Bill Simons
At last, after months of nerve-wracking uncertainty, the beloved Happy Slam is here. So it’s time to look at our notes.
HOW DO YOU SPELL HERO? C-r-a-i-g T-i-l-e-y, the immensely popular Australian Open tournament director, has hurdled over one obstacle after another for months just to make the Happy Slam happy.
FEEL-GOOD NEWS FLASH: Yes, there will be 30,000 people attending the Australian Open each day.
TIP OF THE YEAR: So far the most inventive advice this year was the succinct suggestion to players stuck in rodent-friendly hotels – “Don’t eat the mice.”
HAIR THIS: Inside Tennis takes pride in its in-depth, fearless coverage over the years on tennis players and their hair. We’ve covered Agassi’s mullet, the shearing of James Blake’s long locks, Dustin Brown’s glorious braids, and we went all in on the day Wozniacki’s ponytail got stuck in her Babolat. But nothing has been more bizarre than the stand taken by Bernard Tomic’s girlfriend Vanessa Sierra. While quarantining in a Melbourne hotel, she complained about the cold food she got and said the worst part was washing her own hair. “I don’t wash my hair, I never wash my own hair, it’s just something I don’t do.”
SERENA WILL GIVE YOU THE MUMBLES: As Daria Gavrilova was getting drubbed, Ted Robinson noted, “She has the mumbles.” James Blake added, “Serena will do that to you.”
WHAT I MISSED: Inside Tennis asked some of the leading lights in tennis what they missed about tennis the most during the shutdown of tennis. Here are their responses.
- Writer Richard Evans said, “I miss being inside tennis’ special bubble at tournaments that has always existed before. It’s a unique, nomadic, incredibly diverse and international family of players, coaches, agents, writers, photographers and broadcasters who all love a great sport and fashion its future every day. I was privileged to be a part of it.”
- Mary Carillo answered, “What I’ve missed most about tennis is how much it used to mean to me. I had no appetite for exhibition tennis last summer, as the cruel, racist politics of America became a true blood sport. I really miss caring about tennis the way I used to. Can our country redeem itself now, so that I can go back to caring about the things I love? I keep in mind what Andy Dufresne says in The Shawshank Redemption: ‘Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.’ Here’s hoping.”
- Rafa confided, “Honestly, in a normal situation I remember when I got injured, I missed the feeling of being competitive, the fight for a real goal, and of course playing in front of the crowd. That’s something that I missed a lot, no? In this case, with the virus, of course I missed the tennis, but during these tough months of quarantine in Spain, we had too many problems to think about tennis, no? I was missing a normal life more than tennis.”
- Tracy Austin responded, “I missed the normal pattern of the schedule. The Sunshine Double leads to the clay, then comes the grass, followed by the US Open series. We lived our lives for decades with this rhythm, but in 2020 so many events had to be canceled or were pushed to a different time slot. I’m looking forward to the day when we can have fans in the stands and our schedule uninterrupted.”
- Hall of Fame writer and historian Steve Flink said, “First and foremost, I was saddened tremendously by Wimbledon being cancelled altogether. It has been my favorite of all the majors ever since I first went there in 1965. I had missed the tournament only three times since last year and had reported on Wimbledon 43 years in a row, from 1977-2019. I’ve always loved its pageantry and the feeling of not wanting to be anywhere else during that incomparable fortnight year after year. The world is watching tennis more devotedly than at any other time of the year when the festival over a fortnight is played at Wimbledon.”
- Novak Djokovic recalled, “I missed seeing the crowd…I had goosebumps coming into the court playing in front of the fans after 12 months. This is one of the biggest driving forces and inspirations – feeding off that energy, exchanging that great passion and joy.”
NOLE ON NICK: Novak Djokovic said Nick Kyrgios “is good for the sport, he goes about things in an authentic way. Everyone has a right to express themselves in a way they want. He has a quality to beat everyone. Off the court, I don’t have much respect for him. I’ll leave it at that.”
