At about 3 p.m. Beijing time today, The case of Deyo v. Australian Immigration Department for Visa Cancellation was concluded in the Federal Court, and the court ruled that Deyo lost the case. He will be deported from tomorrow's Australian Open and may not be able to enter the tournament for the next three years.
Tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. Beijing time, the Australian Open will kick off. Known as the Happy Slam, the 117-year-old tournament attracts tennis fans around the world every year in the last two weeks of January.
Chinese fans are even more fond of the Australian Open, Li Na won the Australian Open women's singles championship in 2014, Zhang Shuai partner Stosur won the women's doubles championship in 2019, and Wang Qiang defeated Xiaowei in the third round of women's singles in 2020, which are all good memories that Chinese fans are deeply impressed.
The Australian Open is not only a happy place for Chinese players, but also very suitable for Chinese fans in terms of time. Melbourne and Beijing only have a 3-hour time difference, in order to watch the ball does not need to be reversed in the morning, and the Australian Open date is very close to the Chinese Spring Festival, which is convenient for fans to "touch the fish" when they go to work to peek at the live broadcast of the game.
Even if you go to the scene to watch the ball, the Australian Open is one of the most convenient of the four Grand Slams. The US Open's Billy Jane Gold Tennis Centre is a 30-minute drive from downtown New York, Roland Garros and Wimbledon are also on the outskirts of Paris and London, and the Australian Open's tennis park is located in melbourne's city centre.
Surrounded by other sports venues, the Australian Open venues are a large area similar to the Olympic sports centers of many Chinese cities, with well-developed infrastructure such as parks, green spaces and transportation. Fans can reach the city center by tram, or they can walk around if they are not in a hurry.
The French Open is marked by Panama hats and artists painting on the sidelines, Wimbledon is marked by players in white shirts and spectators holding creamy strawberries, while the Australian Open is marked by blue skies and white clouds, happy and enthusiastic spectators, and there are some of the best coffee in the world, and the price is very affordable.
However, this year's Australian Open is very different from previous years, the incident around Djokovic's visa can be described as a twist and turn, after many iterations, Djokovic was still deported, losing the opportunity to win the 10th Norman Brooks Challenge Cup and the 21st Grand Slam title.
With the exception of Djokovic, the rest of the men's and women's squads are still very luxurious and neat, as no. 6 seed Nadal put it, "Novak is one of the best players, but the Australian Open is more important than any player." If Novak plays, that's fine; if he doesn't play, the Australian Open will be a success with or without him. ”
Below, we will look at the prospects and trends of this year's Australian Open men's and women's singles, and make a brief analysis and prediction of some important seeded players.
The first thing to say, of course, is the situation of the host. The last Australian homegrown player to win the Australian Open women's singles title was Chris O'Neal, which happened in 1978, 47 years later. This year, world number one Barty will be the most promising player to win the women's singles title for Australia again.
The Australian Aboriginal girl has a shy personality and a low profile. As the WTA year-end world number one player for three consecutive years since 2019, Barty is less popular on and off the court than other girls, and she is more focused on tennis itself.
Barty is the No. 1 seed, the first round is against qualifiers, and her big seeds in the 1/4 zone are No. 5 seed Sakkari and No. 9 seed Jabbar. The last women's singles champion Naomi Osaka was also divided into 1/4 zone, and there will be wonderful drama in the quarterfinals. Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen, who broke through from the qualifiers, is also in the 1/4 zone, and will face Sasnovic in the first match.
Last year's French Open champion Kregitskova was placed in Zone 2/4, and the big seed in this zone is also the No. 8 seed Bardoza, who has been in a form of explosion recently, winning the Indian Wells title last year, defeating Krejickova in the final of the WTA500 Sydney station yesterday, and Keyes, who won the title in Adelaide yesterday, is also in Zone 2/4. There is also Wang Qiang in this district, who will face the 18th seed Gauff in the first round, and the two have played each other twice last year, winning 2-0 in the parma final and the second round of the French Open. The other two Chinese players, Zheng Saisai and Wang Xiyu, played against qualifiers in the first round.
Sitting in zone 3/4 is seed No. 3, former Wimbledon and French Open champion Muguruza, who won last year's year-end finals and has recently picked up her form. The other big seed was No. 6 seed Kontawirt, who played against Syniakova in the first round. The district will face two former US Open champions in the first round, with 17th seed Raducannu taking on Stephens. Chinese player Zhang Shuai's first-round opponent is The 42nd ranked Swiss player Grubić, and the previous record of the two was Zhang Shuai's 1 win and 2 losses.
No. 2 seed Sabalenka, who sits in the 4/4 zone, has suffered two consecutive defeats this year and is in questionable form. 2020 French Open champion Svatek was seeded as the No. 7 seed in the first round against qualifiers. Overall, this 4/4 zone is relatively weak, and the rest of the big seeds are Kvitova, Kobel, Pavlyuchenkova, Casakina, and last year's US Open runner-up Fernandez was also in this zone. In addition, Chinese player Wang Xinyu played against Chinese-American Player Ang Lee in the first round. To sum up, the women's quarterfinals are shown in the following figure.
In recent years, the competitive landscape of women's tennis has been very open, and it seems that anyone can win the championship, or even win the Grand Slam title. With Federer gradually retiring, Nadal's status and competitiveness in doubt, and Djokovic being expelled from the competition, the monopoly of the three giants of men's tennis has begun to loosen. Most people believe that the two favorites of this year's Australian Open men's singles champions are Medvedev and Zverev. Becker believes Zverev could win his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne.
Some fans also said that after Djokovic did not participate in the game, the Australian Open lost a lot of attraction and even stopped watching the game. However, this year's Australian Open and Nadal can drive the box office, but many people question how far Nadal can go on the signing table, and some people speculate that he will have a certain difficulty in reaching the second week (reaching the quarterfinals).
After Djokovic withdrew, his signing will be replaced by a lucky loser in qualifying, and the big seed in 1/4 zone is the No. 7 seed, last year's Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini, the 12th seed No. 12 seed No. 16 Garin, the 19th seed Busta, and the Monfils who just won in Adelaide are also in this 1/4 zone.
No. 3 seed Zverev and No. 6 seed Nadal are in the same zone 2/4, with the former playing first-round opponent Otmar and the latter playing Geelong in the first round. On the way to the quarter-finals, Zverev's potential biggest rival is No. 14 seed Shapovalov, who has just won the ATP Cup for Canada. Nadal's biggest opponent in the quarter-finals is the 10th seed Hulkach, who eliminated Federer 3-0 at Wimbledon last year, as well as the 18th seed Karatsev, who just beat Murray in the sydney final yesterday.
Tsitsipas, the 4th seed, sits in Zone 3/4, which also includes No. 8 seed Rudd, No. 11 seed Sina, No. 15 seed Agut, No. 20 seed Agut and No. 21 seed Baslashvili.
Sitting in zone 4/4 is No. 2 seed Medvedev, who is also one of the biggest favourites to win this year's Australian Open, with the first round against Rakossonnan, the second round likely to meet Kyrgios, and the third round potential opponent is the 29th seed Amber. The biggest opponent on the way to the quarter-finals will be 13th seed Schwartzman. In addition, the district also has former US Open champion and 27th seed Cilic, and 24th seed Evans is also very strong.
To sum up, the men's quarterfinals are shown in the figure below.
(Source: Tennis House Author: Yun Cirrus Yunshu)