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The first tennis main of the season begins Monday in Melbourne (Sunday in Canadian time zones). Here are some things to find out about this 12 months’s Australian Open, which incorporates seven Canadian singles gamers:
It’s the beginning of a brand new period.
This is the primary Slam since Serena Williams and Roger Federer, arguably the 2 biggest gamers of all time, walked away from tennis final fall. Though neither had received a serious in years, and Federer’s final severe match got here in mid-2021, the lack of two dwelling legends with a mixed 43 Grand Slam singles titles is being felt on the web site of their remaining main victories.
Some different huge names are lacking.
Men’s No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is out with a leg damage, persevering with a troubling development of well being issues for the 19-year-old Spaniard. After successful his first Grand Slam title on the U.S. Open final September to turn into the youngest man ever to succeed in the highest of the world rankings, Alcaraz missed the season-ending ATP Finals with a torn stomach muscle.
Also absent is defending ladies’s champion Ash Barty. The Aussie retired holding the No. 1 rating final March, shortly after capturing her house main for the primary time. Two-time Australian Open champ Naomi Osaka withdrew earlier than saying yesterday that she’s pregnant. An damage to Venus Williams price the seven-time Slam winner an opportunity to compete in her twenty second Aussie Open.
Novak Djokovic is again.
A 12 months in the past, the Serbian star’s shot at a fourth straight Australian Open title vanished when the federal government yanked his visa and kicked him in a foreign country amid an outcry over his not being vaccinated towards COVID-19. Djokovic even confronted a three-year ban from re-entering, elevating the chance that his Open-era report ninth Aussie Open title can be his final. But Australia has since relaxed its guidelines and Djokovic, who stays unvaxxed, was welcomed again.
Down to No. 5 on this planet after his jab refusal additionally price him an opportunity to compete within the U.S. Open and different high-profile occasions in America final season, Djokovic landed on the other aspect of the lads’s bracket from defending champ Rafael Nadal, who turned the highest seed when Alcaraz pulled out. That units up a possible championship showdown between Nadal and Djokovic, who can match the Spaniard’s all-time report of twenty-two males’s Grand Slam titles right here.
Iga Swiatek could possibly be the Next One.
The relentless 21-year-old Pole does not have Serena’s aptitude (who does?) however at instances final season she displayed Williams-esque dominance. After falling within the semifinals of the Australian Open, Swiatek rattled off a 37-match successful streak that began in February, included her second French Open title and did not finish till July when she misplaced within the third spherical at Wimbledon. Swiatek went on to seize her first U.S. Open title and have become the primary girl since Serena in 2013 to win eight tournaments in a season.
The top-ranked Swiatek’s lead atop the ladies’s listing is nearly inconceivable. She has greater than twice the rankings factors of No. 2 Ons Jabeur, who final season turned the primary Arab girl to succeed in a Slam remaining.
Is Felix Auger-Aliassime poised for a Grand Slam breakthrough?
That’s the query on each Canadian tennis fan’s thoughts after the 22-year-old’s unbelievable end final season. Knocked previous to final 12 months for his 0-8 lifetime report in ATP Tour finals, Auger-Aliassime captured 4 titles in 2022 — together with three in a row in October on indoor courts in Europe. That outstanding run, which included a semifinal victory over the top-ranked Alcaraz, catapulted Auger-Aliassime into the profitable eight-man ATP Finals for the primary time. Though he didn’t get out of the group stage, a win over Nadal helped push the Canadian’s season earnings north of $4 million US and carry his rating to a career-high sixth.
Then, in late November, Auger-Aliassime powered Canada to its first title within the 122-year historical past of the Davis Cup by successful all three of his singles matches with out dropping a set in knockout-round victories over Germany, Italy and Australia. Felix additionally upset Alcaraz within the group stage to spark a comeback win over Spain that allowed Canada to advance to the elimination part. With his two victories over Alcaraz final 12 months, Auger-Aliassime is now 3-0 lifetime vs. the Spanish phenom typically touted as the subsequent Nadal.
But tennis gamers are in the end judged on their efficiency within the Slams, and Auger-Aliassime has but to succeed in a remaining. A visit to the 2021 U.S. Open semifinals is his deepest main run so far. Felix has carried out properly on the Australian Open, reaching the quarter-finals final 12 months and the spherical of 16 in 2021, so this appears like a great alternative for him to really earn a spot among the many highest on this planet.
Auger-Aliassime, who’s now ranked seventh however seeded sixth for the Australian Open, headlines the seven Canadian singles gamers competing in Melbourne. His first-round opponent is his Davis Cup teammate Vasek Pospisil, ranked 94th. No. 20 seed Denis Shapovalov is the opposite Canadian within the males’s draw.
None of the 4 Canadians within the ladies’s event are seeded. No. 39-ranked Leylah Fernandez, No. 42 Bianca Andreescu and No. 66 Rebecca Marino are joined by 191st-ranked Katherine Sebov, who earned her first look in a Grand Slam predominant draw at the moment by successful her third consecutive qualifying match. If Sebov had been to upset fourth-seeded Caroline Garcia and Fernandez takes out Thirty fourth-ranked Alizé Cornet (the participant who snapped Swiatek’s successful streak), the Canadians would meet within the second spherical.
Also competing in Melbourne is Canadian doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski, who’s ranked seventh on this planet and performs with Mexico’s Giuliana Olmos. Read extra about who the Canadians and different key gamers within the singles brackets will probably be going through within the first spherical right here.
