Welcome to the thirteenth post of the Great Writing Challenge of 2012.
Five days a week for six months, I will be given a topic to write about. The stipulation: it must be 250 words (or more), and positive in tone.
If you would like to suggest topics for me to write about, please email me at TheRebeccaProject [at] gmail [dot] com.

Post #13: Tennis ("C'mon Balboa!")

Love him or hate him (perhaps even in the same moment), Lleyton Hewitt is getting it done at the Australian Open. And I think it’s great to see.

With the tennis courts of metropolitan Australia having been snapped up and turned in to townhouses during the housing boom of the 1990s, I’m surprised we even have any tennis players flying the red, white and blue. But apparently, we have at least one court left because we have a newbie in Bernard Tomic. He’s exciting, a little brash. He might be as (ahem) poorly behaved as Andy Roddick or Andy Murray, but at the moment, that’s irrelevant.

The fate of the nation rests on our sportsmen and women, and Australia prides itself on being ultra competitive. Whether we are actually or not, that’s not the issue. We have this desire to show the world what we can do, and there’s nothing Aussie fans love more than cheering for one of our own.

As I type, (Aussie) Kim Clijsters is fighting for her place in the quarters against Li Na and she’s just rolled her ankle, Lley Lley won a little earlier and Tomic faces the Fed in a few hours. It’s an exciting time to be watching the tennis, and the weather looks amazing: warm, slightly breezy, with sun shining over Melbourne Park. One of these years, I hope to coincide my visit home with the Open.

I really enjoy watching Federer: he’s talented, humble, and consistent. A real statesman of the game. But tonight, I want to see the 19-year-old from Queensland progress. We have an opportunity, however slight, to entertain an all-Aussie final. Lley Lley and Tomic. Can you imagine? What a great advertisement for Australian tennis, and what a great way to get kids off the couch and out in the sunshine, emulating their new heroes.

I am not prepared to give up. I believe Australia will again be a nation of sporting greats, and it all starts here. Tonight.

C’mon Balboa!