Tennis - first point of the Australian season

This is the very first point of the Australian tennis season. It was played 15 minutes ago. The tennis season is starting a month later than usual because of the pandemic. Players who arrived in Australia had to go into 14 days' of hotel quarantine. They have only been out of quarantine for a few days. All of the tournaments will be played in Melbourne. Usually they are scattered all over Australia.

Half the usual number of spectators will be allowed. At the moment there is almost no-one in the stands. However, the biggest obvious difference is that there are no line judges - NONE! The electronic Hawkeye system will be used exclusively on every line on every court.  So, presumably no more wrong calls and no more challenges. That will take some of the drama out of the game. The ball kids are still there though.

We are self-confessed tennis tragics. When we lived in Sydney we went to the Sydney International nearly every year. We've been to the Australian Open a couple of times. Now we prefer to watch it on telly where we have the best seats in the house. We also buy the official program every year so that we know who all the players are. We usually sit out the January heat by watching loads of tennis.

I learnt to play tennis when I was about nine. My father firmly believed there were three essential skills to have in life - to be able to play tennis, to be able to dance and to be able to hold down two jobs!

Go Ash Barty!