TENNIS AO2015 – Andras Ruszanov for db4tennis.com has highlighted some curiosities, stats and records in the men’s draw of the 2015 Australian Open
AO 2015: Interviews, Results, Order of Play, Draws
1. Can Nadal win in Melbourne? If he wins here, he would be the FIRST after Laver who wins every major at least twice.
(As of today, only 2 players, the two Australian legends, Roy Emerson and Rod Laver completed this feat. Thus, if Nadal wins here, he would be the first European player in this regard as well.);
2. Can Nadal collect his second Aussie title 6 years after his first one?
In the Open-era, it never happened in Australia that a player could win 6 years after his first championship! (The record holder is Jimmy Connors, however he won in Wimbledon 8 years after his first success: 1974 and 1982);
3. Can Djokovic collect his 5th Australian Open championship (in 7 years)?
If the answer is yes, Novak will be the record holder at the Australian Open in the Open-era (the absolute record belongs to Roy Emerson with 6 titles);
4. Since 2005, Djokovic has 11 consecutive appearances in Melbourne, and everytime when he got through the quarterfinals, he always won! Furthermore, he has a flawless, 100% record in the finals (4-0) (only Agassi has the same record among the players with minimum 4 final appearances);
5. Can Federer win his record 18th major and his 5th Aussie title? Since 2004, he always reached at least the semifinals every year, however, last time he won 5 years ago!
If he just goes into the final, Roger will overtake his coach (Edberg) in the category of “appearances in Aussie final” (currently Edberg and Federer have advanced into 5-5 finals);
6. Can Andy Murray finally have a breakthrough in Melbourne? He is still chasing his first Aussie title after losing 3 finals. If he wins here, he will be the first player from United Kingdom who wins this championship in the Open-era;
7. Is Juan Martin Del Potro superstitious? This year Australian Open will be the 28th Grand Slam for the Argentine, whose only title dated back on 2009 US Open which was his 14th major;
8. Canada, Japan or Bulgaria goes into the recordbook this year? I mean, in 2015 we can see the first Canadian (by Raonic), first Japanese (by Nishikori) or the first Bulgarian (by Dimitrov) Grand Slam champion in the men’s singles category?
9. Can we expect any US-success in Melbourne? The answer is relatively easy: likely no. Last time, when an American player took the trophy was in 2003 (Agassi). The last reasonable result was achieved by Andy Roddick reaching the quarterfinal 5 years ago;
10. Any chance for an Aussie celebration? No way. 39 years ago, Mark Edmondson was the last “domestic” player who won the title and the last Aussie finalist was Hewitt exactly 10 years ago….
Some miscs:
Lleyton Hewitt will be a record holder with his 19th Aussie appearance in the Open-era. (He steps ahead of Fabrice Santoro who has 18 at this moment.)
Both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have played 49 matches at Australian Open. Which player gonna have more in two weeks?
