By Maj Gen P K Mallick, VSM (Retd)
In Grand Slam Tournaments like the Australian Open (AO), the results in the men’s section generally follow as per the seedings. For example, in A0-24, Men’s quarter finalists are: No.1 seed Novak Djokovic, second seed Carlos Alcaraz, third seed Daniel Medvedev, Fourth and fifth seeds Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev, sixth seed Alexander Zverev, 12th seed Taylor Fritz who saw off seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, and number 9 seed Hubert Hurkacz. Number eight seed Holger Rune was ousted in an earlier round.
Most of the quarter finalists are not as per seedings in the women’s section. It happens in all grand slam tournaments. There are upsets galore. In AO 84, the top eight seeds were Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova and Maria Sakkari. Out of these eight, only two, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, reached the quarterfinals. The rest of the quarter-finalists are:
19-year-old unseeded Linda Nosková of Czechoslovakia. In the third round she stunned world No. 1 and top seed Iga Świątek to move to the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time in her career. She has powerful groundstrokes and a huge serve which the world number one found difficult to handle.
23 years old Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine came through the qualifiers. She upset seventh seed Marketa Vondrousova in the first round, defeated 27th seed Emma, a former two-time Australian Open champion and 18th seed Victoria Azarenka to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time.
25-year-old unseeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya defeated 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens on her way to reaching the quarterfinals. She has never been past the second round of a Major.
12th seed, 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen of China, is the highest seed left in the bottom half of the draw. In 2023, she reached the US Open quarterfinals.
Unseeded 21-year-old Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
The 28-year-old 9th seed Czech Barbora Krejčíková had won the 2021 French Open title. She has seven grand slam doubles and three mixed doubles titles. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
This trend of results is more or less in all grand slam tournaments in the women’s section.
How the seeded performed in AO24.
The top seed and world number one had a tough draw. Three French Open and one US Open title holder faced 2020 US Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round. Her next opponent was Danielle Collins of the USA. Danielle Collins had beaten Iga Świątek in straight sets in the semifinals of AO 22 to advance to her first Grand Slam final. This time, Iga Swiatek defeated her in a tough three-setter. In the third round, she lost to the Czeck teenager L Nosková in three sets.
Third seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, was expected to do very well, especially the way she trounced the defending Australian Open champion, Aryna Sabalenka, 6-0, 6-3 to storm to the Brisbane International title just before the AO 24. But she lost to Anna Blinkova in the second round.
Fifth seed Jessica Pegula of the USA lost to Clara Burel of France in the second round.
Sixth seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia lost to 16-year-old mercurial Russian Mirra Andreeva in the second round.
Seventh seed 24-year-old 2023 Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová of the Czech Republic lost in the first round to Ukraine qualifier Dayana Yastremska.
Eighth seed 28-year-old Maria Sakkari lost to the Russian Elina Avanesyan in the second round.
The days of dominance of a particular player like Serena Williams are over. There are very few multiple grand slam winners among the current players. Among the current players, only Iga Świątek and Naomi Osaka have four grand slam titles each. Ashleigh Barty of Australia won the 2022 Australian Open, the 2019 French Open and the 2021 Wimbledon. Barty had an all-court game and a crafty style of play. She retired from tennis, and on 3 July 2023, she gave birth to a son.
Most of the young champions cannot win more than one grand slam tournament. The reason may be their physique, inability to withstand the hard grind of professional circuit, and their injuries. There may be issues of handling immense pressure and expectations or psychological issues. It is common to find four grand slam winners in a calendar year.
Six ft tall, powerfully built Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017. After that, she has not won any grand slam tournament.
Jeļena Ostapenko of Lativia won the 2017 French Open. She has not won any more grand slams.
Bianca Andreescu of Canada, as a teenager, defeated the superstar Serena Williams in her backyard in straight sets to win the US Open 2019 on her main-draw debut. Since then, she has been suffering from injury and loss of form.
25-year-old Sofia Anna Kenin became the Australian Open champion in 2020. She lost the French Open final in straight sets to Iga Świątek the same year.
