Australian Open Preview

By GEORGE ROSE ‘21

It’s the dead of winter here, which means that for tennis fans, things are about to heat up. The Australian Open, one of the year’s four “Grand Slams” in tennis (in addition to the French and U.S. Opens, and Wimbledon), starts January 14 in Melbourne, Australia. The Australian Open comes as the first big tournament in the 2019 season, one which promises to be a season of change in the world of tennis.

Even for those who don’t follow tennis, names like Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic are household names. Men’s tennis has lacked parity in recent years, with all grand slams being won by the same 5 players since Croatian Marin Cilic broke the stranglehold to win the 2014 U.S. Open. The women’s tour, while slightly more balanced in skill-level, will likely see new players break through as well.

As writer Stephen Tignor points out in Tennis Magazine, “Thirty is the new 20 in men’s tennis.” All seven active grand slam winners on the men’s side are 30 or older. On the women’s side, Williams, age 37, has largely dominated the game over the past two decades, with her only career-lasting competition being her sister Venus. On the men’s side, Federer (37), Nadal (32), and Djokovic (31), the “Big Three” of this tournament, have robbed a whole generation of players of slam titles.

Women’s Preview  

Although Serena Williams, now a mother, comes into the tournament as the favorite, doubts exist about the longevity of her career. Few players, male or female, have played into their late 30’s, even with meticulous care of their bodies. Here are a couple lesser known players to watch in this year’s Australian Open: Aryna Sabalenka, a 20 year old Belarusian, has the best shot to become the newest grand-slam winner on the women’s side; World #2 Angelique Kerber of Germany looks to be in fine form; world #4 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark will try to defend her title form a year ago; lastly, Naomi Osaka, the insurgent Japanese phenom who beat Serena in that unfortunate U.S. Open final last summer, looks to win her second slam in a row.

Men’s Preview

In the men’s side of the Australian Open, look for Kei Nishikori and Kevin Anderson, two veterans who put together 2018 seasons, battling it out in the 2nd week of this slam.

As for the young guns, here are five players to watch: two 22-year-old, 6’6” Russians, Karen Khachanov and Daniil Medvedev, could make it well past the 3rd round-- both had major breakthroughs at the end of last season and now at #11 and #16 in the world respectively pose two of the biggest threats to the Big Three; another 22 year old, #12 Borna Coric, enjoyed much success on hard courts last season; Stefanos Tsitsipas, who at 20 years old is already the greatest Greek player of all time, surged to #15 in the rankings and is the player most ready for the big stage under 21; Lastly, 19 year old Alex De Minaur of Australia, arguably the fastest player in the world, looks to go deep in his home slam.

But most poised to break through and win a slam is world #4 Alexander Zverev, a 6’6” German only 21 years old. Zverev has had success at almost every level-- he won the tour finals in November, the biggest non-slam event of the season--but he has made it past the round of 16 in a grand-slam only once. Zverev comes into the Australian Open as the non-Big Three player with the best chance to win the tournament.

Even with all these members of the so called “NextGen” quickly climbing the rankings, Novak Djokovic remains the favorite heading into the Australian Open. Federer, 37, having shown near impeccable form in a warm up tournament, follows him closely. Federer would be the oldest man ever to win a grand slam if he were to win this month. And who follows Federer despite injury concerns? Well, Rafael Nadal of course.

If any of these young upstarts really has what it takes to win this year’s Australian Open, he will have to take the tournament from Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, because none of the three greatest tennis players of all time will give it to him.

Source: The National