Australian Open Day 2 Diary: Novak Djokovic sizzles on return; Roger Federer makes easy work of Aljaz Bedene

I had been to Wimbledon before as a spectator and the general atmosphere was quite different from that of Melbourne Park. The fans in attendance at the All England Club did not have much to do apart from watching tennis. While that's not really a bad thing, fans do expect more from a sporting venue.

Melbourne Park, on the other hands, is a place where the fans get to do so much more.

Covering a tennis event for the first time, I could not have asked for a better one to start off with. The Australian Open was once termed by Roger Federer as the "Happy Slam". How right he was.

Live performances, gaming centres, ball-parks for kids - Melbourne Park has it all. When spectators are not getting in on the action in the packed courts, you often see them spreading out a sheet in the open, getting a few drinks, eating some good food, and soaking in the friendly Melbourne atmosphere.

And when on the courts, cheering for their favourite players, the spectators are vociferous and entertaining to be around.

Despite most of the Australians losing in the first round itself, the spirit around Melbourne Park wasn't dampened even a little bit.

I missed out on the action on the first day of play, but I witnessed a lot on the second.

Here are a few takeaways:

Roger Federer's poetry in motion

I have seen Roger Federer live on TV on countless number of occasions. I have also read so much about what a different experience it is watching him live in person. I was able to experience that difference today.

Despite not being at his absolute best, Federer's tennis was "gazelle" like, as mentioned by comedian Will Ferrell after the match.

His volleys were deft, and his down-the-line backhand brought about a huge smile on my face, as it did on the 20000 other faces in the stadium as well.

The ease with which he goes through with his shots is a treat to the eyes and the way he conducts himself on court is magnificent.

He began the game with a "Federer special" - a game which lasted less than a minute. There was no turning back from there. He did have a few hiccups in between when he found himself down a few break points on a couple of occasions, but the "Federer" in him came out as he turned up the volume when it mattered the most.

Speaking to the press after the match, he felt good about his performance and also felt that the courts were fast.

"The pace of the court was about the same as last year. But last year was a long time ago. It felt fast tonight. Normally at the night time it feels slower but i think Bedene and I were trying to take the ball early and go through our shots. It felt pretty fast here tonight and that's how it felt last year. When you do serve well and connect well on shots, you get rewarded for it," said Federer.

Djokovic 2.0

Novak Djokovic raised a few doubts about his fitness after losing to former Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the tie-break tens which took place a week before the Australian Open.

He came in to the first Grand Slam of the year without playing a competitive match since pulling out of the quarter-final of the Wimbledon against Tomas Berdych.

However, when he took on Donald Young, it was as if he had never left. Djokovic was at his vintage best against the erratic Donald Young from the United States of America.

While Young did gift Djokovic a lot of points, the former world no. 1 pulled off some incredible shots en-route his 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Due to his elbow injury, Novak decided to tweak his serve a bit before coming into the tournament. The 30-year-old Serb is moving his racquet arm almost straight up following his ball toss, rather than swinging down and then up again.

His serve did have the same effect though, as he breezed through almost all his service games. He was broken just once, when it didn't really matter, towards the end of the 2nd set.

Speaking about his serve, he said there is still a lot of room for improvement.

"Well, my second serve was really really good. First serve was kind of up and down. But you know, when you come back after a long time and play your first match, obviously all the things are a bit exaggerated. All in all, I was quite pleased. I know that it is going to take a little bit of time for me to work my way in and get used to the changes that I've made in my service motion. So, it wasn't ideal but it was still good."

Meanwhile, in the other matches of the day, Stan Wawrinka had his task cut out as he was taken to 4 sets by Richard Berankis.

He looked a bit rusty on his return to the court and admitted to still feeling some pain in his knee.

Milos Raonic, who made a comeback after injury as well, lost to Lucas Lacko in 4 sets.

The third day of play commences today which includes world no. 1 Rafael Nadal taking on Leonardo Mayer and Australian Nick Kyrgios taking on Victor Troicki.