First experience at Australian Open RLA (Rod Laver Arena)!!!!

Today was a day without any other plans, so I asked a friend to buy me the Australian Open Ground Pass the day before, which only cost 19 Australian dollars. Because I think my enthusiasm for the Australian Open might not be enough to justify spending more money on main court tickets at the Arena. I didn’t expect that while I was eating PHO in the morning, I suddenly received a message from my friend! She said her colleagues could get free PR tickets to the Australian Open because her company is a sponsor every year, and asked me if I wanted the tickets. Oh my god, this is a gift from heaven, I immediately said: "Yes, yes, yes!" Not only that, I immediately persuaded my friend E to go with me. Anyway, she had just finished lunch with her colleagues and had nothing to do in the afternoon. She still had time before her flight at 7pm, and the ticket was free, so why not? Fortunately, she had experience and knew that she needed to print out the electronic ticket to enter the RLA (Rod Laver Arena), so she went to Officeworks to print out the ticket. After we gathered at Flinders Station, we headed to the Australian Open together to start this surprise journey! This PR ticket is not only a ticket for RLA's home game, but also a super close courtside seat, the fifth row! It was really exaggerated. The moment I sat down, I couldn’t believe that I had such a good opportunity. Moreover, E treated me to a glass of wine, which was really great. When we went to buy wine, we were also amazed by the wine sensing system. You have to swipe your card at the gate when you enter, but when you come out, it will see how many glasses of wine or other drinks you have in your hand, and it will sense what you bought and automatically deduct the money. It is very advanced! We arrived at the court at around 2pm, when a women's singles match was going on. Fortunately, the match didn't last too long, so Ellie was able to see the end of the women's singles and the first set of the men's singles. Although she left early because of a flight, this experience was very special and interesting for her. After seeing my friends off, I occupied two seats and continued to watch the match between Ben Shelton and Lorenzo Sonego. This men's singles match was super exciting and intense. The whole match lasted almost four hours. It was truly a visual feast! Then, since I already had an extra ground pass, I asked directly in threads if there was anyone who happened to be in Melbourne and wanted to come in and take a look at it at night. It was actually delivered smoothly! The person who got the ticket wanted to buy me a drink, but I said no because a Ground Pass ticket was 19 Australian dollars, and the price of the drinks inside was about the same. Hahahaha 😂 Watching the game on the big screen at night In the evening, I did not stay in RLA, but chose to watch the world No. 1 Italian player Jannik Sinner vs. the world No. 8 Australian Alex de Minaur on the big screen outside with everyone. Because Alex is an Australian player, the Australian audience at the scene were cheering for him, but it could be felt that there was indeed a big gap in strength. Sinner suppressed his opponent all the way, and the atmosphere at the scene was a bit depressing at the end of the first game. In order to avoid the crowds, I decided to leave early. However, I stayed here today from 2:30 pm to 9:30 pm, and really made full use of this PR ticket! This day was like an unexpected surprise gift. From the free PR tickets to the company of friends, it made this Australian Open experience extremely unforgettable.