As another scintillating Australian Open wraps up, it shows us how good a year 2013 could be for tennis.
A new year also brings with it some new faces and the emerging newcomers, with the potential to take the game by storm.
But who will be tennis’ next generation of shining lights?
Well here are our top tips for the year ahead.
Australia’s Davis Cup selections will come down to a battle of the wills that it sounds like Pat Rafter is determined to win, refusing to let the cocky, but talented, 20 year old call the shots.
During the Australian Open Bernard Tomic sounded like a petulant child when describing his potential contribution to the Davis Cup team, essentially saying that Pat would hear from him when Bernard wanted to play. Read more
Posted in Andy Roddick, Australian Open, Bernard Tomic, Davis Cup, Pat Rafter, Roger Federer, US Open
Victoria Azarenka has successfully defended her Australian Open title by defeated the injured Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
After shooting herself in the foot in the semi finals when she called for a lengthy injury time out for a rib/breathing issue and later repeatedly made it sound like she was choking and needed the time out for anxiety purposes, Vika was sure to be fighting for the crowds support. Her opponent, Li Na, has long been adored by the Australian crowd for her good sportsmanship and hilarious post match interviews. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Injury, Li Na, Media, Victoria Azarenka
Coming into his match with Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka had been in great form but few really anticipated that he would provide much resistance against Novak, let alone keep him on court for five hours and almost beat him.
Ultimately Novak won 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 12-10 but Wawrinka is bound to now be a crowd favourite for years to come much the same way Fernando Verdasco became after his 2009 match against Rafael Nadal.
Wawrinka was simply impressive. He hammered 16 aces down compared to Djokovic’s 9 and didn’t serve a double fault until the fourth hour of the match. He punished 69 winners to 51 from Nole but was ultimately undone but his error count. Read more
Eventually Simon came out on top of their battle… but here’s the 71-shot rally
Posted in Australian Open, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon
32 year old Venus Williams, who has battled serious injuries over the last two seasons, was thumped by Maria Sharapova today. Sharapova booked her place in the fourth round of the Australian Open with the 6-3, 6-1 win, having previously won her matches in 6-0, 6-0 style.
In 2011 Venus was forced out of the Open with a psoas tear – a uncommon and difficult injury to treat. It was then revealed that Venus has been diagnosed with an auto-immune disease and since then she has struggled to re-find any sort of form that captured her multiple Grand Slam trophies.
‘I really wanted this victory. I was 5-1 up and made a couple more errors than I would have liked so I was very pleased to have served it out.’
Despite winning the Hopman Cup as part of Team Spain, Fernando Verdasco has failed to find the form that pushed him into the hearts of many at the 2009 Australian Open. Verdasco has been bundled out of the Open by Kevin Anderson.
Anderson won the third round battle 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 with 160 points to Verdasco’s 149. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Fernando Verdasco, Kevin Anderson, Tomas Berdych
Laura Robson has defeated former Wimbledon Champion and 8th seed Petra Kvitova 2-6, 6-3, 11-9 in a match that wasn’t always pretty but was entertaining right to the very end. An end which came at 12.30 am after a three hour match.
Both players struck the ball beautifully at times but the errors mounted for both players, particularly on Kvitova’s serve. Robson his 25 winners to 51 unforced errors and counted 12 double faults to her name by the end of the match. For her part Petra has 42 winners, 41 unforced errors and a colossal 18 double faults. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Laura Robson, Petra Kvitova
Posted in Australian Open, Media, Serena Williams
It’s not the first time and it wont be the last. Samantha Stosur has yet again, in her own words, “choked” in front of her home crowd. Stosur lost to Zheng Jie 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
Stosur has consistently had poor results in Australian tournaments saying she struggles to cope with the expectation. The thing is that as much as the Aussies adore Sam it’s hard to say that anyone really expects much of her in Australian tournaments. We get hopeful, we can get a bit carried away on the rare time she makes it passed the second round but ultimately it doesn’t end the way we’d like it two. Read more
Posted in Australian Open, Jie Zheng, Sam Stosur
