The 2018 Australian Open will soon begin. It’s not the full field one might have expected several weeks ago, when it seemed that Serena Williams might play in it. She won’t. Victoria Azarenka is still out because of a child custody battle that still hasn’t been resolved. There are still some gaps in this field, but it’s still an impressive collection of tennis talent which offers the promise of rich drama at the start of the tennis season. There is an abundance of intrigue in this field, given Serena’s continued absence plus some of the plot lines which developed later in 2017, and it’s worth noting that the Grand Slams delivered a high quality of performance last year even without the WTA’s foremost superstar.
The competition in the 128-player main draw begins on Monday, January 15, in Melbourne.
Event Details
Event: Australian Open
Category: ITF (International Tennis Federation) Grand Slam
Date: January 15-28, 2018
Location: Melbourne Park – Melbourne, Australia
With a prize money allotment of just over $43 million U.S. for both the men and the women ($55M Australian dollars), WTA professionals can make a boatload of money and collect a large amount of rankings points with a great fortnight Down Under. The money for qualifying winners, first-round losers, and second-round losers has increased over last year, and this purse keeps going up at all levels. The major tournaments are a gold mine for the players who do well in them, and this is the place where any professional tennis player can make the kind of money which helps finance the rest of the season. There is not a lot of money at the WTA International level or at the Challenger level, and many people in tennis think that less money should be put into the Slams so that more money can be put into the Challenger circuit and the smaller tour events during the year. However, under the current situation, doing well at the Slams is what really propels a season in terms of earnings and rankings points.
Points
Championship – 2,000 points.
Runner-up – 1,300
Semifinal – 780
Quarterfinal – 430
Round of 16 – 240
Round of 32 – 130
Round of 64 – 70
Round of 128 – 10 points
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2017 – Serena Williams def. Venus Williams 6-4, 6-4
2016 – Angelique Kerber def. Serena Williams – 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
2015 – Serena Williams def. Maria Sharapova – 6-3, 7-6
2014 – Li Na def. Dominika Cibulkova – 7-6, 6-0
2013 – Victoria Azarenka def. Li Na – 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Player Info:
Angelique Kerber, no longer the new World No. 1, will be under the radar at this tournament. She looked great in the warm-up events for this tournament, raising hopes that she will play like the ascendant 2016 version of herself instead of the deeply burdened player who labored through the 2017 season. Yet, there is a difference between smaller tournaments and larger tournaments, and the rest of the field will be attentive to the fact that Kerber is playing better. It will be very fascinating to see if Kerber’s rise is for real in Australia.
Garbine Muguruza began to play consistently well last year after winning Wimbledon. She roared through the summer, winning the title in Cincinnati. She was knocked off by Petra Kvitova in a classic U.S. Open match, entirely because Kvitova simply raised her game. It was not a case of Muguruza losing focus. If Muguruza is locked in and attentive, she is probably the best non-Serena player in the sport. Everyone is waiting to see if Muguruza can be the WTA’s next dominant player.
Karolina Pliskova was very strong in the first half of 2017 but lost steam in the second half. She has knocked on the door of a major title but has not been able to break through. Yet, she had a very encouraging run to the semifinals of the WTA Finals year-end showcase in Singapore. Is Pliskova ready to put the pieces together? Everyone wants to know.
Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki are in the odd positions of being the top two seeds, yet players few trust to win the tournament. These players are ranked highly because they are so steady throughout the year, but merely being steady does not win major tournaments. Players need special weapons and resources to come through in these situations. Can Halep and Wozniacki serve big and go for their shots when it counts?
Melbourne Park
The Australian Open has been played at Melbourne Park since 1988 after being held on grass at Kooyong’s famed Lawn Tennis Club in the previous several decades. Melbourne Park is a highly-modernized facility with a centerpiece court, Rod Laver Arena, which creates a first-class experience for fans and players every year. The Australian Open has the reputation of being the “Happy Slam,” the place with fewer scheduling and organizing conflicts than at the other three major tournaments. Tennis Australia puts on a great product every January.
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