Australian Open Midterm Grades: Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic Shine, Other Top Seeds Struggle
The 2024 Australian Open has been a cool one, so far. Cool, in the sense that heretofore little-known players have come to the fore, the clearest sign yet that the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal-Novak Djokovic-Serena Williams era is over, and we are now in a world of anyone-beats-anyone parity. The remaining players may range in age from 16–36, but record-scratching and head-scratching results have been relentless. Cool in the sense that we have seen shots like this. Cool, too, in the meteorological sense. This is an event where, in the past, the heat has been so fierce that players’ rubber shoes have stuck to the hard courts. This year? Lots of sweater weather.
For all the upsets, the two winners of the previous major remain. Djokovic, gunning for his 11th(!) Australian Open title has not been at his best but hasn’t needed to be. Coco Gauff, having worked with serve TaskRabbit Andy Roddick in the offseason, might well go back-to-back. And 2023 champion Aryna Sabalenka has lost six games in six sets.
Through three rounds, at the turn, this year’s midterm grades:
Gauff started her Australian Open strong, winning her first three matches in straight sets.
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A:
2023 U.S. Open winners: With so many top challengers gone, Gauff looks poised to become the first woman to win back-to-back majors in three years. And Djokovic is…Djokovic.
Jannik Sinner: The only male player not to have dropped a set, cruises into Week Two. No letdown for a guy who beat Djokovic twice in the fall.
Mirra Andreeva: In one match, she obliterated a No. 6 seed (Ons Jabeur) 6–0, 6–2. In the next, she staved off match points to win. And she is 16.
Adrian Mannarino: The 35-year-old lefty, sponsor-less Frenchman is playing the best tennis of his career. Now in the top 20 (for the first time) he is playing like it, taking out Ben Shelton most recently.
Amanda Anisimova: Welcome back. Her return from a mental health break has been smashing and er her ball-striking skills remain formidable.
Maria Timofeeva: A 20-year-old from Russia qualifies, beats a former champ (Caroline Wozniacki) and a No. 10 seed (Beatriz Haddad-Maia.)
Mike Dickson: Assigning a letter grade seems inappropriate. Having nothing to do with the weather…this event is shrouded in clouds for many, given the shocking death of a longtime press room stalwart and all-time good guy. Dickson wrote for the London Daily Mail and wrote this book on Emma Raducanu you can order here. Liam Broady characterized Dickson as, “A strong, good and fair man.” (What more do any of us want?) Pete Bodo, who worked alongside Dickson for years, weighs in beautifully here.
B+
Alex Michelsen and Alycia Parks: Terrific tournament for two young Americans. Both win two rounds and show they belong. Then they run into an elite player (her, Gauff; him, Alexander Zverev) and leave knowing more precisely what work remains to be done.
Anna Blinkova: Wins the craziest match in years, taking out Elena Rybakina in a marathon that featured 16 match points before Blinkova closed out a 35-minute, 22–20 match tiebreak, the longest in history. Perhaps (justifiably) exhausted, she then lost a winnable match against a far easier opponent.
Moms: Eight entered. Two remain (Elina Svitolina and two-time champ Victoria Azarenka).
Thiem showed resolve in his five-set loss to Felix Auger Aliassime.
Mike Frey/USA TODAY Sports
B:
Mother nature: It’s been unseasonably…cold? Crazy times on this imperfect sphere we call Earth.
First Sunday: All majors should start on the weekend. (One reason among many: not every fan can take off work during the weekdays; so max out on “non-work” days.) And Australia came in hot, featuring Djokovic and Sabalenka on Day One. But more of this added revenue should waterfall down to the players.
Naomi Osaka: About what you’d expect and, overall, a guardedly encouraging return. Back from maternity leave, she hasn’t forgotten how to hit a tennis ball. And yet, there’s enough rust that she can’t beat top players (Caroline Garcia) quite yet. Maybe skip the Middle East, put in an L.A. training block, get in better shape and reappear at Indian Wells?
Dominic Thiem: Another defeat, but another defeat drizzled with encouraging signs. He goes five sets with Felix Auger Aliassime, sometimes looking like the world-beater he once was.
Pavel Kotov: Russian grinder gets to the second round. But narrowly avoids default with this bit of hot-head-ery.
C:
Tennis’s own goal: When matches end at 3:40 a.m. local, as Thursday’s did, it’s not only silly. It’s not only unfair to the player who wins and now must readjust (Daniil Medvedev in this case). It overshadows all the awesome results that preceded it.
Women’s seeds: The top one (Iga Świątek) is out. The favorite of many (Rybakina) is out. By round two, 11 of the 16 seeded players (17–32) were gone.
Future Hall of Famers north of 35 (freakish Djokovic notwithstanding): Nadal (37) doesn’t post. Andy Murray (36) departs without winning a set. Stan Wawrinka fades against Adrian Mannarino (a stripling at 35) and Marin Čilić (35) goes out quietly in round one.
Markéta Vondroušová: Wimbledon champ musters three games, losing in round one. Say this: she keeps it interesting.
Matteo Berrettini: The star-crossed Italian—a major finalist not long ago—traveled to Australia only to declare himself unfit to play on account of a foot injury. Four different injuries have hampered him in the last four majors.
