There is a singular enjoyment I get from watching the Australian Open as opposed to the other Grand Slam events. Though the US Open is my hometown tennis celebration, a feast for the local fan, it is most decidedly a grounded, tactile, sweaty affair. The trip out to Flushing Meadows aboard the 7 train and then returning at night to watch the night matches in prime time feeds my tennis appetite like no other time of year. Both Wimbledon and the French Open take place in the morning and midday for us East Coasters, hardly the time conducive to extended viewing where one can spend a significant time concentrating on tennis on TV.

But the Australian Open is unique. There's an ethereal quality to viewing the proceedings from so far away. It forces the passionate tennis fan to pay homage to the after-hours and there is a certain calm and clarity of focus and thought that overtakes this tennis fan in the late, late night. For one, it is the only half-quiet time in New York City so the tennis is not interrupted by car horns or neighbors or other urban clatter. The sound of the ball emanating from the speakers seems that much more powerful late at night, and an almost cinematic quality to the viewing experience takes hold - in fact, the sensation of sitting in the living room at such a late hour, with the glow from the television illuminating my darkened apartment is akin to sitting in a movie theater - not a common sensation when watching sports. It's as if the sound of the ball being struck is crisper and the relevance of the commentators voices blissfully diminished.

Then there's the feeling of being part of a special fraternity of sports fans. There are millions who commiserate on Monday mornings in January, reviewing the past weekend's bounty of NFL playoff games. But to find those very few individuals who fought off the enticement of slumber in order to watch Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic in the pre-dawn hours is indeed to be part of a distinctive secret society.

The most important happenings and realizations in life often take place in the darkness where there's a quiet and concentrated intensity that is absent in daylight. So for that reason alone, I treasure the late nights in front of the TV each mid-January, with the air frigid outside but the eyes and soul soothed by the sun and tennis action from Melbourne.