that the Brit Dan Evans was playing and, whilst he is not a favourite of ours, we thought we should give the GB player some support. He was soundly beaten by Japan's Sakamoto.

We were going to stay and see Jannik Sinner practising but we heard it had been cancelled so we set off back. Now that we are about to leave Melbourne we seem to have got the hang of the tram system and were soon back at the hotel for a rest.  We have done a lot of steps since leaving the UK.