With all that is going on in Australia at this time, tennis and indeed sport in general seems wholly trivial. Tennis Australia is doing a lot to support the bushfire crisis, but it will be telling to see how the tournament unfolds amidst still ongoing conversations surrounding player and audience safety.
What of the tournament itself?
Defending champ Naomi Osaka has admitted she “doesn’t feel like a top player’ right now and sadly i don’t expect any sort of title defence here to counter such a claim. You have to look at Barty, Halep and maybe even Serena as the likely victors.
It is alot more straightforward in the men’s competition; Nadal and Djokovic will surely showdown again a fortnight today. Although I mentioned last week that the younger generation will defintiely take at least one major this season, I fear it will not be straight away.
Day 1 matches to look out for
Venus vs Gauff
Ahn vs Wozniacki (Dane sadly retires after this tournament)
Querrey vs Coric
Lopez vs Bautista-Agut
Image courtesy of Tennis365.com
All Things Tennis 