HAIL TO THE VICTORS: Russia’s ATP Cup team, Aussie Ash Barty, Italian Jannik Skinner, American Ann Li and Estonian Anett Kontaveit and Brit Dan Evans all won trophies Saturday.
MOST ANTICIPATED MATCH OF OPENING DAY: Italian Jannik Sinner vs. Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
MISSING IN ACTION: Roger Federer, Andy Murray, John Isner, Amanda Anisimova and Kiki Bertens.
AMERICAN SHADE: Three of the United States’ brightest male prospects – Fritz Taylor, Reilley Opelka and Frances Tiafoe – are all poised to face Novak Djokovic in the second or third rounds.
WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? Last year’s men’s winner Novak Djokovic is a strong favorite to repeat. It would be his ninth Aussie title. Last year’s women’s champion, Sofia Kenin, is seeded No. 4, but she got drubbed this week by Garbine Muguruza 6-2.6-2. BTW: three of the top four seeds, No. 1 Ash Barty, No. 2 Simona Halep and No. 3 Naomi Osaka were all among the top four seeds in 2020.
SUPER BOWL SPECIAL: Tampa Bay Buccaneer running back Leonard Fournette said he had never played tennis, but if he practiced he would become top 5. BTW: During the Alabama vs. Ohio State national championship game, broadcaster Kirk Herbstreet said the nickname that Alabama’s offensive coordinator Steve Sarkasian gave to their fiery quarterback Mac Jones was “McEnroe” because he often “lost his cool.” Of course, Chris Fowler then quipped, “You can’t be serious.”
THE MOST FAMOUS KID IN THE WORLD? Stef Curry’s daughter and Tiger Woods and Andre Agassi’s sons have drawn lots of attention, but nothing like Olympia Ohanian. Serena’s daughter is the world’s most famous offspring of a current athlete. In Melbourne Serena was asked, “Does Olympia think every mama is a tennis player because her Aunt and her mother play?” Serena replied indirectly saying, “I don’t know what is going on in her little head, but she knows something is up.” Williams admitted she bristles when Olympia calls her Serena and will gently scold her, “How do you know my name is Serena? You’re supposed to call me Mama.” Serena confided that even though she doesn’t want Olympia to become a player, her three-year-old has a coach, is taking weekly lessons, her backhand is better than her forehand and Serena’s first instructions to Olympia were: “turn back, reach, follow through.” While Olympia’s dad Alexis is pushing soccer, Serena is true to her sport and is pushing tennis.
QUOTEBOOK
“Australia is what it looks like today – a country that is Covid-free (knock on wood) –because of a collective sacrifice for the greater good.” Karen Crouse on anti-COVID efforts down under
“Last year changed me a lot. There were a lot of things I was struggling with…During quarantine I really had to dig deep and try to figure it out for myself. There are a lot of people that had to go through that, and I’m just a person that you happen to ask questions to a lot.” – Naomi Osaka
SAY IT ISN’T SO: Benoit Paire double-faulted four times in one game against Fabio Fognini.
MAKES SENSE: Russian Anastasia Gasanova had never played a top 100 player in the world before she beat Karolina Plisokva in Abu Dhabi in early January. When the 21-year-old beat the former No. 1, Lindsay Davenport wondered, “Can we call this the upset of the year?” Brett Haber replied, “Well yes, it’s only three days old.”
MIRACLE WORKER: Due to a genetic condition, Brit Francesca Jones was born with just three fingers and a thumb on each hand. When she was eight a doctor told her she would never be able to play tennis. Now ranked No. 241, she qualified for the Australian Open.
Thank You for sending me all these wonderful stories. It was great to hear Novak say he loves playing in front of fans because as you know how much the fans love to be at any tennis tournament that have Federer, Rafa and Novak as we never know how long they will be playing and they are the Greatest as of now.