Australian Open 2023 Retrospective

The first Grand Slam of 2023 is over! In this post I’ll be discussing the singles results and providing analysis of all the players I found interesting. 

General

• It seems like a lot of European players don’t do well in the heat at the Australian Open.

ATP

• Djokovic was clearly going to win—who was there that could have stopped him? It seems like it takes a massive gauntlet for him to lose in any slam nowadays.

• Nadal’s form and loss were both really bad and do not look good for his career in the future. I still think he can win Roland-Garros, but anything past that is unclear to me. His form has looked bad since at least the 2022 US Open.

• Taylor Fritz has some work to do at majors. He can’t go out and talk about wanting to beat Djokovic before losing in the second round of a Slam.

• Medvedev was super disappointing. Things have been weird for him ever since he acquired the #1 ranking. 

• Rune could use some work in the best-of-five format. 

• Sinner is once again just teetering on the edge of becoming an incredibly dangerous player. 

• Ruud was just completely picked apart.

• Jenson Brooksby’s serve is incredibly ineffective for an otherwise very complete (and somewhat unorthodox) player.

• I don’t think Tsitsipas or Khachanov will ever win slams.

WTA

• Sabalenka pulling her mental game together is a momentous point in the WTA. If she continues playing like this, her year will be really good. Her backhand is more consistent than her forehand.

• Rybakina seems to have somewhat shed her flaw of losing to much lower-ranked players. With her serve and ground game, she will terrorize the rest of the tour. It seems like hitting low shots (slices) gets her in trouble, which is probably why Barty did so well against her.

• Swiatek has yet to figure out how to beat a peaking Sabalenka/Garcia/Rybakina type. While I think she will maintain her #1 status the entire year, cracks in her game are starting to become canyons (ex. her serve).

• Pegula was playing really well until she suddenly wasn’t. I think she will find her footing at a major this year. Her game lends itself well to hard and clay (not sure about grass). 

• Garcia, Garcia, Garcia: her game is so all-or-nothing! Standing on the baseline for returns has not worked out well for her. She cannot play strong defensive tennis, unlike nearly every other top 10 player. When she performs poorly, she can’t seem to get things back on track. 

• Jabeur HAS to get some points at Roland-Garros. 

• The inconsistency of the top 10 makes me miss Halep.

• I would love to see Danielle Collins back at the top of her game.

That’s all for now—just some thoughts after the Australian Open.