Meanwhile, Chris Evert says world No 1 Serena Williams must stop putting herself in “dangerous positions” at the start of matches if she is to emulate last season’s dominance which saw her win three of the year’s four Grand Slams. At some point you have to play everyone.
Advertisement
Drawing further comparisons with the Federer of 2005 and 2006, Djokovic is now going off a similar price to the man he could well usurp as the most successful of all time. He opened 2016 with a crushing 6-1, 6-2 over 14-time major victor Nadal in the Qatar Open final.
I’m pretty sure Verdasco would trade those biceps for at least one of Djokovic’s slams.
The Scot was placed in the opposite half of the draw to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer but stern tests still lie in wait for the British number one.
Even the first seed that Djokovic is scheduled to face, Andreas Seppi, has come out on the losing end in all 11 of their previous meetings. While Federer has defied age of late, reaching two consecutive Wimbledon finals into his mid-30s (he’ll be 35 in August), it’s just too much for his legions of fans to expect Federer to continue to threaten at the Slams.
Instead, knees that were constantly causing her pain and a sore elbow that reduced the power on her serve and groundstrokes, ended her hopes in the semi-finals.
In some ways, Williams’ condition reflects the state of play in the upper ranks of the women’s game. Dmitrov has been a huge disappointment to many observers in the sport as he hasn’t taken advantage of his many gifts.
The dogged David Ferrer has reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in four of the last five years, but he’s working out the kinks playing with a Babolat Pure Drive racquet after spending most of his career wielding an extended Prince frame.
Milos Raonic, who battled injuries a year ago, is seeded No. 13. The Melbourne fortnight will be a good indicator of how much he has changed.
Yes, Wawrinka lacks consistency, hence the reason he’s fourth in the rankings, but he has produced his best on the big stage with his record in the last nine Slams being SF-QF-W-SF-QF-QF-R1-W-SF (most recent first). We’ll get the answers in two weeks. After a miserable – for him – first three quarters of 2015, Nadal played very well in the fall and is heading into the tournament with his confidence (despite his futility against Djokovic) at its highest level in almost two years. The scores in the last eight of those sets were 6-3, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2.
The 30-year-old Swiss is not scheduled to meet Djokovic until the final at Melbourne Park, should they both get that far, with Wawrinka seeded to face Spaniard Rafa Nadal in the quarter-finals and Briton Andy Murray in the semi-finals. Is 2016 the year he begins to turn the tide? Of course, Kyrgios can implode at any moment, but if he can play with discipline and minimize his emotional eruptions he has the big game and big personality to make a deep run.
Advertisement
(6) Petra Kvitova has been struggling with gastrointestinal illness and could well be an early casualty as she’s been in Australia for the past three years. This draw can easily fool you however. While John Isner can be a frightening prospect on a hard court, Murray has never lost to the giant American. Her possible quarterfinal opponent is Sharapova, whom she’s defeated 17 times in a row, including in the finals here past year.
