The US teams arrived in Perth and were on the practice courts Friday afternoon. The grass at Robertson Park is playing very nicely, high bounces…even the clay court players like Clem Hopp (who said it was the best grass he’d played on) and Dick Emmert liked it a lot. It plays very differently from the US grass, much slower and higher bouncing. The artificial surface according to Brent Abel was not slippery but played fast like a grass court.

The weather is challenging, EXTREMELY WINDY, today more than the previous days. But it is sunny.

The captains’ meetings start at 1pm today and opening ceremonies are at about 5pm in a big stadium.

Perth has a small town feel, it reminds me a lot of Sacramento, flat, with a larger river running though it, the Swan River, and the ocean is closer. It’s closer to Asia than to Sydney (a 5 hour plane ride to the east).

I’m not on my computer but will try to post photos in the next few days. Internet access at the hotel is $27 a day…so I’m at a backpacker’s internet cafe, waiting for the gym to open (at 9 when they told me 7…).

Perth is a very expensive town, and the dollar is very weak, so there’s a lot of sticker shock amongst the Americans…prices for food are above those in NY for example I think, for food anyway, but there’s always pb & j.