The 2023 version of the Australian Open, first Grand Slam of the yr, is scheduled to be held from January 16 to 29 in Melbourne.
Here’s all it is advisable to know concerning the this yr’s event:
Storylines to observe
Djokovic returns
The largest storyline of this yr’s Australian Open is the return of nine-time champion Novak Djokovic. Former World No. 1 Djokovic was deported in controversial circumstances on the eve of final yr’s event after his unvaccinated COVID-19 standing. However, with Australia not requiring guests to be vaccinated, Djokovic’s three-year entry ban was overturned, and the visa was granted. The Serbian can turn out to be the second man ever within the Open Era to win a single Major not less than 10 occasions. A title-winning run would additionally imply Djokovic tying Rafael Nadal’s all-time males’s document of profitable most Majors (22).
Swiatek favorite to win girls’s title
Ash Barty’s title-winning run in 2022 ended Australia’s 44-year-old for a house champion in singles. However, two months later, Barty introduced her retirement from the game. Shortly after Barty stated goodbye to the game, Poland’s Iga Swiatek turned World No. 1 and dominated the remainder of the season. The 21-year-old Swiatek enters this yr’s event because the favorite for the title.
Teenage dream
This yr’s Australian Open may have fairly a number of youngsters competing in the primary draw. On the ladies’s aspect, as many as 5 youngsters certified for the primary draw, with the youngest of them being 15-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova from the Czech Republic. Brenda’s elder sister Linda, 17, already had direct entry into the primary draw. In the lads’s singles, Shang Juncheng, a 17-year-old from China, certified for the primary draw, becoming a member of his older compatriots Wu Yibing and Zhang Zhizhen.
The 2023 Australian Open has a listing of noticeable absentees with probably the most distinguished being males’s World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. (File Photo)
| Photo Credit: AP
Some massive names lacking
The 2023 Australian Open has a listing of noticeable absentees with probably the most distinguished being males’s World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz. The Spanish teenager, who took the tennis world by storm final yr, is out of the primary Slam this yr after hurting himself “through a chance, unnatural movement in training.” Marin Cilic, 2018 finalist, can also be out resulting from a knee damage.
On the ladies’s aspect, two-time champion Naomi Osaka, Paula Badosa, Ajla Tomljanovic, Venus Williams and Simona Halep are set to overlook this yr’s event. Osaka just lately introduced that she is pregnant and plans to return to tennis on the 2024 Australian Open. Halep is serving a provisional doping ban. The different three gamers are out resulting from damage.
First Slam after Federer’s retirement
The 2023 Australian Open is the primary Major after the retirement of 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, who performed his farewell match on the 2022 Laver Cup. Some different established names are about to say goodbye to the game. Sam Stosur, the 38-year-old Australian, who forward of final yr’s Australian Open, stated that she would focus solely on doubles, just lately introduced her resolution to retire on Instagram after enjoying her residence Slam. Indian tennis legend Sania Mirza will retire after the WTA1000 occasion in Dubai subsequent month, and subsequently, the 2023 Australian Open would be the ultimate Grand Slam of her profession.
What occurred final yr
Barty turned the primary Australian in 44 years to win a singles trophy on the nation’s Grand Slam event by beating Danielle Collins 6-3, 7-6 (2) within the ultimate. That gave Barty the third main title of her profession — after the French Open in 2019 and Wimbledon in 2021.
Nadal earned his twenty first Grand Slam trophy by way of an epic comeback to beat Daniil Medvedev 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. It was the primary time in 57 years {that a} man gained an Australian Open ultimate after dropping the primary two units.
Draws
Men’s Singles
Top seed and defending champion Nadal has acquired a tricky draw along with his first-round opponent being Great Britain’s Jack Draper. Nadal may face USA’s Frances Tiafoe within the fourth spherical, having misplaced to the 24-year-old on the similar stage in final yr’s US Open. His potential quarterfinal opponent may very well be Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in a repeat of final yr’s ultimate. Djokovic might be up in opposition to Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain within the first spherical.
READ: Australian Open 2023 males’s singles draw
Women’s Singles
Top seed and World No. 1 Iga Swiatek faces a difficult first-round opponent in Germany’s Jule Niemeier, 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinalist. Three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek may face seventh-seeded American Coco Gauff within the quarterfinals in a possible rematch of the 2022 French Open ultimate.
READ: Australian Open 2023 girls’s singles draw
Prize cash
The Australian Open is the primary Grand Slam to supply equal prize cash to each the lads’s and ladies’s winners. The whole prize cash for the 2023 version is 76.5 million Australian {dollars} (about $53 million). The girls’s and males’s singles champions will every be paid 2.975 million Australian {dollars} (about $2 million), a drop of 37.5% from final yr’s cheques of 4.4 million Australian {dollars} (about $3.15 million).
Where to look at
In India, viewers will have the ability to watch the reside telecast of the Australian Open on the Sony Sports Network and stream the matches reside on the SonyLiv app.
Trophies
The males’s singles championship trophy is named the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, named after Australian tennis nice Sir Norman Everard Brookes. He gained three Grand Slam titles in his profession: Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914 and the 1911 Australasian Championships. He was additionally part of the nation’s Davis Cup staff that emerged victorious on six events. Post-retirement, Brookes went on to turn out to be the president of the LTAA.
The girls’s singles championship trophy is named the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, named after the winner in 1925-26 and 1928-30. Akhurst was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame on Australia Day (26 January) in 2006. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.
Most profitable gamers on the Australian Open:
Men’s
- ⦿
Novak Djokovic: 9 titles (2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021) - ⦿
Roger Federer: 6 titles (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018) - ⦿
Roy Emerson: 6 titles (1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967) - ⦿
Andre Agassi: 4 titles (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003) - ⦿
Ken Rosewall: 4 titles (1953, 1955, 1971, 1972) - ⦿
Jack Crawford: 4 titles (1931, 1932, 1933, 1935)
Women’s
- ⦿
Margaret Court: 11 titles (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973) - ⦿
Serena Williams: 7 titles (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2017) - ⦿
Nancye Wynne Bolton: 6 titles ( 1937, 1940, 1946, 1947,1948, 1951) - ⦿
Daphne Akhurst: 5 titles (1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1930) - ⦿
Monica Seles: 4 titles (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996) - ⦿
Steffi Graf: 4 titles (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994)