Two worthy champions in Djokovic and Sabalenka as Murray’s heroism helped make it a Happy Slam again.
Another Australian Open is planned with worthy crowned champions, new names received at the highest point and record crowds enjoying the first Grand Slam of the year. last year over his resolve not to get vaccinated against Covid-19, the tournament ended with the Serbian winning the name for the tenth time and equalling Rafael’s men’s record of 22 Grand Slams. Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka earned her first slam name after a standout last opposite to Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
Despite all the statement about the “Happy Slam” (a term coined by the now-retired Roger Federer), the Australian Open has had more than its percentage of debatable moments over the past 20 years. Since 2005, when a Belgian sports minister declared that Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova had failed a drug test at a pre-tournament exhibition (she was acquitted); with two strike threats, a match-fixing scandal in 2016, wildfires in 2020, Covid-19 in 2021 and 2022 and the debacle over the handling of the Djokovic case, things have not gone well.
If you read a few sections of the local media in the last fortnight, you might think this is another outrageous Australian Open. He has been criticized, but his ability to “dodge bullets,” as one Australian newspaper put it, is almost unmatched.
Even Tiley, however, will be relieved that the event is over as there were more contentious topics. The release of the Netflix series, Break Point, made headlines, while Nick Kyrgios, the horrible kid turned real competitor, provided his same old reams of printing newspapers only to retire because of an injury. From the point of view of the Australian media, his exit hit hard.
There was the “Netflix curse” as all the protagonists of the first five episodes fell prematurely or retired, – spoiler – no curse. Then there was the condition of the balls which, according to the players, inflated too early, which made the situations slower than the same. old and elongated matches.
The resolution to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete, as they did last year, was again a topic of discussion. Ukrainian players went on to say that other slams deserve to follow Wimbledon’s example by banning Russians and Belarusians and players were asked to give their opinion. about war. There was controversy with several flags raised and even more so when Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, was photographed with pro-Russian supporters, he said the incident was a misinterpretation.
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Most of them were one- or two-day stories, the kind of things you temporarily forget. It’s easy to get lost in the tennis bubble and that everything that happens in the place is the biggest story ever, but for the most part, it happened temporarily. Perhaps the only controversy that will persist is that of planning. The arrival of Andy Murray at 4:05 a. -Match of Mark Baghdatis. It was the 3rd last final in a tennis event.
Murray, 35, with a steel hip, was unlikely for his next game, while the Scot also highlighted the effect of delayed arrivals not only on players, but also officials, ball boys, staff, fans and, dare we say, journalists.
Victoria Azarenka finished her attack in front of Zhu Lin at 2:17 a. m. And the game ended several times long after mid-afternoon. While Tiley said there are no plans to change, the scenes have a popularity that anything could happen, perhaps through reducing the number of games in the day consultation from 3 to two to make sure the evening consultation starts on time and/or the evening consultation starts earlier.
But despite the problems, there’s plenty of drama on the court: Murray’s magical victories over former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini and Kokkinakis; the unfortunate departure of defending champion Rafael Nadal through injury; Wonderful defeats for Ons Jabeur and No. 1 world Iga Swiatek. In three weeks, in addition to qualifying, the tournament welcomed more than 900,000 people through the gates, a record.
To paraphrase Gary Lineker’s old saying about football and Germany, 128 men played for the name and in the end Djokovic won while Sabalenka was the fifth women’s champion for the first time in Melbourne in the last 12 years. With Djokovic and Nadal vying for Grand Slam supremacy. , there is a reassuring normality in the state of the game as tours head to the next level of the slam, the French Open in May.