Monday, February 22, 2021
Australian Open 2021
Just when we thought that there was a chance that one of our Canadian men might move closer to the top of the tennis world, our hopes were dashed yet again last weekend.
Novak Djokovic
On that occasion, we backed Milos Raonic, our giant serve and volley guy out of the GTA. Raonic has been an international figure on the men's tennis circuit for several years, but has not been able to defeat Novak Djokovic. His loss last weekend at the Australian Open made it a dozen times that the Serbian has come out on top, each and every time he has faced Raonic.
The match was televised at 5:00am Sunday morning. Understandably, I did not catch the warmup, nor a few of the first games. But I did rise in time to see the end of the first set, then the second. At that point, they were all tied up. Djokovic was said to have some sort of injury, but that was not readily apparent. He raced from one side of the backcourt to the other, stretching as only he does, to reach shots and return them with a little mustard on them. Djokovic won 7-6 4-6 6-1 6-4 at the Rod Laver Arena.
Prior to his match against Roanic, Novak played Taylor Fritz. He was cruising along nicely, up by two sets, when he knew something was wrong. He suspected it was an abdominal muscle tear. But he decided to play on, and he won the match in 5 sets. At that point, he put down the racket for two days, preparing for Raonic.
He has won 17 major titles, trailing only Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have 20 each. Djokovic noted: “If I'm part of any tournament other than a Grand Slam event, I definitely wouldn't be playing”.
He faced Alexander Zverer, from Germany on Tuesday morning. In his comments, Zverer does not sound overly optimistic. “This is his favourite court. This is his favourite tournament. To be able to have a chance against him, you have to be playing extremely well”. Zverer has lost 5 times to Djokovic, but defeated him twice. Djokovic again prevailed, in a tremendous match: 6-7 6-2 6-4 7-6.
Rafael Nadal
Nadal now faces the fine Greek tennis player, Stefanos Tsitsipas. By advancing to the quarter final, he is guaranteed half a million bucks. Nothing shabby about that.
The money is the same for the women, which seems fair. One woman still in the hunt is Jessica Pergula. She will be playing Jennifer Brady to advance to the semi-finals. Jessica is not terribly worried about the money, as her father owns, amongst other things, the Buffalo Sabres and the Buffalo Bills. Serena advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Simona Halep in straight sets.
Last weekend, due to the COVID, they shut the door on fans, walked them up the aisles to the exits. Thousands of fans have flown to Australia for the Open. There is a chance they may be allowed to watch on Wednesday. The players were quarantined before the start of the tourney. It has truly messed up all of our lives.
Toronto Maple Leaf fans are smiling ear to ear, with the team's results thus far. Monday night's collapse against the Senators erased those smiles, temporarily. Not so good for the Raptors. Long seasons ahead.
James Hurst
February 15, 2021.
