Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley raised more than a few eyebrows last week when he made the bold claim that the 2023 Australian Open field was the best ever.
He said he was “proud of the fact that this year is our best field”.
Go on … “As far as the entries go, every single player – we’ve had a few pullouts as you know from injury, but this is our best field we’ve had both on the men and the women.”
Granted, this was before Australia’s highest-ranked men’s and women’s players in Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic had succumbed to injury.
But really? With Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Ash Barty retiring over the past 12 months, Naomi Osaka absent due to her recently announced pregnancy and men’s world No.1 Carlos Alvaraz sidelined with injury, Tiley’s claim doesn’t pass the pub test.
Tournament director Craig Tiley. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)
Or the sniff test or any logical test for that matter.
Kyrgios’ withdrawal on Monday hits hard.
His expected quarter-final showdown with his bromance buddy Novak Djokovic would have been ratings gold for the Australian Open.
It would have also forced many fans into a tough choice over who to support as both players have more than their fair share of detractors.
“I always wanted to just do everything right and train right and tick every box, and just be ready for the Oz Open,” Kyrgios said.
“Obviously this coming around is just bad timing. But that’s life. Injury is a part of the sport. I guess I can draw some inspiration from someone like Thanasi (Kokkinakis) who has had a bunch of injuries and has bounced back.”
The world No.21 is likely to need at least a month off to repair his meniscus tear and is unlikely to bother with the Parisian clay for the next grand slam, the French Open. He hasn’t competed there since 2017 and has never made it past the third round.
(Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Wimbledon, where he was runner-up to Djokovic last year, will be his best chance to finally break through for a major win in 2023 although after a career-best quarter-final appearance at the US Open, he has also shown he can mix it with the best on the hardcourts.
As for the women’s side of the draw at the Australian Open, you could argue the opposite of Tiley’s boast and say this is one of the least inspiring tournaments for many years.
Only world No.1 Iga Swiatek has a major on her resume among the top 13 seeds.
The others in the draw are players well past their prime like Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens and Petra Kvitova or younger players with low profiles like Kazakhstan’s Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, Belarusian Bianca Andreescu, Czech baseliner Barbora Krejčíková and American Sofia Kenin, who was victorious at Melbourne Park in 2020.
It has been six years since Serena Williams won the last of her majors – the 2017 Australian Open – but women’s tennis is still yet to find its next global superstar.
British 20-year-old Emma Radacanu, who won the US Open in 2021, and American teenager Coco Gauff are seen as Swiatek’s main challengers for that unofficial crown.
Gauff knows all about the pressure that can be heaped on a young and outrageously-gifted tennis player.
It comes with the territory for someone who in 2019 – aged just 15 years and three months – became the youngest player ever to qualify for Wimbledon, then beat her idol Venus Williams en route to the fourth round.
A run to last year’s French Open final only confirmed the 18-year-old Gauff’s status as the woman most likely to fill the post-Serena Williams void in the US tennis firmament.
But being the anointed next big thing in British tennis brings another level of pressure altogether, as Gauff readily acknowledged on Monday after booking a dream second-round clash at Melbourne Park with Raducanu.
Raducanu’s astonishing triumph at the 2021 US Open as a qualifier – without dropping a set – was unprecedented in the Open era.
“I talk to her pretty much at all the tournaments,” said the seventh-seeded Gauff after downing Czech Katerina Siniakova 6-1 6-4 on Monday.
“I didn’t really know her that well in juniors, but I’ve got to talk to her more on tour now.
“Obviously she’s gone through a lot of pressure, bursting onto the scene, probably more than I have experienced, coming to win a slam.
“And especially I feel like being from the UK, being like the first British (woman) to do something in a long time, probably is a lot more pressure than what I’m used to being an American.”
Raducanu arrived at Melbourne Park under an injury cloud after rolling her ankle at the ASB Classic in Auckland earlier this month.
But she looked largely untroubled in a 6-3 6-2 win over German Tamara Korpatsch on Monday before immediately switching her focus to Wednesday’s next-gen clash with Gauff.
“I’m very up for it,” said Raducanu, who turned 20 in November.
“Coco has obviously done a lot of great things and she’s playing well.
“We’re both good, young players, we’re both coming through – part of the next generation of tennis really. It’s going to be a great match.”
You can add Pat Cash to the list of former Australian greats who won’t get the time of day from Nick Kyrgios.
A week after he labelled Pat Rafter “clueless”, Kyrgios is in a war of words with Cash after the 1987 Wimbledon champion questioned Tennis Australia’s decision to stage a practice match between the world No.21 and Novak Djokovic last Friday at Rod Laver Arena.
Cash said on SEN Radio that Tennis Australia should not have been “bending over backwards” for Kyrgios to help the 27-year-old get extra time on the court after he had snubbed the United Cup and Adelaide International events in recent weeks.
As was revealed on Monday when Kyrgios was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open due to his knee injury, he clearly wasn’t faking the problem so he could put his feet up before the opening slam of the year.
Kyrgios’ manager, Daniel Horsfall, told the Sydney Morning Herald that Cash did not know what he was talking about.
‘‘Cash is clearly out of touch,’’ he said prior to Kyrgios announcing he would be pulling out of the tournament. ‘‘I honestly can’t remember the last time he said anything positive or supportive of Nick and Tennis Australia.
“Tennis Australia did a fantastic job. That practice match was going ahead either way. It could have been on a back court for all they cared.
‘‘As far as I am concerned, we are only here because of the fans. Not only did TA manage to let fans see two superstars, they donated all proceeds to charity. Anyone who has an issue with that really isn’t a fan of the game in my opinion.’’
Defending champion Rafael Nadal not only had to overcome stubborn resistance from British young gun Jack Draper but a ballkid who “stole” his racquet on day one.
One of the on-court helpers apparently thought Nadal had left the racquet on his chair to be restrung so it was taken away.
Nadal eventually realised the racquet was gone during one of the change of ends and told the chair umpire he couldn’t return to the court without his weapon of choice.
“I need the racquet back, ballboy take my racquet,” he said while leading 4-3 in the first set.
The chair umpire got on the phone to see if it could be retrieved.
There was not too much tension about the incident with Nadal laughing it off rather than being too highly strung.
Nadal won the first set 7-5, dropped the second 6-2 before closing out the victory 6-4 and 6-1 to win in four.
The Ukrainian ambassador to Australia has condemned the display of a Russian flag at a first-round match at the Australian Open.
Vasyl Myroshnychenko tweeted a picture showing the Russian flag being held up by a spectator during the clash between Russian Kamilla Rakhimova and Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine at Melbourne Park on Monday.
Russian players are allowed to compete in the tournament but only under a neutral flag.
Myroshnychenko wrote: “I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during the game of the Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl at the Australian Open today. I call on Tennis Australia to immediately enforce its “neutral flag” policy.”
Baindl moved through to the second round with a 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 victory.
Organisers have been contacted for comment.
PLAYER OF THE DAY: Olivia Gadecki – the 20-year-old Aussie prodigy lived up to the hype with her maiden grand-slam win with a rousing 7-5 6-1 victory over teenage qualifier Polina Kudermetova.
STAT OF THE DAY: Thirteen years after his Open debut as a teenage junior world No.1, born-again Jason Kubler finally registered his maiden main-draw win at Melbourne Park with a straight-sets defeat of Argentine Sebastian Baez.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’m devastated, obviously. Going in as one of the favourites, it’s brutal,” big home hope Nick Kyrgios after joining the Open’s alarming casualty list with a knee injury.
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