I was there for the Sharapova/Pin match. It was an absolute nightmare. My seat was in the Sun for the first hour, and I can tell you it was absolutely horrendous . I saw at least 12 people being treated for heat related illness, and that was just in the seating area.
When Sharapova was leading 5-0, I thought that she would would win the next game, and they then could close that bloody roof.
During the match, my seat became shaded, but it was still oppressive.
Then when they did close the roof, the heat seemed to be trapped inside, and the air-conditioning was very weak to say the least.
The concourse area resembled an evacuation centre. There was people everywhere sitting on the floor, both young and old.
They do need to look at the Heat Policy yet again.
The Challege system seems to be a hit with the crowd. The added screens are good, though the scoreboards are tiny!!

Mightily pissed off about Stosur losing...she really has matured and had a chance to make this her breakthrough slam, as well as defend her ranking points from 4th round last year.

On a lighter note,

Me too. It was so frustratng ewatching that match. I had high hopes for her. Benn really impressed with the quality of the tennis this tournament. Another great year shaping up.

A record crowd at the Tennis tonight of 17,500!
Not bad considering it only holds 14,820 according to this site (and the MOPT site).

I find it hard to believe that many people can fit in RLA. That would make it nearly the same size as the SuperDome and it certainly doesn't appear so. I don't think RLA has been worked on since 1988 so how did this phantom expansion come about.

Re; Wayne Arthurs, I felt so upset. It's not just how he exited today. The Davis Cup hero probably won't get a proper Davis Cup farewell.

I've just had a though... Do they count the people watching the game on the big screen outside in garden square towards the official night attendance possibly? This seems to ring a bell.

Then lets do what rugby union number crunchers do and add the TV audience to the crowd in the stadium.








(Is that anti-Union enough for you Egan?)

Well there's 3.7 million people in Melbourne, and RLA is in Melbourne, let's just call the attendance 3.7 million.

Yes - you can get a night session ticket now that doesn't include RLA and watch some doubles or mixed doubles games on outside courts, or just watch the big screen in Garden Square.

No outside courts in action today however - but never mind, we're more than happy to have a day of steady rain instead. Has been an interesting week for the tennis - along with riots, we had a return of the bushfire smoke on the first day, followed by extreme heat the next, then tropical humidity and finally the rain also found its way down from the tropics - or was it heaven sent?

I won't mention the rock spider or the pervert with the shoe camera.

sh*t. Molik.

I didn't think Molik had enough to dump the technically savy Schnyder, who is underestimated in her ability at grand slams. Schnyder is able to counter-act the power game that Molik is producing at the moment, due to her just coming back into tennis...once her groundstrokes can muster more power and spin she will be back up there.

For me she is relying to much on the Pat Rafter Gameplan to be right up there at the moment, but her comeback is going very well

Didn't think there was much chance of beating Schnyder, but was hopeful.

I disagree. Patty might be very consistent, but doesn't have the game to match it with the very top players. In the first set, Molik was playing tennis worthy of top 5 in the world. Realistically, if Molik was going to win, it would have to be in straight sets. In the end, it was only only a few loose points and a loss in concentration that started a chain of unforced errors, poor shots and changed tactics that, once they had started, would inevitably end in a comfortable loss, which the match ended as.

Whatever the outcome, she will have gained a fair deal of confidence to launch her into the southern Asian hardcourt season and then the American hardcourt season with the big Tier I events. Molik is playing 7 tournaments in as many weeks coming up, so she is definitely giving herself enough opportunities to replicate her best tennis on a more consistent basis. I am at least now confident that she can return to the top of the womens' game.

Hey stadiumking, where did you get info on Molik's schedule? Is there a place where you get confirmation of player schedules without looking up individual tournament pages?

Molik would be disappointed that she ran out of puff but considering that she is still in the process of a comeback, she probably wouldn't have been that surprised on reflection. I was surprised to see James Blake lose in straight sets today. I thought it would be another cracker of a game.

Someone tell Courrier to shut up.


This interview with Sharapova is cringeworthy.

Courier is the best of a bad bunch. I'm not a fan of John Alexandetr. In fact most of Channel Seven's tennis commentators sh*t me except probably John Fitzgerald.

Clijsters to win in straight sets over Hingis. Probably won't pay much and I've lost $20 on the punt this past week.