Front up and avoid making a fool of yourself: Pat Rafter’s advice for life

Fresh from his star turn at the Australian Open’s maiden opening ceremony last week, tennis legend and former Bonds undies model Pat Rafter was at the Emirates marquee reliving the “nerve wracking” ceremony.

Rafter doesn’t really play tennis any more, preferring a hit of the fast-paced padel alternative, but was tempted to step back onto Rod Laver Arena for a hit with Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt, all of them fellow former world No.1s.

“It was a bit nerve wracking,” Rafter said on Tuesday. “You just don’t want to make a fool of yourself, and we sort of did in a way, but we laughed it off.”

Rafter said Federer and Hewitt were still in form but he and Agassi were struggling.

“We were trying to work out, first of all, don’t do an injury, don’t do a calf,” he said. “Second of all, don’t make a fool of ourselves.”

Rafter said the opening ceremony was a great initiative by tournament boss Craig Tiley, which prompted the question: “Why didn’t anyone think of this before?”

While the Open has come under criticism this week with record crowds causing long queues to get into Melbourne Park, let alone to (shock, horror) watch some tennis, Rafter said there was no risk of the tournament becoming too big.

“Let’s keep going, let’s keep expanding,” he said. “Let’s get rock concerts going on at the same time … which they did have for a little bit. Let’s keep making it bigger and better if people want to come.

“Are U2 going to play out the back?”

Open dreamscape

Emirates flies to more than 150 destinations globally, but at the Australian Open inevitably, all routes lead to Collingwood.

Thus the airline, which sponsors both the tennis tournament and the Magpies, merged the two at the Emirates marquee on the tournament’s official Emirates Day for what the sponsor dubbed a “take-off” party in the marquee, which was “transformed” into a “desert dreamscape” featuring Collingwood captain Darcy Moore.

First to arrive, News Corp and Sky News columnista Rita Panahi, who brusquely ordered that every utterance be off the record, before sealing the deal by fetching a cocktail … for us.

Panahi, escaping the Melbourne mid-January heat, was soon followed by her gal pal, Victoria Racing Club board member Ann Peacock. The friends are seen frequently at South Yarra dining institution France-Soir, along with PR queen Judy Romano, the principal of Romano Beck, which organised the Emirate shindig. Everything is connected, folks.

Not present, AO top seed Aryna Sabalenka, who is the airline’s first tennis ambassador – announced via a media call at Melbourne Airport last week – and whose advert is already gracing a thousand social media feeds.

Moore, accompanied by partner Dee Salmin, the host of the triple j show The Hook Up, waved the flag for his team, even though most are scheduled to come to the marquee later in the week. Open Season wanted to know: “Are you missing Mason Cox?”

The tall guy paused and considered his former teammate, who has decamped to Fremantle after the Magpies delisted him. “I would say that the dressing room is considerably quieter without his booming voice,” Moore said.

Marc Murphy, the Carlton great, accompanied by his wife, media personality Jessie Murphy, is a well travelled Melebrity eventist, last spotted at a Formula 1 Grand Prix wine tasting. We can now report the Murphys enjoyed the Emirates Dubai-style brunch menu, which included freshly shucked oysters, roasted eggplant dip mutabal and a sushi station along with a Grey Goose Lemon Ace cocktail.

Marc Murphy told Open Season he had a new gig, having started his own company as a principal of Fitout Co, which constructs medical and hospitality spaces.

As any Melbourne Cup winner will tell you, to be a jockey requires inordinate amounts of stamina.

If it is Sunday, it must be Casa Altos tequila for Michelle Payne, the Melbourne Cup-winning jockey.

On Sunday, Payne, along with newish boyfriend Gabriel Ribeiro, were late arrivals to the new sponsor Casa Altos’ outdoor bar, but were quick to enter into the spirit of things, and brandished tennis racquets in front of a larger-than-life 3D foam statue of Thanasi Kokkinakis. Yes folks, it’s turning into that kind of tournament.

But on Tuesday, Payne was back again with Riberio to Emirates, this time with brother Stevie Payne, her strapper and who starred as himself in Rachel Griffiths’ film of her win, Ride Like a Girl.

We presume that the famous creatures went on to actually watch the Jannik Sinner-Hugo Gaston match on Rod Laver Arena, followed by Naomi Osaka’s match against Croatia’s Antonia Ružić. But who knows? It was past our deadline.

Nine and REA Group’s debut deal

It’s no secret that major sporting events like the Australian Open are among the last cultural events that draw massive live TV and streaming audiences.

So when a broadcaster – in this case Nine Entertainment, owner of this masthead – snaps up highly valuable broadcast rights, it needs to line up a flock of corporate sponsors and advertisers to bank a return on its investment.

This year, a curious new face sits among them: REA Group, which operates the property classifieds platform, realestate.com.au. The News Corp-controlled real estate platform has extended its Australian Open tie-in with Tennis Australia to include a debut deal with Nine.

The corporate flirtation will no doubt have induced a wince over at the Pyrmont headquarters of its arch rivals, Domain, where new ownership has given the company renewed (but possibly misplaced) hope of gaining ground on REA Group, the market leader.

Nine’s previous majority ownership of Domain, which it inherited following its 2018 takeover of Fairfax Media, meant that a deal with REA Group was never really on the cards.

Both REA Group and Domain are in the throes of major change. Domain was scooped up by the US property giant CoStar last year in a $3 billion deal, in which the perennial market underdog poured a heap of cash into advertising. It remains led by its old-but-new president (and former CEO) Jason Pellegrino.

REA Group, meanwhile, has a new chief executive in Cameron McIntyre, the former top boss of Car Group, which operates the auto classifieds website, carsales.com.au. For months, the table has been set for renewed corporate rivalry between the two companies. Now, we have an advertising war to boot.

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