The Australian season is always thrilling because it opens the tour's calendar year, and provides fans with a major tournament early in the season. This year, however, there is some extra drama:
2004 Australian Open champion Justine Henin has returned to the tour (perhaps the tour site could put her back into the main player index now?), and says that she expects to be better than she was before her retirement. Surely all eyes will be on her when she plays in Melbourne, especially if she does well in the preceding tournaments.
Kim Clijsters has returned to the tour, and began her comeback by winning the U.S. Open. Aussie Kim now has her nemesis, Henin, to face again, and having the two of them back will definitely liven things up at the Australian Open.
Yanina Wickmayer dodged a two-year suspension, and--though she says she was shaken from her experience with the Belgian anti-doping commission--she appears to be doing just fine in Brisbane. She is unlikely to get a wild card into the Australian Open, but should make it through qualifying. (If she does make it through qualifying, she should be seeded, according to ITF rules.)
Jelena Dokic probably has more pressure on her than anyone. Dokic made a dramatic run to the quarterfinals last year. She then went on to play Fed Cup matches, and to compete at Indian Wells, after which she said she was exhausted. Dokic was eventually diagnosed with sports fatigue syndrome and had to take a long rest, the rest of her season was disappointing.
Alicia Molik has returned to the tour, as has Casey Dellacqua, which gives Australia more to look forward to in terms of Aussie players competing in the Open.
Samantha Stosur enters the 2010 season as a 2009 French Open semifinalist. She has been working on her slice backhand for several weeks, and tennis fans are eager to see how far she can go in Melbourne.
You didn't mention her here, but I read an article from an Australian site the other day that referred to Ivanovic as "Aussie Ana" after she defeated Dokic. Apparently, she's dating Australian golfer Adam Scott.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's all right to "adopt" her like that, as they did with Clijsters when she was engaged to Hewitt, but with so many REAL (or at least transported) Aussie women of note to cheer for now -- more in singles at one time than I can recall since I began following tennis, really -- I tend to think the Australian fans don't have to be such "an easy date" anymore, you know? ;)
Anyway, as I was saying, I guess I just found it slightly surprising that there was any divide at all in the crowd when it came to which player to support in the Ivanovic/Dokic match. Although, considering Dokic's semi-checkered past Down Under, I suppose it's understandable that not everyone would automatically be in her corner, even after her QF run last year in Oz.
ReplyDelete(Yep, that previous comment was from me, as well. I just accidentally left it while signed in on another account. Whoops.)
Yes, Ivanovic has been dating Scott for a while, but only some members of the press are calling her "Aussie Ana," as far as I know. I haven't noticed that actual Aussies are calling her that.
ReplyDeleteAnd if it turns out she really is the country's new adopted player, I still think it is the press that is probably inventing the crowd split. Just my guess.