Running tennis thread 2024

Tennis is back -- tuneups for the Aussie Open are underway.

And... Naomi Osaka is back on the court. She lost tonight (tomorrow in Australia) in the second round of the Brisbane tournament to Karolina Pliskova 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Iga Swiatek opens the new season at No. 1 among the women, overtaking Sabalenka by winning the final big event of 2023, the WTA Finals. She's been cruising to easy wins so far in the United Cup, a team event being held in Sydney and Perth.

Djokovic, who begins the season at No. 1 by a wide margin on the men's side, is also playing in the United Cup.

One guy to watch is Jannik Sinner, who had a very strong post-U.S. Open finish to his season. He's No. 4 and closing quickly on No. 3 Medvedev, who Sinner beat in tournament finals in Beijing and Vienna, and in the ATP Finals (before losing to Djoker). He did beat Djokovic in the Davis Cup in November.

 

Djoker is the last of the Big Four standing and has about 2-3 years unabated to put the record into the stratosphere.

Even if he retired today, it would take the next challenger 6 years in a row of Grand Slams to match him and they're starting from literally zero. There is NOBODY else active who has won a men's Grand Slam other than Nadal that I can find. That's nuts.

 

Medvedev won the U.S. Open in 2021.

 

Alcaraz has two. Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have three. Medvedev and Thiem each have one.

 

During his loss in Brisbane, he had to get treatment for what he said was pain in the same area as the injury that sidelined him last year. After the match, he said, "In ideal world, it's just the muscle supercharged after a few days of effort and a very tough match."

Last night, I was watching the Brisbane women's final and the announcers were interviewing Taylor Fritz's coach, who is in Melbourne. They asked him if Djokovic and Nadal look ready to play, and he said Djoker looks good but he hadn't seen Nadal there, which was unusual and raised concerns.

I've said this before and been very wrong (like 10 years ago, when he had all those issues with his knees), but I think Rafa is finally done. His body is breaking down quickly.

 

OK, Aussie Open ready to get started this weekend -- qualifying is already going on.

While Djokovic and Alcaraz are the clear top two among the men, some others come in on a hot streak -- notably Alex de Minaur, who beat Djoker in the United Cup last week and Alcaraz in an exhibition match in Melbourne this week. Sinner had a strong finish to 2023 and has won twice in Kooyong this week, including a victory over Casper Ruud.

Of course, Medvedev is a threat in any hard court tournament, and he's twice been a finalist in Melbourne. But unlike everyone else, he enters the tournament without having played a tuneup event or even an exhibition.

Swiatek is the women's favorite, having swept through the United Cup. Coco Gauff is off to a great start in 2024, beating Svitolina to claim the title in Auckland, though she actually dropped a spot to No. 4 in the rankings because Elena Rybakina (now No. 3) won in Brisbane, a higher-level tournament (beating No. 2 Sabalenka in the final).

 

Just checked Osaka's draw. She's in as a wild card and will face Carolina Garcia, who has sunk rapidly from No. 4 a year ago to No. 20 now, in the first round. If she gets through that, there's an intriguing potential matchup with Gauff in the fourth round.

 

Well, she's not the first top 10 seed to be ousted -- Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova (7) lost in the first round to qualifier Dayana Yastremska -- but No. 6 Ons Jabeur's loss tonight was probably the more shocking upset just because of how it happened. Jabeur was dismantled by 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-0, 6-2 and played absolutely miserably.

In some ways, it was not really surprising. Andreeva is a fast-rising up-and-comer who was actually the betting favorite (at least, according to the ESPN commentators) over Jabeur, who came into the tournament having not played a tour-level match since early November. But no one expected such a complete obliteration.

 

BTW, Osaka lost her opening match to Garcia, 6-4, 7-6.

 

I stumbled on a video of Andreeva playing against an ATP Tour pro (albeit ranked about 1,150). Held her own quite well, I thought.

She is going to be magnificent, barring injuries.