Bill Simons and Vinay Venkatesh
Melbourne
The Aussie Open is always about renewal. The Happy Slam is the opening day of school. And this year an early theme was the return of many stars. There’s a long list of players including Angie Kerber, Paula Badosa, Marin Cilic, Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Emma Raducanu, Jen Brady, Matteo Berrettini and Elina Svitolina, who are all slated to return.
But it was the big names, who’d been sidelined that we were so eager to see. Two-time Aussie champ Naomi Osaka will be returning after a fifteen month absence, during which she gave birth to her first child. But tennis’ ringmaster-in-chief, Aussie Nick Kyrgios, pulled out weeks ago. His ankle hasn’t healed.
Worse yet, Rafa Nadal, who hadn’t played since he was injured in last year’s Aussie Open, won’t be playing either. Earlier this month he thrilled his passionate fanbase when he returned to Australia, won two matches and had match points against Aussie Jordan Thompson. But then catastrophe struck: he injured his hip again. Now he hopes to return in three months for the clay court circuit he so loves. Broadcaster Monica Puig got it right: Rafa’s injury “makes the whole world sad.”
He’s won the Aussie Open twice, but has a long problematic history with Down Under tennis. It’s not only that he’s lost four times in the final, he also retired against Andy Murray in 2013 and exited in pain last year against Mackie McDonald in the second round.
Yes, Novak Djokovic has won ten Aussie Open titles, but he’s had issues too. In 2021 he played with a torn abdomen. In 2022 he was banned and then expelled from the country. Last year his hamstring gave him issues and this year he’s coping with a wrist injury. Still, you don’t really want to bet against the GOAT, who’s landed on top so often down under. The prime question in Melbourne is simple: can anyone beat Nole?
TENNIS’ MOST CURIOUS BROADCASTING DUO? Maybe Eurosport didn’t get the memo, but the word in tennis was that we weren’t supposed to invite Boris Becker and Nick Kyrgios to the same party. After all, for years the two titans have been going at each other in a seemingly unending intergenerational feud.
Now the curious duo will be doing Eurosport’s Aussie Open coverage together. In 2020 Nick called Boris a “doughnut.” Becker later called Nick “a rat” for going after his student, Novak Djokovic, due to the Serb’s COVID stance.
In 1985 Becker scored the most thrilling star-is-born ATP win in history when he won Wimbledon at 17. He quickly played a huge role in the popularization of tennis in Germany and Europe. The Hall of Famer eventually became No. 1, won six majors, coached Djokovic to six Slams and was a BBC commentator. Last year the 56-year-old served a ten month sentence for financial fraud.
For his part Nick is an international superstar who lights up arenas and is the most charismatic player to never win a Slam. Last year the 28-year-old pleaded guilty in a domestic violence case, then later drew plaudits (despite a spicy slip of the tongue) as a superb TV Channel analyst.
Recently when talking with the Athletic he referred to Becker’s era saying, “The game was so slow back then. I’ve watched Boris Becker and I’m not saying they weren’t good in their time, but to say that they would be just as good now, it’s absurd.”
He later addressed Becker directly, “Bro, I’ve been one of the FEW PLAYERS that have brought a million more fans to the sport and have made more money for everyone. NETFLIX…Don’t remember seeing Boris on there…[The] guy is ridiculous. I’ve made my career off the court without the help of the others.”
Boris countered, “Nick makes a lot of noise about tennis lately!?! Why does he speak about a sport he apparently hates…Nick has never won a major championship as a player or a coach…so where is his credibility coming from?”
The duo’s upcoming broadcasts might well be must-watch TV. Plus, Kyrgios is reportedly also doing some commentary for ESPN.
AN ETHEREAL SPIRIT DEPARTS: Taipei’s Su-Wei Hsieh has retired from singles. She was a finesse artist like no other. We once observed, “She slows the pace, she dinks and dunks, and is a David in the face of the Goliaths of the game.” Maria Sharapova called her “a nightmare.”
With some ease, Hsieh, who won doubles titles at Wimbledon, the French Open and Indian Wells and was the No. 1 ranked doubles player, can turn a tennis court into a torture chamber. With unconventional two-handed strokes off both wings, she reminds you of “the magician” – France’s retired Fabrice Santoro, or maybe another old French player, Francoise Durr.
Hsieh, who reached No. 23 in singles, offers little pace and inhales her foe’s power.
She cuts beneath the ball. At times her drop shots seem to be going backward. She’s a knuckleballer, savvy and experienced. It’s hard to figure out her puzzle – and her mix can be toxic. Often, her frustrated foes are off-balance and far beyond their comfort zones.
