Australian Open 2024: Rested Swiatek, Alcaraz eye maiden titles

World primary Iga Swiatek and two-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz are primed and able to resume their quests for a maiden Australian Open title on Tuesday after taking the time to recharge their batteries throughout the low season.

Swiatek, who’s among the many favourites for the ladies’s singles title, might be hoping to enhance on final 12 months’s fourth-round exit after a powerful begin to the season by which she gained all 5 of her singles matches on the United Cup combined workforce occasion.

The Pole credited her “peaceful” low season for her spectacular type, telling reporters: “I literally could just focus on practicing and resting.

“I remember last year it was all pretty hectic because I had plenty of stuff to do off court.

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“I realised that sometimes I let myself not be focused 100% because I played so many matches that I said to myself, ‘Okay, I have like six weeks now of not playing matches, so I can kind of chill out’.”

In her first-round match, 2022 Australian Open semi-finalist Swiatek faces American Sofia Kenin, who she beat 6-4, 6-1 within the French Open ultimate in 2020 to assert the primary of her 4 Grand Slam titles.

Carlos Alcaraz of Spain practices throughout day one of many 2024 Australian Open.
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Men’s world quantity two Alcaraz additionally begins his marketing campaign on Tuesday, and by comparability to Swiatek, the Spaniard is nearly undercooked, having opted to skip all of the warm-up occasions this month.

Ahead of his first-round assembly with veteran Richard Gasquet, Alcaraz stated he wanted a vacation to get better from a gruelling 2023 season by which he gained six titles, together with Wimbledon, Madrid and Indian Wells.

“We ended the season so, so late. I prefer to have a holiday, have my days to recover my body, my mind as well,” Alcaraz stated.

“I think we discussed with my team, as well, that we need almost four, five weeks of pre-season to prepare well this season, for the first Grand Slam of the year.

“We had no time if I wanted to play a tournament before the Australian Open. At the end we preferred to come here straight to a Grand Slam.”

German sixth seed Alexander Zverev takes on compatriot Dominik Koepfer, whereas girls’s third seed Elena Rybakina faces former world primary Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic within the night time session on Rod Laver Arena.

Rybakina’s night slot on the primary showcourt is a far cry from the settings of her first-round match eventually 12 months’s Australian Open, when she started her marketing campaign on an outer courtroom at Melbourne Park regardless of being the Wimbledon champion.