As the opening competition of 2023, this year's Australian Open is particularly cold.
In the just-concluded fourth round of women's singles, 22nd seed Lebakina knocked out No. 1 seed Svetek 6-4, 6-4, defeating world No. 1 for the first time in his career and setting a new record on hard court Grand Slams.
So far, the top two seeds in the Australian Open men's and women's singles have been out.
| Men's singles: No. 1 Nadal and No. 2 Ruud both stopped in the second round
Since last year's Wimbledon injury, Nadal, who has returned again, suddenly lost his power: Cincinnati Masters to Ciurić, US Open to Tiafo in the fourth round, Paris Masters to Paul, ATP year-end finals to Aliassime and Flitz; This year's record is still poor: the Union Cup lost to Norrie and De Minal.
The Australian Open has never been Nadal's blessing, with four Asian and two titles, and multiple injuries. Last year's Australian Open victory was nothing short of magical, and this year's Australian Open signing was very poor. Fortunately, Nadal's narrow 3-1 victory in the first round gave him a lot of confidence and fans began to look forward to going further at the Australian Open.
Facing MacDonald in the second round, reality returned to the brutal side, losing 3-0. A tear of the left psoas muscle was diagnosed afterwards and is expected to be absent for 6-8 weeks.
No. 2 seed Ruud was also in poor form, narrowly winning four sets against Mahać in the first round and playing two sets to tie seven. In the second round, they faced American Brooksby and lost 3-1. Follow in the footsteps of Principal Nadal.
| Women's singles: No. 1 Swiatek stops in the fourth round, No. 2 Abdul-Jabbar stops in the second round
Since the women's tennis entered the Swiatek era, many people have said that there are two categories of women's tennis: Swiatek and other female players. This is enough to show her dominance, winning the French Open and US Open last year, raising her number of Grand Slams to three.
But Swiatek also has hidden dangers, because the rotation style of play, especially suitable for clay and slow hard, is easy to achieve results in the course of bouncing high, but there are still many loopholes in grass and fast hard.
This year's Australian Open has become less fast, which is good for Swiatek's play, but the new use of the ball has become lighter, which is not conducive to rotation and more conducive to flat play.
In the match against Rebakina, Swiatek was trapped by his opponent's powerful serve, deep and fast return, which were all magic weapons for Rebakina's victory at Wimbledon.
And the No. 2 seed Abdul-Jabbar was unlucky, defeating Tsidan Sheik 2-1 in the first round, and was cut down by Wanzhuosova 1-2 in the second round, which is really not complaining, Wanzhuosova's hard court level is indeed extraordinary, not to mention that Abdul-Jabbar is also a typical clay master, and has not achieved much on hard ground.