She once left Naomi Osaka gasping: “She runs everything down. I can never really tell where she’s going to put the ball. She hits down the line and then hits a weird crosscourt shot. It’s very, very hard to have a rally with her. I had to wait, and that’s difficult to do, because my patience isn’t so great.” Osaka smashed her racket. She wasn’t the first one.
The tennis circuit has lost a singular stylist and an ethereal spirit.
GIVE ME JUST ONE TEAR: After the gifted Elena Rybakina won the Brisbane title, the former Wimbledon champ was impassive as usual and displayed little emotion. Broadcaster Monica Puig was not pleased: “She wins the title and no celebration, no nothing. I’m like, ‘Give me something. Give me a tear, just one tear, a grin, just one little grin, let me see some teeth.’ You just won a title, girl!”
COCO CONTINUES: US Open champ Coco Gauff showed her championship mettle as she defended her title in Auckland, where she’s lost just one set in two years. She’s won seven tourneys as a teen. Only two others have won more.
COCO ON PARENTHOOD: Are young women these days more reluctant to become mothers? When Gauff, who is just 19, was honoring Elina Svitolina on becoming a mother, she showed her ambivalence on becoming a mom in just one giggly, whiplash sentence. She said, “Hopefully never, [well] not any time soon. I’ll be able to do it like you did.”
OSAKA ON PARENTHOOD: Naomi Osaka, who became a mother in July, confided, “I feel like the last couple years I played before I had my daughter I didn’t return as much love as I was given.”
ANDY MURRAY ON PARENTHOOD: The Brit, who has four children, confided, “I used to remember everything about my matches until I had kids. [Now] literally my memory’s gone. I hardly remember any of my matches, like scores, anything like that.”
GOODNIGHT TO LATE NIGHT MATCHES? After he finished an Aussie Open match at 4:05 am Murray said late night matches are a health hazard. Denis Shapovalov called them the most brutal part of the sport. The Italian Open’s women’s final started at 11:00 PM. And after his late night match at the Paris Open, Jannik Sinner withdrew from the tourney.
Now the ATP and the WTA have announced new guidelines that call for night sessions to start by 7:30 PM and preferably at 6:30. They also call for no more than five matches per day to be played per court and for no matches starting after 11 PM.
The two groups are also working on making the tennis balls that are used on the circuit more consistent.
21,000 MILES FOR NOTHING: What a career Carlos Moya has had! The best Spanish player named Carlos until Carlos Alcaraz rudely usurped that honor, played an instrumental role in the emergence of Nadal, became No. 1 in the world, led Spain to the Davis Cup and, when Uncle Toni Nadal stepped aside in 2016, took over as Rafa’s coach.
No wonder he became a candidate for the Hall of Fame. But the past month has been tough. He fell short of getting into the Hall and he traveled 10,500 miles from Spain to Brisbane, only to see his man Rafa win just two warm-up matches before he pulled out, and Team Rafa had to retreat to Spain.
RYAN’S EXPRESS COMES TO A HALT: Ryan Harrison, who started playing tennis at two, always had deep links to Louisiana football. His dad and grandad were legends who could throw 50-yard passes. Drew Brees was his hero and Ryan was considered a can’t-miss prodigy with a Stan Wawrinka-like barrel chest and a mighty forehand. He turned pro at 15 – the future was bright. He had plenty of spunk, and few were more combative. But, perhaps more than any other, he was famous for his lousy draws. Yes, he and Michael Venus scored big, winning the 2017 French Open and Ryan had sweet moments of Davis Cup glory. But he just couldn’t break through in singles, and after a 14-year career he’s stepping aside. The American won only one title – in Memphis. His highest ranking was No. 40, he never got beyond the third round of a Slam and he’s won only one Slam match since 2018. Still, he not only battled on, he gave us one of the best match analyses of all time. After one Davis Cup doubles match he explained the vast improvement in his play, saying “I started trying to get my volleys over the net.”
ATP POLITICS: Northern California hasn’t had a singles Grand Slam champion since Don Budge in 1942, but Mackie McDonald is one of just 11 persons on the ATP Player Advisory Council. BTW: Alexander Zverev was elected to the player council despite still facing a domestic violence charge. And the ATP still doesn’t have a domestic violence policy.
PEOPLE DIDN’T BELIEVE: Aussie Alex De Minaur beat three top-ten players in just a week in Brisbane. He downed No. 7 Alexander Zverev, No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No 10 Taylor Fritz, and broke into the top ten for the first time. He also downed Carlos Alcaraz in an exhibition match. Asked where this new level of play came from, he replied, “It comes from a lot of people not believing in me. So I’m just here to prove a lot of people wrong.”
MARTZ MADE HIS MARK: The sweet, mellow sports journalist Jim Martz who long made his mark in Miami and founded Tennis Florida died at age 80.
