I love tennis. It was the main sport I played at a competitive level when I was a kid. I loved attending my coaching lessons, captaining Saturday morning comp teams, representing the school, playing local comps, watching it on the TV. I still love it and I've taken it up again, attending a weekly ladies coaching session and being a regular reserving player for competition. So having a child that enjoys the sport as well, you can imagine I'm pretty excited.
Buster really enjoys his tennis. He's not that interested in playing competitively yet or ever, but he loves attending his coaching sessions and having the opportunity to travel to Sydney, representing our tennis club at the Sydney International tennis tournament. As an official Hot Shot kid he got to play demonstration tennis on Ken Roswall Arena (centre court), then form a guard of honour to receive high five's from the players entering the court.
Buster's day started very early. He and the other Hot Shot kids needed to be at the tennis centre earlier than the bus organised by our tennis club could get them there. He had a sleepover at Nanoo's, and Nanoo and Buster caught the train down to Sydney. I caught the bus separately and we met up.
Apart from seeing Buster play and have fun, I was really looking forward to watching a day of tennis. Because it was school holidays, I had moved a few mountains to have the opportunity to go. Michael had arranged to work from home, Henry and Milly were on a playdate. The stars had seemingly aligned for a golden day of tennis. Alas, the weather had other ideas, and when I arrived in Sydney, I arrived to an overcast day with wet drizzle, relentlessly sprinkling down. Boo hoo.
We sat for hours in the stadium (because there really was no where else to go) waiting out the rain. When the rain finally stopped, it took at least 30 minutes for the court to be towelled down and deemed safe enough for play. I'm amazed in this modern day and age that there has been no innovation in keeping a tennis court dry or drying one quickly. Even in cricket they have covers to protect the pitch when it rains. Meanwhile, my mum was dismayed they were using white towels to dry and clean the court.
With the court finally dry, Buster and the other Hot Shots could welcome in the players. The match to be played was Camila Giorgi (ITA) vs Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS). The Italian player didn't give much of a high five to the kids, but the Australian player made sure to touch every hand and even gave them a smile. Then it was on to warm up before the match. Three games in to the first set the rain started again and play was suspended. And that, was that. It didn't stop raining until our bus arrived to take us home. All we saw for the day was three games.
It had been a long day for the little man. The bus ride home had him asleep on my lap but his head was full of happy memories. While I watched him sleep, as disappointed as I was that I didn't get to see more tennis, my head was also full of the happy memories watching Buster on his big day out as a Hot Shot kid.
