Balkans | The Australian Open tennis tournament has begun, as Serbian tennis player Djokovic returns after a year’s sabbatical

The 2023 Australian Open tennis tournament also started today, in which Novak Djokovic, who was expelled from the country last year because he did not have a new type of coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine, will participate.

The Australian Open, one of the four most important tournaments of the tennis season, along with the French Open (Roland Garros), Wimbledon and the US Open, is being held for the 111th time this year between January 16 and 29.

The main draw matches of the Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of the season, first held in 1905, began in Melbourne.

A total of A$76.5 million (about 1 billion pounds) prize money will be distributed at the 2023 Australian Open. The winners of the women’s singles final on January 28 and the men’s singles final on January 29 will receive a cash prize of $2,975,000. Australian (about 39 million pounds).

Since it was held under strict Kovid-19 measures over the past two years, the tournament has seen a huge drop in spectators. Tribune will also operate at full capacity.

Athletes will not be required to test for Covid-19. Tennis players who are not feeling well are advised to just stay in their rooms. However, players caught up in Kovid-19 will be able to fight back if they want to.

Djokovic back in Melbourne

Novak Djokovic, the most successful male tennis player in the history of the tournament with 9 titles, will participate in the Australian Open this year, which he could not compete in in 2022 on the grounds that he did not meet the conditions presented by him. global epidemic.

The Serbian tennis player, who traveled to Melbourne last year after the tournament administration announced that athletes with medical exceptions could come to Australia, was questioned after incorrect information was discovered in the visa application form, and then his visa was revoked.

The court did not accept the reason for exempting Djokovic, who stayed in the hotel where the refugees were held for more than 10 days, and the tennis player, who won 21 major tournaments, was deported.

If Djokovic adds another title to his Australian Open titles, he will be the third person to win a major slam 10 times, after Margaret Court (Australian Open: 11) and Rafael Nadal (French Open: 14).

The 35-year-old will also attempt to beat Nadal’s record for “most male tennis players winning the most Grand Slams” with 22 titles.

Half of the main chart with Djokovic (4th seed) Casper Ruud (2), Andrei Rublev (5), Taylor Fritz (8), Holger Rohn (9), Alexander Zverev (12), Matteo Berrettini (13), Nick Kyrgios (19) ) and highlights 2020 finalist Dominic Thiem.

Nadal (1), who won the tournament in the absence of Djogovic last year, is in the other half of the main table, led by Stefanos Tsitsipas (3), Felix Auger-Aliassime (6), Daniil Medvedev (6), the finalist of 2021 and 2022 ( 7). ), Hubert Hurkacz (10), Cameron Norrey (11), Yannick Sinner (15), Francis Tiafoe (16).

Swiatek’s favorite woman

Ija Switik, who topped the women’s world rankings after last year’s champion Ashleigh Barty retired from tennis, is the top candidate for the tournament, given her performance in 2022, when she won eight singles titles.

However, we should not forget that at the Australian Open, where 21-year-old Swiatek played in the semi-finals in 2022, 8 different champions have appeared in the past 10 years.

Anas Jaber, who reached the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open in 2022, and Caroline Garcia, who crowned her rising level since last summer by winning the 2022 WTA Finals, are among the names that could disrupt the accounts of the Polish tennis players.

At the top of the main table is Swiatek (1), as well as Jessica Pegula (3), Maria Sakkari (6), Coco Gauff (7), Madison Keys (10), 2022 finalist Danielle Collins (13), finalist For 2019. She drew Petra Kvitova (15), last year’s Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina (22), 2012 and 2013 champion Victoria Azarenka (24), 2020 champion Sofia Kenin.

In the second half of home plate with Jabeur (2) and Garcia (4), Arina Sabalenka (5), Daria Kasatkina (8), Veronika Kudmitova (9), Belinda Bencic (12), Beatriz Haddad-Maia (14), Anett Kontaveit ( 16) and 2020 Finalist Garbine Muguruza.

Cars will not be able to participate in the tournament

Carlos Alcaraz, who reached the top of the men’s world rankings after winning the first major title of his career at the US Open last year, will not be able to participate in the tournament due to an injury to his right leg.

2018 finalist Marin Cilic, who is 18th in the men’s ranking, will also miss the first major championship of 2023 with a knee injury.

As for the women, 11th seed Paula Badusa will not be able to compete in the Australian Open due to a leg injury.

