The Giant Serb and the Tiny Canadian

The tallest person in our close family is Nick, at 6'6", but he's still 4 inches shy of the player I got to sit down with and interview yesterday (click the hyperlink to read Karlovic's blog, ghostwritten by me). Ivo Karlovic from Croatia is an astounding 6'10"!!! You can see him coming a mile away but deep down he's shy and humble. Right now he's playing Nadal on centre court and I've just stepped away from that match to come and write this.

Things are amazing here! The weather is always warm and the sun is out everyday. I've gotten some great colour and probably can only achieve this level of tan after a whole summer in Canada. For me, I've been in and out of the rays for about three weeks to get to this.

The tennis is going very well - I'm here everyday and it doesn't even feel like work. Aside from sitting down with Karlovic yesterday, I also interviewd doubles player Bethanie Mattek-Sands from the US. As I was waiting for my turn to speak to her, I started talking with a well-built guy also waiting around who turned out to be her husband, Jason. He's a really nice guy and I started to go through the questions I was about to ask his wife to see if he could answer similarly. In the end, he got most of her answers right, except for "who would you like to have dinner with, dead or alive?" Jason didn't know her answer. Bethanie needed a split second to think about it before answering Brett Favre. That got me into talking about the NFL, which I actually miss being down here, and she mentioned they'd had drinks with T.O. in Melbourne. T.O. (see previous blog post) is still around and is in the tennis park today. I'm still waiting to meet him haha.

Wandering around the tennis grounds yesterday, I happened to be right near the media entrance when I saw a crowd forming. Which famous face would appear through the door? None other than Jesse Metcalfe, aka the Desperate Housewives gardener, or as you Passions fans would remember, the hunky Miguel (see pic). I had to laugh as I took his picture, as though I was a big fan. The crowd's reaction was hilarious. People were so eager to see who they were rolling out the red carpet for and when Jesse came out, there was a noticeable groan as people took photos, giggled and dispersed.

This past weekend was a blast! I met up with Brennan's friend from home named Jess (see pic, Jess on left). She's studying here in Melbourne and has a great entourage of foreign friends all here for the same reason as her - get their B. Ed and PARTY!! We drank goon, my first experience with the famous 'wine'. Thanks, Paul Marley, it is excellent, I've already learned to love it, thanks for the advice on that one haha. We chilled at her friends' place and I wore my new amazing dress that is absolutely stunning on me, if I do say so myself ;).

We then headed to Baroq House, a swanky lounge/club downtown. Jess' friend Fiona from England (see pic of us three) was there and we all hit it off really well. The bar was so hot and stuffy, and completely crowded. That day it'd been 36 degrees outside - it was like standing under a hand dryer in a bathroom - and the bar was equally as hot. I got home at 3am after having some Macca's, aka Mickey D's as we call it back home. It was a great night!

So, tomorrow it's same old: work in the press room, interview players, and watch some matches, blah blah blah haha. I can't believe how lucky I've been - even though I lose my centre court seating privileges at the end of next week, I don't care. I'll still be here and the atmosphere is electric. It's also settling down a lot because players are going home after losing. The big players are still around, though. I'm keeping my eyes peeled.