Talking Tennis

As the Tour shifts . . ."Who will the cap fit?"

What just happened on tour in the sunshine doubles? In both Indian Wells and Miami 1000 Masters events on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) we saw a huge shift in the Finals, Aryna Sabalenka (No. 1 female player) and Novak Djokovic (No. 5 male player) got ousted by teenagers in their maiden finals event on US soil.

What does this signify, a tidal change in the game? A passing of the baton? We knew this time would eventually come, but I can tell you as an avid follower of the game; in the past two decades of absolute dominance of the likes of the Williams Sisters and a sprinkling of other female talented players, and in the men’s section, of the Big 3 (or 4, if like me you are a fan of Sir Andy Murray) Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and yes, my absolute favourite and indisputable best Male Player of the past 50 years, 24 - time Grandslam winner Novak Djokovic, I haven’t seen anything as interesting as this.

This week the season comes to Europe, specifically the beautiful Principality of Monaco, and home to the popular Formula 1 racing event. The Monte Carlo tennis club is poised to host yet another 1000 masters, albeit on clay. This signifies the shift from the Hard court season to the Clay court, which will ultimately end on the greatest surface (for me, apologies to the Grass) Roland Garros Finals in May.

Bringing me to my topic of today: while going through past journals I stumbled upon an entry made in 2008 during the US Open, as the second week began. I wrote:

It’s the beginning of the second week of the US Open, the last major Grandslam of the tennis season. I sit reflecting on the games watched over the last week and one particular match stands out as the worst match I have seen in a while from a top player. Dinara Safina (4-time Grandslam Finalist between 2008-2009), who won the most points in the run-up Summer Olympic series (and became No. 1 in the world this past spring with two clay court wins over Serena Williams and Justine Henin) played a very mediocre game to reach the fourth round of the US Open (though she went on that year to get to the SF, only losing to Serena Williams). As I sit here watching the top class tennis players on the ATP, a question keeps coming to mind “. . .which woman is ready to hold unto the number 1 spot?” I have a renewed respect for Justine Henin, because playing at the top level for a long time is a tough one. Ivanovic perhaps played her last best match on the day she became the number 1. Prior to the match, she had had no clue that she was on the spot for the number 1 WTA player, but after winning the French Open (also known as Roland Garros) in the spring, she seems to have fizzled out of the picture, barely making it to second or third rounds in any of the tournaments anymore, shockingly losing this week in the second round.

So what is it with the number 1 spot and the subsequent pressures? In the ATP, Novak, one of the up and coming players, also lost in Wimbledon right after winning his first Grandslam title at the Australian Open (AO) earlier in the year. He admitted in his second round exit interview that the pressures of winning the AO and then subsequently being so close to becoming number 2 on the ATP got to him.

Journal on 11/09/2023:

Becoming number 1 and winning last night his fourth US Open and 24th Grandslam shows and speaks volumes about this man Novak Djokovic and his philosophy about his sports and life in general; and reflecting back from his first to his 24th Slam trophies there is much more we can learn from his career path, not only for tennis but for life in general. The question on everyone’s lips would surely be can he win one more Slam?

Back to the now, as I conclude this post on the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 Series, one of the build up tournaments on clay as we move closer to the Roland Garros 2025, will Novak be victorious again? Where will he win his 100th title and will it come this year? All of this as the excitement also builds in the WTA, will Aryna Sabalenka hold on to her number 1 spot through the spring or will we see a true shifting of the guards. Well, all I can do right now is give a big shout out to defending Champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and hope that he can make the hat-trick (three in a row) as all the guys come down to his favourite surface - Terre Battue. Who will the cap fit?