The festive season is fast approaching which means that the Australian Open is only round the corner. While locals will be welcoming cooler temperatures as autumn approaches, tennis fans travelling down under will be more than happy to feel the sun on our frozen faces.
The Australian Open signifies the start of the Grand Slam season. Tennis players from across the globe will be keen to make a positive start to the new season or look to extend their impressive results from the previous year.
Men’s singles
Last year we saw Novak Djokovic claim another Grand Slam title taking his tally to 15 – although he went on to claim another at Wimbledon a few months later. Djokovic isn’t a new face in tennis, in fact, he is in third place for holding the most Grand Slam titles in the Men’s Singles category. If he has another impressive year, he’ll be challenging Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who sit above him in the table with 20 and 19 titles, respectively.
Djokovic is most successful in the Australian Open, so many people will be anticipating him to retain his title. The Serbian will be eager to make a positive opening statement in the upcoming season after retiring from the previous Grand Slam, the US Open, due to injury.
Women’s singles
Last year at the Australian Open, we saw Naomi Osaka claim her second Grand Slam title. She won her first title after a monumental victory against Serena Williams in the 2018 US Open. For a moment she looked unstoppable, winning back-to-back titles. But since the Australian Open, she seems to have taken her eye off the ball as she has failed to reach any further than the fourth round in any of the subsequent Grand Slam tournaments, although she won the WTA Finals in October.
Osaka may find favour being back at the Australian Open as many of the bookies are already backing the Japanese player at odds of 8/1, at the time of writing. You can find here the odds on the Australian Open which show Serena Williams and US Open winner Bianca Andreescu slight favourites ahead of Osaka.
Mixed doubles
Last year we saw a new mixed doubles team claim the Grand Slam title. First time partners, Barbora Krejčíková and Rajeev Ram won their first Grand Slam mixed doubles title after defeating Astra Sharma and John Patrick-Smith 7-6, 6-1.
After withdrawing from the French Open in the first round due to illness, Krejčíková made the Australian Open her first and last mixed doubles tournament. The Czech player later returned to her familiar women’s doubles tournaments at Wimbledon where she reached the quarter-finals with Kateřina Siniaková.
Ram went back to men’s doubles, a category he also has previous success in after winning the Indian Wells Masters in 2017 and Paris Masters in 2018. The American teamed up with British tennis player Joe Salisbury for the rest of the season, where the pair reached five finals and won two titles together this season.
