After six months of injury suspension, Nadal officially returned, and after playing the Abubiza exhibition match, he unfortunately contracted new crown pneumonia and was forced to isolate. Fortunately, his illness was mild, and the Spaniards, who were hesitant to play at the Australian Open, were more determined to overcome the disease and try to play well. In the end, Nadal improved and came to Melbourne non-stop to compete in the ATP 250.
When everyone was worried about Nadal's body, his performance was surprising. Nadal defeated Birankis, Grikosp, Rusuvuori and Kress all the way to win the 89th crown of his career! With this title, Nadal overtook Federer and Agassi to become the first player in men's tennis history to have a championship in 19 seasons!
Halep was injured during his clay season last year and was forced to withdraw from a series of competitions such as Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics, falling out of the top 10 for the first time since 2014 until his comeback in Montreal, stumbling in form and even actively participating in the last leg of last season. Thankfully, her efforts paid off.
Halep started the season at the WTA Melbourne 250 Race, beating Ayava, Ruse, Grubic, Jeong Chin-wen and Kudmetova all the way to win her 23rd career title, ending a 16-month championship drought and her first title after turning 30!
Although the world's number one Barty withdrew from the 2021 WTA year-end finals, it still could not affect her fighting state. Australia's star started the season at the Adelaide 500 and enjoyed a first-round bye, beating goofy, Kenning, Swartec and Leibakina all the way to win his 14th career title. With her fiery form, can she go further at her native Grand Slam? We know that her best performance at the Australian Open was in the final four in 2020, and she stopped in the quarterfinals last year.
France's Monfils continued his style of play, showcasing his talent in the ATP Adelaide 250 and becoming the highlight of the game. Not only that, Monfils performed well, beating Selendolo, Paul, Kokinakis and Khachanov all the way, not losing a single set in four games, and only losing 21 sets in eight sets to win the 11th title of his career, breaking the championship drought of the past two years.
American talent anisimova defeated Uyvank, Costia, Begu and Casatkina all the way to win her second career title at the WTA Melbourne 250 (another leg). Now that only the 61st-ranked girl in the world can make a good start, maybe it will become a bomb in the new season of the Australian Open? After all, she almost overturned Barty to reach the Final of the French Open in 2019, and she still has strength.
Congratulations to them! (Source: Tennis House Author: Stray Rabbit)