Mamfa started the day with a run around Central Park.

Then it was off to Flushing Meadow for the US Open tennis. The weather was perfect being mostly overcast and around 24 degrees – it was 35 degrees yesterday. A great day as there were 6 Aussies in action and we managed to watch 5 of them.

It looked as if the standard was going to be a bit poor and they seemed a bit tight on space.

However, the real action kicked off with Jordan Thompson knocking off the 7th seed Hubert Kurkacz in straight sets – watched on by Lleyton Hewitt. We sat in the second row behind the server so the view was excellent.

We then went into the huge Arthur Ashe Stadium to watch Jannik Sinner demolish some guy. He hits the ball sooo hard. The sear was in the top deck, but even towards the front of that deck it was still so high it felt like you were watching from a drone above the players. You could barely hear the balls being hit because everyone around us was talking constantly.

It was then watching Thanassi Kokkinakis but after beating Tsitipas in the first round he couldn’t back it up and went down in straight sets. Great seat in the front row though.

Alex de Minaur was up next and he won comfortably in straight sets.

Max Purcell was playing 14th seed Tommy Paul from the USA so he had both ranking and crowd against him. He started well but then faded badly before retiring hurt after being 2 sets down. Wildcard Tristan Schoolkate was 2-0 sets up and had 2 match points in the third before sadly losing a 5th set tie-break.

Finished the day on Louis Armstrong Arena to see Daniil Medvedev win comfortably in three sets.

All the Aussie matches were from close up so much better than in the two big stadiums. Much easier to watch Aussies here than at the Australian Open. Big difference is that the crowd continually talks during play – as long as they aren’t yelling out, the umpires let it go. We had chats with quite a few friendly locals we sat next to. Overall, a fantastic day out.

This day in sporting history (29 August)

1882 Australia beats England by 7 runs in a match dubbed the “Death of English cricket,” Australian fast bowler Fred Spofforth gets 14-90 (7-46 & 7-44)

1978 USTA National Tennis Center opens in Flushing NY