MELBOURNE – Venus Williams is 36 years young, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are 35, Stan Wawrinka is 33 and Rafa Nadal is 30. They all have a shot at winning the Australian Open title. We could be headed towards two vintage finals: Venus vs. Serena and Federer vs. Nadal. Will Nadal prefer to play Wawrinka rather than Federer on such a fast hard-court?
A few tennis players are apparently like old wine – they get better with age. While the ATP is making a big effort in promoting the younger generation of players with a brand new campaign called “Next-Gen” that will reach its pinnacle with the Under 21 ATP Finals in Milan next November, the first Grand Slam event of the year is celebrating the tour’s most popular veterans.
There were more than 15 thirty-somethings in the men’s draw at the beginning of the tournament and two of them have already booked their sport in the semifinals. Roger Federer – who will celebrate his 36th birthday this year – will play in his 41st Grand Slam semifinal and 33-year-old Stan Wawrinka will play in his 8th. Tonight there is great anticipation for the quarterfinal clash between Nadal and Raonic; the Spaniard is 30 years old and the Canadian is 25. The other two quarterfinalists are Belgium’s David Goffin and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, both 25 years of age. In summary, the remaining contestants in the men’s draw are all established players that have been around for a long time. They are certainly not spring chickens.
At 35 years 169 days Federer is the oldest man to reach semifinal at #AusOpen since Ashe (1978) & at Grand Slam since Connors (US Open 1991)
— Michal Samulski (@MichalSamulski) 24 January 2017
The times when Wilander, Becker or Chang used to win Grand Slam titles as teenagers are a distant memory. Experience is more important than athletic exuberance in today’s game, although the physical preparation has now become much more relevant than in the past. Each professional player is nowadays traveling with a team that includes at least one physiotherapist.
Experience is a crucial factor in the women’s game as well. Venus Williams will be 37 on June 17 and is now competing in her 73rd Grand Slam event, which is undoubtedly an impressive number. She played her first Australian Open almost twenty years ago and won five Wimbledon and two US Open titles during an illustrious career that spanned three decades.
Venus took advantage of an extremely favorable draw at this year’s Australian Open and never dropped a set in the entire tournament. She could definitely use her experience in the semifinal clash against fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe and stage a mouthwatering all-Williams-show with sister Serena in the final.
Serena Williams – who is pushing 36 this year – has nonetheless an incredibly tough road to the final. In the quarters Serena will have to deal with Britain’s Jo Konta – the in-form player of this year’s Australian campaign. Konta won the title in Sydney ten days ago and is yet to lose a set in Melbourne. Williams could then face a potential semifinal clash with Karolina Pliskova in a revenge of last year’s US Open semifinal, when the tall Czech put together an outstanding serving display and dismissed Serena in straight-sets.
The women’s tour has been undergoing major changes for a few years and is now facing the same situation as the men’s circuit when it comes to teenage prodigies. There is no room for baby champions anymore. Johanna Konta is the primary example that today most female players are late bloomers. Pliskova wasn’t born yesterday either.
Another key factor to this year’s results is the decision of the Australian tournament organizers to speed up the courts, which probably helped the more experienced and complete players, while young counter-punchers had more technical problems in adjusting to the surface and finding their rhythm from the back of the court.
Roger Federer – who lost to Wawrinka on clay in the past – talked about the upcoming semifinal with his Swiss rival and explained how he will have to play aggressively and take away time from his opponent. It is a tactic that will certainly allow Roger to take full advantage of the quick surface. According to the weather forecast, the semifinals and final might be contested with the roof closed, which will make the conditions even faster.
“I never looked at the draw or thought that I could reach the semifinals. The quarterfinals seemed to be a more realistic goal for me. I realized that Stan and I were on the same side of the draw when I saw that our matches were scheduled on the same days,” Roger said in his post-match press conference.
Considering the head-to-head between the two Swiss stars, the psychological implications of their match-up and the incredible form that Roger has showcased in the tournament, at this point I don’t think that Stan will win the title. Truth be told, nobody expected Federer to perform so well so soon after his long hiatus.
It would be interesting to know which opponent Rafael Nadal would prefer in a potential final. Would he prefer Federer – a rival that he defeated multiple times in the past – or Wawrinka?
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com)
