Four days with Rod Laver

When we booked this holiday we probably expected to see Novak Djokovic play Andy Murray in the men's tennis final, and hoped to see Andy lift the trophy for the first time. 

That dream died a long time ago, but it was replaced by a reality no one would have dreamed of. Roger Federer v Rafa Nadal in the men's final, Serena against Venus Williams in the women's: a throwback to Wimbledon finals weekend of 2008. In fact the last time Serena and Venus played in the Australian final was 2003. 

Our first taste of the tennis was a men's doubles semi, the Bryan brothers against Carreno Busta and Garcia-Lopez. They coped with Australia Day gun salutes outside and flypasts above as well as a few spots of rain and completed the match under the roof, the Bryans reaching their 10th final in Australia.

Then the women's semis; the next big thing Coco Vanderweghe fought hard and avoided any tantrums for two hours but Venus battled through and expressed her joy in a form of modern dance. Serena had less trouble against another oldie Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to set up the first unexpected final of the weekend. 

Roger Federer missed the second half of last year through injury and had slipped to 17th in the seedings, and we weren't the only ones to say he couldn't win another grand slam, but a series of hard fought victories against Thomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka saw him reach the final before we settled down to watch the second semi final. 

To set up the dream match, Rafa Nadal needed to beat Gregor Dimitrov. Like Roger, Rafa had struggled with a series of injuries and his best days seemed behind him, while Dimitrov had been the star of the tournament, apparently fulfilling his potential at last. The intensity was breathtaking but Nadal would not be beaten, although it was nearly one in the morning when he finally won the fifth set. 

I've often thought that finals between the Williams tend to be a bit of a let down and although this was closer than many, once Serena had conquered the nerves and errors which held her back in the first set, there was only going to be one winner. 

There were many who thought that after the effort of reaching the final, Roger and Rafa would also find it difficult to live up to the hype. It is true that both men looked tired and this allowed dominance to switch from one to the other in the first four sets. But in the fifth both raised their level and played at their best. Rafa got the early break and held off Roger's first counter attack, but Roger fought back to win five games in a row and became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title since Ken Rosewall in 1972.

Away from the tennis, Melbourne was the exciting cosmopolitan city we expected: modern skyscrapers mixed with Victorian civic buildings, a large Chinatown and strong Italian and Greek influences alongside the British and native Australian cultures, good food and excellent public transport including free trams in the city centre. St Kilda with its nice beach and trashy entertainment was only a few minutes away but really this weekend was all about the Rod Laver arena.