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New Year, and new tennis year about to start.
The AO starts later in January, with Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams the defending champions.
Can both retain their titles?
Djoker is chasing a 6th title, Federer a 5th, Nadal a double career grand slam, Wawrinka a 2nd, Murray his 1st (after 4 runners up plates).
In the Women, Serena is eyeing off a 7th title, and Steffi Graf's Slam record. The other women have just been bludgeoned off the court for the last 18 months by her, and her 2nd "Serena Slam".
Lead up events start on the weekend, include Brisbane, Chennai and Doha, and Shenzhen (WTA).
The stakes for this year's AO have never been higher.
Serena sure was fun to watch last year. I have already forgotten the name of the woman who finally beat her; what a shame that was. If she doesn't win here, no calendar slam this year for her (although I think it's fairly silly that it matters so much what order you win the slams in.. Winning US-Wimbledon is seriously no different from winning Australian-US.)
It will be interesting to see if Novak Djokovic can have as dominant a season in 2016 as he did in the 2015. IMO Djokovic even topped his spectacular 2011 season last year.
On the men's side, Djokovic has to be considered the favorite. Andy Murray, a 4 time runner-up in Melbourne, is probably the #2 choice, followed by Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. What will be particularly interesting to see is if any of the young guns, like Nick Kyrgios (still on probation for his antics in Canada), Borna Coric, Alex Zverev, Thanasi Kokkinakis, and/or Hyeon Chung can make noise (say, 4th round/round of 16 or better) at the first Grand Slam of 2016.
And now a positive H2H against Nadal for the first time! (Federer will be next).
Finals for other 250s, Chennai and Brisbane, will be on later today. (see ATP site).
It will be interesting to see if Novak Djokovic can have as dominant a season in 2016 as he did in the 2015. IMO Djokovic even topped his spectacular 2011 season last year.
On the men's side, Djokovic has to be considered the favorite. Andy Murray, a 4 time runner-up in Melbourne, is probably the #2 choice, followed by Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. What will be particularly interesting to see is if any of the young guns, like Nick Kyrgios (still on probation for his antics in Canada), Borna Coric, Alex Zverev, Thanasi Kokkinakis, and/or Hyeon Chung can make noise (say, 4th round/round of 16 or better) at the first Grand Slam of 2016.
I would place Wawrinka over Murray for sure. To WIN, you have to beat Djokovic.
Who has in the past beat Djokovic at Australian Open?
Who, even loss to Djokovic, was very close, in the past three years?
1) Like a lot of people (at least those based in North America), I wish the Australian Open started 2-3 weeks later (and that there was a Masters 1000, or at least a 500 event, on the men's side before the tournament). The big negative from a U.S.-centric point of view with a later start is the early matches on either the first Monday or second Monday of the tournament would occur at the same time as the Super Bowl, meaning few people in the U.S. would watch that particular day. (The afternoon sessions during the first four rounds of the Australian Open start the previous night at 7 PM Eastern U.S. Time. The Super Bowl always starts at about 6:30 PM on a Sunday night, currently the first Sunday in February.)
2) The Australian Open is one of the most enjoyable tournaments of the year for me personally. Because I don't follow college basketball as closely as I used to (and because I follow the NBA and NHL relatively casually, at least before the playoffs), I normally do watch a good chunk of the tournament, especially during the first four rounds. (I usually watch the early afternoon matches from 11 AM to about 4 PM Melbourne time, which is 7 PM to 12 AM Eastern U.S. Time, and then sometimes catch the end of the night session when I get up the next morning, particularly if the night session goes past 10 PM to 10:30 PM Melbourne time, which is 6 AM to 6:30 AM Eastern Time.)
Some major casualties already in both the men's and women's draws.
Nadal and Halep are gone.
Azarenka is the only one in the mix to beat Serena and I really hope she does. I don't want to see another boring year of the beast dominating every slam.
Likewise I hope Djokovic doesn't have everything his own way again. Murray or Wawrinka are his main challengers along with maybe Federer.
Although Mrs Murray might have more of a say in how far through the tournament Andy gets than any of his fellow competitors.
Some major casualties already in both the men's and women's draws.
Nadal and Halep are gone.
Azarenka is the only one in the mix to beat Serena and I really hope she does. I don't want to see another boring year of the beast dominating every slam.
Likewise I hope Djokovic doesn't have everything his own way again. Murray or Wawrinka are his main challengers along with maybe Federer.
Although Mrs Murray might have more of a say in how far through the tournament Andy gets than any of his fellow competitors.
Agree about Serena, she continues to brutalize the tour (and has the build of a rugby front rower to boot), not sure how much longer a 34 y.o. can keep dominating though, that Serena Slam at 33 was astounding as it was.
Most of her major competitors, like Azarenka and Sharapova, just fold like a pack of cards with her though.
Djokovic too, although a fan, cannot stay at the top forever either - Federer for instance has only won 1 Slam in the last 6 years since the 2010 AO, and only 1 after turning 29- ie since his 2012 Wimbledon.
Djoker is nearly 29 now.
Would be good if Murray can finally get over the line in Melbourne.
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