This year’s Australian Open has come to an end with Roger Federer and Caroline Wozniacki winning the singles titles. It has been a tournament that has attracted a record crown to Melbourne Park, but some of the issues raised by players are worth talking about further in 2018.
1) The scheduling of matches
The scheduling office at the Australian Open did not show a lot of love for women’s tennis. Out of the nine instances where the night session on Rod Laver Arena included a men’s and women’s match, the women went on last seven of those nine nights. When the women follow a best-of-five men’s match, the women often don’t take the court until at least 10 or 11pm. There’s not much energy for those matches in front of a mostly empty arena at that late of an hour. While the tournament tried to balance that by often scheduling the women first in the Margaret Court Area night sessions, any time where the women go on second can leave them without much of an atmosphere. Years ago it was customary for the women to always go on first. While it’s been a nice experiment to mix that up in the pursuit of equality, we should go back to the way it was as long as the men continue to play best of five. It’s also unfair that three of the four women’s quarterfinals are played during the day, as are both their semifinals. Scheduling the women on weekdays with sparser crowds, while the men get the prime time spotlight at night, is not fair. This was even more of a shame in a year where the women’s tournament was much more captivating than the men’s. I understand TV partners can have a lot of influence over such decisions, but it’s time for all parties involved to re-think the tournament’s scheduling.
2) The ATP calendar
Following his retirement from the tournament, Rafael Nadal had the following to say: "Somebody who is running the tour should think a little bit about what's going on. Too many people are getting injured. If we keep playing on this very, very hard surfaces what's going to happen in the future with our lives?" These comments come in the wake of other top male players such as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, and Milos Rainic continuing to struggle with injuries over the past six months. There's many changes the tour can consider to limit the damage to players' bodies, including decreasing the amount of hard court tournaments, as well as going to a best-of-three set format in at least the earlier rounds of the majors. Regardless of what the change is, it's clear the governing bodies need to consider the health of the players as a higher priority.
3) The hot weather
Speaking of the health of the players, this heat rule in Australia is ridiculous. Not only is the "wet bulb" standard confusing, but the standard required to close the roofs and halt play on outer courts is way too high. It's not fun to watch players suffer from the effects of the heat, which result in lower quality matches. It was highly uncomfortable to watch Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils play during one of the hottest days of the year, which is just one of many examples where a match suffered due to the heat. In addition, it's uncomfortable and unsafe for the fans. The modern game of baseline rallies is too grueling for such conditions. The Australian Open has three roofs – let’s make better use of them.
4) The grunting of players
The level of grunting/shrieking/screaming coming out of Aryna Sabalenka during her first round match against Ashleigh Barry was excruciating to listen to. It was an automatic use of the mute button, or even worse for the sport, a channel changer. It was so absurd that fans in the crowd began imitating it, to the point where the chair umpire had to ask they stop. The WTA has been saying for years that it would work to prevent this annoying form of gamesmanship at a younger age. But this 19-year-old is proof significant progress has not been made, and it's a shame: it drives fans away from tennis.
5) Changes to the draw
There was much talk during the tournament of how starting with next year’s Australian Open, majors will go back to only having 16 seeded players in the singles draws. Simon Cambers did an analysis here that’s well worth reading, regarding how the number of early round upsets decreased in the men’s singles draws after seedings were extended from 16 to 32 players. It’s appealing in that 16 seeds will result in more interesting matches during the first week of the majors, as players ranked 17-32 will no longer be protected from playing a seeded player before the third round. For example, at the Australian Open, 17th-seeded Nick Kyrgios could have drawn top seeded Rafael Nadal in the opening round. However, will we end up with worse matchups in the second week? If so, I’d argue this is not a positive change. I wonder if the major title counts of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic would be the same under the 16 seed format, and if their records will be harder to chase now.
6) The new clock
One innovation that was a welcome addition to the sport is the introduction of a countdown clock for the pre-match warm-ups. A clock on the scoreboard counts down one minute for players to walk onto court and report to the umpire at the net, followed by a five-minute warm-up. They’re then allowed just one minute to be ready to play the first point. It's a common sense change to speed up the time from when players walk onto court and when the first point is played. If players go over the allotted time, they receive a fine. Most fans likely didn't even notice this new rule, which makes me like it even more. Subtle changes like this for the sake of expediency and transparency are always welcome.
7) Zverev’s punishment
Mischa Zverev was fined $45,000 for what was deemed an unprofessional first round performance. A new rule allows players to still receive half their first round prize money if they withdraw prior to their match, and allows a healthy player to not only take their place in the draw, but also the other half of the first round prize money. This is a result of the large number of male retirements that happened in the first round of majors in recent years, as players not ready to compete at their best were not inclined to withdraw before the match as they would lose all their prize money. Yes, this punishment seems rather harsh in Zverev’s case, as Mischa is a player with a good reputation. He cited a viral illness as his reason for retiring during the second set, and perhaps he arrived to the court hoping to tough out the illness and give his all. But the clear message sent to players going forward is a good one: you’ll be better off financially if you withdraw rather than retire mid-match.
8) Talks of a union
Tennis is a sport filled with conflicts of interest, some more harmful than others. But it was still surprising to hear of Novak Djokovic’s unannounced closed-door meeting with the ATP Player Council. As the Daily Mail first reported, Djokovic asked for non-players to leave the room, and then spoke for close to an hour about the need for a players’ union. The ATP is a governing body that represents both players and tournaments, and there is speculation amongst players that they are not getting their fair share of increased revenues from the tournaments. There was even speculation regarding a potential boycott of next year’s Australian Open, but Djokovic played down that talk when speaking to the media. This may be the biggest tennis story to follow as 2018 progresses.
9) Halep’s heroics
If tennis gods exist, they really owe Simona Halep a break. Following a tortuous 2017 Grand Slam season, her 2018 Australian Open was just downright cruel. After saving match points in multiple matches that went passed 6-6 in the third set, she was just two games away from winning her first major title before losing the last three games of the women’s final to Caroline Wozniacki. Halep complained of feeling faint at times during the final, and was later taken to a hospital for treatment of dehydration symptoms. Considering the long matches she played in the hot temperatures, it’s no wonder. It was so refreshing to see a first-time WTA number one so valiantly fight for their first Grand Slam title following their ascent to the top of the rankings: too many recent new number ones have immediately faded after achieving that honor. Karma owes Halep a few good draws at upcoming majors.
10) Federer’s legacy
As tennis fans, we are really lucky to be able to see this record-breaking men’s era, featuring such likeable players that are not afraid to share their emotions with us. Watching Roger Federer’s twentieth major victory was special enough. But his emotional post-match speech, followed by extended applause as tears ran down his face, was just a great moment in sports. The 36-year-old still loves the game so much, and we should embrace every last tournament where a uniquely talented champion with such character is present. Federer, as well as the other veteran champions like him, will not be easily replaced when they retire.
