Court-side dining at the Auckland tennis Centre.

The Auckland Heineken Open is part of the ATP World Series and today, after a 50Km cycle (the count down to New Zealand Ironman is well and truly on), we all popped along for a days spectating as our summer holiday continues. 

It is day 2 of event and we watch Philipp Kohlschreiber from Germany defeat American Ryan Harrison (a nineteen year old wildcard ‘future star’) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and Fernando Verdasco from Spain defeat Argentinian Carlos Berlocq 7-5, 7-6. After watching these two matches Ellie, Cari and Meg are ‘tennised-out’ and the convenience of the venue means I am able to pop them back to St Heliers and go for a 7km run before heading back to the tennis centre to watch Spaniard David Ferrer defeat Lukas Rosol from the Cech Republic 6-4, 6-2.

The Auckland Tennis Centre court number 1 (the main court) has a small capacity and is unusual on the ATP tour in that the seating nearest the court is arranged for dining and, while the tennis is being played, a three course meal and drinks is delivered by waiters. David Ferer commented in his on-court interview after his victory how slightly bizarre it was to play a tour match to the sound of cutlery on fine china. I’d been fortunate to receive the full hospitality service the previous year as I’d been entertained by a supplier however, this year we are in the cheap seats which, for the record all day access to court 1 for £120 for two adults. Good value and an excellent days entertainment.