Tennis Grand Slam tournament: Australian Open start with many question marks – tennis

Melbourne (AP) – The start of the Australian Open is a start into the unknown year after year for the stars of the tennis industry.

But there have never been as many question marks as before the Corona edition in 2021 before the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. Will tournament director Craig Tiley really manage to hold a Grand Slam tournament in front of spectators in the middle of the pandemic? Can all professionals play their matches or are they stopped by quarantine requirements? And will the favorites prevail again in the end or will there be new Grand Slam champions in the Rod Laver Arena? The next two weeks will provide answers to these questions, and forecasts are more difficult than ever.

“It’s an extraordinary situation in an extraordinary time,” said Germany’s tennis legend Boris Becker. Because all the players had to be quarantined for two weeks after their arrival in Australia and around 70 professionals and supervisors were not allowed to leave their hotel rooms because of positive corona cases on their flights, the start of the tournament is like a lucky bag. “It’s like nothing a tennis player has ever experienced. That is the opposite of optimal preparation, not all had the same conditions, ”said Becker. «I see a lot of surprises in the first few weeks. It will be more interesting than in recent years. ”

From a German point of view, the hopes rest once again on Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber, who should both play their first round matches on the German night on Monday. Zverev made a good impression at the ATP Cup, which Russia won in the final against Italy on Sunday. Although he only won against the Canadian Denis Shapovalov, his performances in the three-set defeats against top favorite Novak Djokovic and the Russian title candidate Daniil Medvedev were promising.

Kerber was one of those professionals who were not allowed to leave their hotel room for two weeks. She even had to spend her 33rd birthday alone. Her two victories at the preparation tournament this week showed that the Melbourne winner from 2016 is ready for the first highlight of the season.

There are still some question marks behind many other stars before the start. The Spaniard Rafael Nadal is still struggling with back problems that made his participation in the ATP Cup impossible. But Nadal is not thinking of giving up the Australian Open. “I do not waste a thought not to play,” said the 34-year-old. “The question is, in what condition I can go into the tournament,” said the number two in the world, who could only win in Melbourne in 2009 so far.

Should he win the title this year, he would be the professional tennis player with the most men’s Grand Slam victories. So far, Nadal and Roger Federer, who is missing in Melbourne this year, have each won 20 Grand Slam tournaments. Novak Djokovic follows with 17 titles.

In the women’s category, Serena Williams is making her next attempt to draw level with the controversial Australian Margaret Court with 24 Grand Slam titles. In addition, the Australian Ashleigh Barty is returning to the tennis tour at her home Grand Slam. Because of the Corona crisis, she had refrained from traveling in 2020 and has therefore not played a match since the end of February last year. On her comeback she won the title at the Yarra Valley Classic and showed that she is to be expected.

A triumph of the world number one would certainly also be in the spirit of tournament boss Tiley. The bustling Tiley has taken a lot of criticism for his plans to fly in tennis professionals from all over the world for the tournament and thus jeopardize the Australians’ success in the fight against the virus, according to many Australians. Not everyone can understand that around 30,000 spectators are allowed onto the system every day.

Shortly before the start of the Australian Open, he defended his approach again. A cancellation would have been “catastrophic,” Tiley said on Sunday. In this case, the loss of the tournament for the metropolis on the Yarra River would have threatened. “It wouldn’t have been in the next year that we wouldn’t have had the Grand Slam tournament, but it wouldn’t have taken much longer to lose it,” said Tiley.

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