One of the fourth-round matchups in the Australian Open men’s singles draw is 37-year-old Roger Federer against 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitipas. In the third round, Federer beat 21-year-old Taylor Fritz, 32-year-old Rafael Nadal defeated 19-year-old Alex de Minaur, and 31-year-old Novak Djokovic took care of 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams is still plowing through the draw two decades following her Melbourne debut; Venus Williams did the same until she ran into Simona Halep on Saturday. Fellow American Amanda Anisimova, 17, knocked out Aryna Sabalenka in destructive 6-3, 6-2 fashion during third-round action on Friday. Sabalenka had been the oddsmakers’ third favorite to win the entire tournament.
That’s the way this fortnight has been so far; it has given us a little bit of everything.
One of the first-week stars was a 39-year-old. Ivo Karlovic, who turns 40 next month, opened with a four-set victory over Hubert Hurkacz and then played one of the best matches of the tournament against Kei Nishikori–ultimately falling in a fifth-set tiebreaker.
A star still in progress is 20-year-old Frances Tiafoe, who joined Tsitsipas in the second week with a five-set win over Andreas Seppi on Friday. Tiafoe preceded that result by upsetting two-time Grand Slam finalist Kevin Anderson in four.
The up-and-coming is injecting life into this tournament (not like it needs any) with bicep-kissing, shirt-disrobing celebrations. As for the old guard, it is going about its business without making any excess noise. Federer made mincemeat out of his first three opponents and Nadal has also gone 9-for-9 in total sets. On the doubles court, 40-year-olds Bob and Mike Bryan have quietly played their way into the third round. That’s especially impressive considering that in 2018 Bob underwent the same hip surgery that Andy Murray is contemplating.
Murray…. Which brings us not to the somber reality check of his upcoming retirement (after all, this is the Happy Slam and we shall only discuss the happiness of it) but to all of the five-set battles that have been on display. Murray delivered one of those in improbable fashion, recovering from two sets down to go the distance with Roberto Bautista Agut on opening night–albeit in an eventual loss.
Bautista Agut promptly went five with Millman in round two. In addition to RBA-Murray, RBA-Millman, Nishikori-Karlovic, and Tiafoe-Seppi, other five-setters include Bolt-Simon, Sousa-Pella, Sousa-Kohlschreiber, De Minaur-Laaksonen, Opelka-Fabbiano, Schwartzman-Kudla, Zverev-Chardy, Cilic-Verdasco, and Pouille-Popyrin.
How many additional thrillers are in store? If history is any indication, the Australian Open second week will deliver the same goods. And it better, because it has a lot to live up to. After all, week one gave us a taste of everything–and leaves us wanting more.
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which youngster do people like the most? (WTA included)
The Demon and Naomi Osaka for me, but there’s a lot of attractive young’uns out there. Which of them, if any, will be the Next Big Things? AZ is still looking like a good bet despite his tendency to get involved in 5 setters needlessly. So far the kids have struck out against the Big Three, and some guys from the #LostGen are looking tough. Nishikori, Dimitrov, Raonic, Berdych (who’da thunk?)
Amanda Anisimova! What a match and win over Sabalenka. Tho I still like Sabalenka, she does need more variety in her game. Sofia Kenin is impressive, and also teenager, Dayana Yastremska. Was sorry to see 16 yr. old, Marta Kostyuk did not make it through qualifying but I still have lots of hopes in her. Of course Naomi Osaka – nice to see her doing well.
How did I forget Barty? Ash Barty is awesome.
Men:
Tiafoe
DeMinaur
Shapo
Medvedev
Khachanov
Fritz
Go Djokovic! And Fedal isn’t looking bad either. Rafa is playing quite well, I thought…
Forgot to mention Tsitsipas. I think he’s still coming along. If he beats Fed, I’ll be impressed.
Very sorry to see Andy Murray has to leave tennis😢 He is sorely missed.
Daniil Medvedev is by far the most consistant and most improved to me I think hes gona give joker hes moneys worth!!! love his game and his will to win!
Anisimova pretty great, as is The Demon, and Tiafoe.
Out of the big three, Nadal has probably impressed me the most, especially given the limited match play beforehand. He did show some signs of rust in that first-round match, but since then he has been dominant and aggressive, aside from a few hiccups in serving it out. The new serve is going well and he’s hitting the forehand nicely.
Djokovic has also played great tennis, it’s just that he’s dropped his level a few times. Yesterday against Shapovalov was a bit of a worry, he seemed to lose his cool over nothing much – shadows on the court, the lights being turned on during the day, and people cheering a DF. Those DF’s still seem to creep into his game when he gets nervous. Still, after conceding the 3rd set he bounced back strongly and won the fourth easily. I think it will be a tall order to beat him on this court if he’s playing well, but Medvedev should still be a nice test. I don’t really see Federer or Nadal beating him here, but I would be happy to be proved wrong. Outside of Nadal on clay, I just see Djokovic being more comfortable with those match-ups than his opponents.
Federer has played okay overall, but I did not think that the signs against Dan Evans were great. Evans made a lot of balls back and was able to expose Fed’s movement and draw UE’s. On the plus-side, he did win all the big moments, but the fact that it got to that point should be reason for some concern imo. Has a tough draw from here.
As for the youngsters, I really like watching De Minaur. If I had to bet on him ever winning a slam, I’d be leaning towards ‘no’ due to the lack of a power game/serve (he’s really in that Hewitt mould), but I hope he can at least be in the running. Rafa is a terrible match-up for him, but it was still entertaining to watch.