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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