Half man, half monkey. That’s Robbie Williams if you buy into his freshly released movie bio - ‘Better Man’. Williams penned the 1997 hit “Let Me Entertain You” which really is the theme song of the Australian Open. The movie was shot in Melbourne, brought a ton of money into the local economy and promptly flopped. The Open, shot in Melbourne, brought a ton of money into the local economy and has been a raging success.  

Entertained? Hell yes.   

The time zone is almost perfect for the New Zealand audience and the quality of the exchanges, with the blistering back stories, the crowd’s chimpanzee tea party schtick, and the on-court post-match interview baboonery has provided top-notch entertainment from the get-go.  

The Kiwi involvement staggered at the pointed end of the doubles but gave us some bodies to cheer for in between popcorning our way through some remarkable tennis and some questionable off-court behaviour.   

The post-match interview techniques left little to be desired, with the microphone monkeys failing to grasp their role —they are conduits between the players and the fans— no-one is there for their hot-take indulgence, ask some game relevant questions and crawl back into your cage. The backwash at least gave us something to muse over in between games.   

The fan behaviour wasn’t much better, hitting a crescendo when the simians in the cheap seats booed Novak Djokovic for succumbing to injury. Classless to the end, but again an issue to keep us talking.  

Then the tennis. We’ve been treated to some superb matches in the men's and women's draws on the way to two finals which should cap off the fortnight in some style. Three of the top for seeds have belted their way to the last dance, Madison Keys being the outlier, a player I expect the Ocker crowd to light up for, being such vocal fans of the underdog.   

Sinner or Zverev, Sabalenka or Keys? It matters not, what I do know is that I’ll be entertained until the end, for that I am grateful.