Seven Things: Melbourne Review
1. Angelique Kerber flipped a switch: The Australian Open champion leaves Australia with a 12-1 record to start the season, with her sole loss coming in the Brisbane International final to Victoria Azarenka. Just a few weeks later she defiantly avenged that lost, knocking Azarenka out of Melbourne in straight sets, and then topped the other tournament favorite, top seed Serena Williams, in three sets to win her first major title.
But even before Kerber got her hands on the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy, there were signs early in January that this was a different Kerber. A change in strings in the off-season gave her more pop on her strokes – particularly her serve – which she used effectively against Serena. She was also noticeably fitter, after a grueling off-season with her new trainer. And it was impossible to ignore how much more open Kerber was when discussing herself. Prior to Brisbane, she told the WTA her New Year’s Resolution was to get on Instagram, in hopes of giving fans more insight into her life on tour.
That mindset of opening up and putting herself out there has seeped into her press conferences, interviews, and on court. Kerber’s 2016 mantra has been to go out there and win matches, not wait for her opponent to give it to her. So far, so good.
2. Serena Williams remains the one to beat: Despite her loss in the Australian Open final, Serena exceeded my expectations with respect to her level at the start of the season. There were worries after her Hopman Cup withdrawal due to knee inflammation, but through six rounds in Melbourne absolutely no one was playing as well as Serena. That’s a very encouraging sign for her 2016 season.
As she chases Slam No. 22, it’s also worth noting just how much external and internal pressure she’s trying to handle. When Serena got to Slam No. 17 at the 2013 US Open it took her four more majors until she captured the Evert and Navratilova-tying No. 18 a year later. Prior to that she lost to Ana Ivanovic in Melbourne, Garbiñe Muguruza in Paris, and Alizé Cornet at Wimbledon.
3. Agnieszka Radwanska shows no signs of slowing down: No one beats Serena on a day she hits 18 winners to just 4 unforced errors in a 20 minute set. Radwanska conceded as much after her 6-0, 6-4 loss in the Australian Open semifinals. But the WTA Finals winner remains the winningest player on tour since the US Open last year — 26 wins, four titles — and leaves Australia with just one loss on the season.
4. Victoria Azarenka remains on the rise: After the first week in Melbourne, it seemed like everyone was ready to hit the fast forward button to the presumed final between Serena and Vika. The big record scratch late in the second week came at the hands of Kerber. The straight set loss to a player she had never lost to (6-0 vs. Kerber) was a disappointment, no doubt.
“I’m going to be disappointed today,” Azarenka said after the loss. “I’m going to be pissed off. I’m going to let myself have that.
“But overall it’s not going to affect me in any way because I know the work that I put through, it’s paying off. I just need to do more. I need to keep going to be even more consistent. I’ve shown good signs. I’ve shown good quality, way more consistent, physically much better. I need to assess a little bit what I can improve and keep moving direction forward.”
That was the pitch-perfect response from Azarenka in a difficult moment. She leaves Australia disappointed. But she also leaves incredibly hungry and encouraged. Watch out.
5. Injuries are just the worst: There’s no way of ignoring the injury plague that affected so many players in January. On one hand, some of the Chicken Little reactions to early season withdrawals were completely overblown. Serena, Kerber, Radwanska, and Maria Sharapova showed few signs of being hampered by injuries that forced them out of pre-Australian Open tournaments.
On the other hand, three key players – Simona Halep (achilles), Garbiñe Muguruza (foot), and Madison Keys (adductor) – remain hampered by long-standing, chronic frailties. These are not the kinds of injuries that just need a two week break to heal. How they manage their training and schedules going forward will be of much interest.
6. There will be more Grand Slam talk in 2016: Serena dominated the conversation in 2015 as she chased both the “Serena Slam” and the calendar Grand Slam through New York. But 2016 belongs to Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis.
With their third straight major title, “SanTina” can complete the non-Calendar Slam in May at the French Open. Clay remains their worst surface, but with the way they’ve dominated the tour over the last 12 months, that’s a lot like saying clay is Roger Federer’s worst surface. They’re still very good on it. If SanTina can snag the title at Roland Garros, the Grand Slam is well within their reach.
7. New faces to watch: The first week of the Australian Open belonged to the fresh new faces who went seed-hunting and notched milestone Slam results en masse. There were the trio of Russian youngsters – Margarita Gasparyan, Elizaveta Kulichkova, and Daria Kasatkina – all of whom made the third round or better in their Australian Open debuts and now have rankings that will get them into the main draw at more tour-level tournaments.
They may not hold Russian passports anymore, but Daria Gavrilova and Yulia Putintseva also had tournaments to remember, with the former knocking out Petra Kvitova to make the fourth round and the latter stunning Caroline Wozniacki to make the third round.
Finally, no discussion of January would be complete without Johanna Konta and Zhang Shuai. Konta is now up to No.28 in the rankings thanks to her run to the Australian Open semifinals and it will be interesting to see how she handles the increased spotlight and pressure that comes with being the No.1 Brit. The same goes for Zhang, who now finds herself in the surprising position of going from the brink of retirement to being the No.1 out of China at No.65.
All photos courtesy of Getty Images.
