Ria Beri ‘27
EE Staff Writer
This past weekend marked one of the most important times of the year on the tennis calendar. The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, concluded its two-week run, with the women’s finals on Saturday, January 27 and the men’s finals on Sunday, January 28. This tournament is one of four annual Grand Slams, championships in which top players compete in hopes of winning one of the most prestigious titles in tennis and receiving 2,000 points to add to their international ranking. No. 4 Italian player Jannik Sinner won the 2024 men’s tournament while No. 2 Belarusian seed Aryna Sabalenka was honored as the women’s champion for the second year in a row.
After 4 days of qualifier rounds, the main draw kicked off on Saturday, January 13. Although the majority of the top seeded players won their first round, there were a few notable upsets, including Marin Cilic, Marketa Vondrousova, and Naomi Osaka’s losses. Top seeds Frances Tiafoe, Maria Sakkari, Holger Rune, and Ons Jabeur were also defeated in the second round, the round of 64. In the men’s draw, Medvedev, Sinner, Djokovic, and Zverev all eventually defeated their top-seeded opponents to advance to the semi-finals.
After an epic five-setter between Zverev and Medvedev and a four-setter between Sinner and Djokovic, winners Sinner and Medvedev were set to face off in the finals at 3:30am EST. Although the timing did not conveniently align with ours, those who woke up early may have been just in time for the 5th set of this epic final. Medvedev had clinched the first two sets 6-3 6-3, leading many to believe that he would be the definite champion. Nevertheless, Sinner fired back to seize the three succeeding sets in a nail-biting turnaround.
In the women’s draw, top seed Iga Swiatek was defeated in the 3rd round, increasing Sabalenka’s chances of clutching the trophy. The semi finals narrowed the potential winners down to Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Quinwen Zheng, and Dayana Yastremeska, of which Sabalenka and Zheng advanced on to the finals. On Saturday morning, Sabalenka defeated Zheng in a dominant fashion, posing a final score of 6-3 6-2. No. 1 doubles seed Rohan Bopanna and partner Matthew Ebden won the men’s doubles title while Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-wei won the women’s doubles title. Hsieh Su-wei and Jan Zielinski also vanquished their opponents, claiming the mixed doubles title.
Widely regarded as the GOAT, Djokovic has been playing on the tour for 21 years and has won 24 Grand Slams, the most of any player in the Open Era. However, Djokovic’s performance has been heading downhill lately, causing many to believe that the end of his legendary career is near. Nevertheless, Djokovic himself does not believe that his age is catching up with him. While he acknowledges that he is not “one of the youngsters anymore,” as stated in his interview after his semifinal loss, he firmly feels that “it is not the beginning of the end.” On the other hand, Sinner credits his success to the ambiance of the fans at his matches. In his post-win interview, he thanks the audience for creating such a great atmosphere. He proclaims that their support gave him the right amount of pressure and motivated him to play his best tennis, declaring that he “likes to dance in a pressure storm.”
Sabalenka too credits her success to focusing on the individual moment rather than the tournament as a whole. “I just keep trying to focus on myself… hopefully I can keep going… I’m not trying to be perfect” she said, following her win. Although one of the bigger tournaments, the Australian Open is just 1 of the 64 championships that occur each year. While Swiatek and Djokovic maintain the no. 1 ranking on both tours, all players will have several opportunities to win tournaments and boost their rankings this coming year. The next ATP tournament is the Dallas Open, which starts February 5, while the Davis Cup qualifiers are taking place right now. The next grand slam, French Open, will start on May 20 and will be held at the Roland Garros Stadium in Paris.