By Jonathan Ram, Year 12
In the world of professional tennis, there are multiple types of tournaments, ranging in importance. The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) is the organizer of these tournaments, and the winners get prize money and ATP points which go toward their world ranking. The players also get increased prize money and points depending on how far they get in the tournament.
There are 4 categories of tournaments ranging from ATP 250 to ATP 500, to the Masters 1000, and finally Grand Slams. Out of these, grand slams are the most important, with there only being 4 each year. The Australian Open, French Open (Roland Garros), Wimbledon, and the US Open are those tournaments. In all of tennis history, nobody has won more grand slams than Rafael Nadal (22), followed by Novak Djokovic (22)*, and Roger Federer (20). These 3 are notably called “The Big 3” in tennis, due to their absolute dominance of the sport for over 20 years.
However, good things can’t last forever and these 3 men are starting to get old and face troubling injuries. Federer is 41 years old and announced his retirement last year, while Nadal and Djokovic are 36 and 35 respectively, they are still at the top of men’s tennis but both of them are facing injuries from time to time. With these 3 men’s careers soon coming to an end, a big question arises: who will be the next guy up? When answering this question, a few names come to mind such as the current world number 1, Carlos Alcaraz, as well as some players like Daniil Medvedev (2021 US Open champion), Stefanos Tsitspias, Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Casper Ruud.
This year’s Australian Open has seen countless spectacular matches such as the round of 16 matches. This one opposed Tsitsipas and Sinner went to 5 sets, and after over 4 hours of play, saw Tsitsipas win. This tournament also witnessed many great players get eliminated such as Nadal, Medvedev, and Ruud.
At the time of writing this article, the men’s finals will be played tomorrow, Sunday, the 29th of January, between Stefanos Tsitspas and Novak Djokovic. Overall, in all their previous matches, Djokovic has won 10 times, while Stefanos has won twice. The last time these two matched up in a grand slam was the Roland Garros 2021 finals, where Djokovic won 3 sets to 2 after losing the first 2 to the Greek. Overall this matchup on Sunday could see either of the men win, as they are both fantastic players who are well accommodated to playing decisive matches.
Finally, If Novak Djokovic wins this Australian open, it will be his 10th in Australia and 22nd overall, which will equal Nadal’s record. For Tsistspas, it will be his first grand slam, with hopefully many more to come.
*This article was written before Novak Djokovic won the 2023 Australian Open
Great article! Always nice to learn the history and expectations to what’s to come in future years!