The statistic that has come to mean the most in tennis these days is “Grand Slam titles won”. Which is why so much attention will be paid to Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams at the Australian Open, starting at the Melbourne Park on Monday.
This is Nadal’s first chance to grab sole possession of the men’s mark for most Grand Slam singles titles, after he pulled even with Roger Federer at 20 by winning the French Open in October.
A second Australian Open trophy would allow Nadal to become the first man in the Open era to win each Grand Slam tournament at least twice. He has won Roland Garros 13 times, US Open four times and the Wimbledon twice.
He still would have work to do to catch up with Serena, who already has 23 Grand Slam singles titles (plus 14 doubles and two mixed doubles), the most by anyone in the Open era. Only one player owns more — Margaret Court, with 24.
Djokovic, in addition to trying to break his own record for most men’s titles at the Australian Open by getting to No. 9, will also try to ensure he will eclipse Federer for most weeks at No. 1 in the rankings.
After a three-week delay, a massive logistical mission and a handful of health scares, a very different Open will get underway.
In a zoom conference with members of Indian media on Sunday, Craig Tiley, the Australian Open CEO Tiley said the Open will spread its prize money more evenly, so that lower-ranked players, whose earnings have been hit badly by the pandemic, can get a bigger purse. “We have significantly reduced the winners’ prize money cheques, but players like Djokovic and Serena agreed with spreading the prize money more evenly.”
Focus on Ankita
Ankita Raina became only the fifth Indian woman tennis player in the Open era to secure a place in the main draw of a Grand Slam, as she made the cut for the women’s doubles event.
She signed up with Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnecu and earned a direct entry. Nirupama Mankad (1971), Nirupama Vaidyanathan (1998), Sania Mirza and Indian-American Shikha Uberoi (2004) have competed in Grand Slam main draws for India.
(The Australian Open will be live on Sony Pictures Sports Network.)