Emma Raducanu, now 21, is the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade at the 1977 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2021 US Open, Raducanu became the first qualifier in the Open Era to win a major singles title, beating Leylah Fernandez in the final without dropping a set during the tournament. There was a huge media hype. Teenager Leylah Fernandez of Canada had beaten the defending champion Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina, and Aryna Sabalenka to reach the finals.
However, after the 2021 US Open, they have not won anything. In AO 24, when Emma Raducanu won the first round, a lot of media attention was there. Do you know who beat her in which round? Y Wang of China beat her in the second round.
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark won the 2018 AO.
Coco Gauff won the 2023 US Open, her first major singles title, beating world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets, and became the first American teenager to win the US Open since Serena Williams in 1999.
This year is remarkable for grand slam winner tennis moms trying to come back. In a physically demanding sport like tennis, it is difficult for women to adjust. Not that it has not been done. Kim Clijsters of Belgium won the US Open in 2005, and retired from tennis in 2007 at 23 to get married and have a daughter. She returned to the sport two years later and won her second US Open title in 2009 and 2010. She won the Australian Open in 2011 and became the first mother to be the world No. 1 along with Margaret Court. She also holds the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother, with three such titles, and was the first to win one since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980. Clijsters retired again following the 2012 US Open.
Four-time grand slam winner Naomi Osaka, three grand slam title holder Angelique Kerber of Germany and 2018 Australian Open champion Wozniacki of Denmark tried a comeback in AO 2024 but were all beaten in earlier rounds.
Two times AO Champion Victoria Azrenka, a tennis mom, had been fighting it out. She lost to Dayana Yastremska in the round of 16.
We are now at the final stages of AO 24.
Today, in the women’s semifinals, world number two will cross swords with fourth seed C. Gauff. Ideally, this match should have been the finals, as on the other side of the draw, there are no top eight seeds playing. 5 ft 11 in, 25-year-old Aryna Sabalenka is hitting extremely hard, and has a powerful serve. Earlier, she had issues with second serve and double faults. Those have been taken care of. The only weakness, if any, is her mental fortitude. She has a history of becoming vulnerable in tight situations.
19 years old Gauff has a powerful serve in the range of 190 to 200 kmph. Andy Roddick, one of the greatest servers of all time, has helped her serve by tweaking a little technicality. Perhaps she is the fastest female athlete on the tennis court with no apparent weakness. The only worry is her more than 50 unforced errors in the quarterfinal match. Against lesser players, she can get away, but not against players like Aryna Sabalenka.
This will be an exciting match.
In the other semifinals Dayana Yastremska and No. 12 seed Zheng Qinwen will fight for a slot in the finals.
Today was a great day for Indian tennis. The gentle Coorgi 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna has been crowned as the world’s number one doubles player. Today, they were playing against unseeded Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang in the semifinals. There is no more seeded pair in the draws. But one could not count this pair out as they had beaten the seasoned third seed Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in three sets. Rohan and his partner M. Ebden, seeded two, started strongly and won the first set easily in six three. Tomas Machac and Zhizhen Zhang won the second set with identical scores.
In the third set, Rohan Boppnaa, with a big booming serve, was serving for the match at five-two. One thought it was game over. Ebden missed two volleys in the net against some extreme hard-hitting from the opponents. The service was broken.
Again, Boppnaa and Ebden had three match points on the opponent’s serve but could not capitalise. It became six all. It was time for a super tie break. At this time, it looked like Boppanna and Ebden had lost their mozo and Machac and Zhizhen Zhang were the favourites. Boppanna and Ebden had a mini break. But they surrendered the mini-break and were back on serve. At seven-all, Ebden made a blistering backhand crosscourt service return, which Machac could not handle. It was Boppnaa’s time to showcase his serving prowess at eight-seven. One big unreturnable first serve followed by a clean ace sealed the deal.
They will have a rest day and play for the trophy against the unseeded pair of S. Bolelli and A. Vavassori.
India prays for Bopanna and Ebden for their first AO Doubles trophy.
The author is an Indian Army Veteran.
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