The first major Grand Slam of the year is underway at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia and the tournament has already thrown in a couple of early upsets whilst some dark horses have emerged from the shadows as early contenders.
Australian Open
January 10th – January 28th 2018
Melbourne, Australia
Men’s Seedings:
1. Rafael Nadal
2. Roger Federer
3. Grigor Dimitrov
4. Alexander Zverev
5. Dominic Thiem
6. Marin Cilic
7. David Goffin
8. Jack Sock
Ladies Seedings:
1. Simona Halep
2. Caroline Wozniacki
3. Garbine Muguruza
4. Elina Svitolina
5. Venus Williams
6. Karolina Pliskova
7. Jelena Ostapenko
8. Caroline Garcia
2017 saw the return to the top of the tennis world for two former greats in Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as the pair swept aside the rest of the chasing pack and capitalised on the dip in form of Novak Djokovic and the injury-plagued Andy Murray respectively to share the four Grand Slams between them, two apiece. The Swiss Maestro, Federer, is the defending champion after overcoming Nadal in five sets on the hard courts in Melbourne a year ago as he went on to lift his 18th major Grand Slam and first in nearly five years. The duo are both already safely through to the last-64 of the competition following straight-sets victories in the previous round. Federer will face German Jan-Lennard Struff while Nadal will take on Argentinian Leonardo Mayer. There will be a new winner in the ladies’ tournament as Serena Williams continues her recovery from illness and cannot defend her crown. Older sister Venus would have been relishing the opportunity to lift the trophy for the first time at the ripe old age of 37. She has twice made the final in the past, only to fall short to younger sibling Serena, first in 2003 and most recently in 2017. She will have to wait at least another year after the Number 5 seed was dumped out by the 20-year-old Belinda Bencic from Switzerland.
Two former champions are still in the mix. 2008 winner Maria Sharapova, fresh off her controversial doping ban, as well as 2016 champion Angelique Kerber are both seeking a second title at the Rod Laver Arena. The number 11 seed and highly rated South African Kevin Anderson made an early exit at the hands of the Britain’s number two Kyle Edmond, currently 49th in the world rankings. The number 16 seed, the giant American John Isner succumbed to Matthew Ebden, much to the delight of the home crowd. 30-year-old Ebden was born in Durban, South Africa before moving to Perth at an early age. He now represents the country of his residency, Australia. Canadian Milos Raonic also suffered a shock early exit, while fellow top-20 seeds Sam Querrey (13), Stan Wawrinka (9), David Goffin (7) and Alexander Zverer (4) all progressed to the second round. The Ladies side of the draw was rather more straight-forward in the first round with the only major notable exits, other than the aforementioned Venus Williams, being the 13th seed, American Sloane Stephens and Australian Samantha Stosur, ranked 41st in the WTA standings who were defeated by Zhang Shuai of China and Monica Puig of Puerto Rico respectively. The only hope remaining in the Ladies competition of crowning a queen from ‘Down Under’ are the 23rd seeded Daria Gavrilova and Olivia Rogowska who are both through to the second round. The latter defeated fellow Australian Jaimee Fourliss on route to the last 64 of he competition.