MUMBAI: “Not enough tennis has been talked about in the last couple of weeks, which is a shame,Stefanos Tsitsipas deadpanned, two days before the Australian Open, to a question on the Novak Djokovic saga.
It's back to talking-and watching-tennis. The 2022 Australian Open got underway, finally, on Monday.
Rafael Nadal, the only former Melbourne Park champion left in the men's draw, was up and running nice and early, enjoying a breezy start to his stormy buildup with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over American Marcos Giron. Not so smooth for Alexander Zverev in the last match under lights at Rod Laver Arena, but a scratchy 7-6(3), 6-1, 7-6(1) victory against fellow German Daniel Altmaier was enough to put him into the second round.
In the last 15 years, the first Grand Slam of the season has been dominated by the Big Three of men's tennis with all but one Australian Open won by Djokovic, Roger Federer or Nadal since 2006. The one exception was Stan Wawrinka, who was victorious at Melbourne Park in 2014 at the age of 29.
The Happy Slam was also witness to the re-emergence of Federer and Nadal from gloomy injuries and slide in form in their thirties as they contested that memorable 2017 final ranked 17th and ninth, respectively.
The younger set of challengers-or Gen Next-haven't really had a look-in with the Big Three keeping the door firmly shut in Melbourne. That door has now been thudded open with only one among the trio holding 20 Grand Slams each to guard it.
This story is from the January 18, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.
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This story is from the January 18, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.
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