01/18/2020
Tennis L Not easy to name a favorite to win the Australian Open this year.
Finding the winner of the 2020 Australian Open is as difficult as getting a six in the lottery. With 15 grand slam champions present in the table and in the absence of Bianca Andreescu, who won the last US Open and who would probably be the strongest if she was not betrayed by her physique, the uncertainty is total .
The quest Serena Williams will once again be the thread of the tournament. Since her seventh and last victory in Melbourne in 2017, the American has only been a coronation of Margaret Court’s 24 grand slam record. But despite the title picked Sunday in Auckland, the champion can not be considered the favorite of the tournament. She will start on the same line as the world No 1 Ashleigh Barty, who can fully exploit the advantage of playing at home, than the defending champion Naomi Osaka and that Karolina Pliskova, winner last Sunday in Brisbane and who seems to “relive Under the auspices of a new coaching duo made up of Olga Savchuk and Daniel Vallverdu.
Belinda Bencic will really have to release the big game to exist against this quartet. The St. Welshman arrived in Melbourne with two wins and two losses in her baggage, which clearly shows how fit she is at the start of the year. It is simply average. With a second round scheduled against Jelena Ostapenko, whose end of the season was also exciting, the 7th world player will know very quickly if she can pass for the first time in this Australian Open the course of the knockout stages.
She would have much needed before defending next month the 900 points won last year during his victory in Dubai. Belinda Bencic should not, however, feed any complex. In 2019, she beat the players ranked ahead of her at the bottom of the table, probably less dense than the top: Karolina Pliskova, Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina.
Stefanie Vögele (WTA 117) will not appear for the eighth time in the main draw of the Australian Open. The Argovian failed very ragingly in the third and final qualifying round. She lost 6-2 3-6 6-4 to Monica Niculescu (WTA 128), a Romanian player who plays only forehand slices. Faced with an atypical adversary whom she had not met since 2011, Stefanie Vögele took her time before bringing the hoped-for response. Only, his extreme tension in the last two games was to cause his loss. Laurent ducret
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