Actual tennis was played at Melbourne Park on Monday — even though a whole host of folks did their best to cover up that fact.
Day 1 of the Australian Open saw Rafael Nadal dominate, Sebastian Korda pull off an upset in convincing fashion, Coco Gauff lose, and Aslan Karatsev win despite making a ridiculous 107 unforced errors.
Like it or not, though, the story was still Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic, of course, was deported from Australia on Sunday night after a 10-day saga ended with him losing a final court appeal less than 24 hours before the tournament began. While some players declined to talk about that subject in their post-match interviews on Monday, other players along with many media members made sure to bring it back into the spotlight as much as possible. The French Open also made news by announcing that unvaccinated players will be banned from this year’s event.
ESPN was the main media culprit, led by John McEnroe and Cliff Drysdale. McEnroe came on air yelling at Chris McKendry, Chris Evert, and anyone else who would listen about what he seemed to perceive as injustice done toward Djokovic. McEnroe described the situation as “BS.” Drysdale’s rant was much less predictable. He suggested that the 34-year-old Serb should get a free pass for his recent Covid-related shenanigans because of all the things that he has overcome in his past. Drysdale also said that if Rafael Nadal wins the tournament it would be watered down by the fact that Djokovic didn’t play.
As for his fellow players, Djokovic continued to get support from Nick Kyrios along with the Serbian contingent.
Kyrgios used some interesting grammar in response to an NBA player from Montenegro who had expressed disdain over how the Djokovic situation was handled. Dusan Lajovic held up a GOAT flag after beating Marton Fucsovics in five sets. Miomir Kecmanovic, who was supposed to play against Djokovic but instead defeated lucky loser Salvatore Caruso, also chimed in.
Gael Monfils was among those who had no time for Djokovic-related questions.
“To be honest, I just think about the tournament now,” the Frenchman said in response to the first question of his press conference following a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 destruction of Federico Coria. “I don’t see any opportunities (in the draw even with Djokovic out). The opportunity is to play the next match after each win. Whatever, I don’t know where he was in the draw, who gets the opportunities, or whatever. I’m just happy to have another opportunity to win another match and maybe go to another third round in the Australian Open.”
Led by Monfils, Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Madison Keys, and others, the tennis–actual tennis–was quite good on Monday.
Just not good enough to make any headlines.
nice one, Korda
Is Drysdale just a bit of a d*ck? Competition between him and Mac?
you could be on to something Margot…!
I don’t actually know much about Drysdale mind you…
Well, anyone can put an asterisk if they want to. I do it all the time. Anyone who wins a tournament Rafa couldn’t play due to injury gets an asterisk. But I don’t think anyone cares and I certainly don’t care about anyone else’s asterisks.
But Drysdale’s on my sh*t list for thinking Djokovic should play because he’s the #1 player and all. Is that what they call “old school thinking”? As for JMac, sorry, but the guy’s really past it as a commentator. Mails it in.
Spot on about all the tournaments Rafa has missed due to injury. Let’s put all those on the asterisk list shall we??! But no, we are not d#ckheads like Mac and Drysdale.
I completely agree about JMac. He has been going through the motions for a while now. He has become a caricature of a tennis analyst.
Great piece Ricky.
I love your witty tweet, especially ‘Djokovic gets a pass for being gluten free!!’
Epic garbage from Drysdale. Actually it’s so epic it’s almost an art form.
thanks!
I am glad to see that others here are riled up over Drysdale. He seems determined to come across as a prick. Sorry for the language, but it’s the only word that fits. I remember him from back in the day when I grew up watching tennis. But his comments today really pissed me off. What gall to say if Rafa wins it won’t mean as much because Novak isn’t there! He declared Novak the GOAT. It’s as though he decided that only Novak can get past Rafa and Fed in total slams. If Rafa or Fed does it then it won’t count! Please!
I did not see his comments in their entirety. I tuned in after he started. So I did not hear that he thought Novak should play. The bell with him! He is being moronic and obnoxious. It’s like he has decided Novak us the GOAT, so he has to get the most slams. Any other result does not mean anything!
He is an embarrassment.
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Amazing that these people ignore the facts that Djokovic broke the rules and put other people’s lives at risk.
I wonder if he would be holding that GOAT flag if someone died as a result if Djokovic’s actions.
These guys would do well to get an education past preschool level.
Korda is looking good; most likely motivated by the fact that his father did well at the event.
Karatsev seems to perform better with a five o’clock shadow. He should leave the clean shaven look at home.
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I am pretty sure that people died as a result of Adria Tour spreading Covid-19. It’s just that nobody really did the math and presumably the involved governments covered it up to some extent. It was considered a honest mistake at the time anyway.
Amazing how these people orbit the fact that Djokovic broke the rules and put people’s lives at serious risk. I wonder if he’d be waving that GOAT flag of someone died as a result of Djokovic’s actions.
Korda looks to be in great form; most likely motivated by the fact that his father did well at this event.
Karatsev seems to perform better when dressing a five o’clock shadow; he should probably leave the clean shaven look at home if he wants to make the 2nd week.
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It is interesting that Drysdale ignores the potential danger with Novak running around unvaccinated and positive for Covid. So it’s okay if his so called GOAT causes people to get the virus and die?
As far as the GOAT issue, Drysdale needs to just shut up and let it all play out on the tennis court. There is no one designated GOAT as far as I am concerned and there never will be. He makes it sound like it’s a race to get ahead and break the tie, as long as it’s Novak who does it!
“ignore the fact”
The rules apply to all of us….and I like Monfils’ attitude….let’s play AO tennis!
If Rafa can’t win AO this year, I’d be really happy if Monfils did!