The Australian Open is winding toward the conclusion, with the two singles finals and other doubles matches on the schedule. The singles finals are dream matchups as we’ll see Venus and Serena Williams going toe-to-toe with the winner becoming the oldest woman to ever win the Australian Open. On the men’s side, it’s a throwback as we’ll see Roger Federer take on Rafael Nadal. What could be sweeter than that?
But before we look ahead to two great finals, let’s look back to the lowlights. Anyone who loses at this stage of the tournament has had a great experience in Melbourne and should feel very hopeful about the coming season. The players who bowed out of this tournament early on should feel that they really let something get away from them. Here are the foremost examples from a tournament which will cause a lot of pros to do some soul-searching.
Andy Murray
This was supposed to be the tournament in which it all came together for Andy Murray. The man has lost five Australian Open finals, which is bad in the sense that he has never won the championship in Melbourne, but that track record is still good, because it means he has gone the distance in the tournament five times. He lost to Roger Federer in the 2010 final, then to Novak Djokovic on four separate occasions in the final, in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016. With Djokovic not displaying good form entering this tournament, and then losing in the second round to Denis Istomin, Murray had a clear path to the title. It is true that he could have faced Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, but based on form, Murray – the World No. 1 – should have had the upper hand and a chance to demonstrate superiority over Federer, something he hadn’t had a chance to do in recent years. Not even getting to that quarterfinal with Federer, instead losing to Mischa Zverev in the fourth round, is a shattering disappointment. If Murray couldn’t win the Australian Open this time, when will he ever have a better shot at breaking through?
Novak Djokovic
The fact that Djokovic lost in the second round of the tournament is damning enough, but the way he lost is even worse. Djokovic has struggled recently – no one has denied that – but he led two sets to one against Istomin and had appeared to have established control in the match. Starting the fourth set in a sluggish way, Djokovic breathed life into an opponent, something he rarely does. If Djokovic had been blasted off the court by a hot player, it would have been one of those days. Instead, this was a match the second seed really should have won. He let it slip from his fingers. He has a lot of regrouping to do and a lot of points to defend this year.
Nick Kyrgios
It is one thing to lose a two-set lead to Djokovic or Federer or Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray. It’s another thing to lose a two-set lead to Andreas Seppi, and it’s even worse to lose in such a fashion to such an opponent when playing in one’s home country before a supportive crowd. Kyrgios is negative about his tennis. He has to learn to think in a positive way, or he will squander all his great talents.
Agnieszka Radwanska
The story of Mirjana Lucic-Baroni is inspiring, but Radwanska – who lost to the 34-year-old early in the tournament – is supposed to be the kind of player who intelligently slows a match down and hits soft shots to get a huge hitter off balance. Radwanska could not do that, and so her struggle at major tournaments continues. It’s an albatross in her career.
Simona Halep
One can say that Halep didn’t look 100-percent physically fit against Shelby Rogers in the first round, but it is still a jolt that Halep went down to defeat in a lopsided straight-set match. Not even managing to win four games in at least one set has to feel deeply discouraging for a player who just can’t seem to find any long-term consistency on tour. There is a stop-and-start quality to her tennis, a problem which has to be fixed soon.
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