Hi guys, I wanted to review the Australian Open…
This in my opinion was the best Grand Slam in recent memory full of first times and happy moments
It started with world number 117 Denis Istomin knocking out Novak Djokovic in 2nd round. It was the first time that Novak failed to reach at least the quarter finals at the Australian Open since 2007. Also it was the first time that a player ranked outside the top 100 at a Grand Slam event. The journeyman from Uzbekistan was able to control the majority of the rallies from the back of the court with both his forehand and backhand. Istomin was able to outlast Djokovic and eventually beat him in five grueling sets.
Even more of a surprise was Andy Murray losing in the fourth round to Mischa Zverev, who was ranked outside of the top 150 at the beginning of last year. It was a surprise because he came to the net 119 times serve and volleying on basically every point. He was also able to take advantage of Andy’s weak second serve which most players don’t do. He was standing inside the baseline to return the serve so he was able to cut off the angles, therefore he was able to take time away from him on both the first and second serve but mainly the second serve. By Mischa coming to the net so much, it threw Murray’s game off.
It was the first time since the 2004 French Open that the one and two ranked players in the world lost before the quarter finals at a Grand Slam.
On the women’s side it was no surprise that Serena made it to the final once again. It was very much of a surprise that Venus made it to the finals considering that she hadn’t been to a Grand Slam final since being defeated in the finals in 2009 by her sister, Serena at Wimbledon. Venus made the final this year in Australia in a dominant fashion, only dropping one set in the semifinals which set up a dream final between these two iconic legends of the sport. Serena came out on top in the final 6-4, 6-4 and they were both very happy for each other.
In the men’s final it was the first time since 2011 French Open that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal met in the Grand Slam final making it one of the most watched Tennis matches of all time. It was a classic match with Federer coming out on top after being down two sets to one and being down a break in the fifth set. Roger said that he shares this victory with Rafa and he is very happy to be on the big stage again and happy to be competing for these Grand Slams so soon after his injury.
