SYDNEY, Australia—I’ve been told that New Yorkers are fit because they walk everywhere. Those of us who travel and follow tennis get additional exercise. Tournaments are often located outside city centers, which means a train ride followed by a stroll—or hike—to the tennis center.

Getting to the Medibank International in Sydney is no different. The tournament is located at Sydney Olympic Park (site of the 2000 Olympic Games), about a half-hour train ride outside the city and then a 15-minute walk to the front gate. Once you arrive, you’re greeted with heavy, concrete architecture. I’ve been to a few Olympic sites and I always have the feeling I’m strolling around the land of the lost; it’s a bit melancholy. But it’s all offset, somewhat, by the flora and fauna that lead you to the site. Screeching Australian Magpies hover around the grounds (I’ve heard that the males attack humans) and often perch above the stadium, disrupting play with their chatter. There are also a lot of White Ibis and other stork-like birds around Sydney. Combined with the tall, deep green trees, it feels a little like Jurassic Park around here.

The stadium inside resembles Wimbledon’s Centre Court in construction and looks substantially larger than Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane. Thankfully, it also lacks Rafter’s Star Trek feel. The grounds are small (Court 1 is almost an afterthought) and very easy to navigate, with a few grassy knolls adjacent to some of the courts where fans can hang out.

The big news this week has been the decimation of the women’s draw. After the dark horse brigade in Brisbane, wasn’t Sydney supposed to spotlight the top women? But yet again, we’re having a “is she worthy of number one?” debate, following top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki’s upset loss to Dominika Cibulkova. Are the women just a bunch of “Carol Annes” from Poltergeist? Don’t go into the light! You’ll never play well again!

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Aussies are relaxed people. This woman is reading a book while watching the Stosur/Kuznetsova match. (Photo by David Rosenberg)

She meant keeping her game simple instead of thinking about all the options she has in her arsenal. But in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, she hit stupid shots and lost a big lead, and the match, to Li Na, who should be the favorite in her semifinal against 18-year-old Serbian Bojana Jovanovski. Jovanovski is a qualifier who upset Kaia Kanepi, Aravane Rezai and Pennetta. If you haven’t seen her play, here’s my two cents’ worth of comparisons: Her serving stance is a lot like Goran Ivanisevic, but ends more like an abbreviated version of Amelie Mauresmo’s. Her second serve is awful. She stands very upright while playing, looking a bit like Dinara Safina from a distance, and her strokes are in some ways reminiscent of Monica Seles—very sling shot-esque. She fights hard, retrieves a lot of balls, and apart from that second serve, looks pretty solid.

Neither Wozniacki nor Vera Zvonareva, the two top seeds who both dropped their opening matches, showed much that would make them seem like contenders in Melbourne. Wozniacki couldn’t get anything going against Cibulkova, aka Amanda Coetzer version 2.0. “I just need a few matches and I’ll be fine for Melbourne.” Exactly where those matches will take place, she didn’t say.

The truth is, only Kim Clijsters looks herself—that is, a heavy favorite to win. She looked good in the quarters, were she won 6-3, 6-2 against her first worthy opponent of the week, Victoria Azarenka. “It’s an important feeling to have knowing you can start off well and build up from there,” Clijsters said on Tuesday. Is there anything else to say?

Oh, and the men are here, too. Juan Martin Del Potro was the main attraction, and the second most popular player was his first round opponent, Feliciano Lopez. Del Potro beat him in three tiebreak sets, but then went down easily to Florian Mayer. “I am very far to my good game again, but I did my best,” said del Potro, who expects to be contending again in about six months.

Sam Querrey was the top seed—really?—and made his lone, brief appearance on Wednesday, when he promptly lost to Alexandr Dolgopolov. Straight from Sam: “It was very windy out there. He’s a tough guy to play in the wind.” He then added, “I was using half Lux (string), half gut out there today for my first time. I’m going back to all Lux now.”

Ernests Gulbis, anyone? He’s still here, along with French dark horses Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon. On Wednesday, Gilles faced off against—you guessed it—Frederico Gil. How they will fare by week’s end I have no idea, but I’m out of here. I’ve got quite a journey back to where I’m staying.

David Rosenberg is currently in Sydney and will be traveling to Melbourne next week.