World number 12 Simona Halep will not be able to participate in the 2018 final due to a temporary doping ban.

Tennis fans will not be able to watch Naomi Osaka, who announced that she will be a mother, during the 2023 season.

History of the Australian Open

The tournament was first organized by Tennis Australia (LTAA) in 1905 on the grass courts of the Warehouseman’s Cricket Ground in Melbourne as the Australian Championship. Australian Rodney Heath won the first tournament featuring only male tennis players.

Norman Brooks, who has named the trophy given to a men’s singles champion since 1934 and the first tennis player to win Wimbledon from outside Britain, achieved his only victory at the tournament in 1911.

The organization, in which female tennis players could compete since 1922, was renamed the Australian Championship in 1927 and the Australian Open in 1969.

Australian Margaret Molesworth made tournament history as the first female champion. Daphne Akhurst Cousins, another Australian athlete who lent her name to the trophy won women’s singles champion since 1934, was in the top five in 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929 and 1930.

The tournament was hosted in 7 different cities, five in Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth) and twice in New Zealand (Christchurch and Hastings), and it was last held on grass courts in 1987.

Then, in 1988, the Australian Open, which started on a hard surface called “Rebound Ace” in the facilities of Melbourne Park, where matches are still held today, was held on another hard surface called “Plixi Casein” between 2008-2019 and “greenset” since 2020.

features of the court

The Rod Laver Arena, the largest stadium in the Melbourne Park facilities where the tournament was held, with a capacity of 14,820, is named after tennis legend Rodney George Laver, who had a happy ending in 4 major tournaments and won the Australian Open 3 times (1960, 1962, 1969). taken from

On a ground called “greenset,” which has a thinner top layer, the balls rise off the ground less compared to other hard floors. Ground, where balls bounce more uniformly and predictably, is known to be faster than clay courts and slower than grass courts.

“Best” Australian Open

Most wins in singles:

men:

1 – Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 9 times

2. * Roy Emerson (Australia) – 6

Roger Federer (Switzerland) – 6

4. * Jack Crawford (Australia) -4

Andre Agassi (USA) – 4

* Ken Rosewall (Australia) – 4 (* 2 + 2)

Thin:

1. * Margaret Court (Australia) – 11 (* 7 + 4)

2. Serena Williams (USA) – 7

3. * Nancy Wayne Bolton (Australia) – 6

Most consecutive winners:

men:

1. * Roy Emerson (Australia) – 5 years old (1963-1967).

2. * JACK CRAWFORD (AUSTRALIA) -3 (1931-1933).

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) – 3 (2011-2013 and 2019-2021)

Thin:

1. * Margaret Court (Australia) – 7 (1960-1966)

2. * Daphne Akhurst Cousins ​​(Australia) – 3 (1928-1930)

* Nancy Wayne Bolton (Australia) -3 (1946-1948).

Margaret Court (Australia) – 3 (1969-1971)

Yvonne Goolagong Cowley (Australia) – 3 years (1974-1976)

Steffi Graf (Germany) – 3 (1988-1990)

Monica Seles (USA) – 3 (1991-1993)

Martina Hingis (Switzerland) – 3 (1997-1999)

Winners in the last 10 years:

men:

2022 Rafael Nadal (Spain).

2021 Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

2020 Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

2019 Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

2018 – Roger Federer (Switzerland).

2017 Roger Federer (Switzerland).

2016 Novak Djokovic (Serbia).

2015 Novak Djokovic (Serbia).

2014 Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland).

2013 Novak Djokovic (Serbia).

Thin:

2022 Ashleigh Partey (Australia)

2021 Naomi Osaka (Japan).

2020 – Sophia Kenin (USA)

2019 Naomi Osaka (Japan).

2018 Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)

2017 Serena Williams (USA).

2016 Angelique Kerber (Germany).

2015 Serena Williams (USA).

2014 Li Na (China)

2013 Victoria Azarenka (Belarus)

Youngest winners:

Men: * Ken Rosewall (Australia) (1953) – 18 years old

Women: Martina Hingis (Switzerland) (1997) – 16 years old

Oldest winners:

Men: Ken Rosewall (Australia) (1972) – 37 years old

Women: * Thelma Queen Long (Australia) (1954) – 35 years old

Note: * Including tournaments won before the open period (in 1968 when professional tennis players were allowed to play against amateur players).

Source: AA