Rafael Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Nick Kyrgios, Ashleigh Barty, Naomi Osaka… Their faces are easy to see around Melbourne in the promotional posters of the Australian Open but not in the Grand Slam, orphan of many figures.
“The wasteland of the favourites”, headlined the specialized program The Tennis Podcast its episode published on Saturday morning, a few minutes after the elimination at the hands of the Russian Medvedev, the finalist of the last two editions.
The poster for the first Grand Slam of the year was already lame beforehand: the withdrawals of legends like Roger Federer, Serena Williams or the Australian Barty, the injuries to Carlos Alcaraz or Kyrgios and Osaka’s pregnancy dulled the picture.
And in the first rounds a few more fell: the current champion Nadal, the finalist of the last two editions Medvedev, the charismatic Americans Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe or the second seeds for men and women, the Norwegian Casper Ruud and the Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
For the first time since 2006, the Australian Grand Slam does not have any of the current finalists of the men’s draw in the round of 16. Furthermore, only half of the top ten seeds made it to that round.
Next to the Rod Laver Arena, the main stadium of Melbourne Park, there are many fans who stop to drink a photograph with a poster of Nadal, heroic winner of the last edition of the Grand Slam.
“There is definitely a certain void. To tennis fans in Australia we love to see the big names and, when they are away, it takes a bit away from the tournament”, says Rob Duff, after taking a picture of his son next to the image of the Spaniard.
“But there’s a group coming in that is definitely going to bring fans to the sport as well. There are many youngsters who are going to challenge the big three,” he adds, referring to Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
In fact, this Australian Open is the first Grand Slam since the withdrawal of the Swiss master, although he had already been absent from Melbourne in the previous two editions.
– Create new personalities –
Aware of the need to create new figures, the main organizations of the men’s and women’s professional circuit allied with Netflix to launch the new documentary series “Break point”, presented in Melbourne in the run-up to the Grand Slam.
From the same creators of “Formula 1: Drive to survive”the production approaches the lives of a dozen of these new figures called to take over from Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Barty or Serena Williams.
“I think that tennis has not done itself a favor in the past, giving attention only to those three,” he said. to Time magazine the controversial Australian player, Nick Kyrgios, in an article about this series.
“Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, once they leave, tennis is going to be left without an identity. So I hope this helps keep the fans involved,” added the star of the first episode of the series.
The problem? Of the ten players the documentary focuses on, only one remains in Melbournethe Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, after a plague of injuries and early layoffs that is already known as the “Netflix curse”.
Filming continues this season with new protagonists such as the young Dane Holger Rune who, at 19, has already beaten Novak Djokovic at the Masters 1000 in Paris and has reached the round of 16 in Melbourne without dropping a single set.
“I’m excited to do it. I think it’s going to be great. It’s good for tennis, good for the players. And I think the more fans we bring to the sport, the better,” the young Dane said this week.
