Everyone is excited for this year's Australian Open championships as it kicks off the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) 2022 season. Despite new COVID-19 restrictions brought about by the Omicron variant, fans and players alike are preparing for more competitive and crowd-drawing events during the four Grand Slams.
Nonetheless, many will face challenges on and off the court, starting with Novak Djokovic's deportation predicament in Australia.
Djokovic’s AO quagmire
As many have earlier expected, Australian officials will have some problems with Djokovic's continuing refusal to announce his vaccination status for the Australian Open. At the moment, Djokovic finds himself stuck in Melbourne's Park Hotel until Monday while he challenges the cancellation of his visa, which the Australian government earlier imposed.
Home Affairs minister Karen Andrews earlier told the press that the world number 1 is free to leave the country anytime he chooses. However, unlike other players and team members who were granted country access via vaccine exemption, Djokovic's clearance needed to be investigated by border force officials.
Perhaps, problems stemmed from the lack of coordination by Tennis Australia with the Victorian state government regarding the entry of unvaccinated players assumed to have already contracted COVID-19 in the past. For his part, Djokovic's team said that officials had granted the champion medical exemption for the Australian Open. However, this has yet to be confirmed by Tennis Australia officials, who only said that the country's border force under Andrews is practicing their rights to investigate individuals who had not met entry requirements.
Meanwhile, the world number 1's fans gathered at the Melbourne hotel, where he is currently being held along with refugees and asylum seekers. Complete with signs and draped flags, the fans protested their idol's 'captivity.' On Monday, January 10, Djokovic will attend a hearing at the federal circuit court which will decide his participation in this year's Australian Open or otherwise face deportation.
Djokovic is the current defending champion looking to extend his Australian Open titles to ten. Whether or not he will be allowed to do so remains up in the air.
Big names light up in the AO qualifiers
Fans are still bracing themselves to see who among the big three of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer can break the triple tie of 20 Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open. Federer had earlier announced he would be bowing out of the tournament to continue his knee-injury recovery. On the other hand, Nadal is ready to fire on all cylinders while Djokovic irons out his visa problems.
Nadal recently defeated Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania in two sets, 6-2, 7-5. The Spaniard was also quick to express his dismay about the Djokovic visa fiasco, telling the press that the world number 1 wouldn't have any problems if he planned to play the tournament. Nadal will play in tune-up matches in Melbourne next time he's on the court.
The start of the qualifying round, slated on Monday, will run until the 14th. Currently seeded at the top of the men's division are world number 111 Carlos Taberner of Spain and current British number 4 Liam Broady. World number 4 Fiona Ferro and Britain's Katie Boutler will serve as headliners for the qualifiers for the women's division.
Fans should also look out for big-name players such as Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Matteo Berrettini, Casper Ruud, Hubert Jukarcz, Jannik Sinner, Andy Murray, and Indian Wells Champion Cameron Norrie.
At the 16-team Cup in Sydney, Medvedev seeks to defend Russia's title. He won his singles matches against Alex De Minaur 6-4, 6-2; while his doubles teammate Roman Safiullin defeated James Duckworth 7-6 (6), 6-4 to secure a top spot in Group B of the ATP Cup. The Russian doubles team is also eyeing a semifinals spot as they prepare to face Italy for a highly anticipated rematch between 2021's finalists.
More women power
Another returning big-name star in the first Grand Slam tour of the year is Japan's Naomi Osaka, who earlier captured a quarterfinals spot at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 event at the expense of Maryna Zanevska of Belgium. Osaka defeated the Belgian in two, 6-1, 6-1, to join world number 2 Simona Halep for the last eight spots of the WTA 250 event.
The 24-year old Osaka gets another chance to defend her Australian Open title with sharper footwork during her second match. Her opening match against Alize Cornet saw 55 forced errors as she eventually dwindled the number to 18 with 14 winners for her match against Zanevska. Next, Osaka faces former world No.9 Andrea Petkovic of Germany in the quarterfinals.
While the legend in Federer sits out the Australian Open, so does another legend in Serena Williams. Her medical team advised the 23-time title winner to prolong her recovery period since she quit the first round of Wimbledon last year.
However, there are no shortages of new names to follow as the UK's rising star and US Open defending champion Emma Raducanu is feeling confident about her game for Australia. The WTA world number 19 earlier withdrew from the warm-up tournaments in Melbourne and the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibitions in Abu Dhabi due to testing positive for COVID-19. Raducanu has since fully recovered and will be playing in the Sydney Classic before joining the roster of players for the major tournament on January 17.
Current world number 1 and country favorite Ashleigh Barty is also set to play the initial Grand slam tournament of the year after an impressive showing at the second round of the Adelaide International.
Opening her season with a three-set nailbiter against American Coco Gauff, Barty has won 11 of her last 13 games and has the chance to be the first Australian woman to take home a Grand Slam title since Chris O'Neil's 1978 victory.
Last year, Barty went all the way up to the Australian Open quarterfinals while previously securing a semifinal spot in the same tournament in 2020.
Comments