My love of tennis is rekindled at the Australian Open

The plan was just to go into the City to celebrate Australia Day with the masses. We’d wear our Aussie t-shirts, (skipping the thongs — see below), wave flags, enjoy the train ride into and back, and eat a snag or two (sausages).

We never expected to sit 9 rows up from an Australian Open 4th round match.

Off to downtown Melbourne for big Australia Day picnic/free festivities. (Note we’re wearing jackets — and it’s Australian summer. So odd.) Riding into the City, we passed by where the Open was being played and said to the Lord that I’d sure love to go watch. Was there any wild way He’d provide a way to do that? But I said it and forgot it.

Australia Day celebrates the marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales (current day Sydney harbor). The parade was a beautifully-visual reminder of the many, many peoples and nations that now call Australia home.

Just one of the numerous words that don’t translate quite the same between Australia and the U.S.

Nope, no idea.

After the parade, I asked Scott what he’d think of us taking the free tram to where the Open was being played, just to take a few pictures. He said sure, so we took the 10 minute ride. Since we were there, we inquired at the ticket counter about cost for general admission. They said it’d be $40AUD ($32US) each (kids were free). We stepped out of line and I thought we’d go. Scott surprised me by saying, “You played tennis and love it. When might you get this chance again? Let’s do it.” As I was amidst a surprised reply, a man walked up to us and said, “Do you need tickets?” Um…what? The man and his friends were just coming out the exit, evidently having watched some of the game but leaving. “How many tickets do you need? They’re still playing. A great game.” “Two tickets is all we’d need,” I faltered, in a bit of shock, my prayer coming back to mind. (And internally I’m jumping up and down and screaming.) The man handed us two tickets, we thanked him excitedly and started to walk away. I walked quickly back after him, and thanked him again, telling him about how I’d prayed for a way to see the game and that God used him to bring that about. He probably thought I was crazy, but I wanted to give God praise for the lavish gift He gave this high school varsity (of 1 year) tennis player.

Stan Wawrinka, of Switzerland, is last year’s Australian Open men’s single’s winner and ranked #4 in the world…and just happened to be one of the players playing that day. Tonight as I blog right now, we’re cheering for Stan as he’s playing in the semi-finals. Go Stan!

A huge board displaying the pictures of last year’s single’s winners (Stan is in the left corner) and the brackets of this year’s Open and who’s won and moving on.

What a day! We assured Lizzy that God doesn’t always say “yes” when we pray, asking Him for something. Sometimes He says “maybe,” “wait,” or “no.” But, I’ll sure celebrate the “yes” times like this!