2012 Australian Open

               For the past two weeks I have spent my days moderately sleep deprived.  I blame it all on the Australian Open.  Taking place in Melbourne, Australia, which is in a time zone seventeen hours ahead of my own, I spent a great deal of nights waiting for my favorite players.  Some days it was not waiting, but getting up very early in the morning, as in 2:30-3:00 a.m.  Even once my favorite players were no longer in the tournament, I continued to pay attention and watch, I just did not get up quite so early. 

                Due to the time zone difference, I spent a lot of time watching matches I do not usually seek.    Often this was because I was waiting for a specific match or to see the results of the already completed, but I am happy I was able to see something I usually would not.  There are a lot of up and coming players I learned about who I believe I will see quite often in the seasons to come.

                This tournament was also unique in the fact that I very infrequently turned my television on mute.  I did when my favorite player was on court (I discovered this was a wise decision on my part as I later heard of the occasional not too pleasant commentary) and a few other times, but for the most part I did not need to.  The majority of what was said was even and fair, just as I like it. 

                Throughout the tournament there were a lot of really good and exciting matches.  Sometimes there was no question as to who will win, while others could have gone either way down to the last point.  No matter which case, I was thrilled to watch.

                As much as I enjoyed it, now that the Australian Open is over, I am happy to get back to normal sleeping habits.  There is still the rest of the season to look forward to.  If it is anything like the last two weeks, there is quite a year ahead.