MELBOURNE –The Australian Open could stage a throwback to the old days when Federer and Nadal dominated the sport. The same thing could happen in the women’s tournament: Serena has a shot at No. 1 again and Venus could reach the semifinals. Raonic, Thiem and Goffin don’t have the same resume as Stan Wawrinka.
Nobody could anticipate such mayhem as in this manic Sunday at the Australian Open. The two favorites and world No. 1s Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber were both sent home in unexpected fashion, completely changing the entire dynamic of the tournament. After showcasing some vintage form against Berdych and Nishikori, Roger Federer now has a real shot at Grand Slam title No. 18. He will definitely be the overwhelming favorite in his quarterfinal match against Mischa Zverev, who might find it difficult to repeat the magical win against Andy Murray – the world No. 1 and five-time Australian Open finalist. A completely different story would be a potential semifinal clash between Federer and his good friend Stan Wawrinka, who showed huge progress in his fourth round win against Italy’s Andreas Seppi after three unconvincing matches in the early rounds.
The matches between the two Swiss stars are always very unique due to the psychological implications of their rivalry. Roger wisely mentioned that “It was a good thing that I had the opportunity to face Jurgen Melzer earlier in the tournament. Melzer is very similar to Mischa Zverev, they are both lefties and love to serve-and-volley.” It would be very surprising if Roger wasn’t able to master Zverev’s aggressive game. On the other hand, Stan Wawrinka will have to face a much tougher task against Jo Wilfried Tsonga, who displayed a wonderful performance in his four-set win against Britain’s Dan Evans.
What a horrible day for British tennis: The only contestant left in the tournament is now Johanna Konta. After crushing Wozniacki 62 61, Konta will now have to deal with Ekaterina Makarova, who always plays her best tennis Down Under – she was twice a quarterfinalist and once a semifinalist in the last few years.
The last time Federer had defeated two top-ten players in the same event was at the 2015 ATP Finals in London, when he outclassed Berdych, Djokovic, Nishikori and Wawrinka. His semifinal against Stan was absolutely memorable; Federer won the battle after saving a match point and his wife Mirka caused major controversy after supposedly shouting “Cry baby cry” in Stan’s direction during the match. The incident almost jeopardized the relationship between Roger and Stan on the eve of their Davis Cup final against France.
The critics that suggested that Federer would have struggled in long rallies against Nishikori had probably underestimated the Swiss legend’s talent and surprisingly good physical condition. In his post-match press conference, Roger looked extremely confident about his chances against Mischa Zverev, despite the German’s great performance against Murray.
Murray wasn’t able to produce many successful passing shots in his shocking defeat to the No. 50 ranked German, while Zverev was extremely clever at mixing up the pace throughout the entire match. “There is no way that I could have won the match from the baseline, I knew that I had no other option than charging the net all the time,” Zverev said after the match.
After losing a Wimbledon final to Stefan Edberg – one of the greatest serve-and-volley players of all time, Boris Becker once said: “My game gives me more options; I can either charge the net or play from the back of the court. It is sometimes more difficult to come up with the right decisions when you have that many options. Stefan doesn’t have those problems, he serves-and-volleys all the time.”
With the shocking exit of the two best players in the world, Federer and Nadal are surprisingly the only two members of the Fab Four still left in the tournament. Despite showing some good form and surviving exhilarating five-set battles in this tournament, it is important to remember that Federer hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012 and Nadal since Roland Garros in 2014. According to the current ATP rankings, Raonic – the No. 3 seed – should be considered the favorite. But that would be only on paper, as the Canadian only reached one Grand Slam final in his entire career – at Wimbledon in 2016. The only player left in the draw who has recently won a few Grand Slam titles is Stan Wawrinka, who claimed massive wins at the Australian Open in 2014, French Open in 2015 and US Open in 2016.
In my opinion, the best Wawrinka would be a much more dangerous opponent than the best Tsonga. Roger would probably emerge as the winner even if Tsonga played his best tennis, while it would be a completely different story if Stan played at this best. In the bottom half of the draw, I don’t think that Nadal will lose to Monfils, while Dimitrov could be the real dark horse of the second week. The Bulgarian could potentially make more damage than Thiem or Goffin.
In the women’s tournament, Angelique Kerber’s defeat against CoCo Vandeweghe opened the door to Serena Williams in the quest for the number one ranking. Serena will be the overwhelming favorite in her fourth round match against Strycova and could reclaim the number one spot by winning the title. Her sister Venus – who has only reached one Grand Slam semifinal in the past six years – has already booked her spot in the quarterfinals and will now face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, after the Russian surprised her higher ranked compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the other quarterfinal, Vandeweghe and Muguruza will clash in a heavy-weight battle